Silent Way: rods (part 1 of 3)

Some video of a Silent Way ESL course that took place in May 2009 in Tokyo. Here, Cuisenaire rods are introduced.

[@NickCooper74]

Truly a master at work in this video. Cheers.

[@mrjoby2000]

wow Don great implementation. this is a great way to show beginners that English language isn't really that hard to talk. gives 'em confidence. great work buddy. Thanks for the video

[@donaldecherry]

I suppose they would only use "a blue rod" in a conversation when the conversation involves a blue rod. I guess you are saying there are not a lot of conversations about blue rods. Yeah, that's probably true--not a real high frequency phrase. But since people are not parrots, and are capable of higher cognitive functioning, they will be able to take the work they do with rods (or anything else), and apply it to other situations. Rods can sometimes help students focus on how the language works.

[@samshumway8253]

Great video, Donald; thank you.

[@Alleykatukr]

teaching pronunciation is also important, the sounds 'r' and 'l' are difficult for many native Asians to learn.

[@horknew]

Blue my mind

[@AmyAlizon]

What possible communicative function does this achieve? When are students ever going to use 'a blue rod' in a conversation?

[@oguzhanozturk446]

:DDD

[@omerfarukkaya1633]

Meaning is focused not the discrete elements of language or structures (grammar , lexis). Main teaching philosophy underlying Silent Way is ' learning by discovery and problem solving'. So what he's doing here is not merely a repetition or parrot like learning (Behaviourism) but making them discover the rules of elements like pronunciation as it is demonstrated here.

[@johnlammergeier2890]

Why use rods, foam blocks are cheaper and lighter to carry?

[@Hiroshimadon]

I had exactly the same thought many many years ago, and in fact wrote a letter to a toy manufacturer asking if they'd be interested in making such foam rods. Never heard back, but in the meantime have not found it too arduous to carry around a box of rods. I do have some jumbo rods that I use with my large university class that would indeed be difficult to carry around, but I only need to lug them from my office across the hall to the classroom.

[@annehodgson]

Working hard on l and r here. Try saying " a blue rod and a brown rod" lots of times and you have a tongue twister ;)

[@annehodgson]

Hi Patrick, Sorry I missed your comment. It's obviously a drill, I do like the aspect of choral repetition, they're working on mouthing things, and I see they're engaged and with their teacher, but I'm not really sure I would want to do things like this. I'd sort of feel I was insulting their intelligence and making the ponmies dance, so to speak. They're not overtly working on ls and rs, and not getting feedback, either, so this is sort of through the back door. But then again, maybe it works. --- I recently tried to get my head around using cuisenaire rods and LEGO again for a webinar - Here are my slides: www.slideshare.net/annehodg/hands-on-36596464. I used to use them a lot when I was teaching at a private school for adults, where we had a lot of room and time and it felt right to have 'boxes of toys' on the shelves. I had a set of Taboo and Scrabble and lots of board games there, as well. In my current settings (in company, at university) I've moved away from them, and instead work a lot with pens and mini-whiteboards. Sometimes when I have a client who comes to my house I pull them out again.

[@AteChubz]

Donald E Cherry good morning