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Total Physical Response (TPR) is the name given to a learning strategy .The basic technique of TPR is simple. Learners act out commands given by the teacher or their fellow pupils (at a later stage). These commands, or series of commands, are simple at the beginning (stand up, sit down) ) , but after some time they may become more complex (I want the boys to stand in a circle please).

Firstly , TPR method creates positive thinking which facilitates the student to involve in the learning process, so it can develop not only motivation but also the aim of students in learning.

Besides that, this method is very easy and the usage of the language contains of action games ,that's why it can help student to learn fast and effectively .

Secondly , students can memorize the vocabulary by looking at the action even though the vocabulary is not translated .

1. Students who are not used to such things might find it embarrassing.

2. It is only suitable for beginner levels .

3. It is not flexibly used to teach everything and if used a lot it would come repetitive.This method is a fun way of changing the dynamics and pace of a lesson.

The application of TPR in the class
TPR can be used to teach and practice so many things as :
Procedure/Demonstration Listening
2.Without teacher modeling .

· Teacher recombines old and new commands and model with the group .

· Group responds to combines commands with and without teacher modeling .

· If there is any hesitation/confusion by the students the teacher returns to modelling

· Keep changing the order of commands .

· After ten classes , students will reverse roles with the teacher .

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Teaching English through actions, Total Physical Response ( TPR ) - Lincoln Centers of Albania

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Total Physical Response (TPR) is the name given to a learning strategy .The basic technique of TPR is simple. Learners act out commands given by the teacher or their fellow pupils (at a later stage). These commands, or series of commands, are simple at the beginning (stand up, sit down)...

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Total Physical Response&Silent Way - Free download as Word Doc (.doc), PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or read online for free.

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Total Physical Response&Silent Way - Free download as Word Doc (.doc), PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or read online for free.

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THE SILENT WAY METHOD. Principles and Techniques. Teacher goals Lang for self-expression; students dev. Independence; inner criteria Teacher/student roles: teacher technician to focus attn on prior knowledge; students actively explore language

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THE SILENT WAY METHOD. Principles and Techniques. Teacher goals Lang for self-expression; students dev. Independence; inner criteria Teacher/student roles: teacher technician to focus attn on prior knowledge; students actively explore language Slideshow 395301 by idania

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Silent Way is an educational approach developed by Caleb Gattegno in the 1950s for teaching foreign languages. It aims at empowering learners. The ambition of Silent Way teachers is to subordinate teaching to learning. In "Silent Way", it is the teacher who is silent. Since he/she is silent most of the time, he/she is closer, or rather more "present" (based on the concept created by Gattegno) to the students and can observe and better guide them in their learning .

Presence is related to the "concentration" and requires total attention. This is a physical, emotional and mental presence. The term presence was quoted in French. The translated one would be "awareness" which adds a psychological dimension. The presence or awareness therefore includes self-awareness and awareness of the object of study: the language.

The Silent Way Approach assumes that "learning is to become aware." The teacher is not a role model but a kind of handyman who "work on the student" while the student is "working on the language."

Various tools are used in a Silent Way class such as: the Cuisenaire rods, sound/color rectangles chart, word charts, the fidel and the pointer. The use made of the material is greater than the material itself. Indeed, one may not teach with these tools and still teach the Silent Way. This is the SW philosophy and educational approach that I will firstly describe.

Silent Way challenges the idea that language (mother tongue or foreign language) is learned by imitation and proposes the concept of feedback. According to Gattegno followed by Piers Messum and Roslyn Young, if the baby has learned to speak, it is not because he/she copied his/her parents, indeed, most of the time, the imitation is done by the caregivers and not the baby. The baby learns the speech sounds on his/her own by exploring his/her mouth.

"A very important observation needs to be made from the start: our phonation system is voluntary and our hearing is not."
Gattegno, 1985.

Source: 1985-2010 Caleb Gattegno. The Science of Education Chapter 13: The Learning and Teaching of Foreign Languages, Educational Solutions.

