TPR procedure:

Qiu (2016):
First, teachers give instruction and do physical actions accordingly. Students just
need to listen and observe (Wang Yiming, 2004:49).
Second, teachers give instructions and do physical actions, and students do as what
teachers have done.
Third, teachers give instructions without doing anything, and students do physical
actions according to teachers instructions.
Last, some students give instructions and other students complete physical actions
alone or with the help of teachers (Hu Tieqiu, 2000:33).
The majority of class time in TPR lessons is spent doing drills in which instructors give
commands by using the imperative mood. Students respond to these commands with
physical actions. Apart from drills using the imperative, teachers can use other activities as
well, such as role-plays, games, slide presentations, etc.
Savic (2016):

Language lessons based on TPR involve a series of teachers commands introduced gradually
and repeated until internalised by the class. The teacher first gives a command and
performs the corresponding action with four volunteers in front of the class (com- mand:
Stand up.), while the class just listens and watches them perform. New commands are
added one by one to a set of already internalised commands (Stand up. Sit down. Turn
around. Jump. Stop. Walk.), with the teacher modelling the corresponding activities
together with the volunteers, and frequently changing the sequence of commands (Lar- sen-
Freeman 2004, 109).
In the next stage, the teacher gives already introduced and practised commands without
performing the actions, and the volunteers respond, demonstrating their under-standing of
the language introduced and practised. After checking understanding with volunteers, the
teacher gives the first command (Stand up.) to the class, and after all students show their
comprehension, the teacher continues with other commands that the class has observed
being performed by the teacher and the volunteers (Sit down. Stand up. Jump. Stop. Sit
down. Stand up. Turn around. Turn around. Jump. Sit down.) (ibid.). It is important that the
commands are introduced at the right pace (three at a time, as Larsen-Freeman suggests
(ibid. 116)), so that all students can feel successful.
Once the class can perform all the commands without hasitation, the teacher introduces
new language through new commands that are more complex and contain not only new
verbs, but also nouns, adjectives and adverbs: Point to the door/the chair/the desk. Walk to
the door/the window/the chair. Touch the chair/the door/the desk. etc. In this way, not
only content words can be introduced and practised, but grammar words, as well (articles,
prepositions, pronouns, etc.). The sequence of commands should be varied until all the
students are able to follow the commands with no hesitation. Also, it is very important to
introduce the commands that are new to the students (e.g. Jump to the desk. Sit on the
desk.), and to give compound commands that require two or more actions (e.g. Point to the
door and walk to the door.): this helps students to develop flexibility in understanding
unknown utterances and keeps them motivated and attentive (ibid. 110 114). Moreover,
the teacher can give a series of connected commands and create an action sequence related
to everyday acivities, like giving instructions about writing a letter: Take out a pen. Take out
a piece of paper. Write a letter. (imaginary) Fold the letter. Put it in an envelope. Write the
address on the envelope. Put a stamp on the envelope. Mail the letter. (ibid. 117). By
responding to compound commands correctly, with no hesitation, the students
demonstrate that they have internalised the new language.
In the first few weeks of introducing and practising English through TPR, students are not
expected to speak, but only to observe and respond nonverbally. However, when some
students feel confident enough to give commands, they take over one by one, and the class
and the teacher respond with actions. Speaking is thus introduced at students individual
pace, as an anxiety-free activity. The errors that appear when the students give commands
are part of the learning process and they should not be corrected until the students become
more proficient (ibid. 113). Evaluation can be easily performed by giving commands to
individual students or by having them create and perform skits in pairs or groups (ibid. 115).
The focus should be on vocabulary and grammatical structures that are embedded in
imperatives as meaning, rather than form. Grammar is, there- fore, learned inductively,
which makes TPR particularly suitable for teaching English to young learners. Moreover, TPR
has the potential to create fun and enjoyment (e.g. through humorous commands and
skits), which further makes language learning more effective when teaching children. TPR
thus satisfies the need for comprehensible input and reduction of stress, which Krashen
considers to be the keys to successful language acquisition (Richards and Rodgers 2006, 78
79) and makes it highly applicable with young learners.
Teaching models of TPR:
Combination of TPR with Vocabulary
Its difficult for young learner to master the grammatical structure of a language. Teachers
should be aware of this and apply TPR theory to students vocabulary learning (Zhang Xuan,
2008:253). For instance, if teachers are teaching vocabulary: walk, run and stop, They can
use physical actions to help students understand the meanings of these vocabulary.
