Where is it from?

TPR stands for Total Physical Response and was created by Dr. James J Asher. It is based upon the way that children learn their mother tongue. Parents have 'language-body conversations' with their children, the parent instructs and the child physically responds to this. The parent says, "Look at mummy" or "Give me the ball" and the child does so. These conversations continue for many months before the child actually starts to speak itself. Even though it can't speak during this time, the child is taking in all of the language; the sounds and the patterns. Eventually when it has decoded enough, the child reproduces the language quite spontaneously. TPR attempts to mirror this effect in the language classroom.

How can I use it in class?

In the classroom the teacher plays the role of parent. She starts by saying a word ('jump') or a phrase ('look at the board') and demonstrating an action. The teacher then says the command and the students all do the action. After repeating a few times it is possible to extend this by asking the students to repeat the word as they do the action.

Why consider TPR

Total Physical Response has a lot of benefits, particularly for beginners and young learners.

• The pairing of movement with language is innately associated with effective learning

• Students actively use both the left and right sides of their brains

• It works with both small and large groups

• It sharpens students’ listening skills

• Students are not required to speak until they are ready to, therefore creating a “safe zone” that greatly lowers inhibitions and stress

• Students will appreciate the change of pace and potential for humor—even teenagers will crack a smile!

• Kinaesthetic learners (who respond well to physical activities) and visual learners (who learn best with visual cues) will get a lot out of TPR. (This is another reason why it’s important to know your students’ personalities and learning types.)

• As no one is called upon individually, TPR is great for introverted students

• Limited materials and planning mean it’s simple for teachers to prep

When should I use TPR?

Teaching verbs

You can use TPR to teach specific verbs, as mentioned in the example of imperatives with adults or, with kids, you can pick a fun song with lots of movement verbs in it and use it as a warm-up activity.

Teaching nouns

You can also use TPR to teach nouns. As you can imagine, the technique works very well for nouns that have an obvious action, like headache. Other words that could easily be paired with actions might include toothache, banana, football, and swimming; these nouns can be taught in the same way that you would teach verbs. TPR doesn’t work so well for more static nouns like table.

Classroom language, imperatives, instructions

Using TPR actions with classroom language will help you avoid many misunderstandings. Make sure you give the instruction while you demonstrate the actions and get the students to repeat the TPR gesture. For example, if you want students to open their books, open yours while making the request. Then get the students to repeat the action while saying the instructions.

Using TPR when telling stories

The TPR method for ESL also works great with stories. Even if children don’t understand the words right away, they will understand the actions, which helps with their comprehension of the story. For instance, if the character in the story wakes up in the morning, the students can mime the verb waking up (i.e., stretching, yawning, and opening their eyes) while saying it. If the character drinks juice at breakfast, students can mime putting a cup to their mouth while saying the verb drink.

It also makes the story more interesting and it allows the students to participate as they do the actions of the story. Furthermore, it can change up the interactions and energy levels of the classroom. Once you have told the story, you can get the students to re-enact it using the TPR gestures that they learned. This is a fun way to go over the vocabulary once more as a form of drilling.

Are there any disadvantages with using TPR?

Students who are not used to such things might find it embarrassing. This can be the case initially but I have found that if the teacher is prepared to perform the actions, the students feel happier about copying. Also the students are in groups and don't have to perform for the whole class. This pleasure is reserved for the teacher.

It is only really suitable for beginner levels.

Whilst it is clear that it is far more useful at lower levels because the target language lends itself to such activities I have also used it successfully with Intermediate and Advanced levels. You need to adapt the language accordingly.

For example, it helped me to teach 'ways of walking' (stumble, stagger, tiptoe) to an advanced class and cooking verbs to intermediate students (whisk, stir, grate).

You can't teach everything with it and if used a lot it would become repetitive. I completely agree with this but it can be a successful and fun way of changing the dynamics and pace of a lesson used in conjunction with other methods and techniques.

A few useful variations

When I use TPR, first I get the students to do the actions and then I do them and drill the students (chorally and individually) to give them an opportunity to practise making the sounds. They are then ready to give commands to each other.

A game I like to play is to organize the students into a circle around me, I say the word and the last person to do the action is out. This person then stands behind me and watches for the student who does the action last. Eventually there is only one student, she is the winner.

You can extend this by playing Simon Says. This time when you give a command, students should only do it if you say "Simon says..." at the start. I might say, "Simon says, 'slice some bread'" or "Simon says, 'chop an onion’" and the students must do the action. However if I say, "Whisk an egg" the students shouldn't do this. If anyone does the action that Simon doesn't say then they are out and have to watch for the mistakes of the other students.

Source:

1/ Total physical response - TPR | TeachingEnglish | British Council | BBC

2/ What is TPR? (And why use it in your classroom) - EF TeacherZone Blog

3/ What Is TPR for Teaching English and How Can I Use It? – BridgeUniverse – TEFL Blog, News, Tips & Resources