Therefore, SW teachers strive to provide kinesthetic and visual feedback to help the learner use his/her mouth properly depending on the sound produced.

The Silent Way tools
If Silent Way prefers not to teach phonology in theory, the approach offers tools based on coded approach that appear to promote learning in the inductive mode. Instead of phonetic symbols - sometimes easily related to letters - SW prefers colors (totally arbitrary and therefore less likely to be similar to letters).
Here, is the rectangles chart where each color represents a phoneme of French and the phonetic key to it:

Source: Une Education Pour Demain

In SW, phonetic symbols were replaced by colors. These rectangles of color have a specific location on the chart and allow the observer to discover the phonetics by experimentation. We do not try to make the learners memorize them but to recognize and play with them.

The relationship between speech and writing, in particular between the pronunciation and writing & reading in a non-phonetic language like French is considered in the SW material. The use of SW tools such as the fidel provide many possible activities that encourage learners to make connections between the awareness of sounds of the one of letters.

As can be seen, the position of phonemes on the chart does not happen by chance and follow a certain logic. It is noted for example that the vowels are arranged from right to left by their articulation (prior to later) but the only lines have their own organization (e.g. nasals are on the same line and go from non-rounded to rounded).

We will use the sound/color rectangles chart with a pointer. The teacher as well as the learners use it. Besides pointing at colored rectangles, there are many other possible uses of the pointer in a language class. One can for example highlight the rhythm, speed or intonation.

It is not a method because the SW practitioner does not follow steps and procedures, does not look for a specific planned outcome but is focused on the student and the learning process these individual are going through. There isn't one way of teaching a concept.

Typically, the SW practitioner does not prepare a lot but POST-pare more. In fact, looking back at what a student has achieved in class and what are the next steps OR looking at what he was not able to do and find a solution to solve the problem, constitute the real objective of the teacher.

SW teachers do not provide a model, this is one of the reason why they don't speak. Providing a model using Listen and Repeat or over-explanations is the opposite of a SW class.

Yes the SW practitioners uses prompts such as the Cuisenaire Rods, color-coded charts, pointers etc but they can also teach without them. The tool does not make the teacher an expert of this approach, it's rather the process behind it: the silence, the feedback, the triggers, gestures etc.

Because the SW teachers don't focus on a curriculum does not means they don't follow a certain progression. They know the language very well and experiment on what awarenesses are require to acquire a new structure for instance. This way, they prepare many situations in advance so that they know what to do when the learner needs something specific. This way, we can say that they can anticipate many problems and improvise whenever required.

Some people think that using a lot of colors is confusing and that color-blinded learners or visually challenged ones will not be able to cope. There are teachers using this approach who are color-blinded and still find it useful. You can still see the location of words in the charts for instance and the SW is not limited to a visual approach, it also encourages the use of gestures (pointing, moving, touching...) for instance.

This approach is a constructionist approach but not in the sense of Piaget, it is much more open. It cannot be categorized under "social constructionist" approaches because it does not follow all the principles that it entails and stand alone. But we can say it is "constructionist" in the sense that it encourages the learner to build his knowledge through experiences.

This FAQ is based on questions asked by a researcher about the Silent Way.

The answers are my interpretation and point of view. Other SW practitioners' answers may differ.

What are the main objectives in The Silent Way approach to teaching?

To make the student responsible of his own learning and developing his autonomy. To make the student learn a language the way he learnt his mother tongue: without rules or imitative models.

What are the advantages in using this approach? In your opinion, is it more successful than traditional teaching?

It is more successful than the traditional approach because the teacher let the student learn by her silence. The silence of the teacher makes her better observe the student and help him reach the necessary awareness to learn the language.
The student better learn when he doesn't have a "model" but produce by himself. The Silent Way practitioners do not believe in repetitions and mimetic.
A SW class focuses on quality and not on quantity so, it might appears a bit "slow" but in the long-term, it seems more effective than other approaches.

