I wish I had a clever way to start this post. I have been sitting here staring at the screen for about five minutes and I’ve got nothing. Must be that I can’t be creative without coffee…I hear it dripping in the kitchen, so it shouldn’t be long now!!
This month marks my one year anniversary as a seller on Teachers Pay Teachers. I am so grateful to everyone that has taken a chance on me and purchased one or more of my products over this last year!
Soooo…I’m going to do a giveaway. Here’s the dirt:
THE GOODS: A class set of novels (30) from TPRS Publishing. You choose the language (Spanish, French, Russian, or English) and novel! It must be a TPRS Publishing novel (they carry novels by other publishing companies on their site, but this giveaway is not for those novels). Choose wisely 🙂
HOW TO ENTER: Leave a comment on this post that tells your TPRS/CI story–how you were introduced to the method and where you’re at now. You can elaborate as much or as little as you want, but you MUST include your email address so that you can be notified if you win.
INCLUDE: In addition to your story, please leave your email address so that I can contact you if you win. If you do not feel comfortable posting this online, you can leave a comment without your email address and then email ME (martinaebex@gmail.com) with a copy of your comment. I’ll get your address from the email.
THE DEADLINE: Your post must be made by September 30 at midnight, AKST, in order to be eligible to win. AKST is four hours behind EST.
DRUMROLL, PLEASE: The lucky winner will be chosen at random using an online raffle generator dealio on October 1, assuming I remember, haha! Otherwise it will be soon thereafter and accompanied by many apologies! I will email the winner and get book selection and shipping information.
**IF you are not in the US, you will win a $150 credit for TPRS Publishing so that you can place the order yourself and take care of shipping.
Alright, now tell everyone you know! Or don’t tell anyone so that you have better chances of winning! What would Jesus do, right??
I first learned about TPRS years ago when I first started teaching. I was a member of the FL teach listserv and read about it there, so when I heard that Blaine Ray was coming near to where I was teaching, I signed up! I tried to incorporate some of the TPRS techniques into my classes, but I wasn’t very successful at the time. I then stopped teaching to stay home with my baby for 10 years. I went back to teaching 2 years ago. I followed the book for 2 years and HATED it. The students HATED it and weren’t learning anything. I knew that there had to be a better way. So I found the video I had bought years ago at the Blaine Ray workshop, pulled out my green book and spent the summer immersing myself in TPRS. Truly, it’s all I thought about all summer. I found all of the great blogs, joined moretprs and read years of posts. I joined Ben Slavic’s website for TPRS teachers, too. I got rid of all of my old stuff so I wouldn’t be tempted to go back to the book if things got to be difficult. And some days it really is. When my Spanish II class stares at me blankly when I try to add any humor to my stories, I am so tempted to stop, but I know that my students are so much more proficient in the language already that it’s worth it! I almost can’t wait for the semester to be over so I can start over again and do it better, lol. Also, my relationship with my students is so much stronger than it has ever been before. It’s amazing. Whew! Sorry I wrote so much!
I love the student-teacher relationships that it facilitates! What is your email?
I emailed it to you, but I’ll put it here, too. megrob at verizon dot net. thanks for doing this!
I just retweeted your Giveaway announcement. Now – I’d like to enter my name into the contest! I’m a pre-service teacher who almost has license in hand! I was introduced to TPRS/CI through Twitter; I’ve been following bloggers and authors (and recommending them to classmates) for about 5 months. Last week, I observed a French teacher who includes “circling” techniques, primarily, in her lesson opener and closer. It was effective! Where I’m at now? – Filling a notebook with ideas about embedded reading, circling, in-class library, authentic resources, story-based grammar, etc. Itching for the chance to bring these ideas into the classroom! Thanks for the Giveaway! Good luck to all! Janice
@ConnectExtend (t)
janicesabindemedina@gmail.com
You are too kind, haha! Hopefully your generous spirit will be lucky for you 😉 Isn’t it amazing how the means through which we learn information has changed so drastically in the last 20, even 10 years?! Twitter!! I would also recommend checking out http://www.fluencyfast.com for some great on-demand webinars about TPRS and related strategies!
whoops. Fluency fast is great for other things. What I meant to link was http://www.fluencymatters.com
Will check it out and “diigo it”, too — thanks!
I was first introduced to the magic of TPRS by Jason Fritze at a conference in Maine, where I teach. After that introduction, I knew that TPRS/CI was the way that I wanted to teach my middle schoolers. Since then, I have been lucky enough to work with Ben Slavic and Susie Gross. My entire department is dedicated to teaching with the TPRS/CI methodology and we have been thrilled with how our students can communicate for extended periods of time in the target language. Plus, teaching this way is so much more FUN for me and my students! I have been inspired by your blog for a few years now, both as a teacher and a parent of two young ones! The best of luck to you, and enjoy your time with them. They grow so fast…
You are so fortunate to have an entire department using TPRS/CI! I often dream about how powerful that could be–iron sharpening iron, you know! How old are your two kids?
ALSO I need your email address, Suzannah!
My kids are 3.5 and 8 months- close in age to yours, right? My email is suzannahsbooks@yahoo.com. ¡Gracias!
Yes! Mine are 21mos and 5mos 🙂
I learned about TPRS during my second year of teaching high school. I was not happy with the results I was getting using the traditional method, so I decided to attend the OFLA Conference to get ideas from other teachers. I went to a Teri Wiechart’s workshop about TPRS and I was amazed that I could understand and read another language after just 20 minutes of instruction. I talked to her and told her that I wanted to know more about her method, so she invited me to observe her teaching. I was so impressed with her students. They were amazing!! I was hooked!! She told me that Susan Gross was coming to Ohio over the summer, so I attended her 3 day workshop. At the end of the workshop I decided I was never going to use a textbook again and I started using comprehensible input as my method of teaching. I have attended 3 National TPRS conferences, many workshops and sessions and I became past of the coaching team this past summer. I’m not saying that it has been always easy, but the support of Teri, other TPRS/CI teachers and my Twitter PLN, I have been able to increase the numbers in my upper level classes and also, to have many kids continuing their Spanish education at the college level. Using CI/TPRS made me a better teacher. I’ll keep learning and getting better at it, but I will always use it with my students because I know this is what’s best for them.
Nelly, your story is so encouraging!! And I need your email!
Sorry!! My email is hughesn@benjaminlogan.org
I was introduced to TPRS when my husband and I went to Mexico to do missions work. I had taken years of Spanish in high school and even a year in college and had learned little to nothing. My husband had grown up in Mexico as a missionary kid, had even begun law school in Mexico and really had no idea how to help me learn. There was an organization called New Tribes Mission that had a headquarters near us and they told me I could take their crash course on language learning. They told me they were introducing a brand new system at the time, it was not a course in Spanish but on how to learn languages. Come to find out it was TPRS. After diligently using this system, I learned quickly and I was fluent enough to teach children at the orphanage in about 6 months. However, this was a system for someone to learn on their own, not for the classroom.
We moved back to the US and I am now teaching Spanish in junior high and high school. I really had no idea how to bring TPRS to the classroom, when a friend showed me material by Blaine Ray. I was so excited that something did exist, however I still didn’t know how to do this in an organized way. I absolutely love my kids and really want to be able to do the best job teaching them. Learning a language should be fun and inspiring, which is why I LOVE your material. Please don’t feel bad about us buying it. I would be back to using textbooks if I had not discovered your material. I have so far to go, but because of your blog I have learned so much already on how to teach TPRS in a classroom. I teach at a small school that doesn’t have the money to buy my material for me, so I am buying it little by little, which is fine because we only have so much time to teach anyway! I still have a long way to go in figuring out how to plan a year long curriculum for this many levels without major gaps, but am going to check into the TPRS site you have listed. Thank you for sharing so much, it has been exciting for me to learn and that excitement is then translated to the students!
What a unique story! WHere in Mexico were you? I worked with a missions organization in Oaxaca–Tlaxiaco, specifically–in 2006. DEFINITELY talk to TPRS Publishing!! AND please send along your email address!
I worked in Chihuahua, Chihuahua Mexico. My email address is charisegarner@gmail.com
Thanks!
Hi! I have been following your posts for the last year. I am new to TPRS and want to start it! I do not, however, feel that I have the tools to do so and do not have the funds to get started on something like this. You have a super blog–it really has inspired me!
I think that if I were to have a set given to me that I could actually take off iwth TPRS……maybe this is what I need!
lintpere@dewittschools.net
Thanks for the great opportunity….you are a fabulous inspiration to all of us teachers!
Stephanie
You don’t need anything to start–begin with questioning. Write discussion questions that include whatever vocab you are studying, and just start a conversation with your students. Let it go as long as it can, and then cut it off when it fizzles out. Try again the next day. Keep going and building your confidence!
