Teaching
Proficiency through
Reading and
Storytelling
Presenter Katya Paukova
Dr. James Asher: Total Physical
Response
Dr. Stephen Krashen & Dr. Tracey Terrell:
The Natural Approach
Blaine Ray: TPR Storytelling
Krashen’s Theory of
Second Language Acquisition
5 Hypotheses
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The Acquisition-Learning hypothesis
The Monitor hypothesis
The Natural Order hypothesis
The Input hypothesis
The Affective Filter hypothesis
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Acquiring a language is effortless and involuntary
The right brain acquires information 1800 times
faster than the left (Natural Order)
Languages can only be acquired when the affective
filter is low
At least 90% input (vs. 10% output) (Input
Hypothesis)
At least 90% acquisition (vs.10% learning)
Nationally, 50% of FL students drop out before
2nd year. 70% drop before the 3rd year. Less than
10% proceed to college language studies.
The 3 Steps of TPR Storytelling
Step 1:
Establish meaning
Write vocabulary word in target language and English
Color-code
Gesture / Mneumonic devices / memory aids
Ask the students personal questions utilizing vocabulary
Ask students about each other
Seek responses that make the students look good
Seek liars
Encourage unusual responses
Watch barometer students ensure 100% comprehension
If possible, use the information from the PQA in the PMS
Step 2:
Ask the Story
1. PACE
Slow, deliberate, separated
Step 2:
Ask the Story
1. PACE
2. ASK THE STORY (Circling)
Ask questions
Circle the words for negation
Ask low-level questions (students answer yes/no/ one word)
Leave blanks --students fill-in
Make mistakes (students correct)
Ask who? What? Where? When? How much? How many? How
often?
Ask how and why (last)
Never make two statements in a row.
Step 2:
Ask the Story
1. PACE
2. ASK THE STORY (Circling)
3. PACE-SETTER (BAROMETER)
Teach to the eyes! Look at the audience, not at the actors.
Time-out sign
The pause
Responding to a Zero response
Staying “in-bounds.” (The “boundaries” are the locations, the
language that the barometer student has already mastered, the
words or phrases of the day, and completely comprehensible
cognates.)
Step 2:
Ask the Story
1. PACE
2. ASK THE STORY (Circling)
3. PACE-SETTER (BAROMETER)
4. PERSONALIZATION
Use compliments (Who is most handsome boy in
world? Brad Pitt or Pierre?)
Use the names of the students (and personalize the
story)
Use the information from the PQA.
Really listen to and enjoy student responses.
Step 2:
Ask the Story
1. PACE
2. ASK THE STORY (Circling)
3. PACE-SETTER (BAROMETER)
4. PERSONALIZATION
5. DRAMATIZE
Get volunteer actors
Coach melodramatic acting
Over-react
Students act-out the story while teacher blocks, directs
and maneuvers
Use 3 locations
Step 2:
Ask the Story
1. PACE
2. ASK THE STORY (Circling)
3. PACE-SETTER (BAROMETER)
4. PERSONALIZATION
5. ACTING
6. BIZARRE, EXAGGERATED AND
PERSONALIZED
Get student input
Encourage audience participation (¡Ooo la la!/¡Oooh!/¡Oh
no!/ ¡Sí!)
Exaggerate or drastically minimize size, quality and
quantity
Step 2:
Ask the Story
1. PACE
2. ASK THE STORY (Circling)
3. PACE-SETTER (BAROMETER)
4. PERSONALIZATION
5. ACTING
6. BIZARRE, EXAGGERATED AND PERSONALIZED
7. BELIEVABILITY
Demonstrate deep belief in the story!
Personalize, combine details.
“Casi” (almost) technique: (all in the target language)
Use student responses. Exaggerate
"How does he react?" (¿cómo reacciona?)
Everything is possible in French class.
Keeping control of the story: It’s my story!
Never ask why. Es un secreto.
Step 2:
Ask the Story
1. PACE
2. ASK THE STORY (Circling)
3. PACE-SETTER (BAROMETER)
4. PERSONALIZATION
5. ACTING
6. BIZARRE, EXAGGERATED AND PERSONALIZED
7. BELIEVABILITY
8. POP-UPS
Use translation to clarify grammar and structure. (Pop-up meaning)
Pop-ups: Focus on the Meaning of structures (1-5 seconds)
Pop-ups through stories
Pop-ups through dialogue
Pop-ups through PQA
Pop-ups through Reading
Step 3:
Read and discuss
Translate reading passages, PMSs, extended readings and novels.
