If You Give Me Three Days of Light: The Best Collection of Helen Keller

Chapter 50 Anne Sullivan's Letters (7)
She replied, "No, the pencil is too soft." I think her refusal to use a pencil was because she wanted to show that she had written so many penciled letters to friends and strangers that she didn't want to write any more.You know how those boys at the academy hate writing letters.Because writing a letter is a very slow process, moreover, they cannot read what they have written, so they cannot correct their writing mistakes and cannot improve from it.

Helen became more and more interested in colors.When I told her that the carnations they gave her were red, she pouted and said, "The lips are pink." After a while, I told her that Mildred's eyes were blue.She asked: "Aren't they like a pair of small skies?" Although she didn't fully understand these descriptions of colors, I always believed that she could see the colors and hear the sounds for a year and a half. During the time, she should have left a lot of fragmentary memories.In fact, what we see and hear will always remain in a corner of our minds. This kind of memory may be extremely vague and even difficult to recognize, but it always exists and affects us.

letter 33

Nov. 1888, 2

I was delighted to see the article about Helen in the National magazine last week.

Last night, we returned home.As enjoyable as the trip to Memphis was, I was exhausted along the way.Because throughout, you're going to be in a state of excitement all the time, going to rides, dinners, receptions, etc., all the time.And to keep a hungry and tireless child like Helen with her.She is always talking non-stop.Thanks to so many young people constantly interacting with her, I was able to breathe for a while.But even then, I didn't rest for more than half an hour.Because they always ask me, "Miss Sullivan, would you please explain to Helen what we said? We can't make her understand." Or "Oh, Miss Sullivan, please tell us what Helen said Meaning." I believe that half the white people in Memphis want to visit us.

People care too much for Helen like an angel, but fortunately, Helen doesn't have a strong self-awareness yet, nor does she have perfect communication skills.So it doesn't spoil her.

Helen said to me one day, "I've got to get Nancy a really nice hat." I said, "Great, we'll go to the store this afternoon." She had a silver dollar and a dime.When we got to the store, I asked her how much she was going to spend on Nancy's hat.She immediately replied, "I'll pay ten cents." "What do you want to do with that dollar?" I asked. "I want to buy some delicious sweets to take back to Tuscumbia," she replied.By the way, the stores in Memphis are pretty good, and I spent all the money I had with me.

We visited the Stock Exchange and boarded a steamboat.Helen was very interested in steamships, and she insisted that someone show her the various facilities on board, from the steam turbines to the flags on the flagpoles, she had to "look" carefully at everything.Captain Keller has had two interesting letters since the publication of my report.a letter from love

Dr. Edward Everett Hale.Dr. Hale claimed he was related to Helen,

He seemed very proud of having such a distant cousin.Another letter came from Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, in which Dr. Bell said many good things about me, saying that Helen's educational process was quite different from that of ordinary deaf people.

letter 34

Nov. 1888, 3

Yesterday, Miss Eve helped me make a list of the words Helen learned.When we listed the letter "P", we had summed up [-] words, which is very gratifying.I really didn't expect that she learned so many words.Because there are too many words, I really don't have time to finish the letter.

Beginning March 3, I asked Helen to keep a diary.I thought, maybe this is a pretty stupid approach, and I don't know how long she can last.Fortunately, she is somewhat interested in keeping a diary.She seemed to want to say everything she knew.You see this is what Helen wrote in her diary on Sunday:

"I got up, washed my face and hands, combed my hair, and had breakfast. After dinner I picked three dewy violets for the teacher, and after that I played with the doll for a while. Nancy got angry and cried Shouting and kicking. My book says there are a lot of big, ferocious animals. I don't like ferocious animals. Because to be ferocious is to be very angry, very strong, and very hungry. Then I had lunch. I really, really liked it Ice cream. After dinner, Dad took the train to Birmingham. I wrote to Uncle Mus who lives in Hot Springs. He is a doctor. A doctor can make a sick girl well. I don’t want to be sick. I also received a letter from Robert Letters. He loves me. He said, Dear Helen, Robert is delighted to hear from sweet, pretty little Helen. I will visit you when the sun is shining. Mrs. Newsome is Robert's wife .Robert is her husband.Robert and I can run and jump and dance and swim and we will talk about birds and flowers and trees and meadows and Jambo and Pearl will go with us.The teacher will say we both play Crazy. Mrs. Grievous is making little dresses for Natalie. Natalie is a good girl, she doesn't cry, she runs out with me. Mildred is always crying.