I started teaching K-8 Spanish last year, and was introduced to TPRS when I stumbled across your blog! I have gotten so many ideas from your blog and your TPT lessons/worksheets for sale! Thank you for having all of this available! 🙂
I would be interested to hear about using TPRS with kindergarteners, before they can really read. Also, are you in an immersion program? Are you allowed to give English translations? Please send along your email address!
I am not in an immersion program, so I do give English translations. I’d like to switch over to using only Spanish, but I haven’t gotten there yet. I do it more often with the older grades. The Kindergarten class always looks at me with little blank faces, and then ask me how to say things in other languages, as if I know all other languages! 🙂
My email address is erica.warmus@gmail.com
Heehee 🙂 Kindergarteners are so cute!!
I do use a lot of commands in Kindergarten and elementary grades, and end up learning those through TPRS. So while I do show them pictures for the vocabulary meanings, I give them commands, like “levántate con el perro,” and they stand with the picture of the dog. That’s not a great example, but it is often very simple things like that with younger kids.
I am a second year high school Spanish I-IV teacher and blogs like yours got me through my first year of teaching! I AM the world language department in my district, and could not have made it through without all of the wonderful ideas, resources, and advice I have found through blogs like yours. I have been trying to get started with some TPRS in my room, but do not have any of the book sets. I would LOVE whatever set you think would be the best to start with in my class.
Muchas Gracias!
Allison
Yowza! So many preps can be stressful! Hope you have found a few ideas here and there to lighten your load!
Yes, you have some wonderful ideas that have worked great in my classes! Just last week we used your “Immigrant Archive Project” WS as an intro to “Cajas de Carton,” which we are reading in Spanish 4. It worked wonderfully! Gracias!
Awesome! So glad you were able to use it!
I went to a Blaine Ray workshop a few years ago, and was very excited to implement TPRS in my classroom. I knew deep down inside that it was the way to go; my students were learning more, taking more risks, speaking more Spanish, and sleeping less!! But as time went on through the year, I started to panic that I wasn’t “covering” everything in the textbook, so I started to alter my lessons into a hybrid of TPRS and textbook content. Sadly, I started to fade away from TPRS.
Last January, I went to Carol Gaab’s seminar “Beyond TPRS” and was once again rejuvininated. I have been following this blog for several months, and have gotten not only great ideas, but great inspiration to stick with it!!! Thank you for all of your sharing!!
Linda, I need your email to enter you!
oops! lgoggin@plymouth.k12.ma.us Thank you!
So glad to hear that you’re back on the bandwagon! It isn’t easy, and I think that curriculum mapping is key to finding success. Send along your email address!
Remember to leave your email addresses or email me separately!! Allison, Erica, Charise, and Megan–I need emails if you want a chance to win!
My first TPRS experience was at a Blaine Ray workshop several years ago and I absolutely loved it. I purchased some of their curriculum but I have had a hard time trying to tie it into my school curriculum. It seems especially difficult at the first year level because I want to to be sure that the students know what they need to know for their next teacher. I recently discovered your blog and Pinterest page and have really enjoyed coming here for creative inspiration. Thank you so much for sharing!
What curriculum does your school use? I may be able to connect you with other teachers that are using it with TPRS! Also, send along your email address so that I can enter you!
Exprésate. My email is tarrah.white@csdar.org
Thank you! 🙂
I received a brochure fromBlaine Ray at sour Christian school . The seminar was in my town, so I went. blaine was the teacher. boy is he good.I loved it but have had three years of feeling unconfident in teaching totally with this method. I have purchased Blaine’s materials and at least one of each of his books and also from TPRS Publishing. Little by little I have gleaned from so many sites and went to another seminar of Blaine’s last year. I have determined to use CI a lot more,but some days are tough. I really. Appreciated your candidness about having to use “plan B”. I realize I can’t always be successful but I’ llnever succeed without keeping at it. Thanks so much for your lessons. I appreciate being able to buy lessons, too.
Jramos53@hotmail.com or judy.ramos@cedarpark.org.
Teaching is a struggle no matter WHAT method you use when you care about your students and you care about what you’re doing. TPRS is no different 🙂
I went to the national ACTFL conference a year ago in Philadelphia. This is only my second year teaching Spanish and going to the national conference was like drinking water from a fire hose. At the opening ceremony I sat next to a woman from New Orleans – a young German teacher. She told me about this thing called TPRS and that she was loving teaching and so were her students. I followed her to a Carol Gaab workshop after that and got my first experience of TPRS. From there, I started following blogs (yours and others) and trying to learn more about how to “do” it. As a new teacher last year I struggled with classroom management and the thought of doing these raucous stories seemed totally impossible. Little did I know that it’s probably what would have helped my management issues! I still feel totally green at TPRS, but have done story-asking twice this year and am having a completely different and better year! Thank you SO much Martina for all of the work you have done to make TPRS comprehensible to isolated teachers like me. I hope to get to a training this coming summer and dive deeper in! Thanks again!
What a neat story! I love Carol!!! Are you going to ACTFL this year?? I’ll be there for the first time!! Also, I need your email address 🙂
I was introduced to TPRS as a high school student taking French and Spanish. I went on to become a Spanish teacher who really believes in CI!
How awesome that you have the experience of being a TPRS student! Where did you go to school?
Also, I need your email address!
I have been teaching Spanish off and on for the last twenty years. My third year of teaching I attended a TPRS workshop and was inspired. I used the program with my 7th and 8th graders and had great results. Then I changed schools and didn’t teach Spanish for quite a few years–just English and Business classes. Now I am back to teaching Spanish again and want to incorporate TPRS back into my Spanish classrooms again. I teach Spanish I & II at a small rural school in Breckenridge, Michigan, so I have not novels that I am using. I would need some suggestions as to what to get for my students.
I have many suggestions! Their novels are awesome! If you win I would be happy to advise!
Dawn I need your email!
My journey into the world of TPRS/CI began several years ago. I had no idea what TPRS was, but I had the opportunity to go to a one-day conference so I decided to check it out. I thought it was going to be training in TPR. The day I spent at that conference changed my teaching career forever. I went back to my school. Threw out all my previous lesson plans and jumped in with both feet. And, I haven’t looked back since. While I hardly knew what I was doing that first year, the results I saw in my students were so significantly better than what I had experienced using a more traditional approach, that I was sold. I’m certainly not perfect, but I continue to learn and grow. Web sites like yours have helped tremendously! Thank you! I’m sending my email address separately.
Sounds so similar to my story–I thought I knew what TPRS was, but what I was thinking of was TPR. One observation of Michele Whaley, and in went both feet!
I received your email Sheri!
After a long time of reading and researching TPRS I jumped in this August. It’s been a bumpy ride but I’m not ready to give up yet. I’d love a set of readers to complement what we are doing in class.
4themontgomerys@gmail.com
I forgot to include my email in the text. Oops.
It is HARD to start TPRS–there is definitely a learning curve, and until YOU become comfortable with the strategies and find a groove that works for you, it can feel like the students are running wild. Email me if you have any specific questions and frustrations!! martinaebex@gmail.com We’ve all been there!
I am so excited about this giveaway! I would love to have a set of TPRS novels. I have taught Spanish for many years the “old-fashioned” way and have always been so frustrated at the low level of retention that my students have. I discovered TPRS at the beginning of the summer while surfing the internet for creative ways to teach Spanish grammar. I was so excited to see that there is another way and a way that apparently really works. I began this year to incorporate TPR and PQA into my class routine and my students love it! jcash@trinityfwbchurch.org
So glad to hear that your first dabbles are going well! If you have a chance, check out the on-demand webinars on http://www.fluencymatters.com (an affiliate of TPRS Publishing Inc.). They are a cost-effective way to get some quality TPRS/CI training!
I first discovered TPRS back in 2000 after I had already been teaching high school Spanish for 4 years. I was frustrated that my students never seemed to remember anything two weeks after a test and seemed to have no long-term acquisition (since I saw the same students every year.) A high school classmate of mine told me about TPRS and I went to my first Blaine Ray Workshop in Vegas that summer. I was so enthusiastic that when I moved to a new school that year (first of many moves since my husband is a pastor) I told them that I didn’t need any books, only a set of the Look, I Can Talk materials. I used TPRS for 3 years there and loved it, but then took some time off to stay home to raise my kids. I came back to the classroom last year and found out that so much had changed that I ended up begging my way to NTPRS this year. I added MovieTalks to my teaching last year and am looking forward to adding Embedded Readings this year. I am also moving towards using novels as a bigger part of my curriculum, so I would love to add another class set to my classroom library. Keeping my fingers crossed…
Isn’t it great that there are folks out there that are always developing or finding new techniques for us to add to our repertoires? I am so grateful for Laurie and Michele’s work, and that of countless others, that enable us to provide our students with an ever-richer, ever-more-successful language learning experience!
Diana, I need your email!
