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MovieTalk is a technique for language learning developed by Dr. Ashley Hastings as part of the FOCAL skills program used to teach ESL at the university level.

MovieTalk was 'discovered' and brought to the TPRS world by Michele Whaley, a Russian teacher in Anchorage, AK, in 2012. She has led several trainings with our local TPRS group and blogged about it quite extensively. She also connected with Dr. Hastings and arranged a Skype session with our local group and helped bring him to Alaska in 2013 for our annual AFLA conference. Read Michele's blog archives here.
Please note: The websites formerly maintained by Dr. Hastings are no longer active, and the URLs were acquired by inappropriate sites. Regrettably, we are no longer able to directly link Dr. Hastings' explanation of MovieTalk and its history!
Why MovieTalk?

MovieTalk is a great way to present your students with a broad range of vocabulary in an engaging manner. It provides comprehensible input because students are seeing images (instead of written translations) of the structures as you describe them. It is an excellent way to provide differentiated instruction, because student will pick up on whatever they are able to based on their current level of language ability. Beginning students will pick up a few words, since most words will be new to them, and advanced students will pick up on the few new words to them and will notice grammatical constructions.

HOW TO MOVIETALK

MovieTalk is simple. If you have ever attended a TPRS® training, you will easily be able to transfer the skills that you learned to MovieTalk. Just imagine that instead of a reading or a story with live actors, you are circling and discussing what is visible on the screen (NOT the dialogue).

Begin by choosing a short film or a short segment of a longer film. It shouldn't be more than five minutes long. It should be visually stimulating, with little dialogue (rather, little dialogue that is essential to the understanding of the clip). The 'plot' should be fairly obvious when the volume is turned off and the film is simply watched, not listened to. Typically, I choose a film that fits in with whatever structures we are currently studying, so that I can get in more repetitions of those structures. However, this is not necessary-you could choose a film just for fun that has nothing to do with what you are currently learning. The students will still acquire language as they view it!

Turn off the volume. Begin playing the clip, but pause it once the first image appears on the screen. Describe anything and everything that you see on the screen in the target language. Use the TPRS® techniques that you have learned to get in repetitions of the structures-circling, personalization, and comprehension checks. Typically, I concentrate the MovieTalk on the structures that we are working on in class (since I choose the films based on those structures). I describe everything, but I really perseverate on the target structures. Once you've discussed the first image sufficiently, push 'play', and play the film until something else happens or appears on the screen. Pause the film again, and describe what is in this new image. Circle, personalize, and check for comprehension. Continue this process-pausing and describing each new image-until you have finished the clip. (If there is a 'twist' at the end of the clip, you may wish to stop the clip before the film ends in order to create suspense.)

After you have finished MovieTalk for the clip, play it from the beginning with sound and without pausing. (The kids will probably mutiny if you don't!) If you saved the 'twist' at the end, the kids will really be anxious to see what happens! You can discuss it after they've seen it.

MOVIETALK DEMO:

Here is a demo of me using MovieTalk with the Jesse & Joy music video Espacio sideral. I used this music video in my unit. In case you were wondering, yes-I was pregnant at the time.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

For more MovieTalk ideas, click here to view my MovieTalk archives or visit my MovieTalk board on Pinterest:

[pinterest url=https://www.pinterest.com/martinabex/movietalk-musica/ width=600]

What is ClipChat?

As MovieTalk has become a core strategy of teachers that focus their instruction on comprehension-based methods such as TPRS®, it has changed in significant ways from Dr. Hastings' original practice. For that reason, Dr. Hastings asked that the original MovieTalk method be differentiated from its evolved version, which I describe in this post. ClipChat is the best term to use when referring to the variation of MovieTalk in which teachers use techniques such as establishing meaning through definition/translation, asking processing and personalized questions. or strategically choosing words to use in the telling of the story based on external instructional goals.

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MovieTalk - The Comprehensible Classroom

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MovieTalk is a technique for language learning developed by Dr. Ashley Hastings as part of the FOCAL skills program used to teach ESL at the university level. MovieTalk was 'discovered' and brought to the TPRS world by Michele Whaley, a Russian teacher in Anchorage, AK, in 2012.

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Picture Talk for Compelling Comprehensible Culture! - La Maestra Loca

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One of my favorite things to present on is how to deliver highly engaging, highly compelling comprehensible input while talking about culture! Culture, for me, used to be such a challengeÂ to "teach" while staying in the target language.

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The TPRS teacher has one main job in the classroom: to speak [the target language] in a way that all the students can understand at all times .

TPR Storytelling or Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling is a language teaching method developed by Blaine Ray, a Spanish teacher, during the 1990s. While Ray began with Total Physical Response (TPR), classical TPR is now a relatively small part of TPRS . Instead, TPRS draws from the research of researchers like Bill VanPatten and Stephen Krashen who hold that the best way to help students to develop fluency and accuracy in a language is to expose them to large amounts of comprehensible input. Thus, the steps (see below) and techniques of TPRS help teachers to provide this input by making the language spoken in classroom both comprehensible and engaging. TPRS techniques play a large role in other comprehensible input-based methods such as MovieTalks.

TPRS is broadly divided into three steps. In step one the new vocabulary structures to be learned are taught using a combination of translation, gestures, and personalized questions; in step two those structures are used in a spoken class story; and finally, in step three, these same structures are used in a class reading. Throughout these steps, teachers make the target language more comprehensible to the students by carefully limiting vocabulary, constantly asking comprehension questions, and by including very short grammar explanations known as pop-up grammar. Many TPRS teachers also make use of other comprehensible-input based activities such as reading a class novel or One Word Images.

Step 1: Establish Meaning

Summary: Write the new language on the board with its English translation and provide as many contextualized repetitions of the new vocabulary phrases (target structures) as possible. This lays the foundation for student recognition of the structures during the story-asking (step two).

Target structures: You can read more about target structures in this article; however, essentially they are the new vocabulary phrases for the lesson. Generally it is best to limit the lesson to less than three target structures so that the teacher can focus on them and provide lots of repetitions for students. Three possible target structures in English would be doesn't want, needs to go, and would like.

Write structures: The new structures are written on the board (or projected) in different colors (for clarity) and translated into the students' native language if a shared native language is available. You can learn about why TPRS uses the L1 to establish meaning in this article, but essentially, it is used because it is efficient. If students forget what a phrase means, they can glance at the board and check the meaning at any time.

Gestures: The teacher may elect to practice the new phrases using gestures, in a style modeled after traditional TPR. This gives the students the chance to get used to how the phrases sound before hearing them in context. It is also intended to keep the atmosphere of the class relaxed and conducive to learning . When the teacher later moves to story-asking, performing the gesture while saying the structure aids the comprehensibility of the language.

