Spanish
practice with other days of the week, the teacher can then create situations requiring the use of the past perfect subjunctive and the conditional perfect indicative: “Si ayer hubiera sido sábado, anteayer habría sido viernes;” or “Si anteayer hubiera sido martes, el día anterior habría sido lunes.” Thus, the position of the rods transforms abstract ideas into concrete realities and permits students to form mental structures linking the meaning illustrated by the rods directly with the flow of words. The situations described above are but a few examples of how the rods can be used to illustrate some aspects of the subjunctive mood in Spanish I classes and how the students can be challenged to use Spanish much as a native speaker would; that is to say, with an awareness of the meaning symbolized by the words and an ability to make the necessary changes and permutations as required by their perception of the situation. Because students are challenged to function intellectually as they did while learning their native language, they find this way of working reasonable, creative, effective, and enjoyable. Examples of sentences “created” by ninth grade students of Spanish I in some of these and in other situations are reproduced on the following pages. In the future other Silent Way teachers of Spanish will devise other, perhaps more imaginative uses of the rods in teaching these and other aspects of the language. Such creative innovation is completely possible in this approach to learning; indeed, it is desirable and should be shared with others. Robert L. Coe
189