I emailed it to you (and have it filled in for my reply — don’t know why it’s not showing up!) but it’s strandd at santiam dot org. Thanks!
Thanks!
I have been teaching for 13 years now but after 4 years teaching hs Spanish I felt frustrated with my job… it seemed like I was doing all the work and NOT having fun anymore. I started teaching bilingual classes in elementary school and then all the fun came back but I had a monster commute, a horrible principal, new baby, sick parent, and stupid state exams to stress out about. Once again, I was no longer having fun.
After a lot of prayer and tears I was finally blessed with what has become my dream job: I am the SOLE Spanish 1 teacher at a middle school in my town with an amazing World Lang department within the district.
After a great year I attended the NTPRS conference in Dallas and was blown away by how much sense TPRS and CI made! Why haven’t we been doing this all along?! But, people are hesitant to change and I am *secretly* doing my CI and storytelling with my students and seeing remarkable growth in such a short amount of time.
I wish I had more days off so I could read all of the great TPRS/CI blogs that I’ve found in the last few months because they are such a wealth of knowledge! I love the stories that the kids come up with and parents sending me emails about how much their child loves my class. I will never go back to the old way of teaching with charts and drills.
Although today didn’t work so well, I still think of what so many experts say: Even on my worst day as a TPRS teacher it’s still better than using the textbook.
My email is cathwells@yahooc.com
Got a little excited while typing that email! it should be cathwells@yahoo.com
I think that my next giveaway will require everyone to post the story of their biggest TPRS/CI fail. It’s reassuring to know that EVERYONE out there has bad days. I love the expert quote that you attached at the end 😉
I am a homeschooling mom and have been teaching Spanish over the years to my own kids and in various homeschool co-op classes. Sometimes I was “assigned” a curriculum and other times have tried different textbook approaches. Last year I was so, so, SO (get the idea 🙂 ) frustrated that I pitched everything I had and sat down and rewrote fairy tales in Spanish for my middle school and high school students. I love the power of stories and wanted the kids to feel confident with familiar stories (lots of Brothers Grimm). Each week I would introduce another “page” of the story… provide more vocabulary, read with animation and ask lots of questions, silly and otherwise, for a type of call and response from the kids. It was so amazing how much they would anticipate the Spanish answers. They loved playing with the language and ok, big, bad wolf aside, they have learned lots of Spanish and are able to understand some pretty complex ideas in another language. One of my native speaker friends has recorded all of the stories on CDs along with songs – so the kids do lots of listening, too. They learn a bit of grammar, take home the Spanish story page and translate it as well as practice vocabulary phrases and review on quizlet. Now I have stumbled onto TPRS and feel as if I have tried to reinvent the wheel. Ha! Your blog is so encouraging to me. It can be done with success. Thanks for the inspiration. I bet my classes would love to read something besides fairy tales for a change so here’s hoping for a box of novels. Best to you and your new baby, too.
Allison don’t forget to send along your email address! I would love to see some of the stories that you’ve written up; do you have them online anywhere?
Hi again. Here is my email: smithfamuy@hotmail.com No, I have not posted any stories online yet.
Got it!
First of all, my email address is fconnor@meadhallschool.org The first time I heard of TPRS was back in 2003 when I was in my first year of teaching. I probably heard about it in my certification classes? I can’t remember. Anyway, I did a story or two those first two years and my students always raved about how much they loved it. I had never thought about doing it as an entire curriculum! Now, here I am after having 3 children (and one more is on the way!) and I am teaching in a private school that handed me TPRS Publishing’s books when I started my job. I was thrilled; however it was extremely overwhelming to learn the new method. Once I got on the website and also those of Susan Gross, Blaine Ray, etc; I realized that learning this method was actually going to make my life so much easier. I thoroughly enjoy teaching with TPRS. I love hearing my students create in Spanish using all of the “input” I give them. One of my biggest joys so far as a teacher was reading novels with my students last year. Having never done that before, I would have to say that it was so awesome. The sense of accomplishment that the students felt after completing a novel was very pronounced. I read two novels with Spanish 1 and Spanish 2 (four different books). I found that we had time for one more book in Spanish 2. We only have the two for that level, so I had them read Esperanza (Level 1) just to keep them reading. They really loved it. This past summer I requested a class set of a third novel for Spanish 2 and was told that the school could not afford any more. That being said, I would LOVE a set of books!!!!!!! Lastly, Martina, your blog and materials have been an absolute lifesaver to me. I am pregnant and doing the absolute best I can these days. Your resources have been invaluable to me. Thank you!
I love hearing testimonials about the power of reading–and particularly about reading novels!
I started off as an English teacher and was never formally trained as a Spanish teacher. When I started teaching Spanish classes, I started out doing what everyone told me to do (follow the book) and what I remembered from my own Spanish classes (follow the book). I hated it and it was boring and I knew their had to be a better way. I came across Blaine Ray and I never looked back. The prep and energy required for TPRS is much more demanding, but I could never go back.
holly again (from previous post). email is holly@tustinpix.com
I first discovered TPR/TPRS in the early 90’s with Berty Segal. Then attended the Stand up, Sit Down Then What Conferences in Issaquah WA where I first saw Baine Ray. I am a language workshop addict and have attended many TPRS, comprehensible input conferences. I have been teaching middle school French and Spanish for 31 years and incorporate more connections to common core and comprehensible culture. I love your website and buy lots of your things from TPT! Please enter me in your giveaway!~
Lynn I just need your email address!! And it’s teachers like you that remind me that I am SOOOOO thankful for all those that came before, developing the method! It has come a long way!
Hola Martina, what a great idea. I was a long time bilingual elem. teacher (kindergarten for seven of those 19 years) and needed a change. I got my single subject credential in Spanish and found out about Fluency Fast. That led me to a Blaine workshop and another, and the iFLT in Los Alamitos with Linda Li, etc. My first year teaching high school (part time) in a textbook-oriented department was tricky. That year a person from moretprs list emailed me asking permission to come observe in my classroom. That was Nora Heredia. Lucky me! After the observation, she said to me “You don’t belong here!” and invited me to visit her at the private Waldorf high school nearby. I did, and started teaching there the following year, with other TPRS teachers. Now I teach at a different charter high school, also Waldorf-based, and at the local community college, where I have to adapt the textbook but still do a lot of CI/TPRS. I obsess about planning, probably do it way too much for anyone’s health, but that means my classes go well. I participate in Ben Slavic’s PLC, keep up with moretprs, and other sources like this cool blog. ¡Suerte Martina!
Hola Martina, what a great idea. I was a long time bilingual elem. teacher (kindergarten for seven of those 19 years) and needed a change. I got my single subject credential in Spanish and found out about Fluency Fast. That led me to a Blaine workshop and another, and the iFLT in Los Alamitos with Linda Li, etc. My first year teaching high school (part time) in a textbook-oriented department was tricky. That year a person from moretprs list emailed me asking permission to come observe in my classroom. That was Nora Heredia. Lucky me! After the observation, she said to me “You don’t belong here!” and invited me to visit her at the private Waldorf high school nearby. I did, and started teaching there the following year, with other TPRS teachers. Now I teach at a different charter high school, also Waldorf-based, and at the local community college, where I have to adapt the textbook but still do a lot of CI/TPRS. I obsess about planning, probably do it way too much for anyone’s health, but that means my classes go well. I participate in Ben Slavic’s PLC, keep up with moretprs, and other sources like this cool blog. ¡Suerte Martina! benlev2@yahoo.com
I can totally relate with the planning obsession! Isn’t it funny how some teachers are most successful when they DON’T plan, and others thrive on it?
I was introduced to TPRS during my student teaching experience 3 years ago. The first time I saw it in action I was so intrigued, I wanted to know more. My mentor teacher told me about Blaine Ray and the next year I signed up for a Blaine Ray workshop. Since I’ve started teaching (this is my third year) I’ve incorporated TPRS to my lessons but I have not been able to make the full transition to TPRS only. It’s been hard for me to make the transition because I don’t know how to start! I remember someone saying at the workshop that at the beginning you feel like you are terrible at TPRS but to keep doing it and it gets better and easier. I definitely feel that this is true for me, I’m on a journey with TPRS and I know I’ll get there!
It’s so true! And even when you think that you’ve gotten the hang of it, time goes on and you look back and think MAN I had no idea what I was doing! But such is everything in life, right?
I had only heard about TPR many, many years. However, about 2 or 3 years ago, I heard about TPRS but didn’t really know much about it until I started reading blogs like yours, Srta. Barragan, Musicuentos and similar others. You guys really got me motivated to start using TPRS, so this summer I read all I could about it and this year have started to using Look I can talk books and am seeing such an improvement in my students’ language acquisition that it blows my mind to think where this can take my students!
I’m on my second cuento already and the majority of my students are demonstrating more fluency and are trying to speak more Spanish as they walk into the classroom.
