What is Total Physical Response (TPR)
TPR was created by Dr. James Asher in the 1960's to mimic first language acquisition. TPR is essentially the idea that, for very early emergent bilinguals, one can respond and communicate back his/her understanding through only physical responses. TPR's focus on building comprehension through doing, watching, and listening rather than speaking. TPR is a strategy designed for students to demonstrate their understanding through gestures (as they are in the silent period), yet still receive comprehensible input.
TPRs are suitable for:
TPRs are suitable for:
- Students of all ages
- Geared toward students in Level 1 of WIDA's ELL development stages.
- Students within the starting and/or early production stage of emergent bilingualism
Down Below is an example of my first TPR lesson. There is definitely room for improvement, but hopefully one is still able to read and understand what a TPR lesson is suppose to look like within the classroom.
More Resources and Examples of TPRs:
Work Cited
- Chambers Schuldt, L. (2017). Tuesday Week 6 Oral Language Strategies. [PowerPoint Slides