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Hi Jennifer–

One thing about TPRS, it is very predictable. However, what’s wrong with predictable?

I want to tell you something about my class that is very true. It might help you see something important that you might be missing regarding routine.

I have a schedule that hardly ever varies week to week. Monday we act out the story. Tue we read and discuss the short story and work on retell. Wed and Thur we read the long story. Friday we do Christian TPRS, where I use the vocab of the week in a Christian setting. In addition, Mon I introduce a song, Tue and Thur we read, Wed we write. That is set in stone from the first week with Sp 3 (by Oct with Spanish 1) and it NEVER changes (well, hardly ever :D).

Last year was a difficult year for me in that we had a new CEO (we’re a private school and have a different setup of administration). He was not comfortable with TPRS and I spent most of the year trying to convince him.

Finally in April he came to see my class. He was very impressed. He said that of all the classes he’d seen, mine was by far the best behaved. It was the most on track. My students were the most involved. They were obviously learning and obviously enjoying what they were doing. What was I teaching? It was Tue and we were doing the story. It wasn’t even a fun acting Monday.

Why were the kids so happy, so connected, so on task? BECAUSE WE HAVE A SCHEDULE THAT NEVER VARIES. Students need constansty. They need routine. They need order. And they need variety within that constancy. TPRS gives them all of that. We have the same thing every week. We follow the same routine. I’m pretty sure that I could take over for you or you could take over for me and we would be perfectly at ease doing so. However, what is important is that there is always something fun and interesting within that routine. The stories are interesting. The discussion is interesting. Speaking and being understood in a different language is interesting.

My kids are just like everyone else’s, I’m sure. They say that they want something different. Thing is, when I give them something different, even if it’s fun and games, they still ask me when they’re going to do stories again.

Meg

Jennifer Adams wrote: I feel like I’m in a teaching rut. Here is what my typical week looks like:

Monday: TPR new vocabulary, students do picture dictionary, start a PMS
Tuesday: TPR (practicing the same vocab), continue (hopefully finish) PMS
Wednesday: Read extended version together, for HW students answer
comprehension questions or draw the story
Thursday: Translate and sing a song or play a vocabulary game
Friday: Kindergarten day/FVR/timed writing

When Monday comes around, I pretty much start all over again. Does anyone
have any activities that I can do to switch up my lesson plans? I might
preface this request with the fact that all my students have not had any
TPRS until these past three months with me, so their output skills are still
low. I currently have my 8th graders writing a story using past vocabulary
in pairs. After writing their story, they will make a power point and share
their products with the class. They are making so many grammatical errors,
and constantly asking me to translate for them! Should I correct their
grammar or let them make mistakes?

Also, now that progress reports are due for the 2nd quarter, I worry that I
don’t have enough grades. I only have three grades in my gradebook for 8th
grade and four in the 7th grade!!! This is not a good thing when a student
may choose to not complete one assignment.

Hola Listeros,

This has been a very interesting thread. I came across this site:

http://www1.harenet.ne.jp/~waring/vocab/principles/commonsense.htm

and this article:

Basic Principles and Practice in Vocabulary Instruction
To Appear. The Language Teacher 2002
Rob Waring Notre Dame Seishin University Okayama

?
Abstract

This article presents some of the major `common sense’ principles of vocabulary
instruction and learning. It then discusses whether general language teaching reflects
these principles well, finding that often it does not. Several implications for vocabulary
teaching emerge from these findings…

The following are first lines of some of the paragraphs:

Teaching a word does not mean the students learned it.

We do not learn a word from one meeting.

There are 2 major stages in word learning. The first stage is matching the word’s spelling
and pronunciation (its form) with its meaning.

It is easier to forget a word than remember it

Students cannot guess the meaning of an unknown word from context if the surrounding
text is too difficult.

Words live with other words, not in isolation

Written and spoken vocabulary are different.

There is very low recycling of vocabulary in course books

Teachers all too often teach too many words at one time.

Most vocabulary exercises only test rather than teach………..