I will be going to my first TPRS workshop in October in Austin, TX and can’t wait! Like I mentioned before, all I’ve done is read about TPRS and followed yours and other TPRS teacher blogs which have truly been very helpful!
I’m so looking forward to continuing TPRSing the rest of the school year. Here’s my school email address hoping that I win your giveaway because I desperately need to build my.classroom library: elizabeth.gonzalez@boerne-isd.net
How awesome that you get to go to a workshop AND that you are experiencing success so early on in the year!! Congrats on making the switch 🙂
I learned about TPRS/CI during my second year of teaching. I was part of a mentorship program. I went to shadow my mentor who taught in another school. She demonstrated TPRS/CI while I was observing her and also told me about Blaine Ray’s green book and some other TPRS resources. I didn’t think a whole lot about it after that until I got a new job teaching at my alma-mater the next year. While browsing through my new classroom that summer I found Blaine Ray’s green book and read it. I Knew as I was reading that book that I wanted to try using TPRS. So I asked the school to purchase Carol Gaab’s Cuentame Mas and signed up for a training session with Von Ray. There’s been no turning back since then! I can’t imagine where I would be if I hadn’t come across Blaine Ray’s green book in my new classroom. It was truly a blessing! I’m now in my fifth year of teaching, 3rd using TPRS and I love my job. While I still need lots of practice, I feel like I’m getting there. Using your resources and reading your blog and the blog of so many others has been so helpful for me. I also attended my first NTPRS in Dallas this past summer and learned a wealth of information there. I’d love to win some novels for my classroom but even if I don’t, I’ll be more than happy to continue using your resources and learning from you blog!
Mikayla, bellerm@esu7.org
Observing a TPRS teacher (Michele Whaley) was what got me into TPRS/CI–and she sent me home with NTPRS DVDs. What grades do you teach?
I have a great job! I teach in a very small K-12 private school (103 students total K-12). So I teach one class each of Levels 1, 2, 3. I get the 7th graders for 1 quarter and the 8th grade for an entire semester. And then I teach each elementary class, K-6, for 20-30 minutes twice a week. It’s a lot of preps but it’s so fun to touch base with almost every student in the school each week!
Very cool!
I was introduced to TPRS by a colleague in 2002. I was fortunate enough to go the National Conference in Las Vegas one year and for Susie Gross to come to our school for a workshop. I learned so much! Since 2006 I have been a school counselor and a music teacher (long story), so I am just coming back to Spanish and TPRS this school year. I feel like I’m starting from scratch again, so I am grateful for all of the great TPRS teachers that post blogs and websites from which I can get inspiration! Thanks!,Nicole Kociela
nurbansky@hotmail.com
How interesting! You bring such interesting areas of expertise to the table; I imagine you would be a dream teacher!
Wow, how generous!
This is my 5th year teaching. I started out as a mid-year long-term sub on an alternative license, which meant I got thrown to the wolves with 0 education classes or experience (on a cart!). I taught Spanish I in a gym classroom with basketballs occasionally bouncing off the door, and I used the book. I hated it. The kids didn’t learn. Then, in an inservice that year, we had a demonstration of TPR an TPRS, and I was sold. As soon as I got a permanent job in another school, I bought Look, I Can Talk! and joined the TPRS listserv on Yahoo and never looked back. Every year is different because I work on my skills and try new things. Last summer I finally got to go to the IFLT conference in San Diego and learn from all my blog mentors in the flesh.
My email is ErinSegrovesBas@gmail.com
Talk about trial by fire! I can’t believe you stuck with teaching after that long term sub position, haha!!
Hi Martina! I got started with TPRS during my student teaching practicum. I was getting frustrated that the students weren’t learning ANY Italian or Spanish (I taught both at the time) and was researching ways to do a better job. I think I came across the idea of TPRS on the FLteacher listserv, and I never went back after that! When I got my own classroom the following year, I decided to do all TPRS all the time with my Spanish and French classes. This year I finally feel like I’m getting organized (thanks to your help and some great NTPRS presenters) and know what I’m doing. This year I’ll be presenting on TPRS and CI and two different conferences! I’m only teaching two French classes right now, but am trying to work the ideas that TPRS is based on into my English Language Arts classes too – lots of reading especially!
My email is kristindunc@gmail.com
At which conferences are you presenting??
I’m still new in my TPRS/CI journey, but I started because of the work you (WONDERFUL YOU!), and my mentor teacher, Ashley VanHemert was doing in their classroom here in Anchorage. I’ve had to ease myself into TPRS as I am not a very big personality in the classroom and I’m much more comfortable leading cooperative learning activities. Over time though, I’ve learned to be a more dynamic storyteller, and I am loving all the reading that TPRS includes. I am currently trying to develop my PQA skills and balance classroom management.
e-mail: baker.hanes@gmail.com
Funny story, Emily–one of my students said yesterday, “You subbed for my friend at Chugiak”. I said, “Um, like five years ago?” and she said, “No, four years ago tops. Less than that probably”. And I said that it wasn’t me, and she insisted that it was because her friend sang the same pío pío pío song and the sub was blonde. Then she said it was a maternity sub, and I said, “Ah-ha!” The kid was thinking of you! I remember when you were there and did the Pío song on the first day or so! Anyway, the kids still remember it!
I first heard about TPRS last year when I was asking some other World Language teacher friends for some advice as to how to introduce/teach question words. I am only a second year teacher, but I taught using the “traditional” method last year and it was miserable. I used all of my best new-college-grad tricks and still, my kids couldn’t retain information from one class period to another and everyday felt like an uphill battle. I went to a 3-day workshop this summer and was blown away – I’ve been doing the best I can, but it is difficult! Still, I’m amazed at how much my students enjoy it and have already heard from parents that their kids feel like they are learning so much more than they ever have. It was so evident today when my kids were doing a horizontal conjugation, and I noticed one had misconjugated the “to be” verb with “I”. I asked him what the correct version would be, and he stared at me blankly; then I said, “What would you say if I asked you [Are you sad]?” and immediately he replied, “Je suis triste.”
Your blog has been an absolute LIFESAVER for me so far! I teach French, but your materials have been so helpful.
Love this! Isn’t it a great feeling when we realize that our students KNOW STUFF?? Also, I need your email address!!
It really is!
sulew1me@cmich.edu
I’ve been teaching for a while & had been told about TPRS , but felt kind of silly using it in class. It is just now that I started researching again and fell upon TPRS with Blaine & with Martina(you). I have been taught to stick to the book, but WE ALL KNOW that the students don’t learn a language this way, but for my comfort, I stick with the book. Then, I usually feel frustrated & try to branch out again, coming back to TPRS! Well, I did it!! I took a chance today & told a story about morning routine (reflexives) & acted out the vocabulary. Some thought I was weird, others went with it & perked up actually participating aloud in class. It was really neat to see. It was a very fruitful lesson!! The students walked away with a sense of accomplishment as most of them could tell me about their morning routine!!! YEAH!!! So all of the years, I was feeling silly for nothing! Thanks for your blog & I thank you for inspiring so many of us to be better teachers!!! ;o)
Cris, I need your email!! I am so glad that you took the plunge and tried it out today! Know that you will have good days and bad, and will not always feel like a success, but that’s what always happens with change 🙂 Eventually, the good days are more than the bad, and the bad aren’t so catastrophic!!
Well, I started teaching in 1998 as a long term sub with not a single education class under my belt. I loved it…(probably in part due to the fact that as a sub I was sort of exempted from a lot of the non-sense hoop-jumping and just got to go in and try to teach all day…but that is another story). I got my certification/M.Ed. and a class of my own. I of course used the textbook, but my observer from the university complained that I wasn’t using enough Spanish. She said I should be telling them things like “raise your hand” and “get out paper” in Spanish and I remember saying something like, “But they don’t know any of those phrases.” Clearly I was clueless and just doing what my teacher had done… I was sent to some Kentucky Spanish Teacher Academy (week-long workshop) about the standard of community and use of technology. This was in 2000, so don’t even ask me what the tech part was about at that point. The community part seemed to be a lot about migrant workers and tobacco fields and using Spanish in the fields of law enforcement, health, etc. Possibly good information for many people, but not at all where I was with it.
I don’t remember the exact conversation but essentially one of the presenters of the workshop (her name is Ginger) gave me a ride to some place we were all heading, and on the way there we were talking in what ended with, “you should check out Blaine Ray’s stuff.” So, not the point of the week at all, but that’s exactly what I did. I ordered some copies of LICT and more or less read about how to do it and started winging it that next school year. It was officially my third year teaching, but I guess I wasn’t too worried about loosing my job if it flopped-or maybe I was too naive to realize people might have strong opinion on the subject, but I think I passed out textbooks and then never used them again the entire year. I know I went way too fast because I think I did like 7 or 8 chapters that first year.
