Mrs. MacDonald has continued to act as our ever-cheerful and efficient matron; Messrs. Jeannot, Bovey and de Beer have assisted in the running of the House. During the frist term, when Mr. Metcalf was overseas on leave, Mr. Blarney was in charge, and earned the respect and gratitude of the boys for his attention to their welfare. P.E.M. LANGUAGE LABORATORY Never in the school s history has there assembled such a posse, bevy, haggle ofeducationalists ason October 16th. Our guests included the Director 01 education. Inspectors, Principals, University Staff, Teachers, a representative ot the Rank Organisation and, not least, the British Consul-General.In between tea at 10 a.m., an excellent lunch at I p.m., and tea at 3.30 p.m. we were entertained by a series of talks and demonstrations, on educational matters gerierally, but on Language Laboratories and Reading Techniques especially, and the time passed all too quickly. It was a brilliantly hot day(N.B.two days later the year's seventh and worst snowstom was enveloping the country, and we at Botha's Hill froze in driving wind and icy rain). The Headmaster welcomed most cordially the very large gathenng, who had already spent some time examining the latest teaching machines in the Henderson Hall. He told of the great success of Language Laboratories overseas, and said that he looked forward to the day when these would be standard equipment in all high schools in the Province. He appealed the University's Department of Education and the Training Colleges to instal this equipment as soon as possible. The Minister ofEducation, Arts and Science, Senator J. de Klerk, had sent a message congratulating the school on the installation of the Laboratory. He said It would enable pupils to attune their ears to the rhythm and music of tne Arnkaans language, and give ample individual practice in it. In a message the Administrator of Natal, Mr. T. J. A. Gerdener,also pre sented his cOTgratulations,and said that this Laboratory was particularly significant in the Province of Natal, where the languages were more separated than elsewhere. Knowledge of each other's language had come to be regarded as one ot the iTiost poweri^ul agencies in breaking down the artificial barriers which had for so long forced South Africa's people into isolated and sectional camps. ^5' U. Biebuyck, Director of Education, amplified the views already ex- pressed, and said that the new technique promised to accelerate the learning of other languages,and broke down the idea that any other language than one's own was Joreip .Text-book teaching was notenough.Speaking ofthe manner in which French had been taught in England,as a foreign language(but which, under the new system, was fast becoming a really spoken language), he told ofa friend of his who had remernbered only one French sentencefrom his schooldays, and all his life had never had the opportunity to use it, much to his regret. 1 he sentence was La foudre a frappe le cornet de ma grandmfere"(the lightning has struck the eartrurnpet of my grandmother). He further emphasised the usefulness ofcomplete bi- or tri- lingualism. Mr. L. Proctor, senior lecturer at the Johannesburg College of Education, and chairman of the Language Laboratory Study Committee,said the eflicient teaching and learning of languages was of major national importance. Why,he 75
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