This article supports all that we do in TPRS.
Happy reading

Vivian Sutch
Retired Spanish teacher teaching English (TPRS) in Costa Ric

ctually, they do. I googled around for awhile and found the Bart Pizarra section and copied those that appeared to be somewhat for classroom consumption. I teach 6th graders, so I had to be more careful about content than most. Here is what I copied:

A nadie le gustan las bromas pesadas

Debo usar la ropa interior por dentro

El café no es para niños

El gas neurotóxico no es un juguete

El lodo no es uno de los cuatro grupos de alimentos

Elvis no ha resucitado

Este castigo no es ni aburrido ni inútil

La habitación de los chicos no es un parque acuático

Lanzar bolas de pintura no es forma de arte

Las garantías individuales no dan libertad para eructar

Las judías ni son una fruta ni hacen música

Los chicles de ajo son de mal gusto

Los dientes flojos no necesitan de mi ayuda

Los hámsters no pueden volar

Los niños no deben tomar café

Los ruidos divertidos no son divertidos

Mejor dejar los transplantes de órganos a los profesionales

Mi maestra no tiene lepra

Mucho trabajo y poca diversión hacen de Bart un niño aburrido

Nadie me dijo que hiciera esto

Nadie quiere ver mis axilas

No debo bailar la Macarena en class

No debo cobrar por entrar en el baño

No debo comer cosas por dinero

No debo conducir el auto del director

No debo decir “se murió” cuando pasen lista

No debo emitir ruidos flatulentos en clase

No debo enseñar a otros a volar

No debo enterrar al chico nuevo

No debo eructar en clase

No debo hacer fotocopias de mis pompas

No debo hacer prescripciones medicas

No debo jugar con el refrigerador de la cafetería

No debo jugar en el patio de los pequeños

No debo tirar objetos

No debo llamar Cabeza de Papa al director

No debo pegar a mis compañeros

No debo traer ovejas a clase

No debo vender la propiedad del director

No debo vender terrenos en Florida

No eructare el himno nacional

No gritare fuego en la clase

No intercambiare los pantalones con los otros

No soy un dentista

No soy una mujer de 32 años

No debo atormentar a los de primer grado

No volveré a hacer nada malo

No volveré a patinar por los pasillos

Un eructo no es una respuesta

Yo no he visto a Elvis

Yo no me llamo Doctor Muerte

Here’s a list I found somewhere (maybe FLTEACH?) and I apologize for
not being able to give credit to the author.

Debbie Fowler
Buckeye Valley High School
Delaware OH

Bellwork/Do Now Ideas

Give it a cute name. Allons-y! for French, Ahora or Vamonos for
Spanish.

1) scrambled sentences
2) scrambled vocabulary words—match to English or write meaning
3) draw picture for a sentence
4) write sentence(s) from picture
5) fill-in-the-blank with a word that makes sense (give word box,
multiple choice, or nothing)
6) basic questions (name, age, birthday, weather, time)
7) edit the sentence (ex: spelling, s-v agreement, etc) 3 sentences telling what weekend plans are (give sentence builders)
9) 3 sentences telling what you did last weekend (give sentence
builders)
10) fix the false sentences based on…book class is reading/personal
information
11) solve math problem in French, based on items in French culture
12) convert Farenheit to Celsius or metric to common measurements
13) copy new words, illustrate/define
14) weather report for day with blanks to complete
15) French words used in English
16) put math problems into French words, or put number sentences into
regular numbers
17) 4 sentences about someone in the room w/o using their name, then
read aloud and class guesses who it is
18) 3 truths and a lie about the teacher—copy the sentence they think
is a lie
19) 10 sentences written on board, copy the ones that are true for you
20) 3 things in the room that are…color/adjective/bigger
than/smaller than/etc.
21) trivia question of the day
22) write sentences, is each sentence about one person or more than
one (verb recognition)
23) write sentences, is each sentence about a boy or a girl
(adjective agreement)
24) what do the students need to review: numbers, weather, time,
personal questions, etc.
25) draw clock and students write out time, or write out time and
students draw clocks
26) draw paragraph (paragraph must be illustrate-able)
27) discussion questions to do with partner
28) type up the pms from the previous day and have students translate
it
29) have students answer 3-5 questions after reading the previous
day’s pms
30) match the TL vocab to English
31) unscramble sentences, then arrange into a story
32) make up 5 commands
33) write down what your partner did over the weekend
34) figure out a riddle (from book of riddles)
35) tell what you like best about class so far, & what you like
least. Give one good idea to improve the class.
36) look around the room and write 2 questions about what you see on
the wall (what’s that a picture of? What does that mean? What
country’s flag is that?)
37) write down 3 funny boy’s names, 3 funny girl’s names, and 3 funny
places you might or might not want to visit
38) read the description on the overhead and name that celebrity
39) seasonal short stories, e.g. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas,
Mardi Gras, etc. Put one on overhead for warmup. Have students
underline words they don’t recognize. Write definitions of those
words. Read & translate story.
40) write as much of yesterday’s story as you can (French or English)
41) listen to a song and fill in the missing words (from list)
42) write a short story with yesterday’s words
43) draw yesterday’s story
44) draw a story using yesterday’s words and tell it to someone or
something
45) come up with 20 words that begin with the letter “…”
46) interview your partner and ask them…what’s happening in their
life…questions about yesterday’s pms…plans for holiday/weekend
47) I have a complete list of everything Bart Simpson had to write on
the board at the beginning of the show, 14 seasons, French and
English. Sometimes we do multiple choice/matching the French &
English. My kids adore the Simpsons!

