How can you maintain the use of the target language in class? We both know that using comprehensible target language in class is crucial. However, maintaining that day in and day out can be overwhelming, to say the least, unless you’re incorporating these three strategies in your class every day!
This week’s post is part 2 of How to Stay in the Target Language. If you missed the first post, click HERE to read. I talked about the three big shifts that I needed to do to stay in the target language. Today, I’m focusing on three strategies that I use in my class to sustain and maintain the use of target language in my class.
Maintaining the Target Language: Strategy #1
Total Physical Response (TPR)
I only started to use this strategy this year, but I have been very intentional with it. Don’t ever be afraid to try new things! So, what is TPR? TPR stands for Total Physical Response. This method was developed by Dr. James Asher.
I’m not an expert on this, but basically, Dr. Asher observed that children respond to commands physically when they’re learning the language when they’re babies. What happens is that you are activating the right part of the brain. The right part of the brain is able to internalize the new language immediately without a time-consuming analysis by the left side of the brain that is in charge of language use. And, when we use the right side, it is less of a cognitive load. That’s why students tend to acquire and internalize the language faster. It’s really effective and efficient.
How I Use TPR
After learning from other World Language teachers, my eyes were opened to a different approach, TPR, for instruction in my class. When I give instructions, I tend to do it in English. If you think about it, we give a lot of instructions in our classes. So, I was spending a lot of time not in the target language.
Now, using TPR, when I give them commands, I am spending more time using the target language. TPR was big in my class the first weeks of school. Now, I am still practicing it on a daily basis. For example, I was going to tell my class the story of La Tomatina, a story about tomatoes. In it, characters throw, run, and dance. I used TPR to introduce the students to key words before I told them the story.
3 Steps of TPR
These are not my steps, I learned these steps through Diana Castro. The first step is model. Write the words on your board in the target and the common language. You point out the word, say the word, and gesture the word or model it.
The second step is delay. You point to the word, say the word, but delay your gesture. The third step is mistake. You say the words, make a different gesture, and look at your students. Look at their reaction and the gesture that they make. The fourth step is to remove your gesture. Say the word, and don’t do your gesture. Watch what gestures your students do. You may do multiple repetitions of a step before you move to the next step, and that’s okay. So, the four steps are: model, delay, mistake, and remove. If you think your students might start to find this boring, listen to episode 4 of my podcast for creative ways to use TPR and extend the gestures.
Maintaining the Target Language: Strategy #2
Personalized Questions & Answers (PQAs)
The second strategy is PQAs. These are questions you ask your students, and I always model questions I ask. I don’t just ask one student, and then another, and then another because I don’t get much communication, it’s shallow communication, when I do it that way. I want deep conversations! Even if your students don’t know much of the target language, that’s okay! This is where I use PQRs. For example: I was going to introduce a song to my class. But, before I did that, I had six or seven words I wanted to introduce to them.
PQR Example
So, what I did was create slides with personal questions for my students. On these slides, I had the question and possible answers. Each had captions in English because I knew that my students had not acquired the language yet. The answers were short. I started out with a few of my strongest students. I modeled the answer first, and then they answered for themselves. Through PQAs and PQRs, you can preload and contextualize words that are not concrete.
Maintaining the Target Language: Strategy #3
Identify 3-5 Interpersonal Activities That You and Your Students Love
This strategy is super helpful for your planning. My three big ones are chat, calendar talk, and social emotional learning checks.
Chat
Like the slides I mentioned earlier, I prepare slides with questions and possible answers for my students. For example, on Thursdays and Fridays, I ask my students what they have planned for their weekend. On Monday and Tuesdays, I ask what they did over their weekend. This exposes them to past and future tenses. I usually do this for five minutes, and I use a timer to keep track. Click HERE to see my weekend chats.
Calendar Talk
This is one of my favorite activities. We do this every day, and in the second semester, my students become experts and lead calendar talks. We talk about special events, such as homecoming, or holidays for that month. My students love it! Calendar talks can go from 5 minutes to sometimes 20 minutes. Each month, I create a Calendar Talk that you can use in your class. Find them HERE.
Social Emotional Learning Checks
Every single day my students answer the question, “How are you feeling today?” Sometimes, I ask, “How are you today?” or “What’s going on today?” I give them options to answer. This lasts between 5 to 10 minutes. By the time we finish the first quarter, my students have acquired so much language. This makes me so happy!
I hope these strategies help you maintain the target language in your classroom. Let me know if you have other strategies that you use to do this. Don’t forget to listen to episode 4 of my podcast HERE to hear more details of these strategies. I hope you’ll listen!
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One Response
Thanks again.