There is a phrase in TPRS that was made famous by the master himself, Blaine. Thomas Young recently asked me and Bryce about it in an email:
Hey guys,
I have been thinking about the “tprs game” lately. How do you get your students to “play the game”? Any ideas are much appreciated!
Thomas
I didn’t really have an answer, but Bryce did. Here it is:
Hi Thomas. Good question, as usual. I get students to play the game in a variety of ways. These are just varieties of tactics I have learned from Susie Gross and Blaine Ray over the years:
1) By clearly letting the students know early, and then by reminding them often that we are indeed playing a game. And playing a game is a LOT more fun than studying and working. Not playing the game is not helpful to THEM.
2) By not overplaying my hand. I do not tell stories all day every day. I LOVE telling stories and I find incredible joy in just plain chatting with the kids in Spanish, but I do not tell stories every day. I tell stories a lot, but I also mix it up with sustained silent reading, kindergarten reading, reading novels, YouTube videos, projects, guest presentations, singing, group activities, movies, games (the favorite game lately is a movie quotes game in Spanish which they can choose for P.A.T. if they like), etc. All activities are supposed to be comprehensible input and even though they are not as effective as a rowdy class story the change of pace can be refreshing. When it is the same thing every single day it does not have as much of an impact.
3) By giving them time off occasionally. A kid that is just not into it can take a “day off” once in a while and pay me 15% of his participation points for the quarter if they want to quietly work on something else in the back of the class that day. That is a steep price, but it is often worth it to a student that has something else going on. Just granting that “day off” usually gives me a bit of extra motivation to make my stories even more interesting and to draw the kid back in almost against their will because the class is having so much fun.
4) By dealing with non-game-players quickly. I hold less-than-enthusiastic students after class and tell them that they need to play the game and that it hurts my feelings when they do not because I put a lot into my teaching and I really want them to learn. This throws them off guard to hear a teacher being vulnerable like that since we are usually so authoritarian. If they keep it up the next day, I say about the same thing to them in the middle of class.
5) By having a plan if they decide to push it. Students are required to a) Speak Spanish and b) Act like they are paying attention. If they want to test the non-game thing at another level, I am ready. I have a contract that I give non-players that clearly explains how they will work alone out of the book at the back of the class. The specific work required for the grade they want to earn is spelled out very specifically. I have it approved by our assistant principal at the beginning of the year so there are no questions. The students are to take it home and show their parents and I follow up with a phone call. No one has ever returned the signed contract.
Hope this helps. Let me know how things work out. By the way, the contract that I use is on Ben’s site here under “Alternatives for Unwilling Students” It is in a Word document so that teachers can adjust it for their specific needs.
Tu amigo,
Bryce