Anyway, I went to a couple of weekend workshops with Susie and then Blaine I think… eventually to several of the national conferences and basically have never really considered anything other than CI as an option. My latest goals to work on are Movie Talk and Embedded Readings and developing cultural themes for my curriculum. I love all the options there are for novels these days. So much to read so little time.
(I can’t decide if my e-mail will automatically show up, but it’s senoraunderwood@hotmail…)
Bummer that the majority of CI/TPRS training is initiated by individual teachers, and not district/state-endorsed as is the case with other methods and programs!
I was introduced to TPRS through the blogging world and the Realidades TPRS stories…ha! After reading so many fabulous posts praising TPRS and explaining the effectiveness, I wanted to try it, so I pulled out one of the Realidades stories. Oh, it was such a flop! Last summer I took the plunge and attended a workshop with Blaine Ray. I am incorporating stories, circling, and embedded readings into my classes this year and am already seeing the difference. I would love to read a novel with my classes – I can just imagine the faces – students, parents, and administration – when I tell them my year one kids can read novels in Spanish! Ha!
Thanks for doing this give-away Martina, and for sharing all your ideas on this blog! You’ve helped me more than you know.
My parents just about had a heart attack when I said that we would be reading a novel by the end of the year–it was their #1 “concern” expressed on the syllabus homework. But TPRS Publishing makes it easy!!
I had learned of TPRS during my undergrad program and had dabbled in year 2 or 3 of teaching. It was until the last few years where I switched my entire teaching style to what I consider the CI approach. Connecting with a PLN on twitter really pushed me to move away from grammar and instead focus on fluency. It was been such a great journey for me (and my students!)
Justin
spanishplans at gmail dot com
Love your site! Twitter tends to do that to folks!
I am a Spanish teacher at the high school level. When I was a student, teaching Spanish was all about grammar and spelling. Now as a teacher myself, while grammar is a necessary part of any language, it isn’t my main focus. My goal for my students is for them to become functional speakers of the language by the time they leave my class. I want them to be able to comprehend and communicate in real world situations. I am still new at the whole teaching thing and am changing my ideas each and every day. I had a class on TPRS in college and I use alot of those ideas, especially the PQ&A in my classroom. I am working at getting connect with a PLN on twitter to help my grow my own teaching practices. This set of books would be great! My e-mail is abby.whitaker@popcs.org. Thanks!
I don’t know what people did before ‘PLNs’ existed!! So many opportunities for professional development!
So I’ve been reading your blog for quite some time, and I thought I would enter into this! As a first year teacher, I was introduced to TPRS through my aunt, who is a Spanish teacher, and through my university program. My classmates and I had only somewhat touched the topic; we were more focused on comprehensible input. It was a struggle for most of us because we had always been taught the tradition style of foreign language. During my internships, I was given the chance to work with some amazing TPRS teachers. I got to play around with Les Aventures d’Isabelle and a story about a caveman that one teacher wrote.
Now that I have my own position as the only French teacher in my school, I am attempting to discover what TPRS and CI mean for me within my own classroom. It has definitely been struggle. My experience going solo has so far been much of a roller coaster: learning what’s a home-run and what’s a flop, figuring out what to do with absent students and learning how not to lose my cool with the fact that my higher level students are actually struggling MORE than my lower level students with the transition to TPRS.
I have yet to see anyone professionally demonstrate TPRS at a workshop or conference (due to the fact that I am a VERY poor recent college-grad), however I would definitely jump at the chance. I am continually trying to find new (free) videos to watch about this technique, and I hope that I can just keep improving my skills in this field!
email: cpike@prairiecentral.org
I will keep my ear to the ground for no-cost training opportunities for TPRS/CI teachers. A good idea is to subscribe to http://www.tprstorytelling.com, I think just by creating an account, so that you receive their monthly newsletter. Several times throughout the year, there are free on-demand webinars that they offer from http://www.fluencymatters.com
I actually learned Spanish from a TPRS teacher. The confidence and speaking skills that I gained during these formative years in my language education meant that there was no other way that I wanted to teach my students. I’m now in my third year of teaching, and my third year of using TPRS. The results that I have been able to get from my students has surprised and delighted me. I especially love using TPRS Publishing novles in my classroom since the kids have so much fun with them. I would love to have another classroom set to add to my (slowly) growing library.
grace.cowan@floyd.kyschools.us
LUCKY! Did you have four full years of TPRS as a student?
It was only my first three. My senior year I had a traditional teacher, and got WORSE at Spanish. That’s what really sold me on TPRS.
Hi! After many years teaching middle school Spanish I got the opportunity to teach high school Spanish. I taught it just like it was taught to me…grammar-based from the textbook. I was so disappointed that the students were so uncomfortable attempting to use the target language. I knew there had to be a better way. I found a DVD of Blaine Ray demonstrating TPRS in German from the Carlex catalog. I was intrigued after watching it and began reading more and more. I went to NTPRS in Chicago a few years ago and I have never looked back. This is my third year using TPRS/CI in middle school Spanish. I rely on blogs, like yours and PLNs via Twitter and Ben Slavic’s site to keep me going.
Thanks!
Margie Snyder
marjorie.snyder@gmail.com
Sounds like a lot of y’all are in Ben’s PLN! I’ve not been on his site since he had to close it to the public. Maybe I should get on again…
Holy moly! So many responses to read and so little time. You’re a gem for getting back to everyone and for offering this prize! If you could please enter this email (eldentlinger@yahoo.com) I would truly appreciate it!
Here’s my story:
I’m not sure how much I’ve shared on my own blog or how much you’ve read, but I was first introduced to TPRS/CI during my pre-internship. I witnessed a middle school teacher using it, I was impressed by the results, and I was very intimidated. When I did my official internship, my mentor worked strictly out of a book. The book WAS her curriculum. When I got my first job, I relied heavily on the textbook as well. I was comfortable with it, I was scared because I had more preps than before, and I thought that the textbooks knew what they were doing because they get paid the big bucks to do that! In my gut I knew I had to change how I was teaching if I wanted to be effective.
After seeing pamphlets and reading up on TPRS from Twitter users like yourself, I asked my school to help fund a conference. Scott Benedict was the presenter and I was hooked! I loved that Scott made us experience TPRS so we could feel what our students feel (he does a German set), he gave us REAL activities to use in class, supported the method with data, and he was SO positive about his job. It all just made sense after the workshop.
I’m currently following Scott Benedict’s recommended weekly activities. I feel like I’ve got a hang on the basics he recommended, but I’m beginning to explore now. I just tried a MovieTalk this week. I am skeptically about how well I performed (in terms of if I asked enough, or if I circled as much as during a story, etc.) but my students responded and were more engaged because it included a film. I’m hoping to one day move away from the LICT and Cuéntame más materials and be able to create more sporadic units based on students interests. Don’t get me wrong – they’re interested, but I could catch their hearts by catering to those princess lovers or the butterfly enthusiasts. One day, right!? ☺
Scott Benedict rocks!! So awesome that you got to see him in person!! I’ve only been his virtual student 🙂
This is my first year using TPRS, so I’m just about 5 weeks into it. I found out about it over the summer as I was looking for a new way to teach. I knew I needed to do something close to immersion, and I had some vague dreams in my head of what this new classroom would look like. And then I started reading about TPRS… I was convinced before I finished reading the first article. So I jumped in, learned as much as I could, and here I am. My students are communicating more than they ever have, and I’m really looking forward to getting better at this so they’ll be better too!
Thank you for this blog and this giveaway! jenelynne at yahoo
So glad that it is going well! And yes, it gets better every year as WE learn and improve!
I got started in language instruction as a bilingual aide. I had a degree in Spanish but no coursework in education or ESL. I was lucky enough that the District could afford to send me to some trainings and I went to Stephen Krashen. I’ll never forget my first “comprehensible input” lesson in German! Two years later, I had a teaching license and my own middle school Spanish classroom. I’ve been to Blaine Ray and other similar workshops. Eight years later, I have a MA in language learning and am experimenting in my first high school Spanish classroom at a charter school. I do miss my old classroom sets from my old school though. 😉 Thanks for putting together a great site. Very useful!
Oooh! I saw Stephen Krashen last year at AFLA. Awesome! Send along your email!
janae.hunderman@animashighschool.com
I am in my 3rd year of teaching Spanish as a graded course. I used to teach preschool Spanish at our church preschool. Many of our kids went on to a Christian school in our areA. I met with the elementary teacher there (to see how I could prepare those little guys for her). I observed her teaching TPR and she gave me a book. I tried it at the preschool and loved it. I then became the middle school Spanish teacher at that school… And learned from another teacher about the addition of the “S”. I have learned a lot of my Spanish from reading… So it made sense. I now have high school credit classes and am required to use a text. I try to supplement with a little CI everyday -thanks for so much help with that! The kids really enjoy CI and are interested. Know of anything to go along with “¡Así se dice!” ? Especially level 3? Thanks so much! Email is rstimart@ccsk12.com.
