The Silent Way, part 1a: Language is for expression (1)

Roslyn and Piers discuss the principles behind Gattegno's Silent Way. If you are a non-native speaker, you can slow down the audio by clicking on the 'settings' icon (gear wheel) and changing the speed to 0.75.
The full set of videos for this discussion is at: • The Silent Way, part 1...
The Created Playlists on the Duo Flumina channel are videos of other people's work within Gattegno's wider pedagogical approach.
Roslyn and Piers produce language learning materials and train teachers through www.pronsci.com
Roslyn's website has further information on Gattegno's approach and the Silent Way: www.roslyn-young.fr/
Piers's research on child speech development is summarised at sites.google.com/site/pmessum/

[@cusab69]

Ros and Piers, Delightful. Thank you. Bob Echter

[@RoslynYoungBouclans]

Thanks Bob.

[@cusab69]

Ros, Do you know of anyone who has published about Caleb Gattegno and Artificial Intelligence? Thank you, Bob PS. For email what address should I use for you?

[@nadiaivanova4082]

Thank you for putting this into words, Roselyn! This is exactly how I feel when I teach French or Russian using Silent way. I want students to have something to say, and then I am at their service to help them say it in the target language. That's it! Student at the centre. Also spot on regarding the mental images - as I grow older, I am thinking more and more about "What should I say to create the right mental image in the listener, what tone should I use, what words, etc.?" instead of just ex-pressing my Self.

[@CedricLefebvre]

This series of videos is absolutely brilliant! I teach French using the Silent Way approach myself and I'd say these videos are among the most relevant ones we can find on KZbin as of today. Thank you for making these discussions available!

[@migyferenpuebla]

This lady is a philosopher! She's touching on phenomenology. We can never "have" the mental object of the other. We express our own through language. We might have the intention that they have an understanding of our mental image/object, but they can never have it. It's distinct. Communication for her seems like the idea that we are sharing the same mental image, which we can't. We help through language others create their own mental images, but we need to express our own. We need to learn to express it through language, rather than pretend to have the same. It seems to me that we need to not just teach them a language, but focus on teaching them to express the truth of their experience, their "mental image".

[@RoslynYoungBouclans]

How right you are! Silent Way is about learning to express oneself. Communication may or may not happen, but that's beyond the speaker's responsibility. That relies on the listener's skill as a listener.

[@dungareee]

incredibly ressourceful and eye opening !

[@leeoleary3321]

Sounds fantastic. I cant wait to try it 😀

[@eisengrau]

Revealing!

[@helenxalil333]

Great

[@cathiemarvellous]

I find it interesting that in order to promote or explain a certain approach people feel it necessary to denigrate another method. I had not heard of the Silent Way until today, I taught TEFL approach for years and always began the week with "what did you do last weekend?" I never expected or encouraged my students to answer that in any way other than authentically, and I never knew a colleague to do otherwise.

[@RoslynYoungBouclans]

Hi Cathie. If you listen to that segment of the interview again you'll notice that I was describing a student joining my class who had spent 7 years learning English within a national school system, and also that I was not asking him the question; a fellow student was asking it. I have taught a lot of people with this background, and Robert's response was very common. In his school lessons, he would never have had a genuine exchange with a fellow pupil. Had I asked him the question, I am sure he would have tried to answer from his experience, as students did in your class, I am sure. I was not denigrating the work of TEFL teachers, many of whom do their best to keep classroom work as authentic as possible, handicapped though they are by course books which by construction don’t encourage genuine self-expression. I was being critical of the French school system's approach to teaching English, and I stand by that!

[@mariash8259]

As for me, it's really difficult to agree with the opinion that we're learning foreign languages to sort out our thoughts. It might be true if we speak about learning our first language, but noone would learn another language purely to think in it.

[@RoslynYoungBouclans]

Hi Maria. I learned French when I arrived in France at the age of 26. I've written books in both languages. I now use French to make sure, when I write in English, that it's as coherent as possible. When I write in French, I use English for the same purpose. We never know what people will use the language for, but we have to teach as if every student wants to learn the language well, for its own sake, and not simply to 'get the message across' when they speak.

[@nightingalex9754]

There are many reasons behind learning to speak a language, so why do you keep on complicating everything, and create those countless theories? Right now I am graduating from a university, and we were supposed to learn how to be teachers. Instead, we learned these useless theories. I still know nothing about being a teacher. University wasted my time.

[@RoslynYoungBouclans]

Theory is unavoidable: everything you do in the classroom depends on your idea of how people learn in general, and how they learn languages. Every teacher has theories about these two things even if they are unaware of them. If you make your theories explicit, then you can examine them, criticise them and develop them, and this will help you grow as a teacher. In the meantime, if you prefer working from practice to theory (which is an excellent way of proceeding), here is what the Silent Way looks like in the classroom: kzbin.info/www/bejne/inPEgmeOnJykfpY