The silent way is a language teaching method developed by Caleb Gattegno in the 1970s. Its key principles are that learning is facilitated through discovery rather than repetition, using accompanying physical objects, and problem solving. The teacher's role is to design lessons and elicit student responses through gestures without speaking. Students are expected to learn independently and rely on each other by interacting and self-correcting. The process focuses students on language structures through minimal cues and practice without repetition. The teacher observes students closely and addresses any feelings that interfere with learning through feedback sessions.

1. Prepared by: Ettouhami Jilali Supervised by: Ms Tourya Saada
Rachida Rifaoui
Tell me and I forget
Teach me and I remember
Involve me and I learn

2. THE CONTENTS
- Background
- Principles
- Goals
- Role of the teacher
- Role of the student
- Characteristics of the teaching/learning process
- Nature of student/teacher interaction
- How are students’ feelings dealt with

3. THE BACKGROUND
 The silent way(SW), a method of language teaching, originated
in the early 1970s and introduced by Caleb Gattegno, who, a
European educator, is well known for the use of colored sticks
called cuisenaire rods and for his approach to the teaching of
initial reading in which sounds are taught by colors.

4. THE PRINCIPLES
 The central principle of the silent way is that teaching should be
subordinated to learning. The other main principles are:
 Learning is facilitated if the learner discovers or creates rather than
remembers and repeats what is to be learned
 Learning is facilitated by accompanying (mediating) physical objects
 Learning is facilitated by problem solving involving the material to be
learned.
(Richard and Rogers, 2001:81)

5.  Students should learn to rely on each other and themselves.
 Learning involves transferring what one knows to new contexts.
 Meaning is made clear by focussing students’ perceptions, not through
translations.
 If the teacher praises students, they will be less self-reliant.
 At the beginning the teacher needs to look for progress not perfection.
 The teacher can gain valuable information from students’ feedback.
 The skills of speaking, reading, and writing reinforce one another

6. THE GOALS OF THE SILENT WAY
 Students are able to use the language for self-expression.
 They need to develop independence from the teacher, to
develop their own criteria for correctness.
 They become independent by relying on themselves.
 The teacher should give them only what they absolutely need
to promote their learning.

7. THE ROLE OF THE TEACHER
 The teacher silently monitors learner’s interaction between each others.
 Responsible for designing teaching sequences and creating individual
lessons and lesson elements.
 Uses gestures, charts, and manipulates in order to elicit and shape
student’s response.
 The teacher’s job is to teach, to test and to get out of the way.
 Testing flows immediately.
 Teacher presents an item once.

8. THE ROLE OF THE LEARNER
 Expected to develop independence, autonomy and responsibility.
 Expected to interact with each other and suggest alternative for each other.
 Required to develop “inner criteria” for self-correctness.
 And to actively engage in exploring the language. No one can learn for
us, Gattegno would say; to learn is our own personal responsibility.
 A learner must be a teacher, a student, a part of support system, a problem
solver and also self evaluator.

9. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE
TEACHING/LEARNING PROCESS
 Students begin their study of the language through its basic building
blocks, its sounds.
 Sounds are introduced through a language-specific sound-color chart.
 Relying on what sounds students already know from their knowledge of
their native language, teachers lead their students to associate the sounds
of the target language with particular colors.
 Later, these same colors are used to help students learn the spellings that
correspond to the sounds and how to read and pronounce words properly.

10.  The teacher sets up situations that focus student attention on
the structures of the language.
 Situations typically involve only one structure at a time.
 With minimal spoken cues, the students are guided to produce
the structure.
 The teacher uses the students' errors as evidence of where the
language is unclear to students.
 The students receive a great deal of practice with a given target
language structure without repetition for its own sake.

11. THE NATURE OF TEACHER/STUDENT
INTERACTION
- the teacher is silent, he is still very active,
- setting up situations to 'force awareness,'
- listening attentively to students’ speech, and
- silently working with them on their production through the use
of nonverbal gestures and the tools he has available.
- When the teacher does speak, it is to give clues, not to model
the language.

12. HOW ARE THE STUDENTS’ FEELINGS DEALT
WITH?
 The teacher constantly observes the students.
 When their feelings interfere, the teacher tries to find ways for the students to
overcome them.
 Also, through feedback sessions at the end of lessons, students have an opportunity
to express how they feel.
 The teacher takes what they say into consideration and works with the students to
help them overcome negative feelings which might otherwise interfere with their
learning.
 Because students are encouraged throughout each lesson to cooperate with one
another, it is hoped that a relaxed, enjoyable learning environment will be created.