Mnemonics & extras: If the teacher has any mnemonics or other memory aids to help students remember the word, they can also be introduced in this section, though they are not necessary.

PQA: Then the teacher asks questions about the students using the target phrases. These questions are known as Personalized Questions and Answers (PQA). For example, if the target structure was likes to eat, some PQA questions would be "What do you like to eat for dessert?" or "What did you like to eat as a kid?" To ensure that these questions are comprehensible to the students, the teacher uses a variety of techniques such as comprehension checks. The details discovered by the teacher from PQA are often used as the basis for step two, the class story.

Step 2: Spoken Class Story

Summary: When students know what the new language means, it's time for them to hear the structures many times in the context of a spoken class story. This story is usually short, simple, and interesting, and will contain multiple instances of the target structures used in context. The language is spoken slowly and clearly, so that students understand it and begin to acquire the language that is used. The number of times the structures are heard is further increased by the circling questioning technique.

Ask, don't tell: The teacher does not so much tell the story as ask the story. The teacher will usually use a skeleton script with very few details and then flesh the story out using details provided by the students in the target language, making a personalized story for each class.

Add details: Using the circling technique, teachers can ask for these new details while maintaining the comprehensibility of the target language. Advanced TPRS teachers are able to improvise and develop stories from student answers to questions about the day's vocabulary structures (PQA). The focus is always on the target structures. Adding details makes the story interesting to the students because they're the ones doing the creative thinking! The reason to ask stories instead of telling them (à la Story Listening) is that it gives students increased ownership. Together they determine the characters, the setting, the details, etc.

Maintain comprehension: If students do not understand, they will not acquire. To keep language comprehensible, TPRS teachers have developed several strategies:

Pause and point: While you are speaking the language, you will want to pause and point to the words on the board when you use them. Point to a spot, keep your pointer there, and take a slight pause to make sure that everyone has the chance to link up the spoken language to its meaning and spelling as they see it in front of them. Pausing and pointing every time that the new language is used requires discipline, but it is important for keeping the language comprehensible.

Stay in Bounds: In-bounds structures are anything that is comprehensible to your students such as proper nouns, cognates, previously acquired structures, and the current focus of your lesson. To the greatest extent possible, you should attempt to limit your word choice to these things; however, if you find the need to use a word that is incomprehensible to your students while story-asking (an "out of bounds" word), you should write it on the board with a translation. It might be helpful for you to keep a running-list of in-bounds structures that your students have acquired.

Acting: The actions in the story may be acted out by volunteers from the class. When the teacher makes a statement that advances the story plot, the actors will act out that statement and then wait while the teacher continues with the circling questions. Ideally, the actors will act in a humorous, emotional, or otherwise memorable way. This helps students to make visual and emotional connections to the new language structures they are hearing. By using actors, the teacher is able to easily incorporate verb forms other than the third person singular.

Three locations: The story will often take place in distinct locations. The main character in the story may start off in one location with a problem that they need to solve. They may move to a second location, where they try to solve the problem, but fail. Then they may move to a third location where they resolve the problem. This narrative device is used to maximize the repetitions of the target structures, to make the story easy to understand, and to make the target phrases easy to remember.

Retelling: After the story has finished, the teacher may retell it in a briefer form, or he/she may ask the students to retell it in their own words. They might retell in pairs, groups, or one (high-achieving) student can retell the story in front of the class. This allows them to use the structures that they have just learned.

Step 3: Reading

Summary: Step 3 is where the students learn to read the language structures that they have heard in the previous steps. All readings in TPRS are comprehensible to the students, which means that there is a very low ratio of unknown words (if any); however, the reading can often be at a slightly higher level than the spoken class story because cognates are more visible, and the input is under the reader's control (i.e. by re-reading). Overall, reading takes up about 50% of the time in a TPRS classroom.

Class reading: While a number of reading activities are used in TPRS, the first and most common is a class reading in which the students read and discuss a story that uses the same language structures as the story in step two. Sometimes it can be the exact story in written form, or it can be an entirely different reading that uses the same structures. For example, when Martina Bex does her unit with the target structures of runs, walks, and sees, she does a non-fiction reading using those structures that teaches about bull-fighting. Using the structures in a new context is more helpful for language acquisition than simply writing the class story because we don't want our students to merely memorize the class story. One simple way of creating a novel reading experience is called parallel reading in which the teacher takes a class story and changes all of the details (i.e. the characters, locations, the goals, etc.).

Reading process: There are many reading activities to use with the story. However, the most basic form of class reading involves translation. The teacher will begin the reading by reading the story aloud, and then students will translate it aloud into their first language. Translation is used in this way to ensure that all students have an accurate understanding of the language's meaning.

PQA: While reading, teachers will also discuss the reading in the target language with the class by asking personalized questions. For example, if the reading is about a character who has a car, the teacher would ask the students if they have a car, what type it is, etc. Then the teacher can compare the student in the class with the character in the story.

Pop-up grammar: While reading is the best time to do pop-up grammar. These 5-10 second explanations of grammar are based on meaning and help students to understand the text.

Cold character reading: In Chinese, Japanese, and other languages that don't use the Roman alphabet, teachers use a technique called Cold Character Reading to introduce the written form of the language that was used in the class story.

FVR: After class novels, the next most common reading activity is free voluntary reading, where students are free to read any book they choose in the language being learned.

Shared reading: The final common type of reading is Shared Reading or Kindergarten Day where, as in first-language literacy activities, the teacher brings in a children's picture book and reads it to the students, making it comprehensible through circling and other means.

Below you will find some common criticisms of TPRS as well as the rebuttal arguments given by Blaine Ray and Carol Gaab on the blogs of Chris Stolz and Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell

Is TPRS always weird?

Some people think that all TPRS stories involve blue unicorns or other ridiculous storylines. While there are teachers who do such storylines, there are also many TPRS teachers who do not. The goal is always for our input to be compelling, and for some students, "compelling" might mean a story about flying blue elephants. However, there are many other things that teachers can make compelling such as a discussion about cultural differences, social justice, the upcoming football game, etc.

Does TPRS require a lot of energy?

When some people watch a TPRS demo, they come away thinking that they don't have the right personality or level of energy to use TPRS every day. The best answer that I can give to this criticism is that it simply isn't true. There are many TPRS teachers who are not ridiculous, high-energy extroverts. It will take time for you to develop your TPRS or comprehensible input-based style, but it will come to you eventually. Here's an interesting article about performance in education.

TPRS seems very teacher-focused. I'm worried that my administrator won't like that during my evaluation.

This question is answered in detail in the article Are TPRS & TCI Too "Teacher-Centered"? To summarize the answer, TPRS is actually very student-centered if you define a student-centered classroom as one where students come up with most of the ideas instead of the view that students have to be doing most of the talking. In best-practice foreign language teaching, the teacher should be doing a lot talking because he/she is the only competent provider of comprehensible input.

