In this search she found TPRS (Teaching Proficiency Through Reading and Storytelling) which she considers is the most effective method that can be used for developing language competence and fluency in students today.
About the Author: A Passion for Teaching
ATo
s an accomplished, dedicated educator, and now author that she is, Patricia Lewis is considered an invaluable asset in the field of education, a passion that has been part of her life for over 45 years. She has spent these years of hard-work and dedication in the following positions :
• Classroom Experience: 17 years
• Elementary Assistant Principal: 9 years
• Principal (current position): 21 years
continue perfecting the method she has attended three National TPRS conferences held in the United States and has been part of the planning committee for three TPRS Panamá Chapter Conferences in Panama City. She plans to continue perfecting the implementations of this method in order to help improve the way second languages are taught in Panamá.
At
present, Patricia Lewis is the principal of the Instituto Episcopal San Cristóbal. She holds a Masters Degree in Linguistics and English as a Second Language. She has been the recipient of many outstanding awards and medals for her hard work in the community and in education. Mentionable are: The Vasco Núñez de Balboa and Manuel José Hurtado Medals of Honor in 2003 and 2008, respectively.
Throughout her years at the Instituto Episcopal San Cristóbal, she was able to gather a wealth of experience to support her writing endeavors. One of the most important tasks required while in this position was choosing on the proper didactic materials or textbooks to be used at different levels. She is also a consultant/presenter in a wide array of workshops, conventions and seminars. As of now, she acts as a member of the Board of Directors of the Panama Chapter of TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) of which she’s a former President. She has attended more than 250 related workshops and conferences, experiences that have provided her with a broad framework of references and acumen in the field.
Her years of professional and personal growth include several degrees and certificates of participation and/or of merit: Bachelor of Arts with a Major in Education, University of Panama; Master of Arts with a Major in Linguistics, Nova University; Second Language Acquisition; and her latest two: Doctorate in Education of English as a Second Language and Doctorate in Education from the University of Los Angeles.
Being an advocate for language teaching, language acquisition, and language learning, she constantly searches for the optimal language teaching methods. While on this search, she found TPRS (Teaching Proficiency Through Reading and Storytelling), which, in her opinion, is the most effective method for developing language competence and fluency in students today.
To continue perfecting the method, she has attended seven National TPRS Conferences held in the United States and has been part of the Planning Committee for three TPRS Panama Chapter Conferences in Panama City. She plans to continue perfecting the implementations of this method, in order to help improve the way second languages are taught in Panama.
“TPRS is the most effective method that can be used for developing language competence and fluency in students today.”
Patricia Y. Lewis
Currently, Patricia Lewis is the principal of Instituto Episcopal San Cristóbal. She has been the recipient of many outstanding awards and medals for her hard work in the community and in education, namely: The Vasco Núñez de Balboa and Manuel José Hurtado Medals of Honor in 2003 and 2008, respectively.
Professor Lewis is the author of various ESL books: An A to Z Adventure at the Zoo Student’s Workbook, An A to Z Adventure at the Zoo Short Readings, My First English Adventure Student’s Workbook, and the series TPRS New English Adventure (from levels one to six). All of these educational publications are accompanied by a step-by-step teacher’s manuals and numerous visual aids, such as illustrated big books for storytelling, flash cards, and audio compact discs with poems and songs.
Additional benefits for Working with TPRS
TPRS NEW ENGLISH ADVENTURES WORKSHOPS
Each teacher will receive training on TPRS and training on how to get the best results possible from working with this text.
TPRS NEW ENGLISH ADVENTURES STUDENT’S WORKBOOK LEVEL 1
A complete workbook with stories developed with illustrations, vocabulary, exercises, and sight words for speaking, reading, role playing, asking, and answering questions.
CDS FOR LISTENING AND ORAL PRACTICE LEVEL 1
Each text is accompanied by a CD for listening and oral practices. The CD contains the full stories and all of the practice exercises that should be done orally first, then in written form.