Thornton went to school and he got his face dirty.Boys have to be very careful.My teacher and I love Mr. Mayo, Mr. Faris and Mr. Grievous.I'm going to visit them in Memphis and they'll hug me and kiss me.After dinner, I played with the teacher on the bed.She buried me under a pile of pillows.Now, I'm going to bed.

Helen Keller"

letter 35

Nov. 1888, 4

I really hope you can see the touching scene today.Captain Keller said at the dinner table this morning that he wanted me to take Helen to church. He wanted the pastors to meet Helen, saying that the elders here are like one family with the parishioners.When we arrived at the church, we were catching up with the "Sunday School" lectures.The children were overjoyed.They no longer paid attention to the teacher's lectures, but left their seats one after another and surrounded us.Boys and girls, willing or not, Helen kissed them all.She also recognized several children among these children.

A pastor wanted me to ask Helen the following question: "What do pastors do?" She replied, "They read and speak aloud to make everyone a good person." The pastor also wrote down Helen's words in his notebook. .

She was still in a state of excitement when the service began, and it was next to impossible to quiet her now.I thought it best to take her away, but Captain Keller said, "No, she'll be fine." So I just had to wait and see.She hugged and kissed me, and sitting across from her was the serene pastor.

He took out his pocket watch for Helen to play with, but it didn't calm her down.She wanted to show the pocket watch to a little boy in the back row.After a while the communion service began, and obviously, she smelled the wine.She twitched her nose so loudly that everyone in the church could hear it.When the glass was passed to our neighbor, that person had to stand up in case Helen snatched it away.Towards the end, I hurriedly urged Helen to get out of here, but she stretched her arms as she walked, and as a result, the back hem of every dress she touched had to be twisted to get it right.Because Helen said that as many backswings as she touched, she would receive as many kisses.

Everyone laughed at Helen's antics.Later, when everyone left, you would find that people did not seem to leave from a church, but from an entertainment venue.I've never been so happy to leave a place that turned out to be a church!

At that time, Captain Keller invited several pastors to have lunch, and Helen insisted on joining in the fun.Describing the situation with the most vivid gestures, supplemented by spelling, she wanted to tell people what she would do if they were on Brewster's waterfront.Her movements are always so expressive that words cannot match.She is as graceful as a little angel.

First, she leaves the table and makes a gesture of picking up seaweed and shells.And, just enough to keep the water from splashing, she lifted up her skirt.Then, she sprawled on the floor in a strenuous swimming pose.So much so that we were all worried that we would be jolted off our chairs!
We talked about plans and dreams, and the topic was Boston or Boston.I wonder if time is as long for you as for me.Mrs. Keller has decided to come with us, but she won't be there all summer.

letter 36

Nov. 1888, 5

I haven't written to you for a long time, don't know if you realize it.The next time you receive a letter from me, you will find it in a yellow envelope.This is to tell you that we are almost in Boston.I'm so excited right now that I can't calm down to write a letter, but I must tell you about our trip to China-Cincinnati.

We had a wonderful week with the doctors here.In Memphis, we met Dr. Keller.We later found out that almost everyone on the train was a doctor, including several famous doctors from Boston, and Dr. Keller seemed to know all of them.When I arrived in Cincinnati, it became a doctor's world.

We lodged at the Burnett Hotel.Everyone had a great time with Helen.All well-informed gentlemen were amazed at Helen's intelligence and optimism.One gentleman even said to Dr. Keller, "Damn me! What more could I ask for? I'd give everything I have if I had a girl like that around me." People and things are full of curious qualities, which makes her something attractive.

Wherever she goes, she will be the center of attention.She hugs and kisses everyone she touches.She also "hooked up" with the hotel band, dancing around the room whenever the music played.Her cheerful spirit touched all, and no one seemed to feel pity for her.

Unfortunately, I don't have time to recount all the compliments people have said, enough to fill a thick book.Dr. Keller later distributed the abstracts of that "report"—the one that Mr. Ananos sent me.If there were enough, I think he'd send out a thousand reports.

Do you remember that Dr. Gaselon who was Governor of Maine a few years ago?Just one afternoon, he took us for a drive, and he wanted to buy Helen a doll.But Helen said: "I don't like having so many children, Nancy will get sick, Ada is so disobedient, and Adeline will lose her temper." Seeing her serious face, we laughed until we shed tears Out.The Doctor asked, "So, what would you like?" She replied, "Some pretty talking gloves." The Doctor had never heard of "talking gloves" and was puzzled.So I explained to him that Helen had seen a glove with the alphabet printed on it, and she thought it could 'talk'.I told the doctor that if he wanted he could buy gloves for Helen and I would stamp the alphabet on them.

