Of the branches and duration of the studies Art. 4. Education in the normal school shall comprise the following branches: 1. Religion, morals, and sacred history. 2. Theory and practice of reading. 3. Theory and practice of writing. 4. An extensive knowledge of the Castilian language with exercises in analysis, composition, and orthography. 5. Arithmetic, to ratio and proportion, elevation to powers, and extraction of roots, inclusive, together with the decimal metric system with its equivalent of local weights and measures. 6. Principles of Spanish geography and history. 7. Idem of Geometry. 8. Common acquaintance with physical and natural sciences. 9. Ideas of practical agriculture with reference to the cultivation of the products of the country. 10. Rules of courtesy. 11. Lessons in vocal and organ music. 12. Elements of pedagogy. Art. 5. During the sessions of the normal school, the teachers shall speak only the Castilian language, and the scholars shall hold their classes and other literary acts in the same language. They shall be strictly prohibited from expressing themselves in any other language, even in their daily recreations and common intercourse within the precincts of the institution. Art. 6. The studies mentioned in article 4 shall run for three years, and during the six months of the last term [curso], the scholars shall have practical exercise in teaching, by teaching in the classes of the primary school annexed to the normal school, which is established by article 3. Scholars shall not pass from one course to another without proving their efficiency in the general examinations, which shall be held at the end of each year. During the first four years of the installation of the school the studies shall be completed in two years. Art. 7. The scholars of the normal school who shall have completed the courses of their studies and shall have obtained by their good deportment, application and knowledge, the mark of excellent [sobresaliente] in the final examinations for the three consecutive years shall receive a teacher's certificate, in which shall be expressed their creditable mark, and they shall be empowered to teach schools of ascenso. Those who shall not have obtained the mark of excellent, but that of good [bueno], or fair [regular] in the above-mentioned examinations, shall also receive a teacher's certificate with their corresponding mark expressed therein and they shall be able to teach schools of entrada. Finally, those who shall have failed in said examinations, if after they shall have repeated the exercise, shall have merited approval, shall only receive certificates as assistant teachers.