The Silent Way

Background

• Created by Cleb Gattegno, this method is within the humanistic tradition as it views the inner self and self awareness as of crucial importance for the learning process.
• It is constructivist in nature, leading students to develop their own conceptual models of all the aspects of the language. The best way of achieving this is to help students to be experimental learners. The Silent Way allows this.

Aim

• To develop oral and aural familiarity with a basic practical knowledge of the language.

Syllabus

• Structural with a limited lexis and developed by the teacher during the coursed according to the learner´s needs.

Role of teacher

• Optimize the way students exchange their time for experience.


• The students are guided into using their inherent sense of what is coherent to develop their own "inner criteria" of what is right in the new language.


• He should create an environment that encourages risk taking.

Role of student

• The students express their thoughts and feelings about concrete situations created in the classroom by themselves or the teacher.


• They are responsible for their own learning and “hypothesis testing”, they have to work out things for themselves.

Evaluation

• Continuos assessment of the student´s performance.

Advantages

• The Student´s active engagement in the learning process allows for a better understanding and consolidation of the new information.

Disadvantages

• The student does not work with authentic material or speech.


• A great deal depends on the teacher´s ability to manipulate the situation especially as guide books for this approach are not generally available.

Characteristics

• The classes are based on grammatical structures and related vocabulary, with the teacher modelling the phrases or the sentences and eliciting a response from students.


• The teacher uses mime to help the students understand the meaning.


• Particularly important are the Cuisenare rods which are colored wooden rods. The students talk about these rods using verbs and vocabulary.

Procedures

• The class often begins with “Fidels” which are charts illustrating the English phonemes.


• The teacher shows the students a wooden rod and says “rod”. Together and the individually the students say the word “rod” when the teacher picks up the road. The students correct each other´s pronunciation.
  

Created by: Cesar Geovanny Alcocer Contreras