Diane Larsen-Freeman

62 The Silent Way The Silent Way 63
Observations Principles Observations Principles
II The reacher points [0 a Meaning Is ma de clea r by focusi ng 18 The teacher listens attentively. A reacher 's silence frees the reacher
particular rod and taps out 'a students' perceptions. not through to closely observe the students'
blue rod' on the sound-color translation.
behavior.
chart.
19 The teacher says, 'Take the Students learn the)' must give the
12 One st ude nt tries (0 say '3 pink Students can learn from one green rod: o nly once. teache r their attention in order not
rod' a nd has trouble. He looks a nother. T he teacher's silence to miss what he says. Student
ro the teacher, hut the teacher encourages gro up cooperation. a ttention is a key to lea rning.
re ma ins silent a nd looks to the
ot her students. 20 The students take turns issuing Students sho uld engage in a great
an d complying with
dea l of mea ningful pracrice
13 T he fi rst student tries ro say 'a If the reacher praises (or criticizes) commands to rak e a rod of a with o ut repetition.
pink rod' again. This time rhe studen ts , they w ill be less self- cert ain color.
teacher accepts the student's reliant. Th e teacher's acti o ns can
correct pron unciation. interfere with students' developing 21 Th e stu dents pra ct ice The clement s of the lan guage a re
their own cr iter ia. commands w ith co mpo und iurroduced IOl--:icall y, expa nding
o bjects. upon what stude nts a lready kno w.
14 Another stu dent h;15 trouble Erro rs a rc importa nt an d
pronouncing part of the ph rase necessary to learn ing. They show 22 T he st udents ta ke turns Stude nts gain autonomy in the
'a pink rod.' Using gestures, the teacher where th ings arc ta pping out rhe sente nces of langu age by ex plor ing it and by
the teacher iso lates the trouble unclear. their cho ice on the word ma king choices.
spot for her.
charts.
I; After locating the error for the If students are simply given 23 Some students choose to tap Language is fo r self-expression.
student, the teacher docs nor answers, rather than being out simple commands; others
supply the co rrecr language allowed to self-correct, they will ta p out mo re co mplex o nes.
until a ll self-correction optio ns not retain them .
have failed. 24 T he reacher asks the stu dents T he teacher can gain valuable
for their reactio ns to the info rma tion fro m stude nt
1(, Th e teacher mo uths the co rrec t Stude nts need [0 lea rn to liste n to lesso n. feed back; fo r example, he can
sou nd, but docs not vocalize it. themselves. learn wha t to work on next.
Stude nts learn ho w to accept
17 Th e student's pron uncia tion is At the begin ning, the reacher needs respon sibility for their ow n
imp roved bur still no t as close to look fo r pr ogress, not learn ing.
to the target language sounds perfection. l.ca ruin g takes place in
as so me of the students arc rime. Students learn at diffe rent
2; T here is no homewo rk Some lea rning rakes place
able to co me. T he teacher rates.
ass igned.
na turally as we sleep. Students wi ll
wo rks w ith her a bit longer
naturall y work Oil the day's lesso n
before the lesson proceeds.
then.