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Dr. Liam Printer - 'The Motivated Classroom' Educational Consultant, Author, Researcher
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TPRS Workshop into Practice Week!

8/11/2015

18 Comments

 
PictureAdvanced students doing their story re-tell
I am exhausted but I am happy. I love TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling) and see huge benefits from it but it does take its toll when you make the (probably incorrect) decision to do a whole week of it in every one of your 6 classes which are almost all at different levels! It was likely even more taxing this time too as I actively tried to put all the wonderful strategies and tips I received from Grant Boulanger at his 2 day workshop in Leysin American School last week.
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Grant was fantastic and I learned a great deal from him in just two days. Here are some of his strategies that I implemented and will definitely keep as they worked so well:

PictureGrant mid TPRS with LAS students
  • Student Jobs: I have my ‘ambassador’ who helps me get class set up and ensures I have 4 different coloured markers at the board, my ‘luces-puerta-ventana’ person who turns on and off the lights and closes or opens the door and windows and my ‘pizarra-papel’ person who distributes mini whiteboards and paper.
  • Story Booklet: Grant has a student write the story in full in a notebook as it is unfolding in either English or Spanish depending on the level. Genius! It meant I had an immediate record of exactly what happened with each class.

  • Take the answer with the most energy: I’ve often made the mistake of taking the response that ‘suited my vocabulary goal’ or my story but since the workshop I always go with whichever one gets the most energy from the class. This really helps them remember and it validates that students intervention.
  • Homework reading to parents: I love this idea of having the student read and translate a story to their parents. So much learning going on and the parents get to see their child’s quick progress too.
  • Gestures: I never used to work the structures in gesture format before the story began but I think this helped a lot of learners visualize what the structure meant. It’s staying!
  • TPRS works for all levels: I spent a week in TPRS mode with my very advanced IB Diploma students circling difficult and complex grammatical structures and not only did they love it but the timed writing they did at the end of the week was some of the best stuff they have ever written.
PictureStory re-tell with key phrases using Yellow Brick Road idea
There were many others too and lots of this comes down to your own personal style as a teacher. I also grabbed the ‘toro’ by the horns and threw all my desks out… just chairs with mini whiteboards to lean on - ‘a la Grant’ style. I am not 100% convinced on this yet, the students did seem to be more focused and concentrated but as the week went on and this became the norm and was no longer a novelty they managed to find things to distract their attention from the story. The jury is still out on this one.
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One thing I wholeheartedly and 100% concur with Grant on is… TPRS is really REALLY fun for both the students and the teacher! You have the most amazing hysterical moments and personal connections with your students that quite simply make teaching a pure joy. Kids are great. They make us laugh all the time and when you give them creative license to invent parts of stories they will make your sides split. On numerous occasions this week I had tears rolling down my face from laughter and they were all in hysterics at me not being to speak because I was laughing so hard… tell me that is not a class you would want to come back to! 

18 Comments
Judy Dubois link
8/11/2015 19:49:43

Welcome to the wonderful world of TPRS! I'm so pleased to see more and more teachers in Europe trying the method and adopting it. I've been implementing it in France since 2006.

Reply
Liam Printer link
8/11/2015 21:09:33

Merci Judy! Yes I've been gradually trying to implement it since 2013 when I first heard about it. I love it! We need to get a conference organised in Europe for it!!

Reply
Diane N. link
9/11/2015 03:00:40

Judy actually does organize a conference in Agen, France! http://tprs-witch.com/2016-is-just-around-the-corner/

Liam Printer link
9/11/2015 07:51:38

Fantastic!! Looks great!

Piedad Gutierrez link
8/11/2015 20:18:29

Very early in my training many years ago, I heard Blaine Ray saying that we are supposed to end up exhausted after a full day of giving it all... and then Susan Gross saying that since we give it all in the classroom, after school we need to go and replenish our energy and creativity by exercising and spending time with our families, or doing whatever is that we individually need. In my case, gardening, cooking, crocheting, writing, reading, etc etc (especially etc and etc)

Reply
Liam Printer link
8/11/2015 21:11:27

Thanks for the comment! Yes, I agree, I think we should be tired after giving it our all too. 'Replenishing' can be difficult at times when the paperwork starts to back up!! TPRS is just wonderful though, yes it is tiring at times but much more rewarding than tiring!