How does the use of silence aid/hinder teaching?

First, the silence of the teacher enables the student to speak. The objective of a language class is that the students speak, not the teacher.
Second, when silent, the teacher observes more and is able to guide the student according to his need here and now.
The teacher uses different non-verbal techniques to achieve her goal. The variety of techniques (gestures, body language, use of pointer, fingers etc) enable the student to learn better because he can experience and see (mental images) the awareness he needs to learn the language.
The silence in Silent Way is not always necessary and many Silent Way teachers speak a lot in their class but they are still following the silent way approach. The silence of the silent way is more of a state of observation (of the teacher).

What did Gattegno mean when he stated 'teaching is to be subordinated to learning?' How is that achieved in a Silent Way classroom?

It is achieved by being present to the student. A teacher having "presence" can teach the Silent Way successfully, which means, she can subordinate teaching to learning. The Silent Way teacher does not try to "teach" but make students learn; she tries to make them responsible, close to themselves. Students are more curious, their achievements are theirs, and they don't try to make the teacher happy.

Students usually love Silent Way classes. Adolescents sometimes deny the rods for example because they think the exercises with the rods is for babies but there are ways to change their mind and get them involved.

Do you, as a teacher enjoy the lessons as much as in a 'traditional' lesson?

I do enjoy MUCH more than "traditional lesson".

I do not measure enjoyment. I can just observe students and ask them their feed-back. In case they don't enjoy a particular class/exercise, I can change but it'll still be a Silent Way class/exercise.
If the students say that they prefer a traditional approach at the end of a course, what are their reasons for this? Conversely, what are their reasons for preferring The Silent Way?
If they prefer a traditional approach it's because they had a bad Silent Way teacher or because they were very closed-minded and didn't manage to open-up during the course.
If they prefer a traditional approach it's because they are unable to let go beyond their prejudices on language learning (hey can't, for examples, not take notes or translate), it can also be because they are not present to themselves (before learning a language, they need to learn about their own person).
If they prefer the silent way, it's because they learnt better (in terms of language) and they felt better during their learning process. Students usually like the Silent Way because they could really improve their language by themselves.
In what ways can you see the students apply what they have learnt in the classroom?
We can see it immediately by the feed-back in class and outside class. They express more and more in the target language, they take initiatives and demand more. The best way to see that they applied what they learnt is to keep in touch after class and communicate (email, phone, letters).

Is The Silent Way effective for all levels of language, or is it too focused on beginners? If so, what changes can be made in the varying degrees of lessons to make it appropriate for all?

The silent way is effective for all levels but beginner silent way teachers usually find it easier to start with beginners because they need to explore the material and the rest. The more the silent way experiments, the better she understand that Silent Way goes far beyond the material. We can have a Silent Way class without charts, rods, pointers, silence. Silent way is appropriate for all levels.

Is The Silent Way confined to small class sizes, or can it also be effective with larger classes?

Again, it seems easier for a beginner SW teacher to handle small class sizes but it's possible and as effective to work with larger classes.

How relevant do the students find the materials (Cuisenaire rods, the fidel, pointers)?

As I said before, sometimes adolescents do not like the rods or the charts, we can do without them if necessary.
Most of the time, students enjoy the material because they can use it, like a teacher and they can find it useful to express their doubts and keep mental pictures of their awareness. The use of the pointer is really useful because the movement helps the students to retain.

Which of these do you find the most useful as a teacher? Why?

All material are interesting. For French, I would say that the fidel is really useful (for the spelling). For English, I would say that the pointer in really useful (for the stress) and for all languages, the rods are extremely useful to create any linguistic situations.

How do the students' pre-conceived attitudes affect their ability to learn effectively in a non-traditional classroom?

