A lot of books pique my interest with just the title but
this week’s book title created an enigma that gnawed away at me until I finally
flipped it open.
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What does it all mean?? |
Title: Aldine
Second Language Book
Was this a book on learning a second language or a book for people
for whom English was a second language? Or perhaps the second volume in a
series of books about language? Second edition? What was an “Aldine”? That and
more questions were left unanswered because the book does not explain the title
at all, only that it’s an important text for students.
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Truthfully, this should be required reading nowadays. |
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In case there was any confusion. |
Written by Catherine T. Bryce and Frank E. Spaulding, Aldine Second Language Book was published
in 1914 and has survived amazingly well considering it’s a century old. The
binding is remarkably tight, and the 328 pages are crisp and white. Considering
it is a grammar and language textbook for grades five and six, presumably more
than a few students failed the exams miserably as the book looks like it has
never been opened.
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Yep. 1914. |
Usually I’m not a fan of textbooks, but the Aldine Second Language Book turned out
to be pretty entertaining and actually quite useful. It contains hundreds of
short stories and fables that are used as examples for lessons on composition
and structure. Some are amusing, others just go nowhere. There’s even a section
teaching students how to write a proper invitation letter, an art that is
definitely lost in this texting age.
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Amusing stories if nothing else. |
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Surprisingly not as racist as it could be. |
Breaking down all the basic components of the English language,
it did remind me on many rules that people generally don’t follow anymore,
either due to stylistic choice or incorrect usage that has been accepted as
commonplace. It’s interesting to see how language evolves, even in a short
period of time.
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Between and among - oh how we use them wrong. |
Funny enough, the book also has a section on story
composition that I might end up working on for fun. Chapter twenty-two contains
half-finished stories as exercises for students to finish, but what’s
interesting about them is that they all seem to be horror stories.
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Cause that's not worrisome to a kid at all... |
All in all a fun read, even with the lack of explanation on
the title. Seriously, why is this a ‘second language’ book? The need to know is
going to gnaw at me for a long while.