Catharina wrote this over on the Forum today. The ideas she mentions are directed toward elementary TPRS teachers, but pertain to all levels:
When teaching the very young I have found it essential not to go out of bounds. Every word is a foreign sound. Even yes and no in the target language confuses some kids. At the national conference in St Louis some years back, Clarice and I were very fortunate to have Kate Taluga teach us some Muscogee, a Native American language. I must remind myself that French sounds like Muscogee to my students.
What took me so long to understand is that the art of going slow isn’t only speed or intonation, it is also slowing down the amount of new vocabulary. This is where the micro-mini story comes in. It is a perfect tool when we only have a few target structures and 2-3 question words. No need to add details (all out of bound). No difficult sentence structures (out of bounds). No locations. No problem to solve. I can work safely within the boundaries of 2-3 sentences, and keep it 100% comprehensible.
It does take some practice to be able to stretch 3 sentences over 60 minutes. Linda Li is an expert. Diane N. too. If you watch Linda teach or read carefully Diane’s posts, you understand better the art of going slow. It is an art, the ultimate respect to our students.
After going to a few conferences you will notice that the presenters often stick to their “favorite” story. They know “how” to teach it. They know it will be a success. They have learned how to stay in bounds. And they’ve had a lot of practice doing that same story over and over.
If I got this right, there is heavy use of cognates – local places – pop culture – brands. A subtle mix of TPR and questions, asking one student, confirming with another, then asking the whole class, back and forth. The teacher acts confused, absent minded, pretends to be interested in some trivial detail. All tricks to get extra reps. Comprehension checks here and there, and gesturing of target structures to get us out of the seat. Some pause and point on the board with a stern look at the audience. Brain breaks are disguised mini quizzes disguised as extra reps. Fist means we understand, palms together, we don’t. We are allowed to cheat. 10 finger checks another clever trick to give the teacher time to think about the next move. 4 corners gets us moving with 30 seconds to read/send a text message. Half way through we get to chant or sing or play an invisible instrument and practice with a little output. Some will have to “volunteer” as actors. Now the target structures come to life. It’s all entertaining, easy, fun, and what seemed so foreign at first sounds strangely familiar after a while.
So that is what I’ve done. Take notes and imitate. Nowadays I use the same short story with all my students. Even repeat it the following year. They don’t complain, and that’s a good sign because little kids don’t hold back. What matters to them is that they understand. And since Susie Gross taught us that “nothing motivates like success” I strive to learn the art of going slow-Li.