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Notes from the Smithy...

spring 2012                                                #79

GREETINGS/CONTENTS

Greetings from Southern Oregon!  Spring is slowly showing up here, and it’s down the home stretch for the rest of this school year.

NEWS                                     what’s happening

JUST FOR FUN                      a reading exercise

LEARN THE RULES             rules apply

TAKE A STEP                        adding new words

RECENT READS                   a few from me

MISCELLANY                       as it says

 NEWS 

As I mentioned last time, my dear wife gave me a Kindle Fire, and I have done some electronic reading.  More on that later.

Lately I have been adding some poetry to the web site.  This project is not finished.  The poems are all ones I like; many of them are story poems.  They do not follow any particular format, style, or genre.  They are quite varied but interesting.  Check them out for yourself.

English Fun Stuff is on the endangered book list.  I have a only a very few print copies left.  When it is gone, that will be it for this book.  Some portions of it may survive in electronic form.  When I was teaching in the classroom, I would have given much for the exercises and games found in this book. 

Students and moms continue to phone or email me with questions about procedure and answers.  I welcome the interaction.  The more specific the question, the more likely my answer will be on target.  I am the support team for these books.

You can still email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it to get a set of major vocabulary tests for Jensen’s Vocabulary.  I am the only source for these tests.  They are free, but you will have to print them off.  Each set includes the test and the answers.

JUST FOR FUN 

This one is a little different, but just start reading, and hopefully it will become clear.

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1MPR3551V3 7H1NG5!
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17 WA5 H4RD BU7
N0W, 0N 7H15 LIN3
Y0UR M1ND 1S
R34D1NG 17
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W17H 0U7 3V3N
7H1NK1NG 4B0U7 17,
B3 PROUD! 0NLY
C3R741N P30PL3 C4N
R3AD 7H15.
PL3453 F0RW4RD 1F
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LEARN THE RULES 

Some folks are against learning rules.  Rules seem so restrictive, but really rules represent freedom.  Dr. Dobson used to tell the story about children on a playground.  When it was fenced, they played all over the playground, even up on the fence itself.  One year the children returned to the playground only to find that the fence was gone.  They ended up playing only in the center because they didn’t know where the boundaries were.  Rules are boundaries, and they are helpful, especially when they are known. 

Let’s put this into a narrow context.  A student asks why a comma goes in a particular spot.  The teacher responds by citing a rule.  Either the student did not know the rule, or he did not recognize the situation as one where that particular rule applied.  If the student did not know the rule, either he had not been taught, or he had not learned it when it was taught.  In either case, he could not apply the rule because he did not know it.  That’s the reality.  If he did not recognize the situation as one where the rule applied, that shows an incomplete knowledge of the rule.  Not only is it necessary to know the rule, it is also necessary to know when and how to apply it. 

Some years ago I was asked to come and help some teachers and their students learn how to write better.  My first exercise was to put some sentences on the board and ask the teachers and students to punctuate them.  All sorts of answers were offered, but no one could cite any rules.  I then showed these folks five basic rules and used the sentences on the board to illustrate the rules.  I put up a second series of sentences and asked for the correct punctuation.  The students and teachers all got them right.  What was the difference?  They all knew the rules and how to apply them. 

One teacher remarked that it really was quite simple, but he then said, “How come I never learned this?”  My answer was, “You were probably never taught it, at least in the way I just taught it.”  These folks did not know the rules, so they were unable to apply them, simple though the rules were.  Thus, they paid the price in their writing of having lots of incorrect punctuation.  Once they learned the rules, that problem disappeared for the most part. 

Jensen’s Punctuation teaches those rules.  Five basic rules for compound sentences solve 75-90% of common punctuation problems.  It’s so easy to do it right when you know the rules.

 TAKE A STEP 

Vocabulary building is something we all do when we are young.  From third grade on, the average child learns about 3,000 words a year. Think about that. That amounts to about eight new words a day. As we age, additions to our word hoard are less frequent and usually based on need.  When we are young, new words are generally added on a random basis.  As youngsters when we came across a word in conversation or reading, we often just picked it up and began using it ourselves.  While this method works, is it the most efficient?  I think not.  Let’s look at the random method and then explore complimentary methods. 

Youngsters will always add words to their vocabularies on a random basis.  That’s because young people are constantly meeting new words.  The words they acquire differ since each person has different experiences.  What they read and hear will differ because their sources differ.  For instance, a child in a home where theology is discussed regularly will likely learn some theological terms.  If dad and mom are both interested and involved in farming, farming terms will enter the youngster’s vocabulary.  This is randomness in vocabulary acquisition. 