Why don't students in TPRS classes speak more?

TPRS and other comprehensible input-based methods frequently get criticized because students do not produce very much language in the beginning. The reason for this is that TPRS is based on the Input hypothesis by Stephen Krashen, as well as the many other researchers who studied the power of input. This theory holds that students' language improvements are overwhelming based on comprehensible input (reading and listening) and not output (speaking or writing).

Don't TPRS stories get monotonous?

It is true that TPRS story scripts follow a very monotonous format (a problem, 3 locations, etc.). However, with the students' contributions, it won't be as noticeable. Furthermore, no one says that you have to do TPRS all the time. There are many other comprehensible input-based activities such as class novels or MovieTalk that offer a change of pace.

Isn't it impossible to recreate first language acquisition?

We acquire our first language as children through comprehensible input. I think most people are in agreement with this. However, people debate about whether second language acquisition works the same way. Obviously it will work slightly differently because of cognitive development, already knowing one language, and (in some cases) the ability to think metacognitively about language. However, there is not strong research to show, for example, that studying grammar rules will lead to proficiency in a second language.

Is TPRS really unstructured?

TPRS and comprehensible input-based instruction can seem chaotic and possibly random to an outsider. While some TPRS classrooms could accurately be described as unstructured, even the most free-form TPRS teachers do not present things randomly. For example, they must be aware of the language that the students have acquired, what they need more repetition of, and what language the students need to improve their proficiency. Here you can read more about Terry Waltz's view on this question.

Does TPRS reach all types of learners in the classroom? Even students in special education?

Blaine Ray 's response to this question was: "Everyone can learn a language who has learned his/her first language. So in a sense TPRS might work with all learners. It does not work with unmotivated learners. We aren't there to save everyone."

Does TPRS really engage all students?

Blaine Ray 's response to this question was: "Do grammar lessons engage all students? That really isn't the right question. Does TPRS engage students better than other types of language teaching? I would say yes. There is something about live theater that is very engaging. I have seen students that seem to be disengaged tell me what is going on in the story over and over. It is been my experience that virtually all students follow the story line."

Can I do TPRS one day a week and still see the benefits?

What are you comparing yourself to, and what are your goals? It's possible to mix methods (i.e. doing TPRS sometimes while also continuing a grammar-heavy curriculum), but it is generally not recommended because the two methods are so different. You'll probably end up having students who struggle with fluency (because of all the vocabulary and grammar), but who also struggle on your traditional assessments.

How many teachers are using TPRS?

In the United States the method has gained vocal support from an increasing core of language teachers, and some school districts use it exclusively in their foreign language programs. It has been used in language revitalization programs / / , and its techniques have spawned many other comprehensible-input-based methods such as MovieTalks. There are large support groups for TPRS teachers such as this group on Facebook that has over 4,000 teachers from around the world.

Is there a way to scaffold the story-asking process?

Take a look at the Guided Storytelling Grid. It's kind of like a big MadLib version of a story script that you can ask circling questions about. Experienced storytelling teachers would probably find this less effective than a less structured story; however, when you're starting out, you need to do what you have to until you feel more comfortable. TriState TCI also shared a planning document that might be helpful for new teachers.

How is TPRS different from immersion?

The difference between immersion and TPRS is that TPRS makes the target language comprehensible through occasional use of the L1.

TPRS falls under the broader term of Teaching with Comprehensible Input. Read this article for an introduction to what Teaching with Comprehensible Input (TCI) means. While TPRS is a popular method, there are many great TCI teachers who don't do any story-asking.

If you're feeling overwhelmed, I completely understand. In this article I tried to describe some of the important tenants of TPRS, but it's hard to learn TPRS through reading alone, and I am also FAR from an expert on TPRS. To truly learn TPRS you need training or at least a large dose of demonstration videos, and even then, it will take several years to become proficient in all of the things that I summarized here. If you have any questions or suggestions for improving this article (i.e. things that I failed to mention or explained poorly), please let me know in the comments below.

TPRS is broadly divided into three steps. In step one the new vocabulary structures to be learned are taught using a combination of translation, gestures, and personalized questions; in step two those structures are used in a spoken class story; and finally, in step three, these same structures are used in a class reading. Throughout these steps, teachers make the target language more comprehensible to the students by carefully limiting vocabulary, constantly asking comprehension questions, and by including very short grammar explanations known as pop-up grammar. Many TPRS teachers also make use of other comprehensible-input based activities such as reading a class novel or One Word Images.

Step 1: Establish Meaning

Summary: Write the new language on the board with its English translation and provide as many contextualized repetitions of the new vocabulary phrases (target structures) as possible. This lays the foundation for student recognition of the structures during the story-asking (step two).

Target structures: You can read more about target structures in this article; however, essentially they are the new vocabulary phrases for the lesson. Generally it is best to limit the lesson to less than three target structures so that the teacher can focus on them and provide lots of repetitions for students. Three possible target structures in English would be doesn't want, needs to go, and would like.

Write structures: The new structures are written on the board (or projected) in different colors (for clarity) and translated into the students' native language if a shared native language is available. You can learn about why TPRS uses the L1 to establish meaning in this article, but essentially, it is used because it is efficient. If students forget what a phrase means, they can glance at the board and check the meaning at any time.

Gestures: The teacher may elect to practice the new phrases using gestures, in a style modeled after traditional TPR. This gives the students the chance to get used to how the phrases sound before hearing them in context. It is also intended to keep the atmosphere of the class relaxed and conducive to learning . When the teacher later moves to story-asking, performing the gesture while saying the structure aids the comprehensibility of the language.

Mnemonics & extras: If the teacher has any mnemonics or other memory aids to help students remember the word, they can also be introduced in this section, though they are not necessary.

PQA: Then the teacher asks questions about the students using the target phrases. These questions are known as Personalized Questions and Answers (PQA). For example, if the target structure was likes to eat, some PQA questions would be "What do you like to eat for dessert?" or "What did you like to eat as a kid?" To ensure that these questions are comprehensible to the students, the teacher uses a variety of techniques such as comprehension checks. The details discovered by the teacher from PQA are often used as the basis for step two, the class story.

Step 2: Spoken Class Story

Summary: When students know what the new language means, it's time for them to hear the structures many times in the context of a spoken class story. This story is usually short, simple, and interesting, and will contain multiple instances of the target structures used in context. The language is spoken slowly and clearly, so that students understand it and begin to acquire the language that is used. The number of times the structures are heard is further increased by the circling questioning technique.

Ask, don't tell: The teacher does not so much tell the story as ask the story. The teacher will usually use a skeleton script with very few details and then flesh the story out using details provided by the students in the target language, making a personalized story for each class.

