TPR Overview
Total Physical Response (otherwise abbreviated to 'TPR') is a well-known and very effective method for bringing language to life in the EFL classroom. Dr. James Asher created TPR to facilitate the kinds of language learning environment and process represented by the way we all learn our first languages as babies. For a detailed look at the TPR method, please refer to Total Physical Response in the Methodology section of this website.
The supplements presented on this page work on putting together minor and major "action sequences". Sequencing actions can help to make them easier to recognize and recall, as well as make them feel more natural to the young learner. It is hoped that the sequences available to site members will encourage them to organize their own action sequences to try out in their young learner classrooms. There are also ideas on how to turn action sequences into colorful wall projects for classroom reference, as well as templates for creating personalized "Action Diaries".
Daily Routine Sequences
- TPR A1/Time to Get Up | TPR A2/Breakfast Time | TPR A3/Ready for School | TPR A4/Let's Go to School
- TPR Sequence Creation Template | TPR Illustrations Template
Most textbook syllabuses for young learners feature TPR (or at least some ideas for TPR), but this rarely works on the idea of clear sequences and usually focuses on the kinds of actions and items to be found in a classroom environment. The four extended sequences presented here (each consisting of 5 'sub-sequences' containing 5 actions) feature a presentation style and the kind of clear breakdown that should make them both accessible to classroom learners on a regular basis as well as provide them with valuable opportunities to learn and apply very familiar routine sequences of actions likely to happen regularly in their lives (yet outside of 'school' proper). Each sub-sequence can be cut out, and the five sub-sequences can be joined/ progressively added-to to make a colorful wall chart presentation, as in the following example:
Presenting sequences in this way has some handy advantages: (1) They can serve as an 'at a glance' guide for teachers when calling out the prompts to the students; (2) They are broken up into (hopefully) manageable chunks of five actions that can form the focus of a single lesson, with the five chunks highly suitable for application over a five day week; (3) The presence of the written forms on the wall may encourage students to associate actions with written words, gradually building their base of site word recognition; (4) The actions are presented in the imperative (command) function, clearly illustrating the base forms of the verbs, which being highlighted in blue can form a reference when students move ahead to learn present progressive, present simple, past tense and future tense forms/functions.
Note that the sequences as presented are not supposed to represent absolutes. Obviously students all live in different kinds of houses, eat different things for breakfast, and have different ways of getting to school. These sequences represent a general model, which can be expanded on or adapted to become more representative of students' personal routines. To that end, the TPR Sequence Creation Template (illustrated left) is also provided so that teachers and/or students can work on creating detailed action sequences of their own.
In addition, there is also a template for cut outs that students can use to illustrate each specific action in each sub-sequence. These can be added to a wall chart by attaching them vertically beneath each sub-sequence in the same order as the various actions are listed. Utilizing a wall chart in this way increases its value as a peripheral reference tool even further.
TPR Diaries/Summaries
- TPR Diary/Summary Template
As a more personalized reference tool, these downloadable diary/summaries allow TPR activities in the classroom to be followed up with action illustrations and writing in the form of an ongoing "Action Diary". Each page of the diary has 5 picture grids and accompanying sentence writing bars to identify them. The Action Summary page features 5 picture circles in 5 rows - which can be used to summarize action sequences as per the 'Daily Routine' sequence suggestions described above, or the actions listed on pages of the Action Diary. The Action Summary page also makes an attractive wall presentation in itself.