Combination of TPR with Games
Children like playing games. In TPR lessons, teachers design distinct games which can
stimulate students interest and motivate them to learn effectively (Zhang Qin, 2006:112).
Combination of TPR with Drawing
Pictures can give students visual impression. Teachers can use drawing activities in class
(Wu Fei, 2012:183). For example, in review section, teachers require students to draw on
the blackboard what the vocabulary stands for.
Combination of TPR with Music
Music always generates a kind of relaxing and ease envionment for learning. Teachers
combine music with teaching content (Wu Fei, 2012: 183). Students can sing and dance with
music. In this case, they can easily apprehend the meaning of teaching material.
Combination of TPR with Role Play
Children are good at performing. Teachers plan some scenes based on daily life in which let
students to play their respective roles. Real situation can enhance students memory for the
new content (Wu Fei, 2012: 183).
TPR activities:
TPR can easily be used in an everyday classroom routine. The teacher encourages the
children to recognise and respond to simple classroom instructions and gestures, such as;
hands up, stand up, sit down, wave goodbye etc. She can make visual associations with
words that the children can learn and mimic, especially descriptive words. For example: big,
happy, small, sad. It should be kept in mind that they love to mime professions, animals,
vehicles, weather conditions etc. In such activities children first listen and then understand
messages, decide whether they are right or wrong, and finally act accordingly (Pinter,2006).
Games are the most important component in teaching young learners. They like active
games. A popular game is Simon Says which can be adapted to body words, action words
and objects students can touch. Charades is miming and guessing words using picture or
word cards. These games are easy to apply in a language classroom. The learners have
enough space to mime (Reilly and Ward, 1997). Songs are also precious while dealing with
young learners. When songs accompany actions in a foreign language classroom they will
build up TPR element and make children understand the meaning of the songs better. It is
useful to choose simple repetitive songs which promote understanding and memorability.
Memorable song tunes help enormously in creating mental links to words and meaning. The
songs can be about face vocabulary. You would teach them the actions first, introducing the
parts of the face by saying and demonstrating Point to your nose, show me your ears,
etc.. You would then play the song and encourage the children to do the actions.
Repetition of songs and actions is very important for young learners as familiarity brings
confidence and will help them remember (Reilly and Ward, 1997).
Storytelling is the most authentic and popular activity for all children. Children will pick up
the new language easily because stories contain repetition that makes linguistic input more
noticeable (Pinter, 2006). In a TPR storytelling activity, children may mime the story as it is
told, perform pre-arranged actions when they hear key words read out, listen and stand up
when a character speaks or acts, look and point to key illustrations of the story. These
actions will make the story come to life and help the children internalise the language.
Action stories help children feel that they understand language from the very beginning. It is
listening, watching and imitating. The children gradually understand the language in a
holistic way. First, key words are introduced may be through pictures. The words are
repeated slowly by the teacher several times and in an order (plane, dog..) The students get
these words. The important thing is to adapt teaching pace to students pace of learning.
Then the sentences are introduced gradually and one after the other (fly the plane, hug the
dog...). The teacher repeats the previous sentence before introducing the new one. She
keeps the order that the sentences are presented in. Then she jumbles the order of the
sentences and while uttering them she expects the students to mime these sentences.
Lastly, pictures of the repeated words and sentences are given to the students. The students
are asked to write the number of the told action near the picture.
Richards & Rodgers (2001, p. 76):
TPR design (syllabus): Asher also suggests that a fixed number of items be
introduced at a time, to facilitate ease of differentiation and assimilation. In an
hour, it is possible for students to assimilate 12 to 36 new lexical items depending
upon the size of the group and the stage of training (Asher, 1997, p. 42). A course
would not be expected to follow a TPR syllabus exclusively.
TPR activities: Imperative drills are the major classroom activity in TPR. They are
typically used to elicit physical actions and activity on the part of the learners.
Conversational dialogues are delayed until after about 120 hours of instruction.
Other class activities include role plays and slide presentations. Role plays center on
everyday situations, such as at the restaurant, supermarkets, or gas station.
Teachers role: The teacher controls the language input the language receive,
providing the raw material for the cognitive map that the learner will construct in
their own minds.
Materials: There is generally no basic text in the TPR course. Materials and realia
play an increasing role, however, in later learning stages. For absolute beginners,
lessons may not require the use of materials, since the teachers voice, actions, and
gestures may be a sufficient basis for classroom activities. Later, the teacher may use
common classroom objects, such as books, pens, cups, furniture. As the course
develops, the teacher will need to make or collect supporting materials to support
teaching points. These may include pictures, realia, slides, and word charts.