While they are fresh in my mind, I want to share some of my feelings of being
a barometer student in Blaine’s Spanish class this week. Sorry, this may
get long. Although it was frustrating to be a slow student, I am grateful I had
the experience. Perhaps the biggest thing I learned from the class pertained
to barometers.

On the first day, I took a back seat in class because I like to hide in a
crowd. The first thing Blaine said was that all beginning Spanish students
should move front and center to “help him” teach. He then said something like,
“It’s my job to made sure you learn but you are actually responsible for your own
learning. If you don’t understand, it’s because you don’t tell me.” Half
way through the first day, one of the self-identified barometers who was sitting
right up front stopped Blaine and admitted he was totally lost. Blaine
thanked him profusely and said, “You are doing a wonderful job as a student. I
need you to help me teach better.” All week he praised the barometers over and
over for stopping him and “helping me be a better teacher” (this said by the
master teacher!). It became his theme song. It never felt like a put-down. He
never made us feel that he was discouraged with the pace or that we should
remember what he had just told us and had already forgotten. Rather, if someone
forgot, he said, “Oh, I need to work on that more” or “That helps me so
much.” I was surprised to read that he went much slower than he usually does
because to me it never felt slow. He did stop often to repeat or explain a
word. Often I didn’t need it but it felt good to get reinforcement. He was
constantly asking one of us for feedback. I don’t know how the superstars felt but
to me it was a good pace. Also, I liked his technique of assigning key words
to particular students. “John, cuando is your word.” Then he always stopped
and asked John to translate that word when it came up. It was a
nonthreatening way to reinforce an important word.

I gave a lot of thought to being a slow learner in the class. Three things
stand out as I reflect on my experience. None of this is new information but
experiencing it is different from knowing it. First, we all bring a different
framework or “wiring” that already exists in our brains depending on prior
language experience, etc. I had immense interference from what was already in
the foreign language part of my brain. I was very frustrated that I could not
bypass that. It was extremely interesting to me when Shelley said that our
first language (and I suppose any number of languages which are acquired by a
certain age?) are in a different section of the brain. (Shelley, please share
more brain research with us.) Because I processed through a language which is
very different from Spanish - Japanese - it took me much much longer. Lots
of structures made no sense to me that felt pretty natural to others. I found
that I could learn words but could not make sense of the structure until I
had the vocab down. I could feel myself gradually building a new framework to
replace the Japanese framework which kept coming forward. This is what our
kids are doing. Sometimes the words I knew didn’t make sense when I listened
because I could not separate them from the whole phrase, therefore they weren’t
recognizable. Every time I had to think about words - a lot at first - , I
could not think about structure. Sometimes I thought too long on an early word
and missed the rest of the sentence. Pauses helped immensely. Also, reading
helped. I could see the whole sentence, and the pop-up explanations helped me
make sense of the structure. Also, I found that using names and places which
did not sound and look like Spanish made the process much easier.