Add details: Using the circling technique, teachers can ask for these new details while maintaining the comprehensibility of the target language. Advanced TPRS teachers are able to improvise and develop stories from student answers to questions about the day's vocabulary structures (PQA). The focus is always on the target structures. Adding details makes the story interesting to the students because they're the ones doing the creative thinking! The reason to ask stories instead of telling them (à la Story Listening) is that it gives students increased ownership. Together they determine the characters, the setting, the details, etc.

Maintain comprehension: If students do not understand, they will not acquire. To keep language comprehensible, TPRS teachers have developed several strategies:

Pause and point: While you are speaking the language, you will want to pause and point to the words on the board when you use them. Point to a spot, keep your pointer there, and take a slight pause to make sure that everyone has the chance to link up the spoken language to its meaning and spelling as they see it in front of them. Pausing and pointing every time that the new language is used requires discipline, but it is important for keeping the language comprehensible.

Stay in Bounds: In-bounds structures are anything that is comprehensible to your students such as proper nouns, cognates, previously acquired structures, and the current focus of your lesson. To the greatest extent possible, you should attempt to limit your word choice to these things; however, if you find the need to use a word that is incomprehensible to your students while story-asking (an "out of bounds" word), you should write it on the board with a translation. It might be helpful for you to keep a running-list of in-bounds structures that your students have acquired.

Acting: The actions in the story may be acted out by volunteers from the class. When the teacher makes a statement that advances the story plot, the actors will act out that statement and then wait while the teacher continues with the circling questions. Ideally, the actors will act in a humorous, emotional, or otherwise memorable way. This helps students to make visual and emotional connections to the new language structures they are hearing. By using actors, the teacher is able to easily incorporate verb forms other than the third person singular.

Three locations: The story will often take place in distinct locations. The main character in the story may start off in one location with a problem that they need to solve. They may move to a second location, where they try to solve the problem, but fail. Then they may move to a third location where they resolve the problem. This narrative device is used to maximize the repetitions of the target structures, to make the story easy to understand, and to make the target phrases easy to remember.

Retelling: After the story has finished, the teacher may retell it in a briefer form, or he/she may ask the students to retell it in their own words. They might retell in pairs, groups, or one (high-achieving) student can retell the story in front of the class. This allows them to use the structures that they have just learned.

Step 3: Reading

Summary: Step 3 is where the students learn to read the language structures that they have heard in the previous steps. All readings in TPRS are comprehensible to the students, which means that there is a very low ratio of unknown words (if any); however, the reading can often be at a slightly higher level than the spoken class story because cognates are more visible, and the input is under the reader's control (i.e. by re-reading). Overall, reading takes up about 50% of the time in a TPRS classroom.

Class reading: While a number of reading activities are used in TPRS, the first and most common is a class reading in which the students read and discuss a story that uses the same language structures as the story in step two. Sometimes it can be the exact story in written form, or it can be an entirely different reading that uses the same structures. For example, when Martina Bex does her unit with the target structures of runs, walks, and sees, she does a non-fiction reading using those structures that teaches about bull-fighting. Using the structures in a new context is more helpful for language acquisition than simply writing the class story because we don't want our students to merely memorize the class story. One simple way of creating a novel reading experience is called parallel reading in which the teacher takes a class story and changes all of the details (i.e. the characters, locations, the goals, etc.).

Reading process: There are many reading activities to use with the story. However, the most basic form of class reading involves translation. The teacher will begin the reading by reading the story aloud, and then students will translate it aloud into their first language. Translation is used in this way to ensure that all students have an accurate understanding of the language's meaning.

PQA: While reading, teachers will also discuss the reading in the target language with the class by asking personalized questions. For example, if the reading is about a character who has a car, the teacher would ask the students if they have a car, what type it is, etc. Then the teacher can compare the student in the class with the character in the story.

Pop-up grammar: While reading is the best time to do pop-up grammar. These 5-10 second explanations of grammar are based on meaning and help students to understand the text.

Cold character reading: In Chinese, Japanese, and other languages that don't use the Roman alphabet, teachers use a technique called Cold Character Reading to introduce the written form of the language that was used in the class story.

FVR: After class novels, the next most common reading activity is free voluntary reading, where students are free to read any book they choose in the language being learned.

Shared reading: The final common type of reading is Shared Reading or Kindergarten Day where, as in first-language literacy activities, the teacher brings in a children's picture book and reads it to the students, making it comprehensible through circling and other means.

Below you will find some common criticisms of TPRS as well as the rebuttal arguments given by Blaine Ray and Carol Gaab on the blogs of Chris Stolz and Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell

Is TPRS always weird?

Some people think that all TPRS stories involve blue unicorns or other ridiculous storylines. While there are teachers who do such storylines, there are also many TPRS teachers who do not. The goal is always for our input to be compelling, and for some students, "compelling" might mean a story about flying blue elephants. However, there are many other things that teachers can make compelling such as a discussion about cultural differences, social justice, the upcoming football game, etc.

Does TPRS require a lot of energy?

When some people watch a TPRS demo, they come away thinking that they don't have the right personality or level of energy to use TPRS every day. The best answer that I can give to this criticism is that it simply isn't true. There are many TPRS teachers who are not ridiculous, high-energy extroverts. It will take time for you to develop your TPRS or comprehensible input-based style, but it will come to you eventually. Here's an interesting article about performance in education.

TPRS seems very teacher-focused. I'm worried that my administrator won't like that during my evaluation.

This question is answered in detail in the article Are TPRS & TCI Too "Teacher-Centered"? To summarize the answer, TPRS is actually very student-centered if you define a student-centered classroom as one where students come up with most of the ideas instead of the view that students have to be doing most of the talking. In best-practice foreign language teaching, the teacher should be doing a lot talking because he/she is the only competent provider of comprehensible input.

Why don't students in TPRS classes speak more?

TPRS and other comprehensible input-based methods frequently get criticized because students do not produce very much language in the beginning. The reason for this is that TPRS is based on the Input hypothesis by Stephen Krashen, as well as the many other researchers who studied the power of input. This theory holds that students' language improvements are overwhelming based on comprehensible input (reading and listening) and not output (speaking or writing).

Don't TPRS stories get monotonous?

It is true that TPRS story scripts follow a very monotonous format (a problem, 3 locations, etc.). However, with the students' contributions, it won't be as noticeable. Furthermore, no one says that you have to do TPRS all the time. There are many other comprehensible input-based activities such as class novels or MovieTalk that offer a change of pace.

Isn't it impossible to recreate first language acquisition?

We acquire our first language as children through comprehensible input. I think most people are in agreement with this. However, people debate about whether second language acquisition works the same way. Obviously it will work slightly differently because of cognitive development, already knowing one language, and (in some cases) the ability to think metacognitively about language. However, there is not strong research to show, for example, that studying grammar rules will lead to proficiency in a second language.

