Making It Work

6 thoughts on “Making It Work”

1. Dana Loy

   August 7, 2012 at 8:16 am

   In June I was hired for a high school position in Norman, Oklahoma, so this will be a big shift from my university job where I’ve been teaching the first four semesters in a grammar-based program. Blaine Ray was beginning his summer workshop tour in Oklahoma City, and a colleague in my new job, who uses TPRS, suggested that I go. This was new territory for me and a clear opportunity for lots of personal and professional growth. After the workshop, I read Blaine’s Fluency Through TPR Storytelling and felt like I had some direction. Then my colleague loaned me Jalen Waltman’s Complete Lesson Plans and Carol Gaab’s Cuentame Mucho, and things started feeling complicated, not because the books weren’t full of good ideas but because the world of TPRS began to expand. Next I started reading the moretprs site and this site, and I ordered and read Ben’s two books. I’m on a giant learning curve, and I try to stay focused on the idea that there is no one way to do this work and that I’ll go through a process of finding my own path. At this point it’s an act of faith. I’m so attracted to the ideas, and I realize I am lucky to have been hired by a school that already uses TPRS. I appreciate this site, and I want to say thanks to the contributors and to Ben for hosting it. I’ve been making TPRS posters for my room and trying to settle on a list of TPRS activities that feel right to me.

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   1. Jacque Myers

      August 7, 2012 at 8:55 am

      I am pretty much a TPRS beginner as well, and have also felt overwhelmed by the variety of materials and approaches out there. I know that variety will be a blessing in the end, but right now I just want to know what to do! In the Beginning Workshop at this year’s NTPRS Conference, it was great to hear from our presenter/mentor (Donna Tatum-Johns) that, in the beginning, she stuck closely to the materials (I think she was using the “Look, I Can Talk” series). In her words, “If the story said there was a blue cat, then there was a blue cat.” Over time, of course, her style and stories have changed, but that’s where she started.

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2. Sarah Downey

   August 7, 2012 at 9:23 am

   Jacque I am also fairly new to TPRS. I began with “Look, I can talk” which is a good book. I always felt that I was missing some more guidance in my TPRS classroom. I got a lot of great ideas from “TPRS in a Year” by Ben and I highly recommend it for getting started. The book provides a lot of skills to use and practice with your teaching. I hope you enjoy your first year of teaching with TPRS.

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3. Diane N.

   August 9, 2012 at 4:09 pm

   This was encouraging to read! I’m about to let go of the banks in the coming school year (thanks for the analogy), and now Ben says that’s a great thing to do. I’ve been using CI and TPRS ideas to some degree for a couple of years, but in the fall I’m planning on making a comprehensive switch to that approach for all my levels of teaching.

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4. Chris

   August 24, 2013 at 10:37 pm

   If we have to let go of PQA, stories and reading, with what do we substitute?

   Blaine’s idea was basically to make reps interesting enough to make people want to focus on them and acquire the language without tedious focus on grammar, vocab lists, etc, and the three steps are his way of doing that. I cannot imagine not doing PQA and reading is according to the research (and my experience) crucial. I know Ben has said that his looong slooow PQA does not necesarily need to turn into stories…so what do we “do” with PQA once we are sure the kids have acquired structures?

   Chris

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   1. Sabrina

      August 25, 2013 at 3:09 pm

      Hi Chris,

      I agree with Ben . Stories are one avenue to deliver CI but not the only one by any mean. CI is the umbrella under which many templates can be delivered.
      For instance we have now movie talk, you tube video, Look and Discuss, Readers theater, ETC…
      I attended a session last week where Marc Mallaney described how to backward design chapter of any novels, all using CI.
      So it’s all about delivering CI, no matter what the vehicle may be.

      Plus we have to remember as Carol Gaab likes to remind us that brain craves novelty and we need to think on our feet so if a story is not flying we need to move on to something else, and we have now at our disposal many new tools.

      I m going to send Ben a link to my Vimeo account in which I uploaded ( well Mb did it for me) 30 Minutes of Carol Gaab doing Reader’s Theater in Dallas at NTPRS this year.

      If that is something you may be interested in feel free to watch it…

      Good luck Chris!

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