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Teaching approaches: what is the silent way?

Hello, Having been a Silent Way teacher for over 30 years and observed many classes taught by other Silent Way teachers I'd like to make a few comments. Though I understand why it might appear that way from a brief observation of a near beginners class, the Silent Way is not really a structural approach because it is not the structures of the language which determine course content, it's what the learners themselves want to express that does. The structural patterns of the language are not usually presented or modelled by the teacher. The Cuisenaire rods can be used to present situations the meaning of which is clear but it is the students who decide what they want to about them. The teacher supplies only the element that is unknown. That is, the teacher will not say, in the situation described above, "Give her the green rod" just the word "her". In fact, the teacher doesn't usually say it herself, she points to it on the sound/colour rectangles chart or on the word charts and lets the students work out the new sentence. It's true that, for sake of clarity, many beginning classes focus around taking, giving and putting rods but each class creates its own sequence and quickly goes in different directions. I have used the Silent Way with all levels - with the higher levels I seldom use rods (or the charts) but the approach is the same: directing the students' attention to their problems and guiding them to find solutions themselves. The Silent Way is not limited to small groups: I've taught classes with as many as 50 students. People who are curious to know more might like to take a look at this page: http://www.uneeducationpourdemain.org/en/silent-way-en By the way, I'm always surprised when I read of Silent Way teachers as being "aloof". Have you seen Don Cherry's videos? Would you describe him as aloof here: http://youtu.be/jAUJ3aubKXc ? I'd be glad to answer questions. Glenys

Sun, 1 Jan 2012

5:16 pm