nce
clearly the different component sounds of a word (as, for example,
m-a-n-o), so that the child whose ear is _already educated_ may
recognize one by one the component sounds. Then he looks in the
movable alphabet for the _signs_ corresponding to each separate sound,
and lays them one beside the other, thus composing the word (for
instance, mano). Gradually he will become able to do the same thing
with words of which he thinks himself; he succeeds in breaking them up
into their component sounds, and in translating them into a row of
signs.

When the child has composed the words in this way, he knows how to
read them. In this method, therefore, all the processes leading to
writing include reading as well.

If the language is not phonetic, the teacher can compose separate
words with the movable alphabet, and then pronounce them, letting the
child repeat by himself the exercise of arranging and rereading them.

In the material there are two movable alphabets. One of them consists
of larger letters, and is divided into two boxes, each of which
contains the vowels. This is used for the first exercises, in which
the child needs very large objects in order to recognize the letters.
When he is acquainted with one half of the consonants he can begin to
compose words, even though he is dealing with one part only of the
alphabet.

The other movable alphabet has smaller letters and is contained in a
single box. It is given to children who have made their first attempts
at composition with words, and already know the complete alphabet.

It is after these exercises with the movable alphabet that the child
_is able to write entire words_. This phenomenon generally occurs
unexpectedly, and then a child who has never yet traced a stroke or a
letter on paper _writes several words in succession_. From that moment
he continues to write, always gradually perfecting himself. This
spontaneous writing takes on the characteristics of a _natural_
phenomenon, and the child who has begun to write the "first word" will
continue to write in the same way as he spoke after pronouncing the
first word, and as he walked after having taken the first step. The
same course of inner formation through which the phenomenon of writing
appeared is the course of his future progress, of his growth to
perfection. The child prepared in this way has entered upon a course
of development through which he will pass as surely as the growth of
the body and the de