The Silent Way
• Tell me and I forget,
teach me and I remember,
involve me and I learn.
~Benjamin Franklin
Background
• Caleb Gattegno
• The premise
• The learning hypotheses
The 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.
Theory of learning
• A 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.
Independent learners
• Independent learners are aware that they
must depend on their own resources and
realize that they can use the knowledge of
their own language to open up some things in
a new language.
Autonomous learner
• Autonomous learners choose proper
expressions in a given set of circumstances
and situations.
Responsible learners
• Responsible learners know that they have free
will to choose among any set of linguistic
choices, the ability to choose intelligently and
carefully is said to be evidence of
responsibility.
The syllabus
•
•
•
•
•
Structural syllabus
Language items
The imperative
Numeration and prepositions of location
Vocabulary
Instructional materials
• Color-coded pronunciation charts
(Fidel charts)
• Color-coded vocabulary wall charts
• Colored rods
• A pointer
• Reading/writing exercises
Fidel charts
Word charts
Colored Rods
Types of learning & teaching activities
• The teacher models a word, phrase, or sentence and
then elicits learner responses.
• Learners then go on to create their own utterances by
putting together old and new information.
• Charts, rods, and other aids may be used to elicit learner
responses.
• Teacher modeling is minimal, although much of the
activity may be teacher directed.
The principles
•
Silence is a tool. It helps to foster autonomy, or
the exercise of initiative. The teacher should give
only what help is necessary.
• Students need to develop their own inner
criteria for correctness.
• Students should rely on each other and
themselves. The teacher’s silence encourages
group cooperation.
The teacher works with the students while the students
work on the language.The teacher is responsible for
creating an environment that encourages student risk
taking and that facilitating learning. He is a neutral
observer, neither pleased by correct performance nor
discouraged by error.
Errors are important and necessary to learning. They
show the teacher where things are unclear.
At the beginning, the teacher needs to look for progress,
not perfection. Learning takes place in time. Students
learn at different rates.
•
Students should receive a great deal without
repetition.
•
The elements of the language are introduced
logically, expanding upon what students already
know.
The teacher can gain valuable information from
student feedback. Students learn how to accept
responsibility for their own learning.
Some learning takes place naturally as we sleep.
Students will naturally work on the day’s lesson
then.
The syllabus is composed of linguistic
structures.
•
The skills of speaking, reading, and writing
reinforce one another.
The end