The Story Of My Life-Chapter 7
Helen Keller Learning Skill of Reading
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| Anne Sullivan Teaching Helen Keller |
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| Helen Keller |
In this chapter, Helen Keller tells
us as to how she was taught the skill of reading. As soon as she learnt some
words to spell, Miss Sullivan gave her some slips of cardboard on which a few
words were printed in raised letters. She at once understood that each printed
word meant for some object an action or a quality.
She found the slips of papers which
represented ‘doll’, ‘is’, ‘on’. ‘bed’. She placed each on its objects. Then she
put her doll on the bed with the words ‘is’, ‘on, ‘bed’ which she arranged
beside the doll, thus making a sentence out of the words. At the same time, she
carried the idea with the things.
One day, she played a game with her
teacher for hours and it delighted her very much. She had arranged the words
‘is’, ‘in’, wardrobe’ on the shelf.
From the printed slip, it was a step
to the printed book. She took her book ‘Reader for Beginners’ and searched for
words. When she found them in the book, her joy was boundless. In this way, she
began to read.
She had no regular lessons for a long
time. Whenever Miss Sullivan, taught her, she illustrated it by inventing a
beautiful story or a poem. Whenever anything delighted her, Miss Sullivan would
talk it over as if she were also a little girl.
Miss Sullivan’s sympathy with Helen’s
pleasure and dislike was superb. It was due to her long association with the
blind. In addition to that, she had a wonderful faculty for description. She
also introduced Helen the technicalities of science little by little. She made every
subject so real that Helen could remember it easily.
Helen Keller in Contact with Nature
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| Wild Grapes |
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| Grashopper |
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| Fragrant Pine Trees |
Miss Sullivan takes her out of doors
perfectly in the sunlit woods for studies. Helen says that all of her early lessons
had been taught to her in the close contact with nature. She still remembers
the sweet fragrance of the pine trees mixed with the perfume of wild grapes.
She learnt while sitting under the graceful shade of the wild tulip tree that
“everything that could hum, or buzz, or sing, or bloom, had a part” of her
education. She learnt that in nature nothing is useless; everything has a
purpose. Each and every object of nature has its contribution in educating her.
She counts so many things of nature like noisy throated frogs, katydids (a bush
cricket), crickets, etc. She held them in her hands and after sometime, they
forgot their fear. She also names some more objects of nature like downy
chickens and wild flowers, dog wood blossoms, meadow-violets and budding fruit
trees. She also felt the soft touch of the fiber and the small seeds of the
bursting cotton balls. She also felt the rustling sounds of the wind through
the corn stalks, the rustling through the silky leaves of some trees,
‘indignant snort’ of her pony when both of them caught him in the grassy
land and put some bit in his mouth. She remembers the spicy, clovey smell of
his breath. She means to say that she learnt the great lessons of life through
her senses mainly of smell and touch.
Sometimes she would wake up at dawn
and go secretly into the garden while the grass and flowers were laden (burdened)
with heavy dew drops. She narrates here that she had the wonderful feeling of
the joy of pressing the roses softly into her hand or having the feeling of
beautiful motion of the lilies when they swayed in the morning breeze.
Sometimes she felt the faint noise of
a pair of wings of an insect inside the flower in terror of being pressed when
she was enjoying the touch of the soft petals of some flowers.
Orchard
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| Peaches |
There was another place where she was
usually found and it was the orchard where the fruits ripened in early July.
Helen narrates here very beautifully how the large peaches would reach
themselves into her hands when the ‘joyous breezes’ passed through the trees
and the branches laden with the burden of fruit bowed (bent) down. The apples would
also fall down at the feet due to the blowing wind. |
| Branches Laden with Apples |
She felt the heavenly joy when she gathered
up the fruit in her pinafore (/ˈpɪn.ə.fɔːr/ a clothing like apron) and when she pressed “her cheeks
against the smooth cheeks of the apples” she that were still warm from the sun.
After that, she would go back home.