One student translates.
Teacher provides instant translation for incomprehensible words.
Make sure that students understand every word.
Use translation to explain grammar and meaning in 5-15 seconds.
Discuss the reading in the target language.
Ask personalized questions about the reading.
Discuss the cultural information in the story, geography.
Use the story to teach life lessons.
Act out scenes.
Discuss what the character learns in the story.
Use level-appropriate reading materials
Other essential reading components: Free Voluntary Reading
and Read Alouds
How is language learned ?
By listening and understanding or
reading and understanding comprehensible input (CI).
What is the main difference
between baby acquisition and
classroom acquisition?
Time. A baby who hears a language
for 10 hours a day for 6 years has
over 20,000 hours in the language.
Even a teacher might have had 5 to
10 thousand hours learning the
language. We have students for 400
to 600 hours if we are lucky.
Since time is the main
difference, what do we have to
do to the CI in the classroom
for fluency?
We have to make language repetitive
for fluency. Students can’t produce
the language unless they have heard
and read the structures over and
over.
What do we teach in a TPRS
class?
We teach the basic structures needed
for fluency. Structures are how the
words fit together in a sentence so
they sound right to a native speaker.
What does it mean to be inbounds or out of bounds?
In-bounds means we make the class
comprehensible to the slowest
processing student. “In-bounds” =
words they already know, today’s
target structures and cognates. If
we are out of bounds there is at least
one student who does not
understand something.
What are the three steps of
TPRS?
A. Establish meaning.
B. Ask a story.
C. Read and discuss.
How many locations are
there in the story?
In a basic model there are three
locations. Stories have a problem
and a solution. This model is an
easy problem / solution structure.
In advanced TPRS classes we can
diverge from this model.
What is the purpose of each
location?
In the first location we introduce
the problem. In the second location
we try to solve it but we don’t. We
also might change the problem so
that it isn’t solved. In the third
location we solve the problem.
Locations give us opportunities to
get more repetitions.
How do we get more
repetitions?
We get more repetitions by adding
details and repetitive questions.
How do we make the
repetitions interesting?
We make the details unexpected
and we personalize them.
What is the goal in a TPRS
class?
To provide repetitive and compelling
comprehensible input.
What are the rules of TPRS?
Rule #1: Present meaning first
 Rule #2: Present it in a context
 Rule #3: Keep it understandable and
interesting
 Rule #4: Repeat in context
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FISH FOR A DETAIL
STATEMENT
? THAT GETS A “YES!”
EITHER/OR QUESTION
? THAT GETS A “NO”
No... there isn’t... there is…
WHO?
WHAT? WHERE? WHEN? WHICH?
HOW? HOW MUCH? HOW MANY?
WHY?
Level-appropriate TPRS
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Level 1: The boy wants/wanted to buy a car.
Level 2: The boy who worked all year,
bought a car yesterday.
Level 3: The boy will buy a car tomorrow
if he has enough money.
Level 4: If he worked a little harder, he
would have bought a car by now.
Questioning in levels 1-2
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Practice no more than three structures
during one-period class time
Repeat the structure 60-70 times
Recycle the structures from the
previous days
Questioning in upper levels
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Less frequent daily repetitions
Recycle the introduced structures all year
long
Create more advance PQAs
Provide constant “pop-ups” about the
advanced, more complex structures
Use the authentic materials for readings
and discussions
“It takes energy to conduct classes
that are dominated by
comprehensible input.
It takes courage to abandon the
familiar textbook-driven grammar
syllabus. But such courage is
necessary if we are going to produce
a generation of people who do not
say, “I took two years of French and I
can’t even order a cup of coffee.”
Susan Gross
What next????
RESOURCES:
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www.moretprs.net
moretprs@yahoogroups.com
www.tprstorytelling.com
www.susangrosstprs.com
www.tprstories.com/ntprs
www.tprstories.com/ijflt
www.BlaineRayTPRS.com
www.comprehensibleinput.com
www.FluencyFast.com