Is TPRS really unstructured?

TPRS and comprehensible input-based instruction can seem chaotic and possibly random to an outsider. While some TPRS classrooms could accurately be described as unstructured, even the most free-form TPRS teachers do not present things randomly. For example, they must be aware of the language that the students have acquired, what they need more repetition of, and what language the students need to improve their proficiency. Here you can read more about Terry Waltz's view on this question.

Does TPRS reach all types of learners in the classroom? Even students in special education?

Blaine Ray 's response to this question was: "Everyone can learn a language who has learned his/her first language. So in a sense TPRS might work with all learners. It does not work with unmotivated learners. We aren't there to save everyone."

Does TPRS really engage all students?

Blaine Ray 's response to this question was: "Do grammar lessons engage all students? That really isn't the right question. Does TPRS engage students better than other types of language teaching? I would say yes. There is something about live theater that is very engaging. I have seen students that seem to be disengaged tell me what is going on in the story over and over. It is been my experience that virtually all students follow the story line."

Can I do TPRS one day a week and still see the benefits?

What are you comparing yourself to, and what are your goals? It's possible to mix methods (i.e. doing TPRS sometimes while also continuing a grammar-heavy curriculum), but it is generally not recommended because the two methods are so different. You'll probably end up having students who struggle with fluency (because of all the vocabulary and grammar), but who also struggle on your traditional assessments.

How many teachers are using TPRS?

In the United States the method has gained vocal support from an increasing core of language teachers, and some school districts use it exclusively in their foreign language programs. It has been used in language revitalization programs / / , and its techniques have spawned many other comprehensible-input-based methods such as MovieTalks. There are large support groups for TPRS teachers such as this group on Facebook that has over 4,000 teachers from around the world.

Is there a way to scaffold the story-asking process?

Take a look at the Guided Storytelling Grid. It's kind of like a big MadLib version of a story script that you can ask circling questions about. Experienced storytelling teachers would probably find this less effective than a less structured story; however, when you're starting out, you need to do what you have to until you feel more comfortable. TriState TCI also shared a planning document that might be helpful for new teachers.

How is TPRS different from immersion?

The difference between immersion and TPRS is that TPRS makes the target language comprehensible through occasional use of the L1.

TPRS falls under the broader term of Teaching with Comprehensible Input. Read this article for an introduction to what Teaching with Comprehensible Input (TCI) means. While TPRS is a popular method, there are many great TCI teachers who don't do any story-asking.

If you're feeling overwhelmed, I completely understand. In this article I tried to describe some of the important tenants of TPRS, but it's hard to learn TPRS through reading alone, and I am also FAR from an expert on TPRS. To truly learn TPRS you need training or at least a large dose of demonstration videos, and even then, it will take several years to become proficient in all of the things that I summarized here. If you have any questions or suggestions for improving this article (i.e. things that I failed to mention or explained poorly), please let me know in the comments below.

Fábio Carvalho

Robby Lyon

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The TPRS teacher has one main job in the classroom: to speak [the target language] in a way that all the students can understand at all times . TPR Storytelling or Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling is a language teaching method developed by Blaine Ray, a Spanish teacher, during the 1990s.

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Use Map Talk to foster interculturality - The Comprehensible Classroom

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Map Talk is a content-based, communicative language teaching strategy that our guest author, Benjamin Tinsley, has been using with his classes and empowering other teachers to try in their own instructional contexts. During a Map Talk activity, the class views a map while the teacher describes what…

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Eric's French 1 curriculum this year (work in progress as usual)

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Eric's French 1 curriculum this year (work in progress as usual)

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In this post: How science has shown that stress 😣 and boredom 🥱 impede language learning. Krashen's Affective Filter Hypothesis... and what we can do to lower the Affective Filter for successful second-language acquisition.

Have you ever wondered why language learning in a traditional classroom setting feels so unnatural and why long-term retention is so poor? (How much high school Spanish can you remember?? 🤔)

Maybe you studied Spanish in school for years... yet, you can't seem to remember anything more than a simple "hola" or "¿Cómo estás?".

Shockingly, just 1% of American adults are proficient in a foreign language that they studied in a U.S classroom. How is it that a student can take several years of Spanish and still struggle to string a sentence together by the end of it? 🤯 (If we had results like that from Science or Math classes we would surely re-consider how we teach those subjects!)

Traditional foreign language instruction consists of output-heavy, teacher-led instruction. These teaching methods include regular testing and pressure, which do not support language acquisition!

In fact, it impedes it entirely.

When it comes to learning a new language, there is an 'Affective Filter' which can completely sabotage your efforts and wreak havoc on a second language acquisition! So whether you're a parent trying to give your child a second language, or a teacher trying to teach her students a foreign language, it's best to learn about the 'Affective Filter' and how to get it working for you - instead of against you.

What is the Affective Filter?

'Affective Filter' may sound like an esoteric term, but it is a very commonly used term in language learning because of the crucial role it plays in second language acquisition. The 'Affective Filter' is 'an invisible psychological filter' that can either impede or promote language acquisition.

By definition , the term 'affective' means that something "relates to, arises from, or influences feelings or emotions". (In this context we're referring to the emotion a person is experiencing internally - as opposed to the emotion a person appears to have to the outsider).

The 'Affective Filter' is a metaphor to convey how a student's internal negative attitudes and emotions can impede their ability to acquire a second language. This 'Affective Filter' in a student is increased or decreased depending on their internal feelings or emotions about language learning.

A high affective filter (where the student is stressed or bored by their language learning experience) will impede any efforts at learning a second language.

By the same token, a low affective filter (where the student is motivated and excited by their language learning experience) will result in better second language acquisition.

How does the Affective Filter work?

Dr. Krashen, Comprehensible Input and the Affective Filter Hypothesis

How exactly does the Affective Filter work to impede language acquisition? It basically does this by blocking what is known as comprehensible input.

(If you're not entirely sure what comprehensible input is, or how it is the key to successful second language acquisition, it's a super important concept, so stop now and read our blog Comprehensible Input & Spanish: The Secret to Second Language Acquisition )

Linguist Noam Chomsky proposed the concept that humans have a Language Acquisition Device (LAD). It refers to a system within the brain that naturally learns languages - so long as it has enough stimuli.

Another linguist, Dr. Stephen Krashen, took the concept further and said this language acquisition device (or language acquisition system within the brain) is able to do its job of acquiring a new language very naturally and very well when it is supplied with lots of a particular kind of stimuli - with what he called .