Now let’s look at some complimentary methods.  Note the word complimentary; in this case it means in addition to random acquisition.  Everyone will have the random experience, but some will have opportunity to gain words in some systematic fashion as well.  Usually formal vocabulary instruction takes place in a school setting of some sort.  The various disciplines of learning all have their specialized terms, their jargon.  Treble clef, osmosis, longitude, divisor, participle, these are all terms related to different areas of study.  So as each discipline is studied, some new words will be added to the student’s vocabulary.   

In English class, some vocabulary is usually taught.  It usually consists of lists of words that are to be memorized, often on a weekly basis.  The list may contain a random set of words, or the words might all come from a common source, perhaps a piece of literature the students are reading at the time.  Sometimes the words are related by subject matter; maybe they are all grammar terms, or maybe all the words are related to medieval times.  A few programs will organize each lesson around a given root.  All of these are attempts to bring some order to vocabulary acquisition.  The downfall of these methods is that the words are worked with only on a week to week basis. 

I submit there is a better way that brings even more order and increases understanding of how words are built.  Time and experience have shown that working with a word every day for a week and then working with a related word in the same fashion the next week is a superior method that leads to long term acquisition of the words and the ability to discern new words.   

Here’s how it works.  For example, I will use the Latin root, gress or grad; it means to step.  The student receives a sheet at the beginning of a semester with a short list of roots with their meanings and another sheet with common prefixes and suffixes and their meanings.  Each week a series of words is given, all containing a root found on the root sheet.  Only one word in the list would contain the root grad/gress. 

The first week the word egress might appear; the second week ingress might be the word; the third week progress may be on the list, and so forth.  Other words like aggressive, congress, regression, will show up in forthcoming weeks as will words with other forms of grad/gress, words such as gradual, gradient, degree, degradation, and so forth.  Thus, for a period of eighteen weeks, the student is exposed to words that have the same grad/gress root.  Students will learn that root because of the constant repetition, and they will remember the words that are built from that root. But there is more. 

Each day of the week, the student goes through a standard set of exercises that employ the words of the week, and each day, excepting Friday, they can use their roots and affixes sheets.  Monday they do a matching exercise with words and definitions.  Tuesday they simply identify the root in each word and give its meaning.  Wednesday, they see the pieces of the word and the meanings of those pieces.  From that they are to write the vocabulary word.  Thursday a series of sentences are given in which each sentence lacks one word, a vocabulary word.  By context, the students should be able to write in the proper vocabulary word.  Friday is a test.  The teacher reads a word, and the student writes it correctly and gives its proper definition. 

Here are examples using congress.  Monday from a list of definitions, they need to find and match congress with a coming together, an assembly or legislature.  The root, gress, is combined with the prefix, con, which means with or together.  Tuesday they identify gress in the word congress and write to step as the meaning of the root.  Wednesday the students see in a list the words with/together + to step.  Their job is to write the vocabulary word, in this case congress.  Thursday they would see a list of 20 sentences, each with a blank.  The job of ___ is to write laws.  They would write congress for this sentence.  On Friday when the teacher says congress, they would be expected to write it down and spell it correctly and also give the definition.  Their answer should be congress = a coming together, an assembly or legislature. 

Does this method work?  Absolutely!  It is how I organized Jensen’s Vocabulary.  Thousands of students have used it, and the vast majority have profited from it.  Many have raised standardized test scores by multiple grade levels.  One seventh grader who did it at home while in a regular school was accused of not writing his own papers because “seventh graders don’t use such language.”  Well, they do when they are taught correctly.  Take the step today and graduate to the easy way to build a great vocabulary.  Obtain a copy of Jensen’s Vocabulary and put it to use.  You won’t be sorry. 

RECENT READS 

Winter is spent indoors for the most part, and that generally means more reading time.  What follows are my short reviews of my last quarter’s reading.

An Oblique Approach is an alternative history book by David Drake and Eric Flint.  It was passed on to me and is the beginning of a series.  It was acceptable, but I won’t read any more of the series.

Bob Welsh likes hunting, fishing, and history.  He was a state trooper in Ohio for 29 years, and he is a poet.  A compilation of his poems is contained in Embers from a Storyteller’s Mind.  This book was extremely refreshing to read.  Since it contains a number of poems, some are better than others, but the book is rich with good poetry.  He writes poems about historical incidents as well as things that have happened to him personally.  He is a godly man and reverences God in some of his poems.  Some are funny; some are sad; some have a moral to teach.  “My Christmas Eve” is an especially good poem.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book and heartily recommend it.  You can find more about it at his website, www.bobwelsh.com.

Tales of Persia: Missionary Stories from Islamic Iran was written by William McElwee Miller.  It is somewhat dated since the stories mostly took place in the early 1900’s.  It was an interesting read and gives a feel for what life was like in those days as a missionary in Iran.

