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That could be the mental block that Asher eludes to... one I think we all can kind of feel or know about....but perhaps ignore.

هاي طريقة تعلم جديدة تستخدم للأطفال صغار ابتكارها جيمس ارشر و هي تعتمد على الفعل يعني تتعلم عن طريق الحركة و الأفعال با المعنى هاي طريقة تعطي ثقة لشخص لتعلم وترسيخ فكرة دون نسيانها مثال: كل كلمة تقوم با فعل يدل على معناها التام تقول طائرة و تشير با يدك إلى في هواء على أنها تطير هاذ فعل يرسخ فكرة طائرة و يتذكرها با سبب فعل..... شرح بسيط فقط

I actually have a daughter in need of some materials like this. I looked a little but couldn't find exactly what I was looking for. I would say sign language videos are the best bet at this time. There are some channels devoted to that...

@@eslexplorer5959 they might be useful but English signs are just single words that contain no feelings. Please share with me if you find more practical material. I will appreciate it.

Tzadeck How far into the video did you watch?

I watched it all.

Couple of things... Not to sound attacking but you did comment in so I thought I would respond. 1. The theory was based on locations in the brain responsible for language. These were proven and supported by wernicke, roger sperry, perhaps others? Mr. Asher added to this knowledge his own theory. It has been tested. There are case studies. I site some in the video. How much more do you want it “based on science”? A theory is an educated guess. Is the theory complete? No but it does work well if used in the correct way. I use it in my classes daily. No one is 100% on how the brain works at this time. The real question is, does the method work. YES but I do not think it is for everyone. Certainly with any teaching method, the teacher has to believe in what they are doing. Some teachers will not be comfortable with actions. So... the theory is based on science in my opinion. Asher took research done in the past and added to it. He conducted classroom experiments in Japan. Others have used it with success as well. I cite some of these studies in the video. TPR is a great tool for the ESOL classroom. The success with it might also explain why people are having success with using sign language with babies. Effectively it is the same concept. 2. I answered another person’s comment on left/right brain thinking before. Scroll through and check it out. Basically the theory proposes we use both sides of the brain and that is why action works. Sperry proved we use both sides with his severed corpus colosseum experiments. However, there is a point where one side seems to take over and dominate with regards to language. That was why I commented like I did in the video. Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays

Tzadeck also... what other esol / esl theory is rooted in more “science” than this?? There are no other theories that are based on scientific concepts about the brain, to my knowledge. Do you know of any esl teaching theories based on psychology, sociology, or some other science?

It might be fair to say that the theory is 'based on' science, especially on science at the time, but only in a very loose sense. However, the theory itself was not discovered nor rigorously tested in a scientific way, even if it borrows ideas from science. What I mean to say is, when people hear that an idea or theory is 'science' they put greater faith in that idea because they believe it to be true. And that's for good reason--because empirical testing, peer review, etc., ensures that theories that are incorrect or unhelpful will eventually be found out and removed from the realm of good scientific ideas. This theory, however, is not part of the wealth of knowledge you might call science, even if it uses some ideas from science, since it has not been tested or developed via a scientific methodology. And no, I think there aren't many esol/esl, or pedagogical theories in general, that are scientific in the proper sense of the world. I think we'd all like to see more evidence based teaching, and we don't find it here nor anywhere else. I'd recommend reading some basic texts about the scientific method--maybe The Character of Physical Law by Richard Feynman? An easy one I think.

Laura, Your time stamp doesn't make sense because it is the end of the video. I can only guess you made an error when copying and pasting it. Regardless, all sources are listed in a link in the description of this video. Here is the link one more time for your convenience. www.travlanders.com/DL/TPR-Intro-video-sources.pdf

ESLexplorer Ups that's rigth. I meant, min 7:20. Thank you very much.

Valentyna Matusevych hmmm... it was free when I made the video but that was 2 years ago... so.... Sorry it has changed but thanks for the comment as will help others know.

M mc I do not think it was purposeful to sound Korean. Korean is just my most practiced 2nd language so perhaps I kind of naturally do it. It has been a while but actually, as I remember it, I believe I was more trying force what I felt was a Russian accent. Agree that forcing is probably not best but it did make it fun and for me personally.... learning needs to be fun

I kinda assumed it was from all your time in Korea. yes it should be fun. I enjoyed your video.

Botond Boros Thanx for your comment! Yes, I know a little about TPR Storytelling! It is on a list of items I want to look into further. I have a book about it by Todd McKay I have not touched yet and I read a book previously on the topic. I just finished my masters last week and have a newborn so not much time for my own choices. My work also pushes me a lot in directions other than TPR. The last text I read on TPR was Fluency Through TPR Storytelling by Blaine Ray and Contee Seely. I took on this book because I was planning a short class where I designed the curriculum. It is rare where I work to get this much freedom in lesson planning. Out of the TPR resources I have on hand Ray and Seely seemed the most practical from the sense of classroom management. This gave me an intro into the concept and some great setup ideas but I honestly need a reread of it and more thinking on the topic. Where I currently work I do not usually have full autonomy to do as I please with lessons. The materials are good but offer little extra time to experiment with outside concepts. Where I use TPR the most is to warmup vocab and retell our class story at younger levels. I call it action reading. This is not exactly what Ray and Seely mention. I wish I had more time for "classic" TPR or novel commands as Ray and Seely put it. I am certainly using some of the concepts but right now I feel I need to reorganize. I really want to explore more in TPR Storytelling but have not had free time or another project to justify it yet. Being a dedicated family man, teacher, and squeezing in some me time is tough! ;) Oh Oh, and I still want to go through the text that started it all, Asher's book. It sits on my shelf taunting me too. I am thinking it is mostly theory and that is why I jumped past it last time when designing the short 4 week class I mentioned before. Do you have any experiences or resources related to TPR Storytelling you can share? Cheers, Travis

