10.The teacher sits down at the table and is silent. After a minute’ a girl points to a rod and says, ‘A rod .’
Silence is a tool. It helps to foster autonomy, or the exercise of initiative. It also removes the teacher from the center of attention so he can listen to and work with students. The teacher speaks, but only when necessary . Otherwise, the teacher gets out of the way so that it is the students who receive the practice in using the language.