1. The Silent Way Tell me and I forget, Teach me and I remember,Involve me and I learn. Benjamin Franklin
2. IntroductionThe silent way(SW), a method oflanguage teaching, originatedin the early 1970s andintroduced by Caleb Gattegno,who, an Europe educator, iswell known for the use ofcolored sticks called Cuisenairerods and for his approach tothe teaching of initial reading inwhich sounds are taught bycolors.
3. Basic Premises for SW The method is based on the premise that teacher should be silent as much as possible and the learners should be encouraged to produce language as much as possible. The SW assumes that learners work with resources and nothing else, as they are solely responsible for what they learn. “Teaching should be subordinated to learning.” Silence makes students to concentrate on what is to be learned.
4. Learning Hypotheses Learning is facilitated if the learner discovers or creates rather than remembers and repeats what is to be learned. Learning is facilitated by accompanying (mediating) physical objects. Learning is facilitated by problem solving involving the material to be learned.
5. Theory of LearningA successful learning involves commitment of the self to language acquisition through the use of silent awareness and then active trial. Silent Way learners acquire “inner criteria”. The Silent Way student is expected to become independent, autonomous and responsible. 1 the possession or right of self- government. 2 freedom of action.
6. The Silent Way student•Independent learners Autonomous •Responsible learners are aware that they Learners know that they have must depend on their free will to choose own resources and •Autonomous learners among any set of realize that they can choose proper linguistic choices, the use the knowledge of expressions in a given ability to choose their own language to set of circumstances intelligently andopen up some things in and situations. carefully is said to be a new language. evidence of responsibility. Independent Responsible Learners Learners
7. Pedagogical materials thatare both effective and fun to use :
8. 1. Word ChartWall charts on which the words arewritten with the same color code asthe rectangle chart. These chartsdisplay the structural vocabulary ofthe language: about 500 words. Thecolor code means that languages asdifferent as Japanese and Russian,which use signs unfamiliar to thelearner, can be immediately readand pronounced correctly.
9. 2. The FidelThese show all the possible spellings for eachphoneme and which also use the samecolor code as the rectangle chart. The Fidelis particularly useful for languages such asEnglish and French, which have complexand irregular spellings.
10. 3. Cuisenaire RodRos are used to createclear and visiblesituations that enablestudents to understandhow a given concept isexpressed in thelanguage.
11. 4. A pointer The teacher or the learner can show a word or a sentence while maintaining the essential characteristic of language - its ephemeral nature. The pointer creates the dynamic of the language by introducing the element of time in relation to the different charts, which are in themselves, static. The use of the pointer is one of the ways in which the teacher calls on the learners to use their mental powers.
12. 5. The Sound / Color Rectangle ChartA wall chart made up ofdifferent colored rectangles;each color represents aphoneme (sound) of thelanguage, enabling learners towork on fine distinctions in thephonetics and prosody of thelanguage, both on the level ofproduction and of listening andrecognition.
13. Objectives of Learning The general goal set for language learning is near-native fluency in the target language, and correct pronunciation and mastery of the prosodic elements of the target language are emphasized. The teacher should give them only what they absolutely need to promote their learning. They become independent by relying on themselves.
14. The SyllabusA basically structural syllabus, with lessons planned around grammatical items and related vocabulary. The following is a section of a Peace Corps Silent Way Syllabus for the first ten hours of instruction in Thai. It is used to teach American Peace Corps volunteers being trained to teach in Thailand. At least 15 minutes of every hour of instruction would be spent on pronunciation. A word that is italicised can be substituted for by another word having the same function.
