This article is about the language-teaching approach. For the jazz album, see In a Silent Way.
The Silent Way is a language-teaching approach created by Caleb Gattegno that makes extensive use of silence as a teaching method. Gattegno introduced the method in 1963, in his book Teaching Foreign Languages in Schools: The Silent Way.[1] Gattegno was critical of mainstream language education at the time, and he based the method on his general theories of education rather than on existing language pedagogy. It is usually regarded as an "alternative" language-teaching method; Cook groups it under "other styles",[2] Richards groups it under "alternative approaches and methods"[3] and Jin & Cortazzi group it under "Humanistic or Alternative Approaches".[4]
The method emphasizes learner autonomy and active student participation. Silence is used as a tool to achieve this goal; the teacher uses a mixture of silence and gestures to focus students' attention, to elicit responses from them, and to encourage them to correct their own errors. Pronunciation is seen as fundamental to the method, with a great deal of time spent on it each lesson. The Silent Way uses a structural syllabus and concentrates on teaching a small number of functional and versatile words. Translation and rote repetition are avoided, and the language is usually practiced in meaningful contexts. Evaluation is carried out by observation, and the teacher may never set a formal test.
One of the hallmarks of the Silent Way is the use of Cuisenaire rods, which can be used for anything from introducing simple commands ("Take two red rods and give them to her.") to representing objects such as clocks and floor plans. The method also draws on color associations to help teach pronunciation; there is a sound-color chart which is used to teach the language sounds, colored word charts which are used for work on sentences, and colored Fidel charts which are used to teach spelling. While the Silent Way is not widely used in its original form, its ideas have been influential, especially in the teaching of pronunciation.
The SilentWay is a language-teaching approach created by Caleb Gattegno that makes extensive use of silence as a teaching method. Gattegno introduced...
In a SilentWay is a studio album by the American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Miles Davis, released on July 30, 1969, on Columbia Records...
The Complete In a SilentWay Sessions is a three-disc box set by trumpeter Miles Davis released by Columbia/Legacy, (Mosaic Records in conjunction with...
McLaughlin. This period, beginning with Davis's 1969 studio album In a SilentWay and concluding with the 1975 concert recording Agharta, was the most controversial...
also become popular in language-teaching classrooms, particularly The SilentWay. They can be used: to demonstrate most grammatical structures such as...
the series, Silent Hill, Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill 3, and Silent Hill 4: The Room, were developed by an internal group called Team Silent, a development...
he had featured on his previous record, the critically acclaimed In a SilentWay (1969). With these instruments, such as the electric piano and guitar...
Quintet”, although all except Carter would play on his next album, In A SilentWay. During the September sessions, Holland played acoustic double bass and...
the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival. Entitled In a SilentWay, filmed before Mark Hollis' death and without the participation of the...
A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion...
Williams Lifetime, staying on with Davis to record the groundbreaking In a SilentWay. Davis would continue his innovations into jazz fusion with the album...
The Silent Generation, also known as the Traditionalist Generation, is the Western demographic cohort following the Greatest Generation and preceding the...
Silent Hill 2 is a 2001 survival horror game developed by Team Silent, a group in Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo, and published by Konami. The game...
Forever albums. After playing on Miles Davis's jazz-fusion albums In a SilentWay (1969) and Bitches Brew (1970), Corea formed an avant-garde jazz band...
Jay and Silent Bob are fictional characters portrayed by American actors Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith, respectively. They appear in the View Askewniverse...
Silent Spring is an environmental science book by Rachel Carson. Published on September 27, 1962, the book documented the environmental harm caused by...
category. The SilentWay is a discovery learning approach, invented by Caleb Gattegno in the late 1950s. The teacher is largely silent, giving more space...
Macero's work on In a SilentWay in a 2003 Stylus Magazine article: Behind the scenes, Miles and Teo took the tapes of the In a SilentWay sessions and transformed...
Silent Witness is a British crime drama television series produced by the BBC, which focuses on a team of forensic pathology experts and their investigations...
'" At the end of the decade Zawinul recorded with Miles Davis on In a SilentWay and Bitches Brew, as Davis was establishing the genre of jazz fusion,...
Too Easily", tracks from his fusion studio albums Bitches Brew and In A SilentWay. The live performances were heavily edited by producer Teo Macero, and...
sophisticated and more commercial than jazz. Davis's 1969 album In a SilentWay is considered his first fusion album. Composed of two side-long improvised...
learning mathematics (Visible & Tangible Math), foreign languages (The SilentWay) and reading (Words in Color). Gattegno also developed pedagogical materials...