Circling Technique
A few things to try:
1) Make sure you are random circling - the questions should be asked in random order. Use a sheet of paper with all the question types and move your thumb up and down the sheet to decide what kind of question to ask next, or put the question types in the back and go up and down the sheet with your eyes.
2) Allow them to add something new, then keep going back in time and asking questions about earlier parts of the story. This is a key technique. Keep doing this whenever you add something new to the story unless you are in the middle of an action sequence in the story. Finish the sequence in that case, then go back and ask questions about the entire story so far.
3) Make goofy mistakes. Have the students shout NO! and correct you. This is particularly effective if you play dumb and pretend you just can’t remember what happened in that line. I use this technique when I need more reps of a target structure and the questioning just isn’t getting me the reps I need. You can even act out the mistakes!
4) Spike the story with a chant. Just say a line of the story (preferably a line with a target structure) rhythmically. Do this in the classes that have lots of energy. They will often “arrange” your chant for you with extra background bits! I actually have one class that is so kinesthetic and so musical that we practically just chant the stories, broken up with some questions before going to the next chant. Horrible TPRS technique, technically, but it was the only way I could make anything even resembling TPRS work with this group.
5) Add another character and compare your student with the new character using your target structure. You are adding something new but still practicing the same structure.
There are probably other techniques out there, but that’s all I can think of right now. Apart from that, give up control whenever possible - at least enough that they feel it is their story and not yours. I have taught stories that were brilliant but that the students didn’t like because they were my stories instead of theirs. A lot of the personalization we do is simply placing the story in their world using their ideas, and that level of personalization is key to successful TPRS lessons.
I hope this helps.
Michael (Moco Loco) Thompson
thompsonmb@hargray.com
