Fluency through TPR Storytelling, by Blaine Ray and Contee Seely

Fluency Through TRP StorytellingWhat It’s About: A well-thought-out method to teach language and not kill the teacher in the process that is thoroughly supported by decades of SLA research and thousands of teachers and their students. Among TPRS practitioners, this book is known as the “Green Bible” because of its authority and ubiquity. Even if you don’t (especially if you don’t) teach with TPRS you need to read this book to see what all the fuss is about—especially the first three chapters.

Quotable Quotes: “Carefully limiting the vocabulary, frequent repetition of it, and quick translations (when needed) are the principal ways we use to keep a class totally comprehensible. In order to provide sufficient repetition of targeted grammatical features while simultaneously maintaining interest, we have all students respond appropriately to varying and repetitive questions about a developing story.” p. 9-10

“TPR Storytelling develops fluency with accuracy. Students acquire that language in a fun way that enables them to speak. In the process they develop an “ear” for what sounds right. As a result, they learn to speak the language so that it sounds right to them. This process closely resembles that of first language acquisition. Few other language-learning methods seem to come so close.” p. 333

Bonus points for: Showing how to be master and student at the same time. TPRS is a skills-based approach to teaching, rather than a materials-based approach. No app or textbook can do what this book teaches teachers to do. Blaine Ray and TPRS keep growing, changing and getting better.

An image that could sum up this book is: A tightly packed school of herring swimming in the open ocean—constantly reacting and adapting to the environment, but remaining one cohesive entity and constantly moving ahead. TPRS is fluid, it changes and adapts, but the essence of it remains the same and the method keep moving forward.

Read This Book If… You want your students to become fluent and you want to have a life—with TPRS your students will be able to speak the language confidently and you will not have to spend all of your free time grading assignments.