It affects their learning in the sense that they have to let go and get rid of habits which are not helpful to learn a language (taking notes, translating, and learning by rote, asking for rules). These attitudes make them far from the objective of learning a language like a mother-tongue. They delay the awareness.

Do you employ any measures to check if learning is taking place effectively? If so, what are they?

I can test my students formally but I mostly test them informally, during class, thanks to the immediate feed-back that a Silent Way class creates. I do give homework as well, which help me see the progress of the students.

What difficulties do you have in trying to measure this?

I don't find it difficult. I can easily say if a student is learning or not. If he is not learning, I should measure what are his difficulties and address them.

Do you ever feel redundant as the teacher when using The Silent Way? Why/Why not?

No, every class (even if "repeated") is different because the teacher and the class experience here and now. There is not "method" or recipe to teach with the Silent Way, it's always a new experience with new questions and challenges. The teacher keeps changing with her students and learns more about her teaching.

How does The Silent Way relate to self-directed learning theories? Would you agree with Knowles' claim that 'self-directed learning is the best way to learn?' Why/Why not?

Yes I agree, the SW relates to self-learning theories and it's probably the best way to learn because students are responsible of their learning (not the teacher). The process is student-centred so students achieve something on their own and feel proud of them and it's a long-term learning, it doesn't dissolve in time because the students do not memorize but retain.

Do the students (or teacher) ever struggle with the lack of a clear structure or the concept of having to direct the lesson themselves?

A SW classes can be very clearly structured and directed. I don't recall any struggle.

What are the main disadvantages of teaching in this way? Are there any changes you would make to the approach?

If you want to teach with the material, then the logistic is a main issue. A SW teacher needs space to display posters (charts).
The other disadvantage is that the SW is not well known so it's marginalised / not accepted by the educative community and the teacher is sometimes seen like the odd one by her non-SW colleagues.

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What is the Silent Way approach? This presentiation is an introduction about the Silent Way that you can go through to get started: Silent Way is an educational approach developed by Caleb Gattegno in the 1950s for teaching foreign languages. It aims at empowering learners. The ambition of Silent Way teachers is to subordinate teaching...

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Background

The Silent Way is the name of a method of language teaching devised by Caleb Gattegno. It is based on the premise that the teacher should be silent as much as possible in the classroom but the learner should be encouraged to produce as much language as possible. Elements of the Silent Way, particularly the use of color charts and the colored Cuisenaire rods, grew out of Gattegno's previous experience as an educational designer of reading and mathematics programs. The Silent Way shares a great deal with other learning theories and educational philosophies. Very broadly put, the learning hypotheses underlying Gattegno's work could be stated as follows:

Learning is facilitated if the learner discovers or creates rather than remembers and repeats what is to be learned.

Learning is facilitated by accompanying (mediating) physical objects.

Learning is facilitated by problem solving involving the material to be learned.

Let us consider each of these issues in turn.

The Silent Way belongs to a tradition that views learning as a problemsolving, creative, discovering activity, in which the learner is a principal actor rather than a bench-bound listener (Bruner 1966). Bruner discusses the benefits derived from "discovery learning" under four headings: (a) the increase in intellectual potency, (b) the shift from extrinsic to intrinsic rewards, (c) the learning of heuristics by discovering, and (d) the aid to conserving memory (Bruner 1966: 83). Gattegno claims similar benefits from learners taught via the Silent Way.

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The Silent Way (Chapter 6) - Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching

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Background The Silent Way is the name of a method of language teaching devised by Caleb Gattegno. It is based on the premise that the teacher should be silent as much as possible in the classroom but the learner should be encouraged to produce as much language as possible.

