What is Tophyres-fun?💢
Tophyres is an educational blog
that has as objective to show how fun and functional it is to learn a second language, the name
TOPHYRES-FUN is an acronym abbreviates
the educational approach TOtal PHYsical RESponse.
TPR and teaching a foreign language like 💢When we use this system to learn English, the first skills that are practiced are the receptive ones. In addition, the student must accept in advance that he/she will go through a learning stage in which he/she will not speak, in which he/she will only actively listen. The student will not produce any oral or written message.
💢Total Physical Response focuses on
how children learn ONE language. Observe and study the communication between
TEACHERS AND STUDENTS, combining verbal and motor skills and how the child
responds physically to the TEACHERS 'verbal communication. The child's response
is, in turn, positively reinforced with the voice of the TEACHER.💢
Activities to learn English with the Total Physical Response method💢
In activities focused on TPR, the
teacher interacts both with the whole group and with each student individually. At the beginning, the interaction consists on the teacher speaking and the
students responding non-verbally. Later, it is the students who speak and the
teacher who responds non-verbally.
The song of "If you are happy and you know it"📌
This activity is a song about emotions. The child associates a gesture or sound to each of the emotions.
The dynamic of "Simon Says"📌
In the first stage, the teacher indicates actions in English —such as clapping, jumping, singing, raising his hands… —While the teachers says to them, teachers does the actions along with the students. In a second phase, the teacher indicates the actions but, on this occasion, teachers does not do the actions, only the students execute them. In the third and final stage, the teacher tests the students and tries to trick them by doing a different action than the one he/she says. In this test, those who make mistakes are eliminated. This activity encourages children and is usually very successful in class.
"Here we go to imitate animals"📌
This is a game to imitate some specific actions like animals sounds that the student must imitate through mimicry.
💢The application of the Total Physical Response method involves effort and adaptation on the part of the teacher. For this reason, teacher training is basic. This can be acquired, for example, through our master's degree in Bilingual Education. And if you don't have a teacher's degree yet, take a look at our bilingual degrees in Early Childhood or Elementary Education.💢
TEACHER'S ROLE AND LEARNER'S ROLE💢
This method is based on commands
the teachers gives to the pupils. The teacher plays an active and direct role
on TPR. It is the teacher who decides what to teach and who models and presents
the new materials. The main role of the teacher is to speak almost the whole
class giving directions that the students then perform. Besides, the teacher
has to manage the class, so the students perform the directions properly.
On the other hand, learners in the TPR method
have the primary role of listeners and performers. They listen attentively and
respond physically to commands given by the teacher. Learners are also required
to produce novel combinations of their own when a sufficient basis in the
language has been internalized.
Discover minimum two words hidden in the alphabet soup and write them in the blog comments below
The positive response of the students to the TPR could be due to the environment that you creates in the classroom from the beginning of classes, in order to motivate students in their effort to achieve retain and physically reproduce as many expressions as possible. This aspect is facilitated by the organization of games among the students to try to enhance their response to the expressions introduced in the English language.
How to implement this method in one of your classes when teaching
English?💢
write your answer in the comments!💢