We had lunch with Sayer, the former pastor of your church.He asked how I had taught Helen abstract nouns like "goodness" and "happiness," as well as adjectives.I've actually been asked this question a hundred times, and it seems odd that people are surprised by such a simple question.Why do you say that?It seems to me that a concept can be taught as easily as the name of an object if there is a clear and complete (instinctive) consciousness in the child's mind.

In fact, the process of teaching words is an extremely difficult job if those instincts are not present in the child's mind.That is, if a person's experience and observation cannot lead him to those concepts - small (small), large (1arge), good (good), bad (bad), sweet (sweet) , sour (sour) - then he can't find the words corresponding to each other, and he can't understand these words.

So, my answer to this question is this: If you give a child some candy, he will smack his lips and taste the sweetness, then he will look happy, and he will have a very definite feeling.If this experience is repeated many times, then he will know that this is the taste of candy, and when he hears the word "candy" in the future, or someone spells it in his hand, he will Immediately associate the image of the word with how you feel.In the same way, if you put a small piece of lemon on his tongue, he will feel too sour and spit out the lemon.After he's had this a few times, if you say lemons to him again, he'll close his lips and make a face, telling you that he knows that lemons are unpleasant.If you label this feeling "sour" now, he will automatically accept the image conveyed by this label.If you use "black" and "white" to express these two feelings, he will also readily accept it.In this way, he will take the feelings of "sweet" and "sour" as "black" and "white".

That's it, children will match the various experiences they have learned with their own feelings one by one, so we will tell him the names of these feelings, such as: rough, happy, sad (sad), good (good), bad (bad), gentle (gentle).In fact, this is not only a process of teaching words, but also a process of developing children's sensory experience.

letter 37

We visited a primary school for the deaf, where we were warmly received, and Helen was very excited to see these little friends.There are two teachers in the school who know the sign language alphabet, and they can talk to Helen without an interpreter.They were very surprised by Helen's language skills.According to them, although some children have received language training for two or three years, none of the children in this school have Helen's ability.

At first I was skeptical of their claims, but after watching these children for hours, I finally believed that they were telling the truth.I might as well introduce the situation at that time.When we walked into the classroom, the children were all focused on Helen.A child grabbed my sleeve and said, "The girl is blind." At this time, the teacher wrote on the blackboard: "This girl's name is Helen. She can't hear, and she can't see. We are very sad." So I Asked: "Why did you write these sentences on the blackboard? If you introduce Helen directly to the children, wouldn't they understand?" The teacher said that it was for the purpose of making sentences. Next, several children Make a sentence standing in front of the blackboard in agony.

A little girl wrote: "I have a new dress, it is a beautiful dress. My mother makes me a beautiful new dress, I love my mother." A little boy with curly hair wrote: "I There is a big ball, I like to kick my big ball." Then, the teacher continued to make sentences with Helen as the topic.Then I asked her if the little girl who made the sentence with new clothes really liked her clothes. "No," she replied, "I don't think so, but it would be better for them to learn if they wrote about topics they cared about."

You see, the teaching process is so difficult and dull, my heart is aching, I feel sorry for these poor children.True, these children are much older than the babbling babies, but the method of learning is debatable.No one teaches a hearing child to say "I have a nice new dress" in the first place.

We need a natural and gradual way of expressing, otherwise their comprehension and language skills will not be significantly improved.After that, I saw the sentences written on the blackboard in every class.Of course, these sentences serve as a refresher on what has been learned previously, an explanation of some grammatical rules, and other forms of practice.But I would say that language learning should not be associated with school curriculum, with obscure rules of grammar, or with any method that is opposed to pleasure.

In fact, the classroom is not a place to teach language to young children, especially for deaf children.Deaf children should remain in an unconscious learning state like normal children, and we should allow them to use fingers, pencils, or the early syllable words "babbling".I don't think there is anything like these chalkboard exercises that overwhelm children's natural speaking instincts.This approach may be necessary at some point in the educational process, but it should not be the primary means of language acquisition.With the growth of intelligence, when they need to use those sentences, they will naturally say them.Having said that, I will definitely not develop the habit of criticizing other people's teaching methods at will.Maybe, the way I'm going is not necessarily correct.

(End of this chapter)