CDS FOR CLASSROOM ILLUSTRATIONS LEVEL 1
Each text is also accompanied by a CD that contains illustrations of the vocabulary, the structures, and the sequence of events in each story.
Hello, teachers!
If you are looking for a text that helps your students stay engaged in their work at all times, develops their comprehension, works with vocabulary in context, follows a process to ensure language acquisition, addresses all learning styles and intelligences and helps students acquire grammatical structures among other things, then TPRS New English Adventures is the text for you. This text is based on a methodology called TPRS which was createdby Blaine Ray inthelate nineties. According to him, this method is founded on the language acquisition hypothesis of Stephen Krashen, tempered in somebyrealities.
TPRS is developed upon three basic steps which are:
• Developing meaning
• Asking the story
• Reading These steps enable the teachers to work on comprehension, repetition, interest and reading. As a result, students will be able to acquire the vocabulary and structures needed to increase their reading comprehension and language fluency. Each text has eight mini stories and eight full stories that include the basic vocabulary and structures that are used in the mini stories. The mini story is developed in the past tense. The full story, which may add a few other vocabulary words, is developed in the present tense. This technique increases students’ practice.
When using both tenses in sentences and stories, students will learn how to use them when using the language.
At the end of each story, there are a series of practice exercises that provide opportunities for comprehension development and proper or standard pronunciation. They also stimulate retelling, sequencing, and writing skills. We urge the teachers to take advantage of these suggestions to encourage their students to complete the written exercises in order to develop their writing abilities. In addition, we have included in all our readings a group of basic sight words that are found in all reading texts.
“We urge the teachers to take advantage of these suggestions to encourage their students to do the written exercises in order to develop their writing skills.”
To complement the text, we have prepared an audio CD which includes all the mini stories, main stories, and oral practice exercises that will reinforce students’ skills, listening, and speaking skills.
STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO DEVELOP A STORY
1. WARM UP
2. DEVELOP MEANING
Practice the TPRS commands that appear in the story, and all other commands needed for comprehension of classroom instructions.
• Choose three structures from the mini story to establish meaning. Use translation, pictures or gestures.
• Circle, personalize and gesture the structures.
• As you circle and personalize the structures, present the other vocabulary words in the story.
• Add them to the basic structures, for students to become familiar with them.
• Use pictures, gestures or translations as you introduce them. Place them on the board in front of the class with their translations.
• Use the words several times.
3. ASK THE STORY
The story is developed by asking about it, instead of telling it. Select a statement and ask questions related to it or in yes / no format. In order to get as many questions as possible, focus on the subject, the verb and the complement. This can be done in any order.
3. ASK THE STORY
Using “Wh” questions
Ask “Wh” questions and to be able to ask even more questions, add variables (other words) to the main statements. This will help to provide more repetition. Every time you ask a “Wh” question, point to the word on the board with its translation. During this process, make a brief stop, personalize various structures and do introduce pop-up grammar. Ask questions to help the students understand the grammatical concepts.
4. READ THE STORY
The teacher or a student reads a statement or a paragraph. Individual students or the whole group translates the statement or paragraph. The teacher personalizes the story, circles various structures and gives some attention to pop-up grammar. After the story is read, complete the practice exercises in the text. First, develop the exercises orally; then, do them in written form (which could be used for homework).
5. P.Q.A. Refers to Personalized Questions and Answers.
When you personalize, you relate the structures to a student in the class. Use questions to work with personalization.
6. POP-UP GRAMMAR
It is called Pop-up Grammar, because of the brevity of the time element involved in the explanation of the concept.
7. ASSESSMENT
This refers to the teacher evaluating the student’s progress in order to determine how he or she may help the student improve. Assessment is also used to help the teacher determine the student’s level of comprehension.
8. BAROMETER STUDENTS
The Barometer Student helps the teacher to determine how effective the story was comprehended. Use it to know how good or bad you are doing your presentations.