The apples would also fall down at
the feet due to the blowing wind. She also dug river beds all for fun. She did
not know at that time that she was learning a lesson. She listened to Miss
Sullivan’s descriptions of the round world with wonder.
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| Burning Mountains |
She also came to know
from her teacher about burning mountains, buried cities, moving rivers of ice
and many other strange things. She also raised maps in clay. The purpose was to
make her feel the mountain ridges, valleys and also follow with the touch of
her fingers the zigzag course of rivers. She liked that all but felt difficulty
in understanding the division of the earth into zones and poles (South Pole and
the North Pole). She still remembered how the poles were represented by orange
sticks.
She did not like to study
mathematics. She was not at all interested in the science of numbers. Her
teacher tried to teach her to count numbers by stringing beads into groups. She
learnt to add and subtract by kindergarten straws. She had very less patience
and so she never arranged more than five or six groups at a time. After
finishing it, she would feel relaxed and go at once to join her playmates. In
the same play-way method, she studied zoology and botany.
She had very less patience and so she never
arranged more than five or six groups at a time. After finishing it, she would
feel relaxed and go at once to join her playmates. In the same play-way method,
she studied zoology and botany.
These things proved to be the keys to
unlock the treasures of ancient world for her. She listened to her teacher’s
descriptions of the terrible beasts of different names, which, once, lived in
the primeval (ancient) forests breaking down the branches of huge trees for food and
died in the swamps on an unknown age. Those strange creatures haunted her
dreams for long time, and that gloomy period formed sad background to the
joyous, filled with sunshine roses and echoes with the gentle beat of her
pony’s hoof.
Another time, she was given a
beautiful shell by her teacher. She expressed delight and surprise when she
learnt how a small creature (mollusk) had built the lustrous (shining) coil for
his dwelling place (shelter/house). She also wondered as to how the Nautilus sails on the blue waters of the Indian ocean in his “ship of pearl” in the
absence of breeze. Then she learned a lot of interesting things of the children
living near the sea.
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| nautilus |
In this way, Helen’s teacher taught
her very much about the sea-life.
She was also taught how the growth of
a plant takes place. Once, a lily was brought and placed in a sunny window. The
she came to knows to how the green, pointed buds showed the signs of opening.
The opening process was rapid, but in order and in some system.
Once, she had a great fun to put her
hand into a bowl and feel the tadpoles frisk () about and to let them slip and
slide between her fingers.
Q1. How did Miss Sullivan teach
reading skill to Helen Keller?
Ans. As soon as she learnt some words to spell, Miss Sullivan gave her
some slips of cardboard on which a few words were printed in raised letters.
She at once understood that each printed word meant for some object an
action or a quality. She found the slips of papers which represented ‘doll’,
‘is’, ‘on’. ‘bed’. She placed each on its objects. Then she put her doll on the bed with the
words ‘is’, ‘on, ‘bed’ which she arranged beside the doll, thus making a sentence
out of the words. At the same time, she carried the idea with the things.
From the printed slip, it was a step
to the printed book. She took her book ‘Reader for Beginners’ and searched for
words. When she found them in the book, her joy was boundless. In this way, she
began to read.
Q2. How did she make Helen Keller
learn the lessons from Nature?
Ans. Miss Sullivan takes her out of doors perfectly in the sunlit woods
for studies. Helen says that all of her early lessons had been taught to her in
the close contact with nature. She still remembers the sweet fragrance of the
pine trees mixed with the perfume of wild grapes.
She learnt while sitting under the graceful
shade of the wild tulip tree that “everything that could hum, or buzz, or sing,
or bloom, had a part” of her education. She learnt that in nature nothing is
useless; everything has a purpose. She
learnt while sitting under the graceful shade of the wild tulip tree that
“everything that could hum, or buzz, or sing, or bloom, had a part” of her
education. She learnt that in nature nothing is useless; everything has a
purpose.
Each and every object of nature has
its contribution in educating her. She counts so many things of nature like
noisy throated frogs, katydids (a bush cricket), crickets, etc.