Reply
Doudou Khoudir
8/11/2015 21:53:35

It's great to hear that TPRS is being used in Switzerland and I hope it gets recognized soon in all over the world for the great results it yields. Though I'm not a teacher yet but I know for sure that TPRS is the best method out there. And as Judith Dubois commented above :"Welcome to the wonderful world of TPRS!"

Reply
Liam Printer link
9/11/2015 15:26:29

Thanks Doudou! Yes I like it a lot and I feel fairly sure the students like it too! Have you had some experience with TPRS before?

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Alina Filipescu link
8/11/2015 23:19:13

I love TPRS! I am using very high energy when I teach or give workshops. My compass is my own children. If they were in my class (and they will be in a year), how would I teach? The answer is simple. I would use TPRS,... high energy,... I would go above and beyond regardless of how tired I am at the end of the day. Every day I teach I want to do it as if my own children were there. That is when I know that I am doing the right thing.

Reply
Yiyi Xu
9/11/2015 02:33:03

Alina! I feel the same way. I want to be the teacher I want my daughter to have! That's simply the reason I keep doing this no matter how tired I am.

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Alina Filipescu
8/11/2015 23:25:57

I went deskless in September. It is one of the best things I've done in my teaching career in addition to starting with TPRS 3 years ago. Here is my reflection after my 1st week:http://tprsforchinese.blogspot.com/2015/09/going-deskless-with-38-students.html

Two months later, all I can say is that it is getting even better. I cannot imagine going back to having desks.

Reply
Dahiana Castro
9/11/2015 02:26:23

I went deskless two years ago and I love it! Carol Gaab did a webinar on how to save your energy she had great tips as well.

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Liam Printer link
9/11/2015 15:30:24

Cool! I will stick with deskless for another few weeks and then see what happens from there. I think I will get the students feedback on it and ask them what they think before I make a decision on it.

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Beth Skelton link
9/11/2015 04:38:05

Hi Liam, so glad you were able to be part of Grant's TPRS workshop at LAS. Have you spread the method to your new school? Video tape your classes and upload to this blog-- you've got a lot to share!

Reply
Liam Printer link
9/11/2015 06:51:47

Hi Beth! I am doing a workshop this Friday for the language department in my new school on TPRS actually!! So hopefully a few people want to run with it. Yes, that is a good idea about videotaping the class. Vamos a ver!!

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elissa link
9/11/2015 14:27:29

Hi Liam, Thanks for your post. So glad you are teaching with TPRS! It is truly amazing. I am not familiar with the yellow brick road retell... can you explain? Thanks!

Reply
Liam Printer link
9/11/2015 15:29:31

Sure! It is originally a Martina Bex idea that I have adapted. I get students to write a key incident from the story in no more than 5-6 words (or alternatively using a chapter from the book). So it might be something like "she opened it and said". This is challenging but they are learning all sorts of skills about note taking, being concise etc. These are then put on the floor in order and students stand face to face discussing that part and adding as much detail as possible for about 30 seconds before I move them on 1 step or 2 steps.

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Jim Tripp link
9/11/2015 17:31:43

Hey Liam, those are some great notes! I likewise learned a ton from Grant while watching him teach at iFLT this summer. Especially rejoinders! I find my kids are spontaneously spitting them out with much greater ease and frequency now that I've taken a sliver of time to introduce them and get some emotion behind them (i.e. a facial or body gesture or intonation to do while saying them.)

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    Dr. Liam Printer:
    Host of The Motivated Classroom podcast, keynote speaker, presenter, lecturer, language teacher, teacher trainer, educational consultant, published author and basketball coach. 14 years teaching experience in a variety of educational settings. Currently I am the Teaching & Learning Research Lead and Approaches to Learning Coordinator at the International School of Lausanne in Switzerland where I also teach language acquisition.

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