Send along the table of contents and I’ll post some ideas 🙂
I went back to teaching a few years ago after enjoying several years home with my kids and teaching homeschoolers. When I went back to teaching at school I attended a Blaine Ray workshop. AWESOME! I continue to be inspired by teachers such as you, Martina Bex. I love your ideas and enthusiasm and products! I love the relationships that TPRS builds. Email: michelle.larson@eastern.k12.in.us
I agree! The relationships are the bomb diggity!
I have been teaching Spanish since 2003 and have often been unhappy with the traditional way of teaching, yet I couldn’t figure out how to realistically apply all of the communicative teaching theory that I had learned in college and grad school. In August of this year I heard Dr. Stephen Krashen speak on effective language teaching, and he gave examples of using comprehensible input over traditional grammar-based teaching. He also mentioned the effectiveness of TPRS, so I started to do some research on it. I liked what I was reading and hearing, and it just made sense, so I decided to give it a try this school year! I am very much a newbie (5 weeks in) who is learning by trial and error, but it is a refreshing change for both me and my students. Some of my students who struggled last year in Spanish 1 with all the vocabulary memorization, grammar tests, etc. have already been more successful this year in Spanish 2 with giving more CI and not requiring so much output. I am struggling with how to keep the input compelling for them, though. Spanish 3 loves making up crazy stories, and Spanish 1 is having lots of fun with songs and TPR. (Btw, they LOVE being the “cantaninja,” Martina! That is one of the best ideas ever!) I have lots to learn, but I am loving it!
My email address is keepingupwithkim at gmail. Thanks for giving away the books!
To keep the input compelling, you HAVE to vary the method of input…which it sounds like you are doing already. Reading (different formats and texts), songs, discussion, stories, MovieTalk, games, etc. Glad they are enjoying the Cantaninja!
I learned about TPRS from the FL Teach list serve years ago. I have purchased several books and materials from them over the years. I am seeking to incorporate more and more TPR in my classes., but haven’t had the materials to go “all in,” like I probably should. I am so thankful for people like you who are so willing to share their ideas. My e-mail: kgriffith@chaknights.org
FL Teach is awesome!
I started teaching high school Spanish in 1998-99. I couldn’t stand the text we had then, so I made up worksheets, activities, games, etc. In 2002 I met Blaine Ray’s daughter on a dating website. We got along real well and she flew out (she’s a flight attendant) to meet me. We never dated but we remained friends. She told me how her dad helped invent TPRS and I was interested, but I never saw a workshop (I coach cross country, basketball and track) until October of 2011 with Von Ray. I was very interested, but I had converted over to our text book (Expresate) several years earlier (2004) and I had all my plans, tests, etc. ready for the year. I had almost talked myself out of it but I ended up reading Blaine’s green book during that Christmas Break and I knew I was going to jump in the TPRS deep end. I came back from the break and started on January 23, 2013. I’ve taught with TPRS exclusively since that day and it has been the best teaching decision I have ever made. Our district paid for us all to see Carol Gaab in February 2012, I went to NTPRS in Vegas that summer, our school paid for Von Ray to do a 2 day workshop last November, two French teachers from my school and I went to iFLT in San Diego this past July and I got to talk with Joe Neilson for an hour on the phone last week!!! I’m the only one at my school to teach only with TPRS/CI. I use LICTM and LICRT with my Spanish 3 and 4 classes and we read 2 novels (hopefully 3 this year). I really appreciate your blog (as well as several others). Mil gracias. Steve Till in Mill Creek, WA (20 miles north of Seattle). My email is steven_till@hotmail.com
Um, this is DEFINITELY my favorite story. I just read it to my husband because I thought it was so funny! (the dating BR’s daughter part). And you are so fortunate to have done so much TPRS professional development!!
My Spanish 1s really love the Cantaninja also. But I didn’t have the ‘costume’ so instead with the large sombrero that I had , we have a Cantaamigo. Works the same. I’ve also used your chile, queso, and star awards.
I love the Cantaamigo idea!!! I have a sweet sombrero that the students always ask to wear instead–maybe I can tell them that they can be the Cantaninja or the Cantamigo! Also, I need your email address!
Sorry but I thought that I already had left my email. School / judy.ramos@cedarpark.org; home/ jramos53 @hotmail.com
Oops, you had. I’m sorry, I missed it last time around! Better safe than sorry!
Hello Martina
I started using Tprs/CI (along with my textbook) last year because I stumbled upon your blog and Cynthia H blog. Your various and diversified ideas have been the tools I needed to get going with this method of teaching. This year I have totally ditched the textbook because I have seen what teaching with CI does for ALL of my students. I’m only on my fourth week of teaching and my students are writing and speaking like they never have at this time of the year. To top it all of we are having so much fun, the kids have such great ideas and I love listening to them and guiding the curriculum towards their interests.Thank you very much for sharing your wonderful ideas with us and for being so inspirational. You are doing the best for your babies by staying with them. I use to believe that mine would never grow up and now they have. The grow so very fast, enjoy every minute you have with them.
My email lopezelenita3@gmail.com
Elena, I hope we meet some day! I love the activities that you have created from MovieTalks and shared on MoreTPRS!
Hi Martina!
I just graduated college and was introduced to TPRS late last year. Now that I have my own classroom (yay!), I am so eager to learn more about it and implement TPRS! I have done tons of research (including countless hours perusing your blog), but feel that receiving the class set from TPRS Publishing would be my opportunity to really put my plans into action!
Thank you for all that you have done to make TPRS/CI interesting and fun for students! And your willingness to share your ideas with the rest of us teachers!
Congrats on getting a job right out of college!! And send along your email!
st_jhasebein@smfcsd.org
I am a second year French teacher and all I know is TPRS. I saw a demonstration in college and said yup that’s for me and I never looked back. Me and my department head use your website often to create our lessons. Thank you for all you do!
you are so fortunate! Send me your email!
loribelinsky@gmail.com
Thanks!
This is my second year with TPRS and CI. I started teaching Spanish in 1998 when I moved to a small town and they needed a Spanish teacher. I have taught out of a book for years and always hated when people would ask how much Spanish my students spoke at the end of the semester. I knew that they knew very little but could conjugate and complete worksheets. I went to a workshop for TPR long time ago but never incorporated it into my class. Last year, I decided I could no longer continue to teach this way and went to a TPRS workshop with Blaine. I knew then that was for me. I started the school year and instantly I saw an excitement in the eyes of my students that I had never seen before. They were engaged and wanting more. They were ready to come back and hear and participate in my stories. Shortly after, they were speaking back to me. I almost cried the first time I heard my students retell a story back to me without hesitation. My life now is on the internet finding new and exciting ways to keep it fresh and exciting. These blogs and advice from TPRS and CI Experts are my saving grace. Thanks for posting. Nancy
nwallace@ucschools.org
So thankful for the Internet!!
I am a 3rd year Spanish teacher and began using TPRS/CI after my first year. I attended a TPRS workshop with a colleague and we both decided this was definitely the way we wanted our students to learn. The fact that I can still remember and tell an entire story in French after 1 short workshop is amazing! I chaperoned a dance this weekend and was blown away by the amount of Spanish my students were using already; only 5 weeks in to the year. They are actually using the language in context! I have apologized to my first group of students repeatedly for not knowing about TPRS/CI sooner 🙂
Thank you Martina for all of your guidance and resources!
I love going to workshops because I get to learn other languages! I need your email address 🙂
oneymary@yahoo.com
Oops! Thanks!
Got it!
Sent you an email! 🙂 Thanks!
Got it!
I started using CI last year after years of frustration with student progress. I couldn’t believe that my students could conjugate a verb (usually) but couldn’t have a simple conversation in Spanish and never remembered anything it seemed after the test! I started researching alternatives and found CI. I’m hooked! Last year was the best, most productive & most successful year I’ve had! I use a lot of resources – blogs, readers & forums to help me. This blog is by far my favorite because everything’s so practical! 🙂 I’m definitely still learning (aren’t we all?), but I love what I’m doing. I am so excited about this contest & I am crossing my fingers that I win. Thanks for all you do Martina! My email is kclark@ccsd-k12.org.
I had the same experience and results 🙂
I teach Spanish I and II in a small school in ND. I’ve been using TPRS for about 15 year
s, but I feel as if I’m stuck. I was thrilled that I found your website – I want to incorporate more comprehensible input into my lessons, and get them to the 90%! Please enter me in your giveaway!
charlene.voigt@northwoodk12.com
You got it 😉
Hola,
I have been struggling to implement more and more TPRS into my classroom since I learned about it 10 years ago at a conference that I had to pay to attend! It’s been like that ever since. I love your site and all of the ideas. I hope you continue to create even though you have decided to stay home with your kiddos. Good idea there, too!
