Native Speakers in the TPRS classroom

S
The elephant in the
TPRS classroom: The
Native Speaker
Ana Alfaro
Conversa Program Director
Zuchovicki-Alfaro-Todd 2013 CONVERSA

Who is your heritage speaker?
S Student who is a native speaker.
S Is fluent speaking but not literate (does not know how to
read and write in the target language).
S Confused about cultural inheritance.
S Defensive mechanism: wants to show he knows more
language than the teacher.
S Has a negative attitude towards class.
Zuchovicki-Alfaro-Todd 2013
CONVERSA

Native speaker student vs. Foreign language
student
Native Speaker Student Foreign Language Student
• Needs the language to survive
• Fluent in the target language
• Is not literate in their first
language
• Confused about their cultural
background
• Goes to class to get an “easy A”
• Thinks he is better than the
teacher at the target language
• Generally does not have a
positive attitude towards FL class
• Is very familiar with the cultural
aspects of the target language
• Lives in a double cultural world
which makes him/her very
adjustable
• Does not need the language to
survive
• Not fluent in the target language
• Literate in their first language
• Proud of his cultural background
• Curious about other cultures
• Treats foreign language as a
regular subject
• Generally has a positive or
neutral attitude towards FL class
• It is not familiar with the cultural
aspects of the target language
• Does not understand cultural
differences until explained
• Lives in one cultural world where
it is difficult to have changes
CONVERSA

Heritage Speaker Profile
S Attitude towards FL class will vary depending upon the
perception of their native language and the instructor (teacher)
of the FL class.
S They have different needs from the FL class (Ex. learn to write
and read).
S Think their knowledge of the native language is not good
enough.
S They are defensive to the teacher due to unreasonable
expectations of performance.
CONVERSA

Heritage Speaker Profile
S They could have “strong” reactions to corrections of their
language since it pertains to a personal and cultural
history.
S Some of this heritage speakers associate their own
language with conditions of discrimination and poverty,
resulting on a preference for English which could have
consequences for their native language use and
development.
CONVERSA

Teacher Standpoint
S Teachers are not always familiar with all the cultural
background and variety of terms of the language they are
teaching.
S It is not the job of the teacher to “fix” the native language
that the student speaks, but rather to teach “additional
and more formal speech styles”.
S Developing a good relationship with the heritage speaker
will help enrich your classroom environment.
CONVERSA

Teacher Standpoint
S The heritage speaker student should be told that their
use of their language is correct but there are more
academic forms of the language that can be understood
better by all the native speakers of the world.
S Ex. Colloquial forms like “tonces, orita” used by Spanish
native speakers are acceptable for speaking but in writing
they are not appropriate.
CONVERSA

Making a connection with the
heritage speaker student
S Teacher should show respect for the way the heritage speaker
uses their language.
S Teacher uses cultural information to connect with the heritage
speaker.
S Teacher encourage heritage speaker to share their cultural
experiences with the rest of the students.
S Heritage speaker should respect the way the teacher presents
the language.
CONVERSA

Making a connection with the
heritage speaker student
S Establish the rules since the beginning: let your heritage
speaker know how TPRS works and what you are trying
to accomplish.
S Make him feel special and ask him to be your TA.
S As TA he/she will have to follow your directions, like write
the structures on the board; model the gestures for the
rest of the students; write the stories; count the
repetitions when circling.
CONVERSA

Written language and
assessment
S Your job as a teacher of a heritage speaker is to teach
them how to read and write correctly.
S Explain to them that the way you will assess their
performance in class will be different from the rest of the
students.
S Teach your heritage speaker to love his/her own
language. Make them feel proud of their background.
CONVERSA

Correcting the heritage
speaker
S Heritage students’ language is a natural, valid linguistic
system like any other.
S When deciding whether to give corrective information,
ask yourself: Will the form the student has used mark
them excessively as a user of a stigmatized variety of the
target language, or as someone who has not received
formal instruction of the target language?
CONVERSA

Comprehensible Input Strategies and
Groupings
S Jigsaw
S Think-Pair-Share and 10/2
S First Turn/Last Turn
S Stay and Stray
S Directed Reading-Thinking Activity
S SQP2RS (“Squeepers”)
S Speedwriting
CONVERSA

Remember…
A rule of thumb is to let your heritage speakers that their
challenge is to use ONLY words or structures taught in
class. Notice that this rule of thumb applies to all the
strategies.
CONVERSA

Jigsaw
S This is a collaborative learning technique where
individuals in a small group become experts on one
portion of the text and share their expertise with another
small group (called home group).
S This technique enables students to cover large portions
of material in a short period of time.
S Everyone shares responsibility for learning.
CONVERSA

Jigsaw
S Divide participants into “home groups