TPRS basic workshop for WL/ESL teachers

1. BetsyTechman
etechman@tvsd.org
Summer 2013
©Techman 2013

2. What do you already know that
I don’t need to teach you?

3. TPRS,Teaching Proficiency through Reading
and Storytelling is a foreign language
teaching methodology based on providing
ample comprehensible input, personalizing
lessons to make them student-centered and
teaching for mastery.

4. Internalization
/
Language
acquisition
Signs/ASL
Connections
Visualizations

5. la
muchacha el gato tiene agarra
el piso es bueno
el
muchacho
es
grande
es
pequeño tira llora
está
contento
está triste escapa es malo le da

6. Novel
use
PQA PMS

7.  Novel use- use the words in new
ways, commands, etc.
 PQA- personalized questions
and answers
PMS- personal mini-situations

8. Personalize everything
“Teach to the eyes”/“Feed the hungry”/”Check your
barometer student”
Set the stage for drama
Use 3 locations to set your story in motion
Create a false reality
Exaggerate voice inflection
Use props/actors

9. Make it BIZARRE EXAGERRATEDAND
PERSONALIZED
Coach use of Rejoinders/How to receive a
story
- Are you serious?
- No way?
- How lucky!

10. Start out in the present tense but do not limit yourself
to the present tense. That is unnatural.
Always answer when students
question the patterns- ”pop-up grammar”
Think of the vocabulary of a four or five year old.
Their grammar has not been sheltered.
Their vocabulary is kept to an appropriate level.

11. Establish the content of the story.
Superstars retell to the class or all retell in
partners to each other.
BUTTHERE IS MORETO EVERY STORY !!!
I WANTTO KNOW MORE !!

12.  Ask repetitive questions.
 Do not ask question in order.
 Keep recycling vocabulary with novel questions.
 Follow the story asking guidelines.
 Keep them engaged.
 Create a movie in their mind. Can they see? Ask
them “Can you see it?”
 The answers do not need to be logical.
 Repetition is at the heart of storytelling.

13. YES/NO EITHER/OR
OPEN
ENDED

15.  How old is the girl?
 Does she live in a house?
 Where is her house?
 Where did she get that cat?
 What is the cat’s name?
 Why is the boy so bad?
 Where did the cat go?
 Why did Monica give away her cat?
 Is it really a good cat or a bad cat?

16.  Retell the story with the details.
 Timed writings (8 minutes 100 words- grade
on volume/flow)
 Writing exercises- answer the questions
 Translation exercises
 Teach someone at home the story
 Illustrate the story cartoon style
 Podcast the story/Act out the story

17.  Establish meaning of vocabulary/grammar
 Add content
 Personalize and keep them interested (BEP)
 Ask the details
 Point out the grammar
 Assess- check for grammar as needed
You say:
“This is what I would like to see/hear as you
retell today”

18. Every story has:
A title
Characters
A setting
A problem
A solution

19. © Clarcq, Whaley 2012

20. © Clarcq, Whaley 2012

23.  ALMA
 Oktapodi

24.  Wildebeest

25.  The Beauty of a Second
See film-english for lesson plans.

26.  Youtube
 http://filminute.com
 http://film-english.com/

27.  Grading with colors (understanding
mastery as the goal)
 Club 100 (reading)
 Old fashioned dictation (listening)

29.  100 words in target language – recognition
 Later, 90 in target, 10 in English
 Students create rubric “What is excellent?”
90-100 =Yellow 70-80 = Orange
80-90 = Pink below 70 - Green

30.  Read inTarget Language
 Students write what they hear
 Students confirm meaning with translation
 Native speakers/Class visitors read
 Bonus offered upon request (always !)
 Grade with colors (excellent, good, etc.)

31.  Padlet (brainstorming)
 Educreations
 Googlevoice
 Celly
 Weebly (porfolios)
 Storybird
 Prezi
 Textivate
 Voicethread

32.  Weebly
 Wix
Example journal entry -

33.  Carol Gaab
 Kristy Placido
 CarrieToth
 Blaine Ray
 Mira Canion

34.  http://www.senorwooly.com/
 http://www.senorjordan.com/
 http://zachary-jones.com/
 http://teachforjune.com/
 http://daveburgess.com/

35.  High level text-based discussions
 Focus on the process not only content
 Create assignments for real audiences with
a real purpose
 Teach argument, not persuasion
 IncreaseText Complexity

36.  Email: etechman@tvsd.org
 Twitter:
 http://www.tvsd.org/sites/hsfaculty/techman/
Pages/default.aspx
 Slideshare

37. Google:
Blaine Ray
Jason Fritze
Todd McKay
Susan Gross
Ben Slavic

38. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/moretprs/
Check out:
www.embeddedreading.com
Simplify, Scaffold, Succeed!!
(L. Clarcq)
FindTPRS people onTwitter, Facebook,
they and many others are there to help
and share ideas.