Anatomy of a Silent
Way Spanish Course
Presentation on March 30 at TESOL 2005,
San Antonio, Texas
by John and Susana Pint
The
presentation began with a half-hour videotape which John and Susana Pint made
for UCLA in 1979 at the request of EFL/ESL teachers wishing to see the effects
of Silent Way techniques used over an extended period of time. The video
follows several total beginners working on spoken and written Spanish during a
40-hour course and arriving at a good command of the language. It is hoped that
this video may benefit teacher-training courses which refer to the Silent Way
in their programs. The
video is now available as a DVD (see below).
Some of the
Silent Way techniques shown in the video were applied to the classroom
situations of ESL/EFL teachers:
SELF-CORRECTION
Be Silent!
Give the student a chance to make the correction. Fingers can be used to recreate a student’s sentence and indicate
a missing or incorrect word…or write the sentence and let the student try to
find the mistake.
GRAMMAR AND FUNCTION WORDS
The rods can be used for teaching we and she, this and that, my vs mine, where and who, is she, did she, could she, would she:
yes, everything a student needs for establishing an unshakeable base. Easiest
of all are the spatial prepositions.
For example, you can show the difference between in and on, on top
of vs on, between
vs among, on the end vs at the end, etc.
MEANINGFUL COMMUNICATION
·
Series of Actions - Have a student stand up, go to the door, open it, take someone’s
book, give it to someone else, etc.
While these activities are in progress, ask the student as well as class
members what he/she is doing. When the
student sits back down, ask “What did you do?”
Then ask someone else: “What did X do?”
·
The Construction Game – Build a very simple structure of rods
and ask the students to tell you how to build another, identical, one. Don’t
follow instructions until the students have made their sentences as correct and
as precise as possible. Later, use a
folder to hide one student’s building effort from the eyes of class members giving him or her
instructions.
WRITING
Restriction Games are used to stimulate students’
imaginations and to get a wide variety of solutions to the same challenge.
Examples:
·
Make a
sentence with took and ran (plus as many other words as you
like).
·
Complete
the sentences: (again, add as many
other words as you like)
o
…don’t
have much …
o
Did
Ali … yesterday?
·
Make a
sentence containing as many of the words on chart X as possible.
PRONUNCIATION AND READING
Silent Way Word Charts contain almost all the function words of a language, with
color coding to indicate pronunciation. Students can “see” the differences
between this and these, for example, and the teacher can point to other words
containing the vowel or consonant sounds giving them problems. Once beginning students feel sure of the
meanings and pronunciations of the words on one or two Word Charts, these can
be used as “landmarks” to conquer more and more of the language.
MASTERY OF VOCABULARY THROUGH SOCIAL
INTERACTION
In the
video we have seen a few examples of how the teacher, Susana Ibarra de Pint,
takes advantage of a spontaneously occurring situation to supply the students with
the expressions they need to talk about this subject in a new language. The
words supplied by the teacher are then put on home-made charts that go up on
the wall and are used in future word games, stories and other activities.
Because the Silent Way does not follow a text book or step-by-step program, the
teacher and students are free to make the most of the Unexpected, when it occurs in the classroom.
WHERE TO FIND IT:
VIDEO: Spanish
the Silent Way: 40 Hours in Retrospect
- DVD available from thepints@saudicaves.com
Spanish courses with Susana Groups or individuals, please contact
thepints@saudicaves.com Courses may be
arranged in the USA, Mexico or elsewhere.
Discovering the
Silent Way by John and Susana Pint:
accepted for publication by UNE EDUCATION POUR DEMAIN, Besançon, France.
Silent Way Rods, Charts and books by
Caleb Gattegno:
available from Educational Solutions, Inc., 99 University Place, 2nd Floor, New York, New York 10003-4555, phone:
(212) 674-2988, email edusol99@aol.com. Website:
http://members.aol.com/edusol99/silent_way_catalog.htm
Articles on teaching, learning, The Silent Way, Dr. Caleb Gattegno, etc. and this handout! Go to http://www.saudicaves.com/silentway/ and then follow the links!