However, Krashen pointed out that in certain circumstances, despite the brain being exposed to lots of comprehensible input, it is unable to successfully acquire a new language. How is this possible?
Well, because the Affective Filter is filtering OUT comprehensible input from this language acquisition part of the brain.
The Affective Filter was a term coined by Dulay and Burt (1977), but adopted by Krashen when he created his Affective Filter Hypothesis. It forms part of Krashen's overall theory of second language acquisition, which consists of five individual hypotheses .

The Affective Filter Hypothesis states that negative emotions, such as stress, anxiety, boredom, and lack of motivation, create a psychological filter (the Affective Filter) that reduces a student's ability to absorb .
So ... what exactly is the Affective Filter... filtering?

Krashen uses the metaphor of a filter to explain that "affect" (the emotions and feelings a person experiences) can influence how much comprehensible input actually makes it through the filter and reaches the language acquisition part of the brain. " Affective variables act to impede or facilitate the delivery of input to the language acquisition device."

Krashen suggested we should think of the Affective Filter as a '' - "Not all the input reaches the Language Acquisition Device; somewhere along the way it is filtered, and only part of it is acquired. This filtering takes place in the Affective Filter, which acts like a gate controlling the amount of input. The Affective Filter "opens" or "closes" according to our mood. That is, if we are relaxed and in a pleasant learning environment, more input will reach the LAD, while if we feel tense or are in a negative environment, our efforts to provide input will be fruitless." Here is Krashen's illustration of how the Affective Filter works (p32 of Krashen's 'Principles and Practice' )

An equally helpful metaphor is that of a cone filter. This filter usually has a wide neck and allows a lot of comprehensible input into the brain, resulting in language acquisition. But when the learner is stressed or anxious the neck of the Affective Filter tightens up so that very little, if any, comprehensible input makes it through to the brain, resulting in no language acquisition!

Have a look at this very short video for further understanding of how the Affective Filter affects language learning!

The Affective Filter in Second Language Teaching

Krashen shows us that learners with high motivation, self-confidence, a good self-image, and a low level of anxiety are better equipped for success in second language acquisition.

To be clear: while a positive affect is necessary, it is not sufficient on its own for language acquisition to take place. We also need comprehensible input.

"The effective language teacher is someone who can provide input and help make it comprehensible in a low anxiety situation." Stephen Krashen

Krashen wrote that the Affective Filter hypothesis showed us the enormous importance of emotional variables in pedagogy.

In fact, he said it defined the language teacher in a completely new way to how she has been traditionally seen.

Krashen stressed that "the Affective Filter hypothesis implies that our pedagogical goals should not only include supplying comprehensible input, but also creating a situation that encourages a low filter."

The traditional teacher who doles out grammar drills, vocabulary tests, and creates pressure to recite verb conjugations and speak in front of peers is creating a stressful learning environment for the student.

"Language acquisition does not require extensive use of conscious grammatical rules, and does not require tedious drill" Stephen Krashen

I remember my French oral assessments causing me sleepless nights and sweaty palms for days in advance! It is petrifying being forced to produce language under stress and trying to recite from memory.

Although research shows that in many subjects, some pressure can actually be slightly beneficial (for example when 'cramming' facts for a test), this is the case with languages.

Dr. Krashen argues that for students to truly thrive in the foreign language classroom, the learning environment must be stress-free.

"My hypothesis is that for language acquisition to really succeed, anxiety should be zero." Stephen Krashen

Note that Krashen does not say 'anxiety should be , but that it should be eliminated - it should be ZERO. This is due to the fact that any level of anxiety or stress stops comprehensible input from reaching the language acquisition part of the brain, and therefore hinders second language learning entirely!

Surely such evidence should completely alter the way we approach language learning and teaching in schools?

What is a High Affective Filter?

A high Affective Filter means a student is experiencing high levels of negative emotions and attitudes in regards to language learning.

Low motivation and boredom, or low self-esteem and anxiety are all negative emotions that increase the Affective Filter and form a 'mental block' that prevents comprehensible input from reaching the language acquisition part of the brain. In other words, when the filter is 'up' it impedes language acquisition.

In language learning, these negative emotions can come about for a variety of reasons. Let's examine how they surface both in the classroom, and when learning a new language at home.

Symptoms of a High Affective Filter

As a teacher or as a parent wanting to teach your child a second language, it is very important to be aware of the signals and symptoms that could indicate a high affective filter.

By understanding some common behaviors of students with a high affective filter, we can learn to identify them quicker in the home or classroom and adapt our teaching and the learning environment to lower the affective filter.

Krashen identified four emotional states that raise the affective filter and therefore negatively impact second language acquisition:

Let's explore how some of these factors manifest in terms of behavior.

#1: Behaving Bored

Is the child staring into space? Yawning? Fidgeting? These are all signs of boredom and common symptoms of a high affective filter.

When a child loses interest in a lesson and gets distracted, we often refer to them as being 'disruptive' or 'disengaged'. As if to suggest that the student is the issue here.

There are, of course, cases of disruptive student behavior, often affecting classrooms on a larger, school-wide scale.

However, what is usually happening is that the student is not getting sufficient comprehensible input (if input is comprehensible it means they are able to follow along, if it is not comprehensible they are unable to get the gist of it - it is gibberish to them).

The student that does not receive enough comprehensible input cannot process the information they are receiving - it is not comprehensible, they literally don't understand what is being said. If you were in a lecture and you could not understand a word, you'd soon get pretty bored, wouldn't you? Not having enough input that is comprehensible can result in boredom (where the child becomes zoned out), or in anxiety (where they don't feel emotionally 'safe'). Either way, imaginary walls go up and the Affective Filter is up!

Sometimes, however, the boredom occurs because the teacher is taking a 'traditional language lesson' approach, focused on tedious grammar drills, flashcards or rote memorization, rather than being focused on delivering fun and compelling comprehensible content. These traditional language lessons can, and often do, become very tedious and boring!

Regardless of the source of the boredom, if the student is bored, the Affective Filter will go up and any comprehensible input that is provided will not reach the part of the brain where language acquisition happens, and language acquisition will not occur.

So, identifying the source of the boredom (is the input not comprehensible? Are they tired? Or are the lessons not interesting?) is a key to solving the problem of ineffective language lessons!

#2: Anxiety (and breaking the 'silent period')

Anxiety is another emotion that can lead to a high affective filter and impede language learning.

Anxiety in a language learning setting can come about from a number of sources, but in a classroom it often comes about because we feel intimidated. And that intimidation is usually triggered by the pressure to generate original output - that is, to talk in the foreign language!

I think we can all relate to a time when we felt intimidated in our language learning process!

It is very common for students to fumble and make many mistakes in the beginning stages of second language learning. Even with an understanding teacher, students nevertheless often feel self-conscious about speaking and freeze up when they're called on by the teacher to speak.

