Short Question, Long Answer

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6 thoughts on “Short Question, Long Answer”

  1. Ben said “TPRS/T1 work is much harder to learn than NT instruction. The simplicity of NT seems to be the problem for most teachers.”

    I did TPRS/T1 for two and a half years and, yes, it was a huge change from traditional teaching and I loved it. So did the kids. However, I love NT more! During my TPRS/T1 years, the best stories and conversations occurred when they were unplanned. I specifically remember a couple years ago when we had so many awesome stories and the kids were so enthusiastic because they were driving the story forward on their own. THEY were coming up with the ideas. They sort of “ignored” the three target structures I had written on the board. We would all be cracking up laughing and having a blast in the TL. I remember after those classes thinking “Well, the class was super fun but we never even used the targets I had been practicing with them for the past two classes. Now what?” I thought I was doing it all wrong but how could I stop the kids who were so into it? I couldn’t. At times, the energy was so intense that I just wrote a new word on the board that came up and continued. I tried to “circle” those new words but it seemed wrong and unnatural. The kids understood the story so why pause and bore them? This happened so much my first year doing CI-not so much last year. It may have been the type of kids I had but I am glad to have had them because I was able to see what a NT story could do.

    Now I have been experimenting with OWI for about a month or so with NT stories. I don’t worry about circling and I just talk to the kids and see where it goes. There is much less pressure and it is much more natural. I don’t sense that negative vibe of the class anymore that I used to when I tried to circle. I used to feel that they were thinking “Enough, already! We get it!”

    I have a student teacher this year who has no prior teaching experience. She is doing NT instruction just fine and never learned the fundamentals of TPRS first. So this is a perfect example. She just talks to the kids and it is nice to watch that happen from a different perspective. She talks to them naturally about their characters, stories, etc. She is not burdened with learning a circling technique, etc. I just tell her to speak slowly and look into their eyes. If they don’t understand, you will know.

    Monday we are going to create our first Invisibles as a class. I am so excited to see what they come up with. I already have one particular class that always talks (in Spanish) about all the OWI images I have put up on the wall. They laugh and say that their drawings are better and tell me bits of stories about how one of their characters met another one from another class. This particular class is very creative and I think they are going to do well with the Invisibles. I think all my classes will do well but I am eager to see.

  2. I remember last summer in Chatanooga (iFLT16), I read in the overview of the conference about your coaching sessions at night and I thought God this guy must be really passionate about TPRS, I want to be in those sessions! But then I was discouraged because the way they later announced it in the big forum was like, if you really are an experienced and have already mastered the TPRS skill you could benefit from Ben´s coaching. So I decided to limit myself to focus on everything about the beginner track of the conference. I should have followed my instincts and gone to Ben´s coaching sessions. Chanfles! I have learned a lot in the past months here in this group though. Thank you, Ben.

    1. I have to admit, the night time coaching sessions have been some of the most valuable time I spent at TPRS conferences. It was wonderful to see and hear so much during the day sessions and then it all went deeper during evening coaching. The group positivity really helped me develop more confidence in stories and it was so refreshing to see experienced folk try out new things, make mistakes, and still get so much support from others.

      Anyone can benefit from the coaching, regardless of where they are on the path. Ben, didn’t we have some brand-new people at Agen?

      1. Yes, they were mostly new. Remember the lady from Holland that taught French and we did the brown chicken? But before that incredible success she really was doubting everything? How much she grew to trust the process in that short half hour? Wow. She started out doubting and being really stuck and all it took was that brown chicken.

        I’ll miss you this year Jason. Say hi to the Agen crowd. At least Beniko will be there, keynoting. Her words, all her words and her message, are, in my view, pointing the path to the future of this work. Can’t wait for her new book on Story Listening.

        1. Yes, that chicken did wonders. There was tons of positive energy and smiles by the end of the week.

          I will say hi to everyone. We will miss your presence. Hopefully there will be some inspiring stories to swap the next time we cross paths. I too am looking forward to her book.

  3. I love coaching beginners. I don’t know where that may have come from. Tina and I were wondering why those evening sessions didn’t have as much mojo as they usually do. People like you weren’t there!

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