THE SILENT WAY METHOD

 Welcome Back :)

    Let's learn about THE SILENT WAY teaching method 

It is based on the idea that language learning can be enhanced in three main ways: 

discovery rather than teaching; 

problem-solving in the target language;

 the use of physical tools.

The Silent Way was founded in the early 1970s by the Egyptian mathematician and educator Caleb Gattegno.

There is a Basic Principle

"Teacher must be subordinated to learning"

This principle is related to the search for rules given to the student in the Cognitive Code Approach. 

And we also discussed other main principles of this method:

• Start with familiar sounds.
• Give help only if absolutely necessary. Allow students to use their own Knowledge of language learning.
•  Student attention to the teacher is important.
•  Errors are important and necessary for learning.
• Transfer what students know already to new ideas.
•  The teacher takes a back seat. The more you help- the less they learn. Praise is not helpful.
•  Progress is more important than perfection.
•  No homework, as learning continues while we sleep.

Some techniques used in this method are the following:

• Sound–Color Chart

The chart contains blocks of color, each one representing a sound in the target language. The teacher, and later the students, points to blocks of color on the chart to form syllables, words, and even sentences.

• Teacher’s Silence 

The teacher gives just as much help as is necessary and then is silent. Even in error correction, the teacher will only supply a verbal answer as a last resort.

Word chart: 

Contains functional vocabulary of English. It can be used for teaching and correction. There are basic words written. The chart will change as students progress.

Rods: 

The students can see by visualized context. Situations with rods can make the meaning clear, to connect the language with the meaning. Rods allow students to be creative and imaginative.

The fun part of this class was that the teacher gave us some rods to create a figure with the rods and then create sentences and a story, we worked in groups and at the end, we just share the story with the teacher using the rods.

 Here I shared some pictures from the class

To conclude, the silent way method is based on the premise that the teacher should be silent as much as possible in the classroom but the learner should be encouraged to produce as much language as possible.

Until next time 

With love, Kat