Benefits of TPR

TPR (Total Physical Response) is an excellent method of providing the comprehensible input that students need to acquire the language because it:

· emphasizes the need to understand spoken language first

· encourages the students to stop translating and to just respond to the English words they hear; it makes the response automatic

· avoids spelling related pronunciation problems

· allows the students to focus on and manipulate physical objects, which can help them to relax and reduce their anxiety about the language

· provides instant feedback to the teacher about the student’s level of comprehension

· allows the teacher to immediately tailor the lesson to the individual student’s needs

· gives the students a sense of accomplishment, as they can see their immediate progress

Furthermore, if the class includes non-literate or semi-literate students, non-text based methods of instruction, such as TPR, are even more important. 

Uses of TPR

TPR is great for teaching the names of items.  For example, teaching the names of basic hand tools is one of the first activities in the Property Maintenance Assistant / Technical ESL course. It not only builds the students’ basic vocabulary that they’ll be using throughout the course, but it also boosts their confidence.  They often know how to use many of the tools, and they’re eager to learn the English names for them.

I use TPR –with the real tools—to introduce and practice this basic vocabulary during the first week of class.  In subsequent weeks, the students have two kinds of quizzes on these tools. In the first, they only need to identify each tool as I say its name.  In the second, they need to name each tool.  And we have follow-up quizzes periodically throughout the course so they don’t forget.

Although I have a list of tools, I do not usually give it to the students until after they’ve taken both quizzes.  This emphasizes the fact (and we discuss this point) that they need to understand the spoken language.  After all, when they’re on the job and someone says, “Hand me the wire cutters and that GFCI,” they don’t have time to translate.  The response needs to be automatic, and TPR helps them make that automatic connection between the language and the objects.

TPR, however, has many uses beyond vocabulary building.  It’s a great method of introducing and practicing a variety of forms, including prepositional phrases, verb tenses and sentence structure. By listening to the teacher and responding physically to directions, the students can slowly but surely internalize those forms—building their internal model of the language, step by step.

Of course it’s often best to use the real items—such as the wire cutters, a hammer, or whatever you’re studying—with TPR.  But we can’t bring everything into the class, so a good collection of photos, clip art and line drawings is invaluable.