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Asher, J.J. Toward a neo-field theory of behavior. J. humanistic Psychol. , 1964, 4, 85-94. (b) |
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Asher, J.J. The total physical response method for second language learning. Final report for the Personnel and Training Branch, Office of Naval Research, NONR 4817 (00), NR-154-257 (AD No. 674868), Aug. .
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Asher, J. J. The total physical response approach to second language learning. Mod. Language J., 1969, 53, 3-17. |
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Asher, J.J. & Price, B.S. The learning strategy of the total physical response: Some age differences . Child Developm., 1967, 38 (4), 1219-27. |
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Humphrey, J.H. Academic skill and concept development through motor activity. Presented at the second general session of the American Academy of Physical Education, Las Vegas, Nev., March 8, . (b)
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Noble, C. E. The learning of psychomotor skills. Annu. Rev. Psychol. , 1968, 19, 203-45. |
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The Total Physical Response Technique of Learning

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Asher, J.J. Toward a neo-field theory of behavior. J. humanistic Psychol. , 1964, 4, 85-94. (b) | Google Scholar SAGE Journals Asher, J.J. The total physical response method for second language learning. Final report for the Personnel and Training Branch, Office of Naval Research, NONR 4817 (00), NR-154-257 (AD No.

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Handy Handout #519: Total Physical Response (TPR)

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Total PhysicalResponse (TPR)Francy Katerine Bautista BoadaMayra Alejandra Camacho ArdilaEguis BlancoDiana Carolina Rodriguez BorreroCarlos Enrique Garcia Yeren...

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Want a teaching technique that'll make your students jump for joy, dance with delight and finish off with high fives?

Sounds like you're looking for a language teaching approach called total physical response or TPR for short.

TPR will change how you see language acquisition.

Instead of asking your students to be quiet and sit still, you'll be requiring them to stand up, move around the classroom and get physical!

Intrigued?

Let's find out more about TPR, and then I'll show you five engaging TPR activities to use in your own classroom.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere.Click here to get a copy. (Download)

What Is Total Physical Response?

Total physical response is an approach to teaching second language that was developed in the 1970s by James Asher, professor of Psychology at the San Jose State University in California.

Asher observed that traditional second language programs had a dropout rate of almost 95%. He thought this could be due to flawed and ineffective methods used in the programs. The professor still had another observation: While adults were dropping like flies in their second language courses, children were easily acquiring first languages like sponges on a wet countertop!

So he decided to create a method of teaching second language that mimics the process children use when picking up their first.

TPR was born.

Asher saw that children's early language repertoire consisted mainly of listening to adults telling them what to do: "Pick up the ball." "Sit down." "Open your mouth." "Look at me."

The child would look to the parents for instructions, and then perform the movements required. The child didn't need to be able to say the words, only to listen and understand. Comprehension was the first step to language acquisition, not word production.

Asher adopted this practice and the simple listen and respond technique now sits at the heart of TPR. It's been proven effective for teaching beginners of foreign languages. For example, you could teach "¡Siéntense!" (sit down) in a Spanish class by repeatedly sitting down and saying "Siéntense." You can ask the class to join you in sitting down, even making a game out of it, or commenting on the manner that some students sit.

The act of moving is memory-friendly. By virtue of seeing you sit down, or experiencing the act themselves, your students will easily associate sitting down with siéntense. There's something about the pairing of movement and language that's so innate that children-without the help of textbooks-easily acquire language.

With TPR, not only do you have an approach that engages the energies of your students, you have a tool that creates memorable meaning through movement.

Just as TPR borrowed plenty of techniques and insights from psychologists and linguists like Dr. Krashen, it has also bequeathed a lot to approaches like TPRS (teaching proficiency through reading and storytelling).

Of course, TPR should not be used in isolation, but as one of many teaching tools in a language teacher's bag.

The Philosophies Behind Total Physical Response

Listening Comes Before Production

TPR applies the learning processes of first language acquisition into teaching adults a second language. And if you observe very carefully, babies don't start off saying "Ball! Ball!" while pointing to their toy. They started off all silent, their innocent eyes listening and observing when adults say, "Get the ball, Robbie! C'mon, get the ball. Veeery good!"

