Week V

 

The week started by doing a small recap of the things we overviewed. As always we made sure everyone understood that although methods can have their differences, each one represents the predominant teaching theories of their time, the methods might not be twins, but they're related like family. After that, we started studying the new method called:

The Silent Method

The silent method was founded in the early 1970's  by the Egyptian mathematician and educator Caleb Gattegno. It is based on the idea that language learning can be enhanced in 3 main ways: discovery rather than teaching, problem-solving in the target language, and the use of physical tools. This method has multiple principles, however its main principle is: “Teaching must be subordinated to learning”.

Main principles: 

1. Start with familiar sounds.
2. Give help only if absolutely necessary. Allow students to use their own knowledge of language learning.
3. Student attention to the teacher is important.
4. Errors are essential and necessary for learning.
5. Transfer what students already know to new ideas.
6. Teacher takes a back seat. The more you help, the less they learn. Praise is not helpful.
7. Progress is more important than perfection.
8. No homework, as learning continues while we sleep.

After reviewing the principles and the techniques, we were able to play and learn during the class with the techniques. We used the cube to form phrases with adjectives related to the humor displayed on the cube. After that, we used blocks that had different colors and numbers to create phrases. The phrase our group came off with was: “Marcus and his father love to drive together after work because they want to save fuel”.

(Lic Orlando always looks funny when I take pictures of him with for my blog. Lic if you see this I'll try to take better pictures in the future). This week was definitely a busy one, nonetheless we were able to start learning about the other technique called: “Total Physical response” (TPR).

Total Physical response (TPR)

When we talk about this method, we refer to a language teaching method that uses physical activity as its main tool to teach a new language. Based on the teachings of its creator James Asher, the more often a memory connection is traced, the stronger the memory association and the more likely it will be remembered. That is the textbook definition of this method, to me the TPR is a way to teach not only children but adults through movement, gestures and physical activities. We all are smart in our own ways, but people that learn better through practice or actual movement, benefit the most through this method. 

From simple demonstrations such as pointing at an object, person, or action, this method can be implemented. Although we couldn't fully review this topic at the end of the week, I'm looking forward to knowing more about it next Tuesday.