Beale, Dorothea, 1831-1906; Cheltenham Ladies' College -- History; Teachers -- England -- Biography
‘ ... The first step was to add to the Committee a number of
foreign members; eighteen were chosen, amongst whom were Mr.
Stanley and myself. Then, after arranging the order of the day,
we separated and formed ourselves into sections, each person
selecting the question which interested him most. In each
section a President and Vice-Presidents and a reporter were
elected. I was chosen a Vice-President of Section IV.[83] ...
‘I was told that we were to speak our own language, as was the
case at the Congress held at the Health Exhibition in London.
However, the general wish was at last complied with, that we
should all produce our thoughts in more or less foreign French,
and it was nearly always intelligible.
‘ ... One question (“The methods best adapted for the Secondary
Instruction of girls, specially as regards Modern Languages
and Science”) gave rise to a good deal of warm discussion.
We were surprised to find that less than two hours in a week
were given to a modern language in French schools for girls.
The importance of beginning very early was not generally
recognised. The English, specially Mr. Widgery and Miss Beale,
contributed a great deal to this part of the discussion,
insisting much on a truly scientific gymnastic of sound as
opposed to the haphazard mode of teaching pronunciation.’
The Misses Andrews who accompanied Miss Beale on this occasion were
impressed by the way she was received and heard. Her deafness did not
prevent her taking a part in the discussion, and speaking as she did in
a foreign tongue, she yet dominated her large international audience.
She showed extraordinary indifference to her own comfort. Miss Alice
Andrews remembers, for instance, a luncheon in the neighbourhood of the
Sorbonne, at a little restaurant to which they had been guided by some
acquaintance. Miss Beale and Miss Buss found themselves in the midst of
artists and students, some of whom carried on pronounced flirtations with
the waitress girls. Miss Beale sat calmly writing her speech for the next
meeting, indifferent to her déjeûner and unconscious of her surroundings.
The Congress of Secondary and Superior Instruction was followed by a
Congress of Primary Teachers, for which Miss Beale was induced to stay.
One day she addressed it:—
‘I said a few words on the work of teachers in enlarging the
sympathies and diminishing prejudice and enabling us therefore
to understand one another better.
‘It is the seen, the material, about which nations quarrel; it
is the unseen, that which belongs to the intellect, the spirit,
which unites us in a generous emulation, in which all are
gainers, for in such contests all may obtain the prize.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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