Silent Way ESL class

A short bit from a Silent Way ESL class taught in Tokyo May 2009

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Silent Way
• Gattegno
• ESL
• Teaching approach

[ivankinsman]

Interesting video on this method but the word chart needs to be shown clearly to viewers so we can see what is written on it.

[donaldecherry]

@ivankinsman

I agree. I have uploaded a video of slightly better quality. Unfortunately, I did not take very good video to begin with, so . . .

[donaldecherry]

@akuaku88 Comment accidentally removed. Sorry.

[donaldecherry]

@manilaenglish Sorry for removing the comment here! It was a mistake, and YouTube does not allow for replacing the comments.

[donaldecherry]

@Blueaspen391 Sorry Blueaspen. I accidentally removed your comment.

[manilaenglish]

@Blueaspen391 Anyways. Sorry I was aggressive. It's a personal flaw.

Of course, listening is very important in learning a language (although it can be overcome through proper training via other channels as I said, which is why having a hearing difficulty doesn't automatically doom a hearing impaired person to poor language development).

The student will need instruction in other ways as well. The audio cortex which is responsible for sound recognition can be isolated by the dictation method.

[manilaenglish]

Speaking is a motor response just like listening and reading. Think of each area as having a "muscle memory" and what you're doing is isolating and exercising that muscle associated with speech. Since the silent method requires learners to recall and don't receive correction when wrong unless absolutely necessary, it strengthens those parts of our brain which are responsible for speech.

[manilaenglish]

@Blueaspen391 You asked why the silent way works or why the teacher using the silent way doesn't speak. I explained it to you but you didn't understand my explanation. Either you lack vocabulary or you like a scientific background. Perhaps the latter. Anyways, I already explained that learning a language requires multiple types of interactions which means multiple study methods are required. The silent way works because it isolates the vocal motor cortex and pre-motor language area for speech.