Although our students may not have other languages to interfere, their
experience and aptitude with language in general is different for each kid.
Wouldn’t it be reassuring to tell kids, “Language has nothing to do with being dumb
or smart. Even if you feel that you are slower than others, you are not dumb.
We are each wired differently and will acquire this new language in
different ways and at different speeds.” I think they need to be told that over and
over. I had to tell myself that all week and I am not an insecure teenager.

The second big element was the emotional factor. I noticed that any time my
stress level rose, my receptivity went way down. All week I felt that for
me to concentrate, I needed to just listen. I was not forced to answer the
questions or produce which would have increased my stress level. (This is
opposite of what Von said so it shows that we need to sometimes ask the kids what
feels right for them.) We did only one paired retell and I hated it. Being
forced to do a lot of writing or retelling, especially with the consequence of a
grade, would have been destructive for me at the stage where I was. Now I
am rethinking the way I have done freewrites. Although I know it is true that
fluency comes when we are willing to plunge ahead and make mistakes, for some
of us that is extremely difficult and stressful, at least at first. I knew
this was true of course, but after feeling it, now I will be more patient with
hesitant students. I hated the free write that we did on the last day
because for me it was high stress. I did, however, like Blaine’s comment that we
should challenge ourselves to think in the new language. So on the long drive
home, I mentally told a long story without the stress of assessment. With no
one listening or reading to know about ineptitude, it freed me of the stress.
Reducing stress in the classroom is more important than I realized. This also
includes allowing students to “check out” sometimes when they need to. One
afternoon I had a terrific headache and was feeling horribly incompetent, so no
matter what Blaine did, I could not concentrate very well.

My third big realization was the importance of visuals. Many people
commented on this. When we were introduced to a new word, I had to hear it and see
it. When the pronunciation didn’t match my expectations, it was harder to
acquire. The question words were on the board all week and although I knew them, I
occasionally would forget again when they came up in a new context. A quick
glance at the board was helpful. I continued to feel that some visual help
with the pronoun differences would have helped me acquire them. Blaine said
that charts, etc., are just distracting and he is usually right, but I
continued to feel a need to put some visual organization into what he was explaining
about the confusing pronouns. l am now planning ways to increase visual
clues in my lessons. Even pointing to guide words during the story helped me.

If you are still reading - sorry this is so long - I encourage all of you to
take a week of language class. It was a fabulous experience. A big thanks
to Blaine and Shelly and all who helped. I would love to go again next year to
see if I can add to the new framework which started to build in my brain.
It should be interesting - the Aflac duck will be there too. Louise

When I came to class this morning, Von Ray (de la classe de
francais) immediately gave me his thoughts on what I posted and
expanded on what he had told me about how he does extended
readings. It is so brilliant and yet so obvio that I could kick
myself!

Here is what Von told me he does:

He does ONE PARAGRAPH at a time. After the paragraph is translated,
he does a discussion - like me, he tends to turn the discussions
into PMSs, but it could easily be more like PQA. This discussion
can last a few minutes or the rest of the class period. When the
discussion starts to peter out, he returns to the reading and then
the next paragraph is translated. After that, discuss the paragraph
for as long as possible.

****HERE IS THE KEY TO MAKING THIS WORK****

If Von doesn’t finish the reading in class, he DOESN’T CARE. He
does not assign the rest for homework and he does not finish the
reading the next day. Nor does he quickly try to finish translating
the story for the class.

Why doesn’t he care if he doesn’t finish the reading?

1) It doesn’t matter.
2) He is teaching students and not curriculum.

Last year I made the stupidest, most elementary TPRS mistake I could
have made and, thinking that the reading was the important thing,
made sure that we got back to the reading no matter what. If there
was a really good discussion and we didn’t finish, I would make sure
we finished it the next day. In Von’s class they would go back to
acting out stories the next day.

The other thing that Von suggested was that the PMSs as written
could be used for homework as these should be entirely
comprehensible even to a barometer student.

He convinced me right then (he’s really a very good salesman - he’s
changed my mind about a lot of things this week; he should do TPRS
workshops or something :-)). Then, Donna and Sarah had decided to
try this out today, and it worked brilliantly. The little bit of
reading we did before beginning the discussion didn’t bother me at
all. It was just a little paragraph with a few words I didn’t
know. I could handle those few new words during the discussion with
ease. The discussions started out with a few literal questions and
then they started personalizing the discussion.

