10 Total Physical Response Activities in Class | TPR Activities for English as a Second Language

Learn 10 effective Total Physical Response (TPR) activities to teach English faster and engage ESL students through movement and interaction.

Key Takeaways

TPR accelerates language acquisition by combining physical movement with verbal input.
Engaging students physically increases attention, retention, and classroom discipline.
Varied TPR activities cater to different learning styles and age groups.
Using real-life contexts and storytelling enhances vocabulary understanding and usage.
Consistent repetition and expressive teaching maximize TPR effectiveness.

What the video covers

Total Physical Response (TPR) links physical actions to language learning, helping ESL students understand and remember vocabulary better.
Demonstrate vocabulary by modeling actions and encouraging students to mimic and say the words, enhancing comprehension.
Simon Says is a popular TPR game that teaches commands and vocabulary through fun, physical challenges.
A fun card game uses playing cards to assign actions and classroom corners, promoting movement and vocabulary practice.
Mime role plays engage students in non-verbal communication, improving interpretation and interaction skills.
Storytelling sessions incorporate TPR actions to contextualize vocabulary and encourage full sentence practice.
Drive Time activity simulates real-world scenarios where students follow directions and perform tasks using TPR.
Teachers should use methodical approaches, starting with simple actions and gradually increasing complexity.
TPR activities increase student engagement, classroom control, and authority through expressive teaching methods.
Repetition and physical involvement are key to helping students internalize new language concepts effectively.

Chapters

What is Total Physical Response (TPR) and how does it help ESL students?

TPR is a teaching method that links physical actions to language learning, helping students understand and remember vocabulary by mimicking actions associated with words.

How can the game Simon Says be used effectively in an ESL classroom?

Simon Says teaches vocabulary and commands through fun physical challenges, starting with simple actions and gradually increasing complexity to engage students and reinforce learning.

What are some benefits of using storytelling with TPR in ESL teaching?

Storytelling with TPR contextualizes vocabulary, encourages repetition, and helps students practice full sentences, making language learning more engaging and memorable.

Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

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Total physical response. When learning your native language, first you watch your parents for clues on the meaning. Then you start acting out your needs before learning the words. That is how TPR, or total physical response, works. The teacher creates an action for the words

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they use, and students mimic while saying the word or phrase. This helps them learn English faster as it links their physical actions to the language, making it a teaching method that every ESL teacher should use in class. Hi, my name

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is Eric, an English teacher with 15 years' experience teaching English as a second language. If you would like more tips, ideas, and resources for English teachers, please subscribe to this channel. In today's video, we will look at 10 total

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physical response activities you can use in your classroom. Number one: demonstrate vocabulary. Students should be encouraged by their teacher to mimic new words by acting out a language. They will interpret meaning through different parts of the brain, pairing physical

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movement with the language. When using verbs, you should role play the activity and ask students to copy you. Like every time you say eat, do the action, and students follow. They will also understand it better by watching it being performed and doing it

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themselves. Nouns can be taught the same way by pairing it with obvious actions connected to it. For example, toothbrush. You can brush your teeth. Students look towards you for guidance and will learn a language faster from a teacher that is more expressive when

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teaching. A bonus of this is that students will become more submissive to your authority and be more engaged during class because they follow your movements subconsciously. They will see you as their leader, making it easier for you to control the class in the future.

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Here are the steps for demonstrating vocabulary: model and repeat. Say the new vocabulary words to your students. While you do that, use exaggerated gestures, facial expressions, props, or body movements to illustrate the meaning of the word. Have students

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copy the movement while you say the word. Next level, you ask them to say the word while making the movement. Finally, you do the action without speaking, then the students do the action while saying the word. You can also mix things up by

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saying the word and they act out the meaning. Make sure to write the vocabulary or phrases on the board so that students can make the connection between oral and written words. Number two: Simon says. The most famous TPR game is definitely

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Simon says. It's simple to do, and students enjoy being challenged. How it works is that the teacher calls out an action which the students have to complete, but students must only do the action if it's preceded by Simon says.

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For example, Simon says touch your nose. Touch. I didn't say Simon says, you're out. It adds a fun challenge to the game. By doing this, the students learn new vocabulary and instructions by physically acting them out. But instead

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of randomly calling out actions, teachers should be more methodical in their approach to using total physical response. First, start out with basic actions: touch your nose, bend your knees, walk in place, close your eyes. These are good for practicing

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commands, learning body parts, and motor skills. Then take it up a notch by using everyday tasks: wash your hands, pet the cat, write in your book. There are countless possibilities. Try to incorporate whatever topic you're doing in class that day. Then pretend to

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things don't need to be real. Students can have a great time by acting it out: paint in the sky, blow bubbles, you are Superman, picking up a truck and throwing it. Use emotions: you are sad, you are happy, Simon says it's your birthday. Add

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adjectives, objects, and people: slowly, quickly, move your friend's book. Add possessives: pick up your, use my, add this, that, here, there. Simon says look there, look up. Ah, gotcha, I didn't say Simon says. Use colors, numbers, and sizes: show four fingers, show

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me a blue pen. Animals and sounds: moo like a cow, Simon says wag your tail like a dog. It can be tough thinking up actions on the spot, so I added a free Word file with 100 actions for Simon says in the

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description below. After practicing a couple of rounds, eliminate the students who get it wrong to find a winner at the end. Another fun way to do it is the circle method. Students stand around the teacher in a circle.