Assessment is also used to help the teacher determine the student’s level of comprehension.
Thethree basic steps for developing TPRS stories are:
• Developing meaning
• Asking the story
• Developing literacy or reading
With these basic steps, the teacher is able to work on comprehension, repetition, interest and literacy.
to achieve understanding of the text
I. How to Develop MeaningTechniques
1- To begin, choose three to five structures or words.
2- Present the vocabulary words or structures to the class in written form or with pictures (beginners). Use gestures and translation to explain the meanings.
3- Ask yes / no questions pointing to the object, picture or word. Example: Isthisabook? Have students respond yes or no, or signal with their hands if the answer is yes or no.
4- Ask a “Wh”question Example: Whatishisname?, Whoisthis? , or Where istheboy? Have students respond with a word or a phrase.
5- Continue to present the other structures or words, repeating the question forms indicated above.
6- Review the meaning of the words or structures, by asking the students to identify them by giving the meaning in Spanish, or acting out the words.
7– Personalize the words by asking the students personal questions with the vocabulary words. For example “dog”. Ask, Whohasadog?, Whatisitsname?, etc. “Likes to go” Ask: Wholikestogo to….?
8- Signal the grammatical structures, explaining briefly. Contrast them and signal the differences. Have students observe and repeat. Examples: Like: Helikestogo. Iliketogo. An example of this would be: “I like to go,” which means “Me gusta ir.” Show the gestures by rolling both hands.
Askquestionssuchas: Whatdoes “Iliketogo” mean?, Whatdoes “liketo”mean?, WhatdidI say?,andsoon.
9- Keep going back and forth with yes/no and “Wh” questions, and also use gestures to help students learn the meanings of the words and structures.
the Sto-
II. How to Ask
ryQuestions and strategies to guide the students to the content of the story .
CIRCLING
1- Present statement by statement, orally or in writing. Observe the following example: There is a duck. Isthereaduck? Is thereadog? Istherea dogoraduck?Whatisthere?
Circling permits the teacher to work on repetition and motivation. Circling or asking questions should not be done in any specific order.
USING “Wh” QUESTIONS
2- The teacher continues to develop or ask the story by using yes/no, and “Wh” questions. There should be approximately eight to ten questions per statement asked in any order. The teacher can also take the opportunity to signal grammar points, review gestures, personalize structures and assess comprehension of the structures.
CREATING A PARALLEL CHARACTER
3- To add repetition to the structures, the teacher can add a parallel character to the statement and ask the same questions, this time about the parallel character. Example: The name of a student in the class. Let’s say, if the story is about John’s car: John drives a Jaguar. The parallel character could be a boy named Peter. So, the statement would be Peter drives a Chevrolet.
Developing Statements for Parallel Characters:
John drives a Jaguar. Peter drives a Chevrolet.
• Does John drive a Jaguar?
• Does John drive a Chevrolet?
• Does Peter drive a Jaguar?
• Does John or Peter drive a Jaguar?
• Who drives a Jaguar?
• Who drives a Chevrolet?
• What does John drive?
• What does Peter drive?
These and many other questions could be generated from the addition of the parallel character.
III. How to Develop Reading a Story
Working with other TPRS aspects
THE LITERACY OR READING STEP
1- This step has to do with reading the story. One way of doing this is by reading statement by statement, and asking the group what each sentence means. Ask the whole group as well as individual students. Remember to ask the questions according to the students’ ability. Obvious questions for low achievers, questions with a little more difficulty for the regular achievers, and the criticalthinking questions for the superstars.
2- Another way of reading the story is having the whole group read a statement or a paragraph while an individual student explains the meaning in Spanish.
RETELLING
1- Ask questions for all the students to respond oral- ly, in group and individually.
2- Use gestures for students to retell the story following the gestures. Accompany the gestures with questions for students’ participation
3- Place students in groups for them to look at pictures and retell the story together.