TPR starts with the "silent phase." Here, the job of your students is to listen (and understand) what the command is and respond accordingly. No pressures are placed on properly enunciating vocabulary.

In the early phase of TPR, you don't see the teacher leading the class in pronouncing the words loudly and urging the students to repeat after her.

TPR considers comprehension as the highway to language acquisition. So the first goal of TPR is making the students understand what the word, phrase, command or expression is all about. There's no push to produce the correct sounds, but there's an invitation for students to listen and observe. Mouths are not opened, but eyes and ears are-just like how it happens with children.

And this is one of the prime benefits of using TPR in the classroom. Listening is given its due. Instead of being seen as a passive activity, TPR rightly identifies listening as a vital first step in any linguistic endeavor. Because the normal human reaction to listening is, "Not much is happening-when do we get started with the real stuff?" But if first language acquisition is any guide, we'll understand that we learned just as much (probably even more) when we were silent than when we fumble words without comprehension.

That means that listening is a crucial first step to learning any language, whether listening to the teacher, a song or the audio from a video from a language learning program such as FluentU.

FluentU takes authentic videos-like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks-and turns them into personalized language lessons.

"Acquisition" over "Learning"

Another benefit of TPR is that it favors the methods, techniques, resources and processes of language acquisition over language learning.

Language learning is often concerned with the form-the correct grammatical structures and correct pronunciation of the target language. A grammar textbook, flashcards and vocabulary lists are examples of learning materials. (Something that babies never had when they were learning their first language.)

Language acquisition on the other hand is concerned with substance: the immersive experience of using language in one's everyday affairs. If you move to Korea and have to speak Korean phrases in order to buy items at a store, you're not really learning the language. You're acquiring it.

Or if you're just crazy about Mexican telenovelas and watch them so frequently that you actually know what "¡Ay! ¡Dios mío! " means, then you're acquiring the language without obviously trying to learn it.

Language learning is often conscious and formal. Language acquisition is more personal and natural-almost an afterthought.

The benefit of TPR is that it provides language acquisition experiences for your students in the classroom setting. TPR concerns itself with meaning, so your students will have communicative use of the language, instead of just knowing rules of grammar.

Acquisition Should Be Stress-free

No toddler was sent to the principal's office for bungling their first language grammar, right? Adults just laughed it off and corrected it gently and made the kid feel that everything would be all right.

Why should second language acquisition be any different?

When Professor Asher developed TPR, he made sure that the approach to teaching the language was stress-free for both teacher and students. He posited that another reason why students don't learn is that they get emotionally overwhelmed by the language. It can be a frightening experience that lowers self-esteem. Who would learn in that kind of environment?

Stress kills motivation. And you know how important motivation is for language acquisition. Without it, it's basically game over. That's why many students drop out; it makes the target language out of reach. "I'll never be able to memorize these conjugation rules," they think.

TPR on the other hand, is judgment-free. It just wants the students to have fun. So that while their mouths are open from laughing, their minds are unconsciously open for acquiring the language. There are no affective filters, and no fear that they'll fail.

As far as the students are concerned, they're just playing a game, listening for the next instructions-goofing around. But we know better than that. We know, as teachers, that there's something else going on behind the scenes. We know vocabulary words are understood, appreciated and stored for the long haul.

We teachers often are looking for ways to make the lessons fun, engaging and memorable. With TPR, you've got an approach where "stress-free" is philosophically embedded into the whole thing.

So what actual TPR activities can you use in your own classroom? Here are five activities that'll set language acquisition into overdrive!

1. TPR Storytelling Session

Tell a story to the whole class. It can be about anything: fairytale, adventure, even horror and comedy. Tell it with plenty of gestures and actions, which you repeat often. (That's the TPR way!)

A TPR story shares all the elements of a great tale: a relatable main character, a captivating plot and an ending that rewards the listeners.

But in addition to these, a foreign language teacher employing TPR must remember that the story is used to teach meaning. So a TPR story would use a good mix of the students' native language and the target language. Especially for beginners, a healthy dose of the students' native language might be used, with a peppering of the target language.

And because the story is a vehicle for teaching meaning, repetition of key phrases and their attending movements are the order of the day. You should really focus on key phrases you want to teach the class, not the story itself. The plot, the twists and turns of the story come second to the meaningful and memorable words and phrases you want your wards to integrate into their long-term memory.

So for example, in teaching the Spanish words for the different parts of the body, you might employ the tale of a young Billy who goes to the city for the very first time. And each time about you talk about the many wonderful things he sees with his eyes (i.e. buses, buildings and airplanes), you emphasize the word ojos (eyes) while at the same time pointing to your eyes. It's also important that you widen your eyes as you point to them.

Keep repeating "ojos" and pointing to your eyes as you go through the awesome things Billy sees in the city. He sees a fleet of cars, "ojos." He sees a dog walker, "ojos."

There are ways you can employ repetition in the story without being repetitive. For example, with ojos, you can do the following:

1. Point to your own eyes

2. Ask the students to point to their own eyes

3. Ask students to point to your eyes (or a classmate's)

(And as a comprehension check, you can point to your tummy and see if your students try to correct you.)

This technique also works for all the other parts of the body. The nariz (nose) for everything he smells: freshly baked bread, flowers at the park and the smoke from cars. Orejas (ears) for everything that catches his attention: the sound of cars honking, the tumult at the market and the powerful blasts of a plane taking off.

You can actually set your story so little Billy, the main character, can interact and visit places that will give you maximum opportunity to repeat the meaningful words and phrases. The plot is but a vehicle, so don't worry so much about it.

2. Simon Says with a Twist

A vocabulary-oriented game like Simon Says is analogous to the process that takes place as children acquire their first language. Adults often give instructions to kids, like "throw the ball" "come here" or "eat your chicken." (By virtue of repetition and validation-and gesturing-children are able to figure out what mommy wanted done.)

In this activity, you organize the class into two groups. You can go boys vs. girls (always a hit!) or any grouping you want. Each group sends a representative for every round. They stand at the back of the class, near the wall, with their eyes fixed on you.

You will play "Simon" and come up with creative commands and actions with which your students would then have to perform. So in a French class you might say, " Sautez trois fois!" (Jump three times) or " Pleurez!" (cry). The student who gives the correct response gets to take a step forward towards the "Finish Line." Reaching the finish line first wins 1 point for the team. The team who gets 5 points first wins the game.

Not everyone gets to play each time, but spectators will not only get to cheer their team, they'll also learn the target language in the process.

Play this game often and you will have natural rivalries arise. And that's also when the learning really heats up.

3. The Amazing Race

I'm sure you've seen "The Amazing Race" on TV. But with this activity, you don't have to send the class on a thrilling trip around the world. You only have to send them off to do some task or demonstrate comprehension by performing prescribed motions. (With TPR, you can always check for comprehension because you can just look at their actions.)

Group the class into four or five teams. Each team would ideally be composed of three to four players. The tasks that you choose to give your students are only limited by your imagination-but instead of writing out the tasks, give them verbally.

For example, one task can be a "bring me" scenario and you can tell the teams in your Spanish class to bring you an amarillo (yellow) object. Or you can ask the class to griten (shout) their favorite color.

You can go outside the classroom for this activity and have it in the schoolyard. You can tell your students to bring in the garbage bins (two birds with one stone, if you ask me), pick up twenty dried leaves, arrange flower pots in a line, etc. You can ask the groups to dance the cha-cha, move to the "Macarena" or sing "Happy Birthday."

With "The Amazing Race" as one of your activities, your class will be racing to language acquisition.

4. TPR Theater

This one's for those a little bit advanced in the target language since "TPR Theater" has some improv added into the mix. It is, for all intents and purposes, an impromptu play. Your role as the teacher is to narrate and move the story forward by telling the characters in front of the class what they need to do.

Think of yourself as a benevolent narrator and puppet master where the bit players are to do your every bidding.

Okay, first things first. Determine what your play will be. Is it a love story? An epic adventure? A contemporary comedy? Knowing this will dictate the number of characters, the nature of events in the story and their reactions to it.

Let's say you have a love story. You should then have at least two students to play the role of lovers, and perhaps another one to function as a foil and complete the love triangle.

Or, if you want to have more students in the play, you can create characters like the evil mother-in-law, the jealous friend and the nervous aunt. (But don't involve everybody in the play, otherwise there'll be no audience. Those who don't play parts in the drama today will get their chance to strut out their acting chops the next time.)

So for example, say there's one particular scene where the lovers are bonding at the park. In a German class you might bark some funny instructions to your bit players, like " kneife sie in die Wange!" (pinch her nose) or "kitzle sie... " (tickle her...)

Again, in this case, where the plot takes you or how it ends doesn't really matter. These are not the most important things so don't obsess over them. The whole affair is really just an excuse to practice the target language. So keep it light. Help the students if they have comprehension difficulties. Don't be afraid to drop everything midway if it means explaining something about the target language.

5. Action Songs for the Whole Class

Action songs are actually TPR-but with music. Children love them. They add melody and cadence that the brain can latch on to. They are the perfect memory aids that can effectively embed language and movement into the long-term memory.

Singing together as a class is a great memory-enhancing tool. Did you notice that even as adults, we find it hard to jettison the nursery rhymes and songs of our childhood? It may have been 40 years ago, but they are as fresh as the morning we learned it in class.

So lead the class in action songs ( here's a great listing of children's songs and rhymes by language, by the way). But you don't have to rely on the nursery classics for action songs. The classics all began with a creative teacher, alone her room, coming up with gestures to accompany the lines. You can create actions for any song that you want, including pop music in the target language.

First, determine the important words in the song. That is, the words you want to embed into your students' memories. (Don't gesture out each word in the song, that'll be too overwhelming.)

Second, pick the appropriate accompanying gestures for your words. The action may seem obvious for words like"jump," "look," "laugh," etc. But how about when the song has words like "hope" or "integrity"? These will force you to be creative and think outside the box.

You'll have to think of situations in which "hope" or "integrity" is displayed or practiced. "Hope" is displayed during prayer, for example, by people hoping to get prayers answered. So your action can perhaps be interlacing fingers, just like a prayer position. "Integrity" is often displayed by someone giving a persuasive speech. Your action can then be a pounding fist.

Remember, the gestures need not be spot on. They only need to be a semblance of the thing they signify.

When coming up with actions to go with your song, aside from creativity, go for a little bit of exaggeration. Take the word "see" for example. Instead of simply pointing to your eyes, mimic a telescoping gesture or place a horizontal palm above your eyebrow and swing your neck from left to right, looking out into the distance.

It makes the lyrics of the song more vivid and more engaging for your students. And speaking of lyrics, don't teach the songs line-by-line or distribute lyrics (if possible). Instead, teach the song as a whole-with music and the accompanying gestures. The goal here is not to make the students memorize the lyrics. It's to let them understand what they are singing about: comprehension.

So those are your five classroom TPR activities. Try them in your language class and set language acquisition on fire. Because nothing is as rewarding as seeing your students pick up a beautiful language.

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5 Total Physical Response (TPR) Activities That Every Language Teacher Should Know

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Total physical response (TPR) is an incredible way to teach languages. Click here to learn how TPR works, and to discover 5 super-fun TPR activities that'll get students moving and acquiring language naturally and interactively! Downloadable PDF included.

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Total Physical Response (TPR) is a method of teaching language or vocabulary concepts by using physical movement to react to verbal input. The process mimics the way that infants learn their first language, and it reduces student inhibitions and lowers stress.

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Total Physical Response (TPR) - Teacher Training film no. 8