Silent Way charts for French

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With authorisation from Educational Solutions Worldwide Inc., we have revised Gattegno's Silent Way charts for French.

The new Rectangle chart and Fidel (Spelling chart) are designed specifically for foreign language learners. As can be seen in the pictures below, the two types of chart are laid out with the same placement of sounds (red /i/ in the top left, for example). The layout reflects the tongue position and the positions of other articulators used in production.

(Click the pictures to enlarge them.)

There are 3 sizes of letters on the Fidel. The largest indicate the most characteristic spellings for each sound. The medium size letters indicate other spellings in common use, especially for verbs. The smallest size is used for uncommon spellings.

The Fidel comes with a key giving examples of all the sound-spelling combinations of French.

The new Word charts follow Gattegno's gradual unfolding of the language for beginners. The choice of words and the order in which they appear have been improved by a team of experienced Silent Way teachers.

Charts 1-4 introduce the functional vocabulary of French. Notice that combining forms are marked with a dot (e.g. mienne is constructed on chart 4 as 'm·' + '·ienne').

Charts 5-8 are designed for work on verbs.

The final Word charts cover numbers, the calendar, the time, and expression of time; as well as some common nouns.

Sets are available in 3 classrooms sizes and for individual study. They come with a full set of keys. Please see here for pricing details.

If you would like to receive occasional mailings about our products for French, please subscribe to our mailing list.

If you are looking for reliable information about the Silent Way, we recommend Roslyn's website, which has articles in English and French.

The new French Silent Way charts were designed in collaboration with Cédric Lefebvre, Véronique Léval and Ben Renggli.

Note that Cuisenaire rods and Gattegno's wall pictures for the Silent Way can be purchased through The Cuisenaire Company.