Invented by Caleb Cattegno

1. THE SILENT WAY
APPROACH
Amorella, Fantino
Belen, Olivares
Practice II

2. CALEB CATTEGNO
• An European educator.
• Best known for his innovative approaches to
teaching foreign languages.
• Inventor of The Silent Way Approach in the early
1970s.
• Well known for the use of colored sticks called
“Cuisinaire rods”.

3. THE SILENT WAY
APPROACH
• A method of language teaching, which employs
silence as a teaching technique.
• It is based on the premise that teacher should be
silent as much as possible and the learners should
be encouraged to produce language as much as
possible.

4. OBJECTIVE
• To emphasize learners´autonomy
and foster active students´
participation.

5. TECHNIQUES AND
MATERIALS
• SOUND AND COLOR CHART
- It consists of blocks of color,
with one color representing
one sound in the target
language.

6. EXPERIENCE
• The teacher and later the students, points to blocks
of colors on the chart to form syllables, words and
even sentences. The chart allows students to
produce sound combinations in the target language
avoiding repetition.

7. TECHNIQUES AND
MATERIALS
• WORD CHARTS
- The word charts contain the functional
vocabulary of the target language, and use
the same color scheme as the sound-color
chart. Each letter is colored in a way that
indicates its pronounciation.

8. EXPERIENCE
• The teacher points to words on the wall charts in a
sequence so that students can read aloud the
sentences they have spoken.

9. TECHNIQUES AND
MATERIALS
• FIDEL CHARTS
- They consist on a set of charts presenting all
the possible spellings of each sound of the
language using the same colour code as the
Sound /colour rectangle chart and Word
charts.

11. TECHNIQUES AND
MATERIALS
• CUISENAIRE RODS
- Rods are used to create clear and visible
situations that enable students to understand
how a given concept is expressed in the
language.

13. TECHNIQUES AND
MATERIALS
• TEACHER´S SILENCE
• PEER CORRECTION
• SELF- CORRECTION GESTURES
• STRUCTURED FEEDBACK

14. CONCLUSION
• LEARNER ROLES:
- To develop independence, autonomy and
responsability.
- Autonomous choices.
- “Inner Criteria”.
- Working cooperatively.
- Others (teacher, student, part of a support system,
problem solver, self-evaluator).

15. CONCLUSION
• TEACHER ROLES:
• Technician / engineer.
• Neutral observer.
• Silence (gestures and charts).

16. CONCLUSION
• This method exemplifies many of the
features that characterize more
traditional methods, such as Situational
Language Teaching and Audiolingualism.

17. “ Tell me and I forget,
Teach me and I
remember, Involve me
and I learn.”
Benjamin Franklin