Thanks for the chance to win some more resources!!
Louisa Walker. Email: Lwalkerphd@gmail.com
Do you teach at the university level? I would be interested to hear about your experience with TPRS in college!
I learned about TPRS/CI through my classes at college. I learned the traditional route and had no idea what these methods looked like. I watched many teachers teach with TPRS and CI and was thoroughly inspired by simply the amount of language the students retained. I fell in love with TPRS and have been using it ever since in my classroom. My students have learned so much through the fun stories we do. I am so in love with your blog and I read all of your new updates! You are so helpful in giving this first year teacher some great tips! My school is low income so it is difficult to get foreign langauge support. My email is ebertels@putnamcityschools.org
I wonder how many teacher training programs are teaching about TPRS now? Mine didn’t!
I first attended a TPRS conference with Susie about 8 years ago! I admit I attended it because I was quite cynical about the comments she made about the method and I went to the conference a ‘doubting Shirley!” I was instantly sold on the method once the conference started because it matched my high energy level in the classroom and I could see how it worked. I chose it as a theme for my Master’s Project and did a comparison by teaching a unit the traditional way and then the TPRS way. There was a significant achievement difference between the two and TPRS won! I have since played with it in my classroom although I would ‘swear’ each year I was ONLY going to do TPRS. Each year, I would ‘fear’ not covering …blah, blah, blah…we all know the rest, and I would fall back to the old ways, incorporating storytelling maybe once a week. This year (FINALLY) I am teaching 100% TPRS. The kids are having fun. My average test scores for all classes is no lower than an 86%. I am more relaxed, the kids are enjoying class and all is good! I think I am probably a ‘fair’ TPRS teacher at best, but it just proves that even bad TPRS is better than NO TPRS!
Shirley Rosenau
srosenau@western-reserve.org
I would love to read your Master’s Project!!
I attended a workshop during the summer of 2012 in Pittsburgh, PA with Craig Sheehy. He was amazing and made me a TPRS believer. This summer I attended a 3 day workshop with Blaine Ray near Philadelphia, and am now full TPRS in my French classes. I’m learning every day what works and doesn’t work. A set of books would really be helpful!
Kelly
kellykreations04@yahoo.com
I have never heard of Craig! Does he still present?
I am starting my second year with TPRS at a middle school in Wisconsin. I originally did not think that it was a method that I wanted to learn, but then I joined my incredible department and have seen how awesome it is! I love how the students are so involved in their learning and can use the language so quickly. Just today we did a class story that involved a ram from Iceland and Nicolas Cage’s house. They were laughing so hard and using great Spanish at the same time 🙂 Thanks for sharing your great ideas and resources – they keep me creative! (email:wolnerkm@gmail.com)
I love the laughter! My class has never been so much fun!
I was introduced to TPRS mainly through Twitter last year, through #langchat and the people I follow. I attended a workshop with Carol Gaab last January, and decided that this is how I need to teach. However, I am still learning and training, so I haven’t yet implemented it into my classroom! Last week I did a 2 day workshop with Blaine Ray, and I feel a little more competent. I plan on trying to teach a story this week in my Spanish 1, and my Spanish 2. Wish me luck!! I love reading your blog, and tweets, along with many others, to try to learn as much as I can about how to best implement TPRS/CI in my classroom (especially since my curriculum is tied to a textbook!)
-Alison Nelson (saluti6@hotmail.com)
I love Twitter! I have learned so much from it!!
I taught the “text book” way for 5 years in a public school. 2 months before I left to go on a maternity leave, I attended a TPRS workshop here in Upstate New York. I went back to class and told the kids they didn’t need there books anymore! Those 2 months were the best teaching times I had had in 5 years. I ended up having a 2nd baby, and resigned from my position teaching Spanish. I have been a stay at home mom for 12 years! This September I accepted a position teaching Spanish part time in a private school. I had been out of teaching for so long that I was really scared about jumping back in. I used your materials to get me started as I had no idea where to begin! I’m now a month in, and the students and I are both loving it! My email is burke.kristen@yahoo.com!
Where in update NY?? I am from Syracuse! Well, Chittenango. But still.
*Upstate
martina, dear martina! you have been such an inspiration to me and sooooooo many others. this is my 29th year of teaching and i am still learning how to be a better teacher. i saw blaine ray in a small, very small work shop in washington state in 1990? not sure! he was just as fabulous as he is now! the seed was planted and i have been working on tprs ways to teach ever since. like i said, i’m still learning! there’s really no end, unitil we are in heaven! i love being a world language teacher and will not retire, unless i have to! thank you so much and best wishes to you as you go to do the MOST important teaching in the world, mothering! te quiero, maestra tere
tsolis@holyfamily.org
or
mtvsolis@yahoo.com
You are so sweet! Wow, 23 years! You have a HUGE head start on me, haha!
I first attended a seminar with Carol Gaab about 4 years ago and I’ve been dabbling in TPRS ever since. I really like the idea of it, but I just need more practice. I love the videos that you made. Thanks!
Practice is key! Send along your email!!
In the middle of my second year of teaching, Karl rushed up to me excited and proud of himself for finally conjugating a verb. The words that followed, “But I don’t understand what I just did” sent me on a search for something better than the way I was taught. I came across a website of a Spanish teacher in Alaska (wonder if it is one of your colleagues) who listed “attend a Blaine Ray conference” as one of her goals. I had never heard of him so I checked it out and went to my first workshop in early 2000. I was fortunate to attend several other workshops by Blaine, Susie, Karen and Jason and NTPRS 2004. Unfortunately, I didn’t teach a full year Spanish course for several years so I got out of practice and lost my confidence. I am finally back to teaching Spanish full time and feel so blessed to have found your blog last spring. So much has changed in the TPRS world! I didn’t even know about TpT either. I am so thankful for everything you create and share with the rest of us here and there. It makes starting over so much easier!
My email: organizedfly@gmail.com
Hm…perhaps it was Susan Oakley’s? That was a long time before I moved up here, but I know that she used to have a French teaching blog.
I first learned of TPRS way back in a methods course about 12 years ago (it still stood for Total Physical Response Storytelling). My professor did a sample story in French, and I loved it. In fact, I still use that same story in the restaurant unit. I have never felt comfortable going all TPRS all the time, but I am getting there. I have never used a textbook with Spanish IV, and this year I’m trying to move away from the book in the other levels also (we use Expresate also, and they cram SO much into a single chapter)! Your blog has helped with this immensely! I am reading Esperanza right now, and am planning on adding other TPRS novels to other classes. I am buying everything myself due to our budget situation, so I would really appreciate a class set of something! Thank you!
csweet@prairiecentral.org
ALL the textbooks are so crazy with the amount they put into a chapter!
After 10 years of comprehenhible input and a grammar focus, I am constantly amazed at how CI activities can REPLACE the need for much grammar focus. I especially love using novels. I’m astounded by what students retain!
Hi! I love your site, it has been so helpful to me. I am in my first year of teaching, and using all CI and TPRS methods. It is going great and I feel so fortunate to have began my teaching career with this method. The kids have a blast and so do I. There are tough moments for sure! A good friend of my has taught with TPRS for years and he turned me on to the method. SO grateful to him!
My email is amanita@mac.com
Thanks Again
Amy
Amy again, the email came out wrong, it is amynata@mac.com
I am a new Spanish teacher in a 1/2 time position with 3 levels of classes grades 4-8. While i love the job it’s overwhelming now and I’ve been loving to learn TPRS via your website and other resources. I am new to it but am trying my best and hoping to do some training in the future. jeanine.griek@k12northstar.org I’d love the books as I have limited materials now!!
This is my first year teaching so I’m new to both TPRS and teaching! During my teacher prep courses I learned about and was able to dabble in TPRS and so I decided to take the leap and commit to doing as much of that as I can right out the gate. I get bored with textbooks so I can only imagine that my students do as well (7th and 8th grades) and this seems to be a great method to do with them. I’m trying to gather materials where I can to create a classroom that is primarily (if not completely) TPRS based. Well, that’s the goal at least. 🙂
My email is ayers_nicole@asdk12.org
Hello my name is Sarah Downey and I am an 8th grade Spanish teacher in Savannah GA. I have been using TPRS for the last 4 years. My students love it! I love how much quality work and participation TPRS brings into my classroom. I started with the Ray Blaine books, then I started using Matava and Tripp’s scripts. This year I continued to use Matava and you lesson plans, Martina. My school purchased the Piratas novel 1 & 2, and Robo en la noche. I hope to purchase more novels in the next couple of years. ( Secret Agents and maybe Esperanza). I learned about TPRS when my college professor did a sample of a Blaine Ray story about a dog walking in the park. I wasn’t hooked till I saw TPRS in youtube videos in languages that I don’t speak. I hope one day to go to any seminar and have actual training in TPRS. downeyse@gmail.com
You are right that there is great power in seeing TPRS done in languages we don’t speak–that’s why having a professional development/coaching group here in Anchorage is so powerful to exposing new teachers to the method!