This part of the lesson lasted over an hour and the time flew by. I
think we got through 3 of the paragraphs in that time and I learned
so much French.

I am now convinced that I can make extended readings work in my
class. That was not something that was easy to convince me of
because my experience with them was soooo negative. I hope that Von
will demo this method in Vegas at some point, even though I won’t be
there.

The whole trick…teach students, not curriculum. C’est evident.

Michael (Moco Loco) Thompson

I tell my level 2’s that -ó/-ió is ‘one time’ and -aba/-ía endings
mean “was-ing, were-ing, or used-to”. It works for them and it keeps
it simple. This is the only thing I tell them. When I ask, “What
does -aba mean?”, all I want to hear is “was-ing, were-ing, or used-
to”.

After a while when I feel that they are beginning to recognize
and “feel” the differences, we read the Bricklayer Story for grins
(Google it if you don’t have a copy).

Just my two cents.

Mark Webster
Spring Lake HS, MI

I’ve been doing something that my students really
like. I have told them I have ESP and I call one of
them to the front of the class and hand him a slip of
paper. On it I’ve written a really general statement
in the language we’re studying. Something like:
I did something nice on the weekend. or…
I bought something yesterday. or…
I saw a good movie.
In the summer I’m going to do something great.
I’ll show him the slip and ask if it’s true (and it
usually is!) If not, I switch it for a different one.
(Sometimes I have overheard something about a student
and I use that.) The student reads it out to the
class and the other students have to ask questions. I
sometimes give bonus marks or participation marks or
gummy bears or just an evaluation mark. Sometimes we
get 10 or 15 questions, depending on how interested
the class is. I’ve heard my grade 12 boys say this is
their favourite part of the class.
I like this activity because it doesn’t take any real
preparation, the students get really involved, they’re
practising asking questions, they enjoy talking about
themselves and I love hearing them.
Hope it works for someone else out there. I’ve found
so many good ideas from this list and wanted to share
something that works for me.
Jan in Ontario

Does anyone know of an imperfect song along the lines of the
preterite song to the tune of Gilligan? My students were asking the
student teacher today and I realized that I have never used one nor
knew of one. Anyway, let me know if you have one that we can steal!
We have the Singing the Basics one, but we want a meaning-based song,
not one that is grammar-based.

And…I still can’t get over how well my students are doing with the
past tense having done it so differently this year. It’s hard
watching the student teacher do it and not getting to do it
myself…because it’s just so darned easy this year! They just GET
it for the first time! I mean my top-end students always did fine
with the past tense, but the change this year is just amazing to
watch (albeit from the sidelines now!). I have done the past tense
differently each year for 4 years with TPRS and was never
satisfied…and this way works by far the best and I will continue to
do it this way unless someone comes up with something better!

We started the year by telling the story in the present tense one
day, retelling in the past the next and doing all of the readings in
the present tense, same in chapter 2 but with the readings primarily
in the I/we forms. In Chapter 3 we started doing the stories in the
past from the get-go and reading in the present. In Chapter 4 we are
doing the stories in the past, readings in the past, and then doing a
lot of pop-up meaning and asking students for the present tense forms
of the verbs while reading. They do just know them. It’s amazing.
Not one student has complained about the class getting ‘hard’ this
year when we started the past tense as in past years.

They haven’t all reached the acquisition point with the past tense.
Although they can read it and recognize that it is past tense. A few
of the students are starting to produce the past tense in writing, a
few more will do it in speaking. We still have 9 weeks of school, so
I’m confident that even more students will be at that point or
further than those students by the end of the year.

I know it’s early…far from the year being done…but I’m just blown
away by the ability levels of my students this year. The final exam
will be the true test though. And…keeping in mind that my students
have not been doing retells all year long. I just recently asked the
student teacher to start doing retells occasionally. She typically
uses the student retell step when she has extra time in a class.

Anyway, no real point….it’s just amazing. Too bad they won’t get
TPRS in level 3…I just think how amazing they would be by 4th
year! Oh well.

Carmen

OK… Look who’s been playing with their phone during class…

I wonder who it could be…..

Have a great “Día de Acción de Gracias”!

Profe B