TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE IN CLASS
TPR can be used to teach many things:
- Vocabulary connected with actions (point, dressing, smile).
- Imperatives/Instructions (Sit down, claps your hands)
- Tenses past/present/future and continuous aspects (Every day I breakfast with my brother)
- Classroom language (Open your books on page twenty)
- Story-telling
This method is flexible and we can adapt it to different situations and contents.
In the classroom the teacher plays the role of parent. She starts by saying a word ('jump') or a phrase ('look at the board') and demonstrating an action. The teacher then says the command and the students all do the action. After repeating a few times it is possible to extend this by asking the students to repeat the word as they do the action. When they feel confident with the word or phrase you can then ask the students to direct each other or the whole class.
It is more effective if the students are standing in a circle around the teacher and you can even encourage them to walk around as they do the action.
