I got a few questions from a group member:
Q. TPRS in a Year! has been a fascinating read so far. Thank you so much for this great resource. I’m at the point now where I’d like to try some simple stories in my classes. I was thinking of adapting the textbook vocabulary and trying to come up with stories based on that, but this is a little bit daunting.
A. Not only is it daunting but it is also a complete waste of time imo. I would rather eat rocks for a living than try to tie my lessons to pre-planned textbook vocabulary. It goes against everything I believe about how we acquire languages. Certainly my kids and I can do better than those lists found in textbooks!
Q. I find it difficult to come up with something that is at the right level of interest and complexity (so far my efforts feel too lame and too complicated).
A. You said it yourself very accurately in the last sentence there. Your efforts are almost certainly too complicated. So simplify what you do. Just take a very simple story script and be kind to your kids by allowing them to understand everything you say. Practice random acts of mental kindness, where you go for very few structures and repeat them over and over and over very very slowly. You are being kind to yourself and not just the kids when you do that. There are a few such simple scripts in the Story Scripts category on this site, and I think skip might have collected a few he could share if he reads this. Do not think in terms of creating a story. Take the simple script (John sees Betty. John wants to go out with Betty. Betty sees John. Betty doesn’t want to go out with John – the structures are sees and wants to go out with.) That is what to do now if you want to start stories successfully later. It’s not hard to make up really simple scripts.
