Michele went to those 32 hours of OPI training recently and below expands on some of her earlier comments about OPI:
Here are some more comparisons between the ACTFL Proficiency Criteria and how TPRS teachers work.
At the ACTFL Novice level, students are not yet communicating autonomously. They are able to make lists and speak in memorized phrases.
In TPRS, we are constantly asking for those lists. We don’t have to say, “Here is a picture of people in a restaurant. What might they order?” Instead, we have a structure: “wants to eat.” We find out that Pink Floyd is our hero of the day, and then progress: “Pink Floyd wants to eat . . . ?” We get our kids to establish that upper level of Novice High by having them fill in our lists and say things in the dialogues. At this point, grammar is not as important as output.
In the Intermediate level, students are able to use simple sentences, all the way up to strings of sentences. As they get to Intermediate High, they are starting to control time frames and cohesion elements, and they can describe and narrate. Grammar is more important at Intermediate High, but at Intermediate Mid, there are many, many mistakes.
In TPRS, our kids probably learn “because” in the first week. They certainly start early to deal with time, and we are using past and present from the beginning. We model the upper level speech and we differentiate by asking superstars to explain why things happen, or how they happen. By the end of second year, we are certainly asking them to describe and narrate, every time they tell a story. In some cases, we are asking them to support arguments and explain what might happen in a particular set of circumstances. We start to read articles and discuss world events. All these are part of what speakers at the Advanced level can manipulate…in full paragraphs, with control over time frame.
We are fulfilling what ACTFL says we should be doing to reach for higher levels. And we don’t even advertise it!! All the school districts in the country should be hiring TPRS teachers, because every moment we are following TPRS principals, we are also doing exactly what our profession says we need to do to move our students up. Fascinating. I’m proud to work with all of you!