15. Lesson Vocabulary wood, red, green, yellow, brown, pink,1. Wood colour red. white, orange, black, colour2. Using the numbers 1—10 one, two,... ten3. Wood colour red two pieces. take (pick up)4. Take (pick up) wood colour red two give, object pronounspieces5. Take wood colour red two pieces hive where, on, under, near, far, over, nexthim to, here, there
16. Question-forming rules. Yes.6. Wood red where? Wood red on table. No.7. Wood colour red on table, is it? Yes, on. Not adjectives of comparisonon.8. Wood colour red long. Wood colour greenlonger. Wood colour orange longest.9. Wood colour green taller. Wood colour red isit?10. Review. Students use structures taught innew situations, such as comparing the heights ofstu-dents in the class.(Joel Wiskin, Personal Communication)
17. Types of learning and teaching activities.Learner rolesTeacher rolesThe role of instructional materials
18. Learner roles Learners are expected to develop independence, autonomy, and responsibility. The autonomous learner chooses proper expressions in a given set of circumstances and situations. The absence of correction and repeated modeling from the teacher requires the students to develop "inner criteria" and to correct themselves.
19. Learners have only themselves as individuals and the group to rely on, and so must learn to work cooperatively rather than competitively.A learner also must be a teacher, a student, part of a support system, a problem solver, and a self- evaluator.
20. Teacher roles The teacher is a technician or an engineer who facilitates learning. The teachers role is one of neutral observer, neither praise nor criticize, merely looks for continued improvement. The teacher is silent. The teachers presence in the classroom is limited to providing a model of the language that the students are going to work on.
21. Stevick defines the Silent Way teachers tasks as to teach: the presentation of an item once, typically using nonverbal clues to get across meanings to test: elicitation and shaping of student production is done in as silent a way as possible to get out of the way: the teacher silently monitors learners interactions with each other and may even leave the room while learners struggle with their new linguistic tools
22. Teacher silently monitors learners interactions with each other and may even leave the room while learners struggle with their new linguistic tools. Teachers are responsible for designing teaching sequences and creating individual lessons and lesson elements. It is important for teacher-defined learning goals that are clear and attainable.
23. The teacher is responsible for creating an environment that encourages student risk taking and that facilitates learning. The teacher uses gestures, charts, and manipulates in order to elicit and shape student responses and so must be both facile and creative . Teacher like the complete dramatist, writes the script, chooses the props, sets the mood, models the action, designates the players, and is critic for the performance.
24. The role of instructional materials The materials are used to illustrate the relationships between sound and meaning in the target language. The materials are designed for manipulation by the students and the teacher, independently and cooperatively, in promoting language learning by direct association. The number of languages and contain symbols in the target language for all of the vowel and consonant sounds of the language. The symbols are colour coded according to pronunciation; thus, if a language possesses two different symbols for the same sound, they will be coloured alike.
25. The coloured cuisenaire rods are used to directly link words and structures with their meanings in the target language, thereby avoiding translation into the native language. The rods may be used for naming colours, for size comparisons, to represent people build floor plans, constitute a road map, and so on. Use of the rods is intended to promote inventiveness, creativity, and interest in forming communicative utterances on the part of the students, as they move from simple to more complex structures. When the teacher or student has difficulty expressing a desired word or concept, the rods can be supplemented by referring to the Fidel charts, or to the third major visual aid used in the Silent Way, the vocabulary charts.
26. The content of word charts will vary fromlanguage to language, but the generalcontent of the vocabulary charts (Gattegno1972) is paraphrased below: Chart 1: the word rod, colours of the rods, plural markers, simple imperative verbs, personal pronouns, some adjectives and question words Charts 2, 3: remaining pronouns, words for "here" and "there," of, for, and name Chart 4: numbers
27. Charts 5, 6: words illustrating size, space, and temporal relationships, as well as some concepts difficult to illustrate with rods, such as order, causality, condition, similarity and difference Chart 7: words that qualify, such as adverbs Charts 8, 9: verbs, with cultural references where possible Chart 10: family relationships Charts 11, 12: words expressing time, calendar elements, seasons, days, week, month,year, etc.
28. Other materials: books and worksheets for practicing reading and writing skills, picture books, tapes; videotapes, films and visual aids.
29. Procedure of Learning The first part of the lesson focuses on pronunciation. If a response is incorrect, the teac