TPR means total physical response, and it is a teaching method. Especially language teaching, although I’m sure there are other applications. In fact, if you’re coaching somebody on a musical instrument or in a sport, it’s TPR by definition.
Plus, it makes for an enjoyable class
The idea is that if you explain something, half of the class isn’t even listening to you. If you ask them questions, the smart ones may get it but most of them will forget as soon as you move on to the next person. If you get them to write something down, your odds improve but it still doesn’t necessarily lock in. If you get them to do something, though, some physical movement, then it’s locked into the neural memory. Plus, it makes for an enjoyable class, people forget that learning is supposed to be difficult and they let down their barriers a little bit.
I’ve always used it a bit with little kids, mostly to try and wear the little monsters down at the beginning of the class so they’d sit down and shut up, but it’s not always enough and the older I get the harder it is. A classroom of 7 year olds can beat me down in ten minutes, and they’re still raring to go.
But I used it for a different purpose today.
See, one of my big problems as a teacher is I can’t remember names. I have these students once a week, some classes just once every two weeks, and remembering names was never my strong suit anyway.
Today, I had a class of well over twenty 3rd graders, I think they’d put two classes together. I didn’t want to go around the room taking attendance, because that would take for ever, some students get upset because they think I should know their name and I don’t, and a lot of them sound alike to me – in one class I have an Eliška, an Anečka, and an Alice (pronounced a-lee-tze).
So, I got them all to stand in a circle and throw a ball. The person throwing had to say “What is your name?” and the person catching had to give their name, then ask and throw. It took about 5 minutes, they were entertained and they learned how to ask somebody’s name. The purpose, and the side advantage, was that I got everybody’s name and didn’t have to call roll.
In fact, it worked so well that I decided I’m going to start using TPR a lot more. At least up to 4th, maybe 5th grade.
You might be able to use it with adults, if you’ve got the right adults, but I don’t think it will work with my 6th through 9th graders. They all think they’re far too cool for that sort of thing.
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