I like to read the next book every couple of years.  The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason is a classic on investing.  It is widely available, easy to read, and contains basic principles about investing and managing money that never go bad.  The book is a series of short stories, each illustrating one particular rule about life and money and work.  I recommend this book, particularly to younger folks.  It was part of my curriculum when I had my own school. 

Chris Kyle, with the help of a couple of other folks, writes his story in American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History.  I am glad Chris is on our side.  The book, however, was filled with lots of bad language and some self aggrandizement.  A person in Chris’s position obviously has to have a particular mental temperament, and in his case it shows through.  I don’t recommend the book.

George Grant and his wife Karen wrote Garden Graces: How the Simper Tasks of Gardening Have Affected the Art, Music, Literature, and Ideas of Western Civilization.  This is a browsing book.  Each chapter is about a particular type of garden, kitchen, public, flower, herb, and so forth.  Each chapter has a mix of poetry, quotes, and an essay.  I like gardens, so I liked the book.

The Harbinger: The Ancient Mystery That Holds the Secret of America’s Future is written by Jonathan Cahn and is currently a hot book in some Christian circles.  It is what I call newspaper eschatology.  The story is barely acceptable; there is no character development.  The purpose of the book is to call America to repentance.  I think the logic is fuzzy, and he stretches to make it all work, but those of a dispensational bent will adore the book.

I found a new author, well, to me anyway.  Ellis Peters was a contemporary of Agatha Christie and wrote a number of murder mysteries.  I was attracted to the Chronicles of Brother Cadfael for a couple of reasons, and I have not been disappointed.  Brother Cadfael is a Benedictine monk living on the English-Welsh border at Shrewsbury in the early 12^th century.  Cadfael became a monk later in life after having been a Crusader in the Mediterranean until his forties.  Mrs. Peters writes engaging stories; Cadfael and a couple of other characters are nicely developed, and the books are true to the history of the time.  People don’t change over the ages; they are sinners and have passions both positive and negative, and their actions reflect it.  I read four books, the first of which, A Rare Benedictine, is three short stories.  A Morbid Taste for Bones (#1), One Corpse Too Many (#2), and The Summer of the Danes (#18) are all full length novels.  #2 was especially good, and I recommend these books to any who like a good mystery.  I will read more of them.

And now for the Kindle.  I purchased three collections of books for $.99 each.  Such a deal!  The Complete Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton has most of the stories of Father Brown; he wrote 52 of them.  I read the first six.  Father Brown is a Roman Catholic priest with a sharp eye to detail and a clever wit.  These stories were very popular when they came out in the early part of the last century.  Father Brown understands the working of evil in man, primarily because as he explains it, “Has it never struck you that a man who does next to nothing but hear men’s real sins is not likely to be wholly unaware of human evil?”  Father Brown is quite inductive in his approach to solving the various crimes.  He is often assisted by M. Hercule Flambeau, a reformed criminal.

The Essential Works of E. E. “Doc” Smith contains eight of Smith’s novels.  I read The Galaxy Primes and Masters of Space, two I had not read before.  In the 1970’s I was quite a fan of “Doc” Smith when I read his Skylark and Lensman series.  Reading the two aforementioned stories, it was very apparent how dated his material is.  The main characters, both men and women, smoke and drink and act like society in general during the early part of the last century.  I enjoyed both books, but they are not particularly memorable.  They are rather typical of the pulp science fiction of written in the 1930-40’s.

The Tarzan Collection contains eight books about Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs.  I read the first four: Tarzan of the Apes, The Return of Tarzan, The Beasts of Tarzan, and The Son of Tarzan.  I like Burroughs.  There is plenty of action and lots of description.  The characters are rather flat, but they are well defined.  The stories are somewhat formulaic, but I enjoy them.  I might get around to reading the other four on my Kindle one of these days.  It is perfect for reading in bed since the screen is backlit, and it doesn’t bother my dear wife.  However, I am not giving up the reading of regular books; that I still enjoy immensely.

MISCELLANY 

1.  Excerpts of material from this newsletter may be freely used so long as proper credit is given as to the source.  Feel free to copy it and pass it along.

2.  This newsletter is posted quarterly on the website, and it is emailed free to those who wish to subscribe. 

3.  Thanks to all of you who purchase, use, and recommend my materials.  Thanks also to those who send me questions and testimonials about how the books have helped in your educational efforts.  If is always fun and an encouragement to me to hear how a particular student credits one or another of the books as to why they did so well on a test or in a class.  What a blessing to know that somehow I was able to help.

4.  The next issue of Smithy Notes is scheduled for distribution in the summer. 

BY HIS GRACE ALONE, 

Frode Jensen