ETPRS 2016

clearly important stuff

I have been very spoiled this year with two TPRS conferences within a few months. I am happy to have been invited to present in Amersfoort in the Netherlands. Three days for 2 hours each, I taught a small group of 4 students beginner German. After some beginning difficulties for the students to understand the translations (as I went into English, but the students were Dutch, not giving us a common language), we were off to create One Word Images together, which we later put into stories (á la Ben Slavic and his Invisibles).

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It's been a fun and tiring three days. It's been a wonderful experience to be on the presenter side, working with the invisibles and One Word Images and hopefully act as a multiplier to spread the CI love. I got to have inspiring conversations with Susan Gross, meet new and old friends and listen and talk to Stephen Krashen once again. My assistance and fellow TPRS teachers Jason Bond and Charlotte Dincher were wonderful helping me lead the debriefing and offering valuable feedback to my own teaching practice. The feedback and questions from the participants have helped me a lot thinking about my own teaching. Two questions and comments that came up a lot were these:

1. Q: You and Jason (Bond, who taught the beginner sessions in Gaelic) look like actors when you teach. That's not really me and I am wondering if this is something you taught yourself to do or if that's your personality?
   A: Just like with any other form of teaching, you need to be authentic to yourself. Don't try to be someone else, because then you will fail. Find your own strength and comfort zone and go from there. We don't have to be actors to do TPRS. We just have to be ourselves and be comfortable. If you're not comfortable, there is no chance that you will get your students to be comfortable in your class.
2. Q: One of the students in your class didn't really join the class as much as the others. He just didn't look as convinced and he answered in English a lot. How do you deal with that within your class?
   A: I don't force him. I will remind him of the rules by pointing at my classroom rules. (Rules and their implementation credit to Ben Slavic) I will smile at him and give him time. Not everyone has to react with complete enthusiasm. I take his ideas when appropriate and give him an opportunity to be the star in CWB, etc. I will give him a job in class (here is a list of 50 student jobs) and give him the thumbs up or high five for doing it. He will come around.
   One of the best moments was when this student, who was the hardest to get on board, got me a stroopwaffel, after we took his idea to create a character with it. Thank you, J! It was delicious.

I have also been very happy to have found a great artist in this class, who breathed life into our characters (One Word Images) for use in our Invisibles stories (credit: Ben Slavic) by drawing and coloring them all. Here are the superstars of our class stories:

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From these wonderful characters, a dangerous pink carrot, a stinky happy water melon and a big, crazy Stroopwaffel, we made two stories that the kids created with some facilitating and input from me:

Henk, die gefährliche Karotte

Es gab eine Karotte. Die Karotte war rosa und gigantisch. Er hieß Henk. Henk war sehr sauer und sehr gefährlich. Henk hatte grüne, lange Haare. Er war in einem kleinen KFC in Amersfoort. Henk wollte ein gigantisches Huhn essen.
Henk hatte ein Problem, denn es gab kein gigantisches Huhn in dem kleinen KFC.   
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Die gefährlich Karotte Henk ging zu einem gigantischen KFC. Logisch! In gigantischen KFCs gibt es gigantische Hühner. Das gigantische Huhn in KfC war nicht tot, es lebte. Das Huhn wollte tanzen! Henk wollte das Huhn essen. Henk tanzte mit dem Huhn, schneller und schneller und schneller. Das Huhn fiel auf den Fußboden und war tot. Henk war glücklich und aß das Huhn.

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Die verrückte Sirupwaffel Pietje-Jesse

Es gab eine Sirupwaffel. Er hieß Pietje-Jesse. Er war gelb und von innen rot und groß. Er hatte zwei gelbe Arme und ein gelbes Bein. Er hatte ein hellblaues Auge. Er lachte romantisch, denn er war sehr verrückt. Er war in einer Eisdiele mit einer anderen Sirupwaffel. Sie war ein Mädchen und hieß Luna. Luna und Pietje hatten ein Problem, denn das Eis in der Eisdiele schmeckte nicht gut ohne eine Sirupwaffel. Das Eis schmeckte gut mit Pietje und besser mit Luna!

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Die Jungen und Mädchen in der Eisdiele wollten Pietje essen, denn er schmeckte gut, aber Pietje sagte: "Luna schmeckt besser!" Die Jungen und Mädchen wollten Luna UND Pietje essen. Wie schrecklich! Lund und Pietje hatten aber einen Trick! Sie waren gefährliche Monster-Sirupwaffeln! Die Jungen und Mädchen gingen schnell weg und Pietje und Luna waren glücklich, denn sie lebten!

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It's been a wonderful conference and I am happy to have been there to share what I do in class and watch others do their magic. I am also happy to have been able to extend my own Spanish beginner level library at home, getting my books from the lovely Iris and Kirstin from the TPRS Academy.
I had a blast and I miss all these wonderful TPRS people already. See you all again soon!