Hello my name is Sarah Downey and I am an 8th grade Spanish teacher in Savannah GA. I have been using TPRS for the last 4 years. My students love it! I love how much quality work and participation TPRS brings into my classroom. I started with the Ray Blaine books, then I started using Matava and Tripp’s scripts. This year I continued to use Matava and you lesson plans, Martina. My school purchased the Piratas novel 1 & 2, and Robo en la noche. I hope to purchase more novels in the next couple of years. ( Secret Agents and maybe Esperanza). I learned about TPRS when my college professor did a sample of a Blaine Ray story about a dog walking in the park. I wasn’t hooked till I saw TPRS in youtube videos in languages that I don’t speak. I hope one day to go to any seminar and have actual training in TPRS. downeyse@gmail.com
You are right that there is great power in seeing TPRS done in languages we don’t speak–that’s why having a professional development/coaching group here in Anchorage is so powerful to exposing new teachers to the method!
The month I began teaching Spanish at a charter school in Colorado Springs in September of 2000, I had the privilege of attending a TPRS workshop led by Susie Gross. I was captured – hook, line and sinker. She invited me to visit her Middle School Spanish classes to see her in action and witness the proficiency of her students. I knew that if I used any other methodology, I would be doing a disservice to my students, so I purchased Blaine’s resources.
I’ve taught many levels at 3 different charter schools since then and would love to have more reading materials for my students. I have also purchased and am currently using many of your wonderful resources, Martina. You are an FL teacher ‘par excellence’. I want to be like you when I grow up! (I’m only 51 😉
Here’s my email: jolson@monumentacademy.net
Susie Gross is amazing! She came to Alaska a few years ago, lucky us!!
I think I was first introduced to TPRS around 2000 in my methodology class at Fresno State, though it may just have been TPR. It was more of a description of the method and had very little demonstration so it never really clicked for me and, like most, I saw it is a method that favored a certain type of teacher and I couldn’t really see myself doing it. I was re-introduced last year by some teachers at a local private school who are spreading the word about TPRS. After observing their classes for a day, I began researching and I haven’t stopped since. The idea of TPRS on grew on me and I bought Fluency Through TPR Storytelling by Ray & Seely and went to the iFLT in San Diego, which was great BTW. I didn’t begin teaching through TPRS until this year and I am enjoying it and regret not having started sooner. I’ve taught in California for 10 years and I was growing more and more unhappy with the results of teaching from a textbook the “Communicative” way and the inability of most students to retain information. I also am doing Standards-Based grading for the first time, so I’m doing everything different this year. All my students seem to like it, with the exception of maybe one, even my Spanish 3s and I’m optimistic that all the change is for the better and the students’ acquisition of Spanish will have drastically different results. Ricardo A. Gabaldón
I came from the communicative method also….although I suppose TPRS is, too; it’s just teacher-directed communication. I got your email!
I was introduced to TPRS/CI in 2003 as I was finishing my third year of teaching. I remember thinking that my students knew very little more than they did when they entered my classroom in the fall. They couldn’t speak Spanish, which had always been my goal. I decided that I either needed to find another way to teach or find a different profession. Courtesy of some internet searching, I learned about TPRS and shortly thereafter attended a training. I was convinced and have been using it ever since. I am now teaching at a magnet high school in my district that is part of the New Tech Network, a network of project based schools with one to one technology. This has brought its own set of challenges and adventures, pushing me to learn more and be able to support CI as an instructional method. Your blog has been a great resource! My e-mail is livibria@echo.ifschools.org. Thanks!!!
You will be happy to hear that TPRS Publishing is working on putting all of its novels, teacher’s guides, and student activities online!
I don’t remember when or how I first heard of TPRS but I do know I attended my first workshop about 10 years ago. I’m still learning so much! I’ve started slowly building classroom sets of novels. I have one set I use with Spanish 1 and one set for Spanish 2. I would love to be able to add to that!
My email should come across to you but you can also contact me @ kwilson@plainville270.net
Which novels do you have already??
Which novels do you have already?
I am trying to self teach tprs! It’s challenging, and I would love the books to use in my classroom. I love your blog and am inspired by your tirelessness! Your an awesome and creative teacher! Thanks! Michele nelson michele9378@gmail.com
you should check out some of the http://www.fluencymatters.com webinars!!
I knew very little of TPRS until my districts’ coordinator delighted us with a promise to pay for the NTPRS Conference when it took place in Chicago in 2010. I never looked back since then. Even though I do not use TPRS in its “classic” Blaine Ray form, I’ve become a firm CI believer. Since then, I’ve been reading many blogs (yours was the first that opened my eyes to variations, culture, videos, activities etc.), have become an active Twitter user, collaborator, and #langchatter. I have purchased a set of TPRS Publishing materials and was amazed how much my students learned from reading the novel. Thank you for this opportunity to have a chance in winning an other set! I’ll be sending my e-mail address to you through Gmail.
Gaah! I would love to have my district pay for NTPRS!!!
I can’t resist this chance at a giveaway any longer. I have to toss my name in the hat (if I’m eligible for it). It’s just too sweet of a deal!
I dabbled with TPRS for a few years after attending a Carol Gaab workshop, too scared to jump in feet first. Then I quietly tried using all TPRS w/ a Sp1 class but after 9 wks I was frustrated and didn’t know where to find support so I went back to grammar-based teaching. Two years later when the students from that Sp1 class entered my Sp3 class, after a traditional Sp2 class w/ another teacher, I was shocked at how much they remembered from Sp1. I then did an official TPRS pilot w/ Sp1, the school bought Cuéntame Más books to use, and it was so successful that I took 3 students to the board meeting so they could show off their skills – which is exactly what they did!
Since then I’ve worked to bring TPRS to the other languages and teachers at our school and am glad to say our whole French, Latin, and Spanish dept. now use CI/TPRS. Each year, I put more value on reading novels with the students because I see the huge benefits the students reap from it.
I know there is still much to learn and I enjoy talking to others about their CI/TPRS successes and new ideas.
I believe you have my email. 😉
Heehee yes I do! Good luck; I’m glad you finally decided to go for it!
I have been learning about TPRS and CI for a few years know. I have been teaching Spanish for 7 years, and began investigating TPRS about 3-4 years ago. I still have never been to a workshop, had any training or observed another teacher using this method. I have watched videos and have read a lot. I do not just use TPRS, but I incorporate it more and more each year. I don’t know why it is hard for me, but I cannot seem to escape the need to have a “theme” for vocabulary. I think this due to my training and the years I have taught using thematic units, but I think TPRS works with thematic units.
One reason I haven’t switched completely to TPRS is my lack of confidence in my capabilities of using the method well. Storytelling is a skill. I am getting better, but I have some “fail” days. I also have no TPRS materials for the classroom. So I am creating new curriculum. I have not used a textbook in years. I am in a new school (this is my second year) and I have complete control of the curriculum, so I have began to use TPRS/CI more in my class. I read your blog as well as many others. I have bought many of your products (with my own money of course). I want to order novels for all my class (levels 1-4). This would be a great start.
I am in awe your blog. I cannot believe you have time to do what you do with your blog and lesson planning. I appreciate your efforts. It makes my job easier.
Suzanne
bigforkshines@gmail.com
Thanks Suzanne–it is so wonderful to have flexibility with curriculum so that you can match what you create to your needs and your students’ needs 🙂 Good luck!!
As a new teacher I’m new to TPRS and teaching! 🙂 Through my teacher prep program I was fortunate enough to work with teachers who advocate TPRS so I was able to learn and work with them. If not for their influence I would have never heard of TPRS and would be finding this first year significantly more difficult! I teach French to 7th and 8th graders and love that this method helps the language to come to life for my students. The language serves a purpose and students seem much more curious about it than they would be if they were focused on charts of vocabulary memorization! I learned French in a typical textbook way until I was able to study in France. There the language came alive for me and it was because I could connect to it in so many different ways. THAT’S what I hope to replicate, if only on a small scale, for my students.
Woops, my email is:
ayers_nicole @asdk12.org
Got it Nicole!
You’d think I would know this seeing as I handled registration for the conference and all….but I don’t even know where you were hired! Which school are you at???
You had your hands a bit full between that and presenting and everything! 🙂 I’m at Goldenview. They had cut French last year so I have 7th grade and “Exploratory” French classes.
Hi i am just learning tprs and my mind is sizzling with confusion. I live in hope that one day, week, month I can understand how to do this magic wand teaching. In the meantime I sizzle and simmer and even burn around the edges because teaching English is fun when you know how.