Travis, Thanks for your response! Now there is a plethora of information on TPR Storytelling all over the Internet including youtube. When I started out 9 years ago, it was still scarce. Being a practicioner, I also promote it on my websites. My adult students video me retelling the stories the group comes up with. You can check out some of those 5 to 8 minute stories on my channel. The green book you mention is the definitive source on TPRS but the abbreviation is quite misleading. TPRS stands for Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling. The stress is more on stories and reading; gestures remain an important ingredient though. I love your action reading idea! With your kind permission, I'd like to share your neat introduction to TPR with colleagues. I love the way you present the case for brain friendly teaching. Cheers, Botond

Tim, Thanks for weighing in.... The article you listed is a quick overview of Sperry and the interconnectedness of the two hemispheres of the brain. I actually mention Roger Sperry's experiment in the video when I run through the history surrounding the TPR theory. The two hemispheres do in fact communicate with each other! That is a key feature of the theory! If you were unable to draw this fact from the video I apologize for not being more clear. From what I gathered, Asher's thought is that in early development one side is more dominant than the other but they do communicate. One side that deals in action gathers the info as the other side "quietly" learns the language associated with said actions. They work in tandem. Again, I may have made a few right/left brain references in the video but they were not intended to say that anyone only uses one side of their brain. It is however, fact that each side of your brain is responsible for different things. TPR works by activating the the side of the brain that deals with actions. It has been a long day but I hope that makes sense. Have you used TPR in an ESL or other setting? I have been getting beautiful results with my kids and would love to talk shop about experiences if you have time. TPR really works if you stick with it! Cheers, Travis

+Darklinuk thanks! However, I can not really accept the congratulations. I merely studied and appreciated Dr. Asher's work enough to make a video about it. He did all the work! Still, I am glad you share the excitement about how scientific reasoning can inform teaching. ;o)

+Susan Henderson thanks so much for all your patience in this endeavor. It is about the individual! Bell Hooks touches on this in her book in her own way. I really enjoyed her book. It was the first book that I have ever read where I was feeling lost in her words and then I would keep reading and suddenly I would get a big realization. Almost like it was just in my sweet spot between casual reading and academic reading. Hooks is very verbose at times but has some really solid simple concepts. Personal Experience!!! Delpit says this so well! We are the experts of our own lives! I am trying to instill this in a reading class I have right now. It is interesting because sharing personal experience kind of goes against what people are always calling Confucianism here in South Korea. Confucianism is an abstracted term for me. I see a group of people who are so ingrained with following social codes that sometimes this detriments the individual. This is what I think of when people bring up the term Confucianism, although I think this is a subset of it. I am curious if my experiment with trying to share more personal experiences in class and bring out the expert in all my students will work. We shall see...

+Beta Vulgaris (A View From Europe) Hmmm... do you mean you want to try it using or learning French? I am not a master of the TPR by any means. I created this overview video and now I have a solid starting point BUT in practice I have only used it slightly. I still have not gotten to reading Dr. Krashen's book, yet.... It sits on my shelf lonely and blue. Still, the basis for using it with vocab is pretty simple. You would just need to find the right teacher to practice with or make up actions for yourself and perhaps video yourself or something to practice. Give it a try. Say word... Action.... Say word... Action... Etc. Again this is perhaps misleading. I am not saying that is all TPR is about but it is a step in the right direction. Travis

+Beta Vulgaris yes beth... that is an idea that just might work.... "Forget what you know and you will find yourself quite wise in language learning" - Unknown Philosopher

Excellent Kevin! Thanks for sharing. You certainly had a great energy going on with this group!

The sources are linked in the video notes above. You can find the sources at: www.travlanders.com/DL/TPR-Intro-video-sources.pdf Unfortunately, I can not remember where exactly it came from but it should be amongst one of the sources listed.

I should also say that a lot of the sources were obtained from his personal website at: www.tpr-world.com/

The quote can be found here: www.context.org/iclib/ic06/asher/ Language By Command The Total Physical Response approach to learning language By James J. Asher One of the articles in The Way Of Learning (IC#6) Originally published in Summer 1984 on page 35 Copyright (c)1984, 1997 by Context Institute I may not have sourced it correctly in the document mentioned before because I did not originally have all of this info. Anyway, that should help you.

ESLexplorer Thank you for your kindness and detailed information. I overlooked the list... I am looking forward to watching your new videos next time.

Thanks for your kind words... I agree TPR is pretty awesome and deserves more attention in learning.

I have tried everything in terms of language teaching,and I can attest that TPR, TPRS and/or every Comprension Input technique or method outdoes the other methods by far.