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Make sure there is enough space. The teacher then calls out a word which the whole class does. The last student to do the action is out and should sit down. Number three: fun card game. We can use this game in many ways, but I

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will explain it with daily activities because daily activities are a good way for students to learn everyday actions. First, you need a normal deck of cards. Use as many cards as actions. For example, if you write 10 actions on the board,

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only use ace to 10 and remove the king, queen, and jack. You can write ace is cook dinner, two brush your teeth, three get dressed, four hang up laundry, etc. Once you have all 10 written on the board, go

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through them with the students. Remember, with all learning, repetition is key. Now there are four corners in your classroom. Assign each corner to a different suit. For example, diamond is that corner, and that's the kitchen. Spade is in that corner, and that is the

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bathroom. Heart is in that corner, and that's outside. Club is the last corner, and that is your bedroom. Each corner in the classroom has a different suit. Place the cards in the middle of class. Students have to go pick one card, then

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go do their action in one of the corners. It's a lot of fun. You just see all the students run, grabbing their cards, looking at it, running towards their corner, and then doing their action. Once they are done, ask them what they are

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doing. I am brushing my teeth outside. Outside? Really? You can make it competitive by eliminating players who do the wrong action, but as with all movement activities, warn the students not to run or bump into one another. Otherwise, they will be penalized. Even if

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students don't understand all the words, they will eventually learn what it means. Students don't only mimic the words, they have fun doing it. The way that TPR works is similar to how we learn our native language by interacting with it. Number

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four: mime role plays. These are also a lot of fun for adult students. Give each student a role to act out, but tell one of them that they've lost their voice. Explain to the voiceless student what situation he or she has to act out, but

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don't tell the other students what it is. For example, for student A, you need to find a pharmacy and you ask someone for directions. You have lost your voice and can't say a word. Student B, you will be stopped in the street by

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someone who needs directions, but this person can't speak, so you must interpret their gestures to find out where they need to go. So student A will come up and gesture, and the other person has to try and figure out what they want. This is a lot

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of fun and very easy to set up. Number five: storytelling sessions. Stories are a great way to put vocabulary into context and get students to have a better understanding of what goes on in class. Adding TPR to your story will make it

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more engaging and easier to understand. Choose a story or create your own that involves the same vocabulary, preferably more than once, so that the repetition helps them remember. If the topic for class is animals, create a story about

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going to the zoo and seeing different animals. Add a specific TPR action for each animal or action. When you are done telling the story, ask a few students to redo it for class by summarizing what they have learned.

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They are more likely to remember. Using TPR in a story format helps them practice telling the story in full sentences. Number six: drive time. When developing your TPR activity, think about what your students may experience in the outside world. Experiences like giving

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and receiving directions are essential elements for ESL, and the TPR driving activity will allow your students to master these. You will need to get to class a bit early for this.

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and common places from your neighborhood you can label each street in the room leading to a hospital post office home hotel park and so on after you build the little classroom town with streets have your students stand in various starting

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places this will be the first stage of this tpr activity for example tom go stand by the post office student tom will follow the command and walk to the post office next you will instruct a few students to get into

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their imaginary cars and command them to move about the room as you instruct for example jane go pick up tom at the post office jane will then go and pick up tom another layer to this activity is to

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give and receive directions have jane give tom directions to a certain place and see if he can complete the task without knowing the final destination this promotes discussion and communication between students a fantastic esl skill for them to work on

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this activity can be done in many ways and the students always have fun with it remember to give them a review activity by writing down the directions afterwards number seven step-by-step recipes and instructions after your students have mastered basic

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vocabulary doing a step-by-step activity is a great way to test and encourage them to listen well simply give your students a set of directions verbally to follow don't check in on them after each step just let them figure it out as they go

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after the directions are finished check in on their final product and see if the outcome is correct review the activity to fix the steps where they might have made a mistake this is a great way to teach your students a new

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skill like origami drawing a picture making a specific type of sandwich and practice their listening comprehension and language development at the same time once they have mastered it they can write down or practice giving the instructions to a partner number eight

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props for english the idea is to collect a bunch of random small items that could fit inside a shoebox the items could include toys miniature furniture plastic flowers buttons keys play money toy cars crayons etc with this shoe box filled with small

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items you can teach a variety of phrases commands questions and vocabulary terms easily these items can be a great tool if you're looking to introduce some tpr into your classroom routines even with older students for example sort the

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items by color first letter category size say things like find a red item or pick up an animal or choose an item that you could find in a kitchen once your students are ready you can move beyond tpr and ask them to create their own

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stories or dialogues using the items number nine chance chants are one of the core elements of teaching english to young learners kids love the rhythm movements and repetition while doing chants there are many reasons for the successive chants with young learners

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but most like learning new movements to go with the words a great youtube channel that shares chance is my friend mike at mike's home esl he has many fantastic chants that you can use in your class go check him out and let him know that i

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sent you number ten charades divide the class into two groups then let the members of each group find two random words from their textbook and write it on scraps of paper take these papers and put one of them in front of the other

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group and the other bunch of papers in front of the other group one person from each group goes to the front and takes a random paper from the pile what i like to do is let the students take two

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papers and pick their favorite that gives them a sense of ownership over their actions when you give the signal both students have to act out the word and the other students in their group has to call out the answer until

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the correct one is found this could also be a race where each member of the group gets a turn to go to the front the first team through all of the words is the winner tpr is great for keeping the

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attention of your students and helping them learn faster by pairing the physical with the language use it to make your english classes more enjoyable and engage your students with the lesson if you would like to learn more ideas

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for teaching english as a second language check out this next video i'm eric from etiquette and i'll see you next time

Topics:Total Physical ResponseTPR activitiesESL teachingEnglish language learningESL classroom gamesSimon Saysvocabulary teachingESL engagementlanguage acquisitionphysical response teaching

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