Silent Way Essay

4111 Words17 Pages
Este material es proporcionado al alumno con fines educativos, para la crítica y la investigación respetando la reglamentación en materia de derechos de autor. Este ejemplar no tiene costo alguno. El uso indebido de este ejemplar es responsabilidad del alumno. Reading # 11 ~ i c h a r d i ; ~ . and Rodgen, T S Ao~roaches Methods in lanpaee teachuie C U P , p p 9 C. and 1 1-2 7 The Silent Way Background The Silent Way is the name of a method of language teaching devised by Caleb Gattegno. Gattegno's name is well known for his revival o f interest in the use of colored wooden sticks called cuisenaire rods and for his series Words in Color, aii appro3ch to the teaching of initial reading in which sounds are coded hy specific colors. His materials are copyrighted and marketed through nn organization he operates called Educational Solutions Inc., in New York. The Silent Way represents Gattegno's venture into the field'of foreign language teaching. It is based on the premise that the teacher should be silent as much as possible in the classroom and the learner should be encouraged to produce as much language as possible. Elements of the Silent Way, particularly the use of color charts and the colored cuisenaire rods, grew out of Gattegno's previous experience as an edu;ational designer of reading and mathernatics programs. (Cuisenaire rods were fir.st developed by Georges Cuisenaire, a European educator who used them for the teaching of math. Gattegno had obsewed Cuisenaire and this gave him the idea for their language teaching.) use i n ~ The Silent Way shares a great deal with other learning theories and educational philosophies. Very broadly put, the learning hypotheses underlying Gattegno's work could be stated as follows: 1. Learning is facilitated if the learner discovers or creates rather rhan re- members and repeats what is to be learned. 2. Learning
Open Document