Silent way and suggestopedia

Well, silent way was something different, that's for sure. Our classmates showed us a video during their presentation and it seemed really difficult for the teacher. Well, maybe it seemed difficult to me because I find it so hard to remain silent. Still, the teacher "talked" with his face, his arms, his body... so he was silent, but not passive by any means. Since we didn't experience the method on us, I can't really imagine how it would feel to learn that way. I think the teacher and the students need to create a secure atmosphere, because being silent actually makes you more exposed in a way. And I think you also need to be more careful not not hurt anyone's feelings.

I liked the idea of applying the general idea behind silent way; creating a space for your students' speech, listening. One of our readings last week said that being a bad speaker is a difficult art; well, listening is much harder to master. Just taking whatever the other has to say, without seeing yourself in a tennis match, waiting for the ball to reach to you so you can send it back over the net.

And then it was our turn: suggestopedia. It is great to see that we went a long way since the first days after we got the assignment, when one of our groupmates felt desperate because she said she couldn't understand a word. No doubt she was experiencing the psychological barriers suggestopedia tries to tear down. And then, we read the text the four of us together, and it was great, a real dialogic reading, and we were all set to go. We had our doubts on how to use the video we created, and the ideas we got in the feedback after our presentation would probably have worked better but, nevertheless, I felt happy with what we did. I really like my groupmates. I knew one of them from our second year, although I never had the chance to work with her, and the other two were new to me. They are very easy going and work hard, so things run smoothly. One of them is quite shy, so I think the rest of us will have an opportunity to practise the silent way method, and see if we make more space for her in the coming assignments.