The Silent Way is a language teaching method where the teacher is mostly silent during lessons. It uses colored rods and charts to teach pronunciation and vocabulary without translation. Learners discover the language through problem-solving activities while the teacher facilitates and ensures learners produce the target language. The goal is near-native fluency through inductive learning that starts from what students already know.

1. THE SILENT WAY
One pulls, and then the other, neither pushes, and
neither could work alone, but cutting comes only when
the blade is moving toward the learner

2. Karadeniz Technical University
Department of English Language and Literature
Ahmet Mesut ATEŞ
Mehmet KAMMAN
Samet KAYMAK

3. Methodology
• The Silent Way was originated by Dr. Caleb Gattegno
• It derives its name from the fact that the teacher conducting a
Silent Way class is silent for most of the time the learner
should be encouraged to produce as much language as
possible
• The Silent Way advocates that we start from what the student
knows. The teacher assists learners to use that knowledge in
the target language, and then the teacher can continue
putting together sounds to make a name word
• 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
• The Silent Way claims to facilitate what psychologists call
"learning to learn”

4. • Learning is facilitated only;
– if the learner discovers or creates rather than remembers
and repeats what is to be learned,
– by accompanying physical objects,
– 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
• The rods and the color-coded pronunciation charts provide
physical foci for student learning and also create memorable
images to facilitate student recall
Tell me and I forget,
Teach me and I remember
Involve me and I learn

5. Objectives
• General objective is to give beginning level students oral and
aural facility in basic elements of the target language
• The general goal is near-native fluency in the target language
and correct pronunciation
• An immediate objective is to provide the learner with a basic
practical knowledge of the grammar of the language
• Learners could be able to;
– Correctly and easily answer questions about themselves,
their education, their family, travel, and daily events –
practical knowledge and use of the target language;
– Speak with a good accent;
– Perform adequately in the following areas: spelling,
grammar (production rather than explanation), reading
comprehension, and writing

6. Materials
• The materials consist mainly of a set of colored rods, color-
coded pronunciation and vocabulary wall charts, a pointer
and reading/writing exercises
• The pronunciation charts, called "Fidels," have been devised
for a number of languages and contain symbols in the target
language for all of the vowel and consonant sounds of the
language
• The colored cuisenaire rods are used to directly link words
and structures with their meanings in the target language,
thereby avoiding translation into the native language
• The vocabulary or word charts are Iikewise color-coded here
are typically such charts containing 500 to 800 words in the
native language and script

7. Fidel Chart

8. Fidel color chart (left) and Fidel vocabulary chart (right)

9. Color rods or Legos as an acceptable replacement

10. Words are selected according to their ease of
application in teaching, their flexibility in
terms of generalization and use with other
words and their importance in illustrating
basic grammatical structures:
• Functional vocabulary: prepositions,
numbers, pronouns, quantifiers, words
dealing with temporal relations, and words
of comparison. These kinds of words are
referred to as the "functional vocabulary"
of a language because of their high utility.
Fidel Vocabulary chart
• Luxury vocabulary: words used in
communicating more specialized ideas,
such as political or philosophical opinions.
• Semi-luxury vocabulary: common
expressions in the daily life

11. Application
• Classes often begin by using Fidel charts in the native
language
• The first part of the lesson focuses on pronunciation
• Rods, pictures, objects, or situations are other aids used for
presentation in order to connect sounds and meanings
• L1 can be used to give instructions when necessary. Meaning
is made clear by focusing the student's perceptions, not by
translation
• The teacher models a word, phrase or sentence and then
elicits learner responses
• After modeling the utterance, the teacher will have a student
attempt to produce the utterance and will indicate its
acceptability

12. • If a response is incorrect, the teacher will attempt to reshape
the utterance or have another student present the correct
model
• Students are presented with the structural patterns of the
target language and learn the grammar rules of the language
through largely inductive processes
• Lessons follow a sequence based on grammatical complexity,
and one element presented at a time
• New lexical and structural material is meticulously broken
down into its elements
• A typical order would be like this: colors, numbers,
prepositions, daily activities, daily dialogues and so on
• Reading and writing are sometimes taught from the beginning
and students are given assignments to do outside the
classroom at their own pace

13. Stop Repeat
One word for each finger Speak louder

14. Learners’ Role
• The teacher is reluctant to repeat and that the student is
obliged to pay close attention
• Independent Learners must depend and use what they
already know
• Autonomous Learners choose proper expressions in a given
set of circumstances and situations
• Responsible Learners must have to ability to choose
intelligently
• Learners are expected to interact with each other and suggest
alternatives to each other, they must learn to work
cooperatively rather than competitively

15. Teacher’s Role
• The teacher is a technician or an engineer who facilitates
learning.
• The teacher's role is one of neutral observer.
• The teacher is silent. The teacher's presence in the classroom
is limited to providing a model of the language that the
students are going to work on.
• The teacher's tasks as:
– to teach: the presentation of an item once, typically using nonverbal
clues to get across meanings
– to test: elicitation and shaping of student production is done in as
silent a way as possible
– to get out of the way: the teacher silently monitors learners'
interactions with each other and may even leave the room while
learners struggle with their new linguistic tools

16. Teacher’s Role
• Sequence and timing are more important than in many kinds
of language teaching classes, and the teachers' sensitivity to
and management of them is critical.
• The teacher uses gestures, charts, and manipulatives in order
to elicit and shape student responses and so must be both
facile and creative

17. Advantages
• Silent Way learners acquire «inner criteria»
• Creates a correctly, adequately working inter-language
• The self-esteem of the students will be increased and this will
enhance learning
• Learners gain practical knowledge and use of the target
language
Disadvantages
• Method should be used in small groups of students
• The rigidity of the system may be meaningless.
• How successfully it might be used at more advanced levels is
questionable.
• Language is separated from its social context and taught
through artificial situations usually by rods

18. Works Cited
Abdur-Rashied, G. S. Teaching Techniques and Strategies in Foreign
Languages. Retrieved November 29, 2011
http://www.jsums.edu/fulbright/FLTA/Teaching_Techniques_and_Str
ategies_in_Foreign_Languages.ppt
Boran, G. Methods and Approaches in Language Teaching in Brief.
Retrieved November 29, 2011.
http://w3.gazi.edu.tr/web/gboran/iometodlari.htm
Pint, J., & Pint S. (2005). Discovering The Silent Way. Retrieved
November 29, 2011.
http://www.saudicaves.com/silentway/rods/eng-rods.htm
Richards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. (1999). Approaches and Methods in in
Language Teaching. NY:Cambridge University Press
Sidhakarya, I. The Silent Way Plus: The Search of a Method and
Curriculum. Retrieved November 29, 2011.
http://www.ialf.edu/bipa/march2002/silentway.html