41 "... the phonics method ..." "Phonics refers to an instructional method for teaching children to read English. Phonics involves teaching children to connect sounds with letters or groups of letters (e.g., that the sound k can be represented by ck, or ck spellings) and teaching them to blend the sounds of letters together to produce approximate pronunciations of unknown words" -- Reference Wikipedia.org back to 41) 42 "... brought in a set of the Encyclopedia Britannica" "The Encyclopædia Britannica is a general English-language encyclopaedia published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inca privately held company. The Britannica has a popular reputation for summarizing all of human knowledge. To further their education, many have devoted themselves to reading the entire Britannica, taking anywhere from three to 22 years to do so. When Fat'h Ali became the Shah of Persia in 1797, he was given a complete set of the Britannica's rd edition, which he read completely after this feat, he extended his royal title to include "Most Formidable Lord and Master of the Encyclopædia Britannica" Writer George Bernard Shaw claimed to have read the complete 9th edition except for the science articles—and Richard Evelyn Byrd took the Britannica as reading material for his five-month stay at the South Pole in 1934. The articles in the Britannica are aimed at educated adult readers, and written by a staff of 19 full-time editors and over 4,000 expert contributors. It is widely perceived as the most scholarly of encyclopaedias. Since the rd edition, the Britannica has enjoyed a popular and critical reputation for general excellence. On the release of the 14th edition, Time magazine dubbed the Britannica the "Patriarch of the Library. Ina related advertisement, naturalist William Beebe was quoted assaying that the Britannica was "beyond comparison because there is no competitor" References to the Britannica can be found throughout English literature, most notably in one of Arthur Conan Doyle's favorite Sherlock Holmes stories, "The Red-Headed League" -- Reference Wikipedia.org back to 42)