In TPRS, as in any narrative method, we don’t need a lot of tricks. We just need to make ourselves understood, using those skills that work best for us. For me, it is word wall work, point and pause, SLOW, trips into the bizarre, and mega-personalization, and circling. It may be other skills for others.
I don’t gesture anywhere near as much, either when teaching words from the word walls or during CI in the form of PQA and stories. Maybe it’s because it doesn’t feel natural, anymore than conscious gesturing would feel natural in normal speech.
Maybe if I learn to relax more when I do CI, and trust in the natural flow of language, and be there with my students, and not obsess about being good enough, the gestures will follow. Like in dancing, or conducting an orchestra.