Diane Larsen-Freeman

56 The Silent Wa)'
co lored blocks wit h the correct sounds. T he teacher varies the sequence
several times an d the students respond appropriately. The teach er then
points to a boy sirring in the second row. The teacher moves (0 the chart
and points to fivecolored blocks. Two of the block s are a bove the line and
arc the leyl and l uwl the y hav e already worked on. The three other blocks
arc below the line ami arc new to them. Two or three of the students yell,
' Pedro.' which is the boy's name. The other students help him as he points
to the co lored bloc ks that represent the sounds of his name: Ip/./ey/.ldJ,
Irl, l uw/. Two or three ot her students do the same. In this way, the students
have learned that English has a Ipl, IdJ, and Irl and the location of
these so unds on the sound-color chart. The students have a little pr oblem
with the pronunciation of the Irl, so the teacher works with them befo re
moving on.
Th e teacher next points to a girl and taps out eight colored rectangles.
In ~1 chor us, the students say her name, 'Carolina,' and practice the girl's
name as the y did Ped ro's. Wirh th is the students have learned the colors
that represent th ree oth er sounds: Ik/, Ill, In/. Th e teac her follows a similar
procedure with a third student whose nam e is Ga briela. Th e stude nts
know no w the location of IgI and Ibl as well. Th e teacher has var ious students
tap out the sou nds for the names of their three class ma tes.
After quite a few students have tapped out the three names, the teacher
takes the pointe r and introduces a new activity. He asks eight stu dents to
sit with him around a big table in the front of the room as the rest of the
class gathers behind them. The teacher puts a pile of blue, green, and pink
wooden rods of varying lengths in the middle of the table. He points to
on e of the rods, then points to three rectangles of color on the
sound-color cha rt. Some students attempt to say 'rod.' They arc able to
do this since they have already been introduced to these sound/color-cornbina
tions. The teacher points aga in to the blocks of co lor, and rhis time all
o f the st ude nts say 'rod.' Th e teacher then points to the block ofcol or representing
la/. He points to his mou th and shows the stude nts tha t he is
ra ising his jaw and closing his mouth, thus showing the stu dents how to
produce a new English sound by sta rt ing with a sound they already know.
Th e stu dems say something approximat ing I::JI, which is :1 new sound for
them. Th e teacher follows th is hy pointing first to a new block of color,
then quickly in succession to four blocks of color; the students chorus, 'A
rod .' I-I e tu rns to a different chart on the watt: this one has words 011 it in
different co lors. He points to rill' words 'a' and 'rod.' and the students sec
tha t each letter is in the same color as the sou nd the letter sign ifies.
After pointing to 'a' and 'rod: the teacher sits down with the students
at the ta ble. saying nothing. Everyone is silent for a min ute unt il one girl
The Silent Way 57
pomrs to a rod and says, 'A rod .' The teacher ha nds her the po inte r and
she goe s first to the sound-color chart to tap out the sounds, an d second
to the word chart to point to the words 'a' and ' rod.' Several other students
follow this pattern.
Next, the teacher points to a particular rod and taps out 'a blue rod.'Then
he points to the word 'blue' on the word chart. A boy points to the rod and
say, 'A blue rod.' He goes to the word chan and finds the three words of this
phrase there. Other students do the same. The teacher introduces the word
'gree n' similarly, with students tap ping out the pattern after he is through.
The teacher then points to a pin k rod and taps out Iplnkl on the chart.
Themvowel is a new one for the students. It docs not ex ist in Portuguese.
The teacher po ints to the block of color which represents liyl and he indicates
through his gesture th at the students arc to sho rten the glide an d
open their mouths a bit more to say this sound.
The first student who tries to say 'a pink rod' has trouble with the pronunciarion
of 'pink.' He looks to the teach er and the teacher gestures
towards the other students. One of them says 'pink' and the teacher
accepts her pronunci ation. The fi rst stude nt tries aga in and thi s time the
teacher accepts what he says. Another student seems to have troub le with
the phrase. Using a finger to represent eac h word of the phrase, the
teacher shows her how the phrase is segmented. T hen by tapping his second
finger, he indicates that her trouble is with the second wo rd.