In fact, speaking is identified as the language skill that causes the highest levels of anxiety for second language learners. Students fear sounding silly or pronouncing things poorly in front of peers. Some students even show physical signs of embarrassment, such as turning red in the face, stuttering, or sweating.

Reflecting on my personal experience as a Spanish and French teacher, I agree that the majority of my students found speaking to be the most 'scary' activity. Why is this, though, when speech is such a natural form of communication?

Krashen's research in second-language acquisition describes a 'silent period' during language learning. This is an inevitable stage in the process of learning a new language that must be respected, because while it looks to the outsider that not much is happening, the language acquisition part of the brain is silently wiring to the new language.

It is important that we respect this silent period, because when we break a student's silent period, it is more likely that the student will develop anxiety about language learning, which will raise their affective filter.

#3: Deflated Body Language or Tone

A negative tone or negative body language are usually telltale signs that the child's Affective Filter is up and they are either bored, anxious, unmotivated, or lacking in self-confidence with regards to the language learning that is expected to happen in class.

Oftentimes, these students are the ones who try not to make eye contact, for the fear of being called upon and put on the spot. They try to act invisible or stare off into space. Or they may legitimately be zoning out and not truly be present.

#4: Trouble following instructions

If you find your second language learners being unable to follow instructions in the target language, it could mean their affective filter has gone up.

Try re-assessing the instructions you are giving - are they too complicated for their language/developmental level? Do the instructions need to be broken up into more clear multi-step instructions? Also try re-assessing whether the instructions are actually comprehensible - maybe you need to act or draw them out, step by step?

Finally, but very importantly, check in on the child's inner emotional landscape - is there boredom, stress, anxiety or low motivation?

Lowering the Affective Filter

So how can we create a learning environment where the students' affective filter is low?

In its most basic level, the affective filter theory indicates that students will thrive in language learning when they feel safe and supported.

Of course, just as with learning anything, physical safety is crucial, but here we are referring to the emotional safety that facilitates language acquisition.

If a child feels comfortable in their learning environment, they are more open to language input.

Just as you would want a guest to feel welcomed and 'at home' during their stay with you, so you want a student to feel comfortable in your lessons.

Some results of a low affective filter include increased self-confidence, higher motivation to learn, and even the desire to take risks, so lowering an affective filter can have repercussions beyond the obvious benefits of language learning.

Harness the Power of Krashen's Affective Filter Theory with FabuLingua

FabuLingua is a digital platform that has been designed with a deep appreciation of the Affective Filter hypothesis and its enormous influence on second language acquisition.

FabuLingua is based on the extensive and well-established science of second language acquisition - we have harnessed those insights and created a platform designed specifically for children to use to learn a language without ever raising their Affective Filter.

FabuLingua provides compelling comprehensible input through interactive, lightly animated stories that are set in an immersive mobile game. Our children's stories use our patented Magical Translations® methodology to create a lot of comprehensible input that is compelling to children, so they acquire Spanish effortlessly and in a relaxed and engaging way.

Everything about FabuLingua, from the use of illustrated children's stories that are interactive and lightly animated, to the fun and exciting games that serve to reinforce and expand the vocabulary learned in those stories, to the immersive mobile game world in which the stories live - a game that involves exploration, leveling up, and earning rewards like our exciting stickers from our stories - all of it is designed to lower a child's affective filter!

Each element is designed to entrance kids, delight them, excite them and motivate them so that their affective filter is lowered so much that it disappears! Add vast amounts of comprehensible input and you now have the perfect set up so they can learn Spanish effortlessly, subconsciously, without realizing that they're doing so!

Ready to lower your child's or student's affective filter and make language learning fun?

Get the FabuLingua app today in the AppStore or Google Play store and receive 30 days FREE!

This is a guest post by Corrie Wiik, the mama behind the Spanish education blog Mama Llama Linguist. Corrie is a former Spanish teacher and is now raising bilingual children in San Diego, CA and sharing her journey and insights on her blog. Connect with her on Instagram @mamallamalinguist and follow her on .
Get the FabuLingua app today in the AppStore or Google Play store and receive one-month free when you subscribe!

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The Affective Filter & Language Learning | FabuLingua

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In this post: How science has shown that stress 😣 and boredom 🥱 impede language learning. Krashen's Affective Filter Hypothesis... and what we can do to lower the Affective Filter for successful second-language acquisition. Have you ever wondered why language learning in a traditional classroom setting feels so unnatural and why long-term retention is so poor?

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Joey Dziedzic's[esteemed former colleague] free CI curriculum (including videos)

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Joey Dziedzic's[esteemed former colleague] free CI curriculum (including videos)

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Teaching with Comprehensible Input is dedicated to positively contributing to the body of work within the Comprehensible Input (CI) teaching community while saving hardworking teachers time in lesson planning. This is a place where you can find all our best practices from over years of classroom and adult teaching experience.

This website is intended to be used as a planning tool and forum for discussion of CI methodologies. Those days when you are not sure which structures to teach or are fresh out of ideas for forming a compelling story then look no further than Teaching with Comprehensible Input. This site will offer you a fresh perspective on building compelling stories and provide you the content, materials, lesson ideas to guide you through an entire school year.

Once a member you will have access to:

An "Ideal Weekly Schedule" that outlines how we use the site and teach the structures chosen for the site.

A list of strategically grouped high frequency structures to ensure maximum repetition.

Story scripts with accompanying student reading materials,

lesson plans and materials for culture lessons spanning South and Central America and Spain including the high frequency structures spiraled in from previous lessons.

A forum for dialogue and idea sharing with your fellow members of the CI community.

In case you are having some lingering questions, below are answers to the most frequently asked questions:

Who is our target audience?
This website is geared to those who would consider themselves beginner, intermediate or advanced practioners of comprehensible input based methodologies including: circling, personal question and answer, story asking and storytelling. This is not intended to be an instructional guide for CI methodology, but a content guide and set of materials for planning individual lessons or an entire school year.

Where did these structures come from?
Using backwards planning high frequency structures were carefully chosen and grouped from some of the most popular texts available in the community of comprehensible input-based publications. They overlap the 200 most frequently used words in the Spanish language and most importantly they have been taught and successfully implemented in my very own Spanish 1 and 2 classroom in Denver Public Schools.

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Teaching with Comprehensible Input is dedicated to positively contributing to the body of work within the Comprehensible Input (CI) teaching community while saving hardworking teachers time in lesson planning. This is a place where you can find all our best practices from over years of classroom and adult teaching experience.

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Dictations have been a standard activity for language classes for a very long time. In particular, the traditional French dictée has a non-negotiable place in courses from Kinder through university level courses.

Traditionally, dictations are used to learn spelling- a purpose which is debatable at best. Certainly, direct spelling instruction and practice has a positive impact on short-term spelling ability, but research proving long-term retention of spelling through spelling activities is sparse.

