Sandy (Gray) Garcia started teaching Spanish in 1982 and Japanese in 1988. In 1993 she became frustrated with teaching. Students did well on simple tests but they could not produce much language. Then in the summer of 1993 there was a 3-day workshop in Washington State, gStandup, sit down, and then what?h She attended.
What Sandy learned in the workshop started her on a different path. She met and attended a session by James Asher and was amazed to find herself understanding Arabic rather quickly. But, even more amazing, was attending a daylong session by Christine Anderson and Valeri Marsh.
Valeri told a simple story at the beginning of the session. The language? No one knew it. Then she asked, gDo you think you will be able to understand this story by the end of the day? Tell this story? And even be able to tell a revision on it?h No one said yes. Yet, 6 hrs later everyone in the class was telling the story and telling revisions of it. It changed Sandyfs approach to teaching. She was not sure how or where to start, especially in Japanese, but she knew that starting that fall she would be using TPRS in her classroom.
Sandy read everything she could about storytelling and attended workshops given by Blaine Ray and others by Carol Gaab. She is thankful for the JALEX -teaching assistants and the Oregon teachers that have helped her. She has learned, practiced, made numerous mistakes and is still trying to improve on what she does.
As a result of TPRS, Sandy believes her students leave her classroom with more confidence in Japanese. And, one of the best results is that she is still excited about teaching Japanese.
Sandy Garcia currently teaches Japanese at her Alma Mater, Forest Grove High School, in Forest Grove, Oregon.
In this study forum I will share a TPRS story about travel that I created while in Japan on a Japan Foundation/AATJ workshop. I will discuss how I use the story in class.
Garcia sensei's paper is at http://myweb.pacificu.edu/graysp/
So read the paper above and go to TAPPED IN. There, you will be able to discuss this topic with Garcia sensei and others from around the world. TAPPED IN is open to everybody and the presentation will be done in English.
This event is open to anybody who is interested in the topic. It will be at After School Online Room at http://ti2.sri.com
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