TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE

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.

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. When they feel confident with the word or phrase you can then ask the students to direct each other or the whole class.

It is more effective if the students are standing in a circle around the teacher and you can even encourage them to walk around as they do the action.

When should I use it?

TPR can be used to teach and practise many things. 

• Vocabulary connected with actions (smile, chop, headache, wriggle)
• Tenses past/present/future and continuous aspects (Every morning I clean my teeth, I make my bed, I eat breakfast)
• Classroom language (Open your books)
• Imperatives/Instructions (Stand up, close you eyes)
• Story-telling

 It can be adapted for all kinds of teaching situations, you just need to use your imagination.

Advantages

• It is a lot of fun, students enjoy it and it can be a real stirrer in the class. It lifts the pace and the mood.
• It is very memorable. It really helps students to remember phrases or words.
• It is good for kinaesthetic learners who need to be active in the class.
• It can be used in large or small classes. It doesn't really matter how many students you have as long as you are prepared to take the lead, the students will follow.
• It works well with mixed-ability classes. The physical actions get across the meaning effectively so that all the students are able to understand and use the target language.
• It doesn't require a lot of preparation or materials. As long as you are clear what you want to practise (a rehearsal beforehand can help) , it won't take a lot of time to get ready.
• It is very effective with teenagers and young learners.
• It involves both left and right-brained learning.

Disadvantages

• Students who are not used to such things might find it embarrassing.
• It is only really suitable for beginner levels.
• You can't teach everything with it and if used a lot it would become repetitive.

Here are two examples of a class with this method:

Public activities for this method