Lessons in Victorian times

Most lessons in Victorian times and at the beginning of the twentieth century  involved the teacher speaking and the children listening and writing down what the teacher said. Children had to learn a lot of things by heart. They would often answer a teacher's questions by chanting together what they had learnt. 

A scholarship exam - English

Girls who wanted a scholarship place, that is a free place, at Manchester High School for Girls had to pass an entrance exam. This is the English part of the entrance exam. You can see from the exam paper that they were expected to know a lot of detailed information. In English lessons they learnt about English grammar. They had to learn to identify different parts of speech such as nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives. Although the exam dates from 1915, it is similar to the kind of exam taken by children in Victorian times. The girls would have been about 11 years old when they took this exam.

Manchester High School for Girls   Junior Scholarship Examination 1915   ENGLISH GRAMMAR AND COMPOSITION   1) Write a composition on ONE of the following:  my doll's house;  a wet day;  a story of the present war.   2) Choose TWO of the following books that you have read and give a short account of each:  Peter Pan;  Little Women;  Hereward the Wake;  The Water Babies;  Robinson Crusoe;  The Just-So Stories.   3) Identify the parts of speech of the following underlined words: a)  The moon was already shining. b)  The young man who had wondered from the path heard a rustling sound. c)  When she came back, her friends had all gone   4) Re-write the following conversation as a conversation beginning each speech on a new line with the name of the speaker before it: Pandora wondered what could be in the box. She thought  the carving was very beautiful and would have like to have tried to undo the cord that was tied with such a curious knot.. Epimetheus reminded her that the messenger had said that they were to guard the box carefully and on no account to open it. Pandora did not think that it would do any harm to open it a very little to take a look inside.   5) Explain the meaning of each of the following:  a)  a stitch in time saves nine;  b)  make hay while the sun shines;  c)  a burnt child fears the fire;  d) people who live in glasshouses shouldn't throw stones.

Tasks

In question 1 the girls could write about a doll's house. If you had to set an exam for a girl taking the exam today, what toy would you ask her to write about which you think would be representative of your own time?

In question 2 the girls were asked to write about a book which they have read. The books which are named would have been read by many children in Victorian times. If you had to set an exam for children taking the exam now, which books would you ask them to write about which you think would be representative of your own time?

In question 4 the girls were asked to rewrite the passage as a conversation. Can you do this?

What name is given to the type of phrases in question 5? Explain what they mean?