BOOK REVIEW: TPRS WITH CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS
If I could only choose ONE book to help teach more comprehensibly, THIS IS IT! My copy is wrinkly, dog-eared and covered in post-it notes.
Known affectionately as the Red Book, this is a must have resource for not only teachers of Chinese but also teachers of Korean and Japanese-in fact any language of ‘unusual features’ as the author says. The writing style is concise and easy to digest and the content is grounded in strong research. There is some Chinese specific information included (eg tone, tonal spelling etc.) However the bulk of the content can be applied to all character based languages.
This is a really powerful approach to literacy. The sections are broken into practical ‘how to’ guides on teaching listening, speaking, reading and writing with Comprehensible Input front and center in the lesson. The author provide a no nonsense approach to developing the skills used to maximise Comprehensible Input.
In the chapter ‘Learning to teach with TPRS and CI’ the author gives sage advice about starting out teaching with Comprehensible Input and the pitfalls one might experience.
“TPRS is rather like the Japanese game of Go. The rules of the game, which uses only black and white stones, are simple, yet the most skillful players devote years to practicing and refining their play. TPRS is the same. The basic skills of TPRS are not really that difficult. All it involves is asking a few questions and remembering not to use unknown words. But being able to do that while keeping the input interesting and unpredictable and managing behaviour in the classroom and keeping and eye on the clock and making sure you follow the curriculum and getting the students ready for this test or that observation….that is not easy.” p.162
Another piece of advice from me to you………..the BEST way to improve your teaching skills is to actually take a language class and learn as a student by watching a master teacher at work. I am not affiliated with Terry, however I have benefited greatly from taking her Mandarin classes. It’s incredible professional development when you can experience these skills in action and in context. Terry also offers a variety of resources and webinars at https://squidforbrains.com/
The Basic Skills of TPRS
- Establish meaning- tell the students what the new language means
- Personalised Questions- keep the dialogue about the student
- Teach to the Eyes-gauge what they understand, modify/repeat if need be
- Go Slow- allow for wait time/for students to process the language
- Pause and Point-point to new words with the translation for ease of comprehension
- Repeat-for acquisition to occur the brain needs maximum repetition of the new vocabulary
Confession: When I started out using these TPRS skills I was more than a little clunky. BUT! Even at this early clunky stage I could see the impact this approach was having in my classes. I knew there was no turning back for me.
It has been said that~
“The worst day of TPRS is better than the best day of legacy teaching.” p.163
I can promise you that the time spent on fine tuning these skills pays dividends in the classroom.
It is time and effort well spent.