"Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn.

" Benjamin Franklin

Why do we call it The Silent Way? The most prominent characteristic of the method was that the teacher typically stayed "silent" most of the time, as part of his/her role as facilitator and stimulator, and thus the method's popular name. Language learning is usually seen as a problem solving activity to be engaged in by the students both independently and as a group, and the teacher needs to stay out of the way in the process as much as possible. Experiments conducted over 35 years led to the development of materials and techniques which made it possible for the teacher to say less and less, while students, using their own criteria, were saying more and more. Because of this feature it was decided to call it The Silent Way. What is The Silent Way? The Silent Way is an approach to learning languages developed by Dr. Caleb Gattegno (1911-1988). It is an advanced approach to teaching foreign languages that provides competence in oral and written speech through: game-like activities related teaching materials, and teaching techniques which subordinate teaching to learning

The materials, techniques and visual devices which Caleb Gattegno use, serve as associative mediators for student learning and recall.

The objective of The Silent Way: The general objective of the Silent Way is to give beginning level students oral and aural facility in basic elements of the target language. 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. An immediate objective is to provide the learner with a basic practical knowledge of the grammar of the language. This forms the basis for independent learning on the learner's part. The objective of The Silent Way is for students to work as independent language learners. The teacher speaks very little when using this method. The role of the teacher is to draw the learners' attention to the way that they are going about the act of learning. The teacher facilitates the students' discoveries and helps the students to gain insight into the functioning of the language. In order to use this method some specific materials are required. Teachers using the Silent Way want their students to become highly independent and experimental learners. Making errors is a natural part of the process and a key learning device, as it is a sign that students are testing out their hypotheses and arriving at various conclusions about the language through a trial and error style approach. The teacher tries to facilitate activities whereby the students discover for themselves the conceptual rules governing the language, rather than imitating or memorizing them. In addition to the idea that students become more autonomous learners and "develop their own inner criteria for correctness" (Larsen Freeman, 1986:62), another key objective was to encourage students to work as a group - to try and solve problems in the target language together. Based on these principles and using the techniques described below, it was hoped that students would eventually be able to actively use the language for self-expression, relating their thoughts, feelings and perceptions. Key Features: Richards and Rodgers (1986:99) describe the key theories underlying the Silent Way: (1) Learning is facilitated if the learner discovers or creates rather than remembers and repeats what is to be learned. (2) Learning is facilitated by accompanying (mediating) physical objects. (3) Learning is facilitated by problem-solving involving the material to be learned. The Silent Way views learning as a problem-solving, creative, discovering activity, in which the learner is a principal actor rather than a bench-bound listener. Caleb

Gattegno founded The Silent Way sharing many of the same essential principles as the cognitive code and making good use of the theories underlying discovery learning. Some of Cattegno's basic theories were that "teaching should be subordinated to learning" and "the teacher works with the student; the student works on the language". Gattegno's name is well known for his revival of interest in the use of coloured wooden sticks called Cuisenaire rods and for his series Words in Colour, an approach to the teaching of initial reading in which sounds are coded by specific colours. Language is seen as groups of sounds arbitrarily associated with specific meanings and organized into sentences or strings of meaningful units by grammar rules. Language is separated from its social context and taught through artificial situations, usually represented by rods. Lessons follow a sequence based on grammatical complexity, and new lexical and structural material is meticulously broken down into its elements, with one element presented at a time. The sentence is the basic unit of teaching, and the teacher focuses on prepositional meaning, rather than communicative value. Students are presented with the structural patterns of the target language and learn the grammar rules of the language through largely inductive processes.

A Sound/Color Wall Chart: made up of different color rectangles in which each color represents a phoneme or sound of the English language. This is a chart which color codes and groups all the phonemes present in the English language. The teacher refers students to a color-coded wall chart depicting individual sounds in the target language - students use this to point out and build words with correct pronunciation)

Teacher's Silence: (Teacher is generally silent, only giving help when it is absolutely necessary). Silence is considered the best vehicle for learning, because in silence students concentrate on the task to be accomplished and the potential means to its accomplishment.

Peer Correction: (Students encouraged to help each other in a cooperative and not competitive spirit) 4) Rods: Cuisinere Rods: (small rods of varying color and length) are typically used in this method to introduce vocabulary and syntax, along with colorful wall charts. Instruction in this method typically starts with sounds, the basic building blocks in any language. The teacher usually provides single words or short phrases to stimulate the students into refining their knowledge of the language with as little correction/feedback from the teacher as possible. (Rods are used to trigger meaning, and to introduce or actively practice language. They can symbolize whatever words are being taught and be manipulated directly or abstractly to create sentences) Advantages:

Self Correction Gestures: A teacher using this method of language instruction could devise a group of gestures signaling students to rethink their response. For example a teacher might hold his hands together and then bring them apart to signal that a vowel sound should be longer or that the word itself needs to be lengthened. A second signal might be having each finger on your hand representing a word in a sentence (first, second, third, etc.) to indicate the students need to attend to a trouble spot.

Word Wall Charts: words are written using the same color code as the sound/color wall chart suggests. These charts display the structural vocabulary of the language. (Words are depicted on charts, the sounds in each word corresponding in color to the Sound-Color Chart described above - students use this to build sentences)

Spelling Chart: This chart, also called the Fidel, shows the possible spellings for each phoneme. The colors correspond with the sound/color chart . They show

the possible spellings for each phoneme and they also use the same color code as the sound/color wall chart.

Structured Feedback: (Students are invited to make observations about the day's lesson and what they have learned) A pointer: should be used by the teacher to help guide the class as they vocalize the sounds. A pointer can also help to teach which syllable has the stress on it by tapping that syllable harder than the others. This aids in the development of proper pronunciation of words in the target language. Comments: Like almost all methods, this one has had its fair share of criticism. The method encourages the teacher to assume a distance that prevents him/her from providing direct guidance when at times such guidance would be helpful. It is criticized as being too focused on building structure, and misses out on cultural input through the language, and the silence of the teacher can prevent students from hearing many active models of correct usage that they may find useful. In trying to create a less teacher-orientated classroom, many say that the Silent Way goes too far to the opposite extreme. Other problems are a little more practical in nature. Getting together the "classic SW" prerequisite materials can take a lot of time and money - there is the soundcolor chart, 12 word charts each containing around 500 words, and 8 Fidel Charts for the English language alone. And don't forget the actual cuisinere rods as well! In order to maximize the learning potential of students using the Silent Way, teachers would have to be prepared to invest quite heavily in materials.