suggestions anyone?

[Paula Meyer]

Richard, I have used TPR for Kumeyaay, and it has gone over very well and people have learned a lot and liked it.  The lessons are very happy events.  It has to be adapted culturally, e.g. direct commands are considered rude in a lot of languages and the vocabulary is not always appropriate, but this is easily changed.  You have to teach and practice it with the teachers.  If you get Asher's basic book Learning another language through actions (www.tpr-world.com), you can adapt it, and the teachers can do it once they understand the concept.  We practice before each lesson.  You might want to look at TPR Storytelling too, another of Asher's books. .Since you are dealing with preschoolers, they probably don't need all of this; in my experience, they get bored with the structure and need a more natural situation.  However, it may give your teachers something to hold onto that's a language-teaching "method," and they might feel more secure.  If your teachers are into "research," there are tons of it to support not changing back and forth between languages, especially with the majority language.  I hate to keep beating this horse, but do you have any videos of language nests?  They could look at those if they can't visit one, because preschoolers are such little sponges in any language, and seeing it in action might help them get rid of the majority language in their interactions with the children.  Good luck.  Your efforts will be rewarded when you hear those little kids talking to each other in their heritage language.
Paula
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Richard Zane Smith 
  To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU 
  Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 2010 4:29 PM
  Subject: Re: [ILAT] suggestions anyone?


  thanks Dorothy,
  I have been hearing reference to TPR in some seminars I've attended
  but haven't seen anything indepth. I'll look into it
  I do use my body alot while i'm teaching and gestues,
  which is how we all learned our first language (without translations!)


   i also use puppets animals who "talk" ,so i can model conversations
  between myself and puppets...which ALSO means 
  there becomes more than one Language Speaker in the room!



  its nice to hear the advice
  and to simply be able to talk with people who know its value!


   tizhameh (thanks)
  Richard




  On Wed, Nov 24, 2010 at 1:18 PM, <Dmark916 at aol.com> wrote:

    Richard, what you are doing invites a special legacy for the people, and even though it may not seem to be valued, it lights a way for language to flourish. Many years ago (like the 1970's) Berty Seigle developed a technique call Total Physical Response (TPR). As you are exposing very young children to language, please consider using her approach, as it involves movement and action in language learning. Gradually the children anticipate the language and begin using it themselves, not in a word-by-word context, but actually in descriptive ways. There is no "translation" necessary. And the teachers, looking on or looking in, can become involved as well.
    While some teacher inservice workshops might be helpful, without administrative backing they might just be resented. Try the TPR approach (or some iteration of it) instead.
    In Spirit,
    Dorothy Martinez-K

    In a message dated 11/24/2010 6:41:34 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, rzs at WILDBLUE.NET writes:
      thanks Doug and Natasha,
      good way to explain it about not "giving away the answer" in class.

      the books (Natasha) sounds excellent...another project! for me to look into.
      (sounds like i need to have some meetings with these teachers)


      Its tough because ...sadly: I'm it. I'm our local language revitalization effort,
      which is foolish and even ridiculous. there is no language committee in our tribe
      and if anythings going to happen its because I'm insane enough to volunteer to
      attempt it on my own....and this is the 6th year of me  ..."doing it alone"


      You all who have healthy language/culture revitalization efforts
      Have something to thank the Creator for.
      Just don't forget about some of us foolish ones, winging it alone,
      carrying the whole weight but determined not to give up..even if it kills us.


      'preciate having some pros to bounce ideas upon here on ILAT!
      ske;noh
      Richard










      On Wed, Nov 24, 2010 at 2:17 AM, Natasha L Warner <nwarner at u.arizona.edu> wrote:

        I think Leanne Hinton's book that's actually a guide to the Master
        Apprentice program, _How to Keep your Language Alive_, has some good
        explanations of why immersion without translation is the way to go.  Maybe
        something in that would help you with how to explain it to the teachers.
        It's a challenging issue--even people who really know better about
        immersion so often want to just "help" by providing translation.  Good
        luck.

        Natasha

        *******************************************************************************
        Natasha Warner
        Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics
        University of Arizona
        PO Box 210028
        Tucson, AZ 85721-0028
        U.S.A.





      -- 

      "It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men."

      - Frederick Douglass






  -- 

  "It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men."

  - Frederick Douglass


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