A great English game where players shoot the correct word when given the word class, such as noun, verb, adjective etc.
http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/English
For language teachers, this accepted presumption of incapacity is a huge hurdle, because it keeps many children and adults from even dipping a toe into the language
pool!
TPR was and is a wonderful way to turn that presumption on its head and show the learner
that, not only can we learn, but under the right circumstances, it's fun!
When we are infants our exposure to language is virtually inseparable
from physical activities. People talk to us while tickling us, feeding
us, changing our diapers... We are immersed in a language we don't
speak, in an environment that we explore with every part of our body.
Our parents and caregivers literally walk and talk us through
activities - for example, we learn lots of vocabulary while someone
stands behind us at the bathroom sink, soaping our hands until they're
slippery, holding them under warm water, rubbing or scrubbing, all the
while talking about what we're doing and what it feels like. In this
way, movement and feeling are intimately tied to the process of
internalizing the language.
Classes are active - you are not in your seat all period. The focus
for the first weeks is on listening and moving in response to what the
teacher says.
There is heavy emphasis on listening comprehension,
because the larger your listening comprehension vocabulary is, the
larger your speaking vocabulary will become.
Lots of
language is learned in happy circumstances, especially while you're
having fun.
In a TPR class,
grammar and syntax are not taught directly. Rather, the teacher
designs activities that expose the student to language in context,
especially in the context of some kind of movement.
I'm asked with some regularity about appropriate foreign language instruction for students with a dyslexic learning or thinking style. I'm quick to recommend finding a school or program that includes - or even better - relies on TPR as its principal instructional strategy.
Typically, the initial TPR lessons are commands involving the whole
body - stand up, sit down, turn around, walk, stop.
Fairly soon, the teacher
quietly stops demonstrating, and the students realize that they
somehow just know what to do in response to the words.
You're
also encouraged to trust your body, because sometimes it knows what to
do before your brain does!
As class proceeds, nouns, adverbs,
prepositions are added until before you know it, students are
performing commands like, 'Stand up, walk to the door, open it, stick
your tongue out, close the door, turn around, hop to Jessica's desk,
kiss your right knee four times, and lie down on Jessica's desk."
It's just that
the instruction is designed to facilitate language acquisition, not
learning a language through analysis, memorization and application of
rules.
But
consider your native language: you did not need to learn the grammar
and syntax of your native language in order to learn to
speak it. You learned those structures, unconsciously as
you learned to speak.
The
first is that in a TPR classroom, the focus is not on analysis of
linguistic structures, but on internalizing those structures for
unconscious use.
When we use TPR
strategies to teach, our goal is truly to be able to understand,
speak, read and write the language, not "about" the language.
I think this creativity, the synthetic rather than analytic experience,
the low stress, and generally accepting environment engineered by the
teacher, are a large part of the reason so many students, including
students with learning challenges, find TPR classes so effective and
enjoyable.
Within these real experiences, students are free to
generate all kinds of expressions using the language they're studying,
and to lead instruction in unique directions.
This site teaches grammar through a good collection of multiple choice quizzes and games. There is also a junior version of the site for younger learners. Both sites also have downloads for teachers.
http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/English