4- Vary the stories by having students change the names of places or things, points of view, tenses, etc., as they recreate or retell the story.
ASSESSMENT
Assessment is used to evaluate the student’s comprehen- sion progress. The teacher should stop periodically, to check student’s comprehension of the story. There are several ways to do this.
FIVE-FINGER CHECK
1– In order to check comprehension, ask the students to show five fingers if they have understood everything.
2- Explain the evaluation scale in use. 1-5 (excellent), 1-4 (good), 1-3 (needs reinforcement)
BAROMETER STUDENTS
Constant assessments help the teachers determine who are their barometer students. The barometer students are the students who have not comprehended or mastered the new structures (These are the students who help the teacher de- termine how much repetition is needed, and how fast or slow to develop the lesson.) Assessments help the teacher identify the barometer students. The whole story develop- ment should be done slowly. Teachers should observe stu- dents’ participation – and teach accordingly, as stated by Susan Gross, a TPRS expert
WORKING WITH STRUCTURES
1- Signal the structures on the board and have students observe, repeat orally and use them correctly.
2- Use the structures in statements and underline them.
3- Contrast the structures and signal the differences to the students.
4- Always use the structures in context, because the structures should be meaningful at all times.
IV. PopUp Grammar
A brief way of introducing gramatical structures
USE DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES TO SIGNAL THE GRAMMATICAL POINTS
Example:
• What does like mean?
• What is the difference between like and likes?
• If likes means “le gusta” what does “le gustaba” mean?
• How do you say “a ellos les gustaba”?
• Does likes refer to one or two persons? How do you know?
ROLE PLAY
This is the acting out of the story. The story can be acted out as it develops, during the retelling or after the retelling. Acting out the story is very important to TPRS, because it helps the students reinforce comprehension of the structure.
Evaluate Grammar,
How to
V.
Speech
Reading, Spelling and
How to measure and evaluate grammatical knowledge
Grammar
WHAT HOW
Structures
• Use in sentences
• Fill in the blank exercises
• Match with words or pictures
• Identification by underlining, circling, or drawing an “X”
Questions
Quizzes
Sequence
• Answer yes/no questions
• Answer “Wh” questions
• Short answers (one word phrases)
• Identify by numbers or letters
• Order the sentences sequentially
• Recreation of stories, changing tenses, points of view and characters.
• Recognize the plot sections: Introduction, Body and Resolution of the story.
Spelling
Dictation
• Words
• Sentences
• Sight words
• Correct spelling
• Usage of words in context
Illustrations
• Story vocabulary
• Sight words
• Sentences
•
Description
• Illustrated vocabulary of the story
• Story scenes
Speech
WHAT HOW
Retelling
Oral description
Dialogues
• Oral Summary
• Recreation of the story
• Pictures and scenes
• Teacher-created
• Student-created
• Student-to-Student
• Teacher-to-Students
Reading
Oral
Comprehension
• Stories
• Mini stories
• Structures
• Personalized summaries
• Complete practice exercises
• Quizzes
• Answer oral and written questions
• Identify structures
• Cause – Effect
• Fact – Opinion
• Compare – Contrast
• Sequence
VI. Activities for Working with Literary Elements
Teachers can use this scheme to introduce the literary analysis
OBJECTIVES:
• Identify story elements
• Compare setting and characters
◼ Title and Author:
I. Setting: Where? ______________________________
CLIMAX How is the conflict resolved? Resolution How does the story end?
III. Basic situations Who?What? WHO Who are the characters? WHAT What does the character want? Here we can find the problems or the conflict.
CLIMAX How is the conflict resolved? RESOLUTION How does the story end?
IV. POINT OF VIEW
The person who tells the story determines its point of view. - Personal (1st person point of view): “I did…”, “I went…” - Other perspectives (3rd person point of view): “He did…”. “He went…”