In the framework of a Proficiency-oriented language course; in particular, one that is also Comprehension-based; is there a place for Dictation?

I say... yes!

But first... what is a dictation?

During a traditional dictation, a teacher recites a passage in the target language and students transcribe it, also in the target language. It is common that students would have been asked to preview the passage beforehand, memorizing it to the best of their ability in preparation for the dictation. While reciting the passage, the teacher traditionally dictates punctuation: where and when to use capital letters and where to place periods, commas, colons, etc.

A student earns a perfect score on their dictation when the passage that they write precisely matches the passage that was read by the teacher.

Dictations as a listening assessment

A traditional dictation has nothing to do with listening comprehension; it is all about decoding. In my standards-based grading system, then, how does a dictation fit in?

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

I intend to use Dictations in my class at least once per quarter, and I have no qualms about using them more often. Dictations are an excellent source of information for me as the teacher; they serve as a diagnostic tool. Often, I am able to look at the dictation of a student that has been struggling to understand me in class, and I can see, "Oh! This student can't match the sounds that they are hearing to the written word!".

"Dictation can help students to diagnose and correct [erroneous aural perception] errors as well as others."
J. Frodesen, "Grammar in writing", 1991

When a student turns in a paper with totally incorrect spelling, I know that the student needs support in linking sounds to printed words, which can happen by using the Point & Pause technique while speaking with students or by projecting readings to the class and pointing to the words as I or the class read them, possibly chorally.

SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT

95 percent of my students' grade is based on communicative performance as demonstrated in summative assessments: reading comprehension, listening comprehension, presentational writing, and presentational speaking (learn more about why I chose those modes here). In this grade book model, a traditional dictation does not fit into any of those four categories, and I would have to stick it in my 5% 'catch-all'/formative category.

Dictation to assess listening comprehension

Turning a dictation into a listening comprehension assessment is really quite easy! First, it is important that students not study the passage ahead of time. If they do, the lines between listening and reading comprehension will be blurred. Students must hear a passage for the first time for the dictation to qualify as a valid listening comprehension assessment.

The only thing left to do is to add a second step! Complete the dictation as normal, but add an additional task to the end that requires students to demonstrate understanding of the passage. This could be...

answering questions about the passage in English (read why in English here!)

illustrating the passage

translating the passage

Voilà ! With this simple second step, you can access the diagnostic benefits of a traditional dictation and still count it as a listening assessment.

Grading the listening assessment

While you could certainly assess the students' comprehension using a standard interpretive rubric (see mine here), I do like to take into account the students' performance on the transcription portion of the dictation. Their performance in this area influences their comprehension, and so I think that it is fair to consider transcription when scoring the assessment. The rubric that I use is embedded on this free dictation form.

In my courses, performance on assessments is categorized as Advanced (A range), Proficiency (B range), Developing (C range), Emerging (D range), or Beginning (F range). Learn more about the terminology here!

Use a form to help students follow instructions

No matter how often you do dictations, you will nearly always have a student that 'forgets' to transcribe the passage, and instead they translate it. This is a fine measure of listening comprehension, but it doesn't give you the decoding insight that you may be looking for. For that reason, I have my students complete their dictations on a form that includes printed instructions in English. It's not foolproof, but it does minimize instances of translation slip-ups.

How to use my dictation form

As you will see, I often dictate three sentences to my students instead of a complete passage. The sentences are sometimes related; sometimes, they are not. I read each sentence 3ish times, at a normal rate of a speech, while students transcribe them. Here are some examples in English (I would say them in the target language):

A giraffe walks to the grocery store. He buys milk, eggs, and cookies. He sees a lion and runs away.

The woman wants to be a singer. There is a pencil, a calculator, and a miniature car in a backpack. A dinosaur wears a hat.

A thief steals a diamond from a museum. He sells the diamond to an old woman. The old woman is a cop in disguise!

Once I have read each sentence three times and students have transcribed the passages, I repeat each sentence one additional time, pausing to allow students time to illustrate it. If a student is not confident in their ability to communicate the meaning of the sentence through illustration, I allow them to translate the passage- either way, I am able to see whether or not they understood it.

Dictations to re-set the class

Casting aside the conversation about formative vs. summative assessment, sometimes I use dictation purely for its ability to re-set the class. If you have ever taught middle schoolers humans, you have experienced the rage that comes from trying to control a squirrely class! When you feel your class spiraling out of control, try doing a dictation as a centering activity to give everyone a fresh start.

When I use dictation for the purpose of re-setting the class, I opt for a passage instead of sentences. 3-5 short sentences is good; enough time to quiet everyone down and allow them to focus on the task at hand... with no one's voice heard but yours.

Do NOT put this dictation in the grade book as a summative assessment grade. Doing so would make it seem like the dictation is a punishment; and that is truly not the case. A dictation should not be painful for students (although traditionally, perhaps they have been!), it should be a calming, quieting activity that brings clarity and pushes out the drama of the last passing period.

...and if you are looking for the OPPOSITE of a centering activity, try out a RUNNING dictation! Instructions here.

Give dictation a try!

Whether you choose to incorporate dictations into your portfolio of listening assessments or prefer to use them exclusively as a centering activity, give them a try! They take little to no preparation, and they will give you time to breathe!

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Rethinking Dictation in language classes - The Comprehensible Classroom

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Dictations have been a standard activity for language classes for a very long time. In particular, the traditional French dictée has a non-negotiable place in courses from Kinder through university level courses. Traditionally, dictations are used to learn spelling- a purpose which is debatable at best.

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Reading in the target language can be divided into three phases: pre-reading, reading, and post-reading. Each of theses phases is important to contributing to student comprehension and literacy in the target language. Below is a list of reading stratgies which I have collected and written about on my blog (if there is not a link, it means that I plan to write about it).

Why is reading important to language acquisition? According to Krashen:

"Our reading ability, our ability to write in an acceptable writing style, our spelling ability, vocabulary knowledge, and our ability to handle complex syntax is the result of reading."

I always say that reading is where the magic happens in language acquisition!

As Carol Gaab states, "The brain CRAVES novelty," so for one story, I may do 2-3 different activities for prereading, while I may do 5-6 different post-reading activties. For the next story, I will do completely different set of prereading and postreading activities in order to preserve novelty.

PreReading (anything used to preview vocab/structures)

Reading (the actual act of reading a story for the first time)

Post Reading (anything used as a consolidation of the actual reading for review/reps)

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Reading in the target language can be divided into three phases: pre-reading, reading, and post-reading. Each of theses phases is important to contributing to student comprehension and literacy in the target language. Below is a list of reading stratgies which I have collected and written about on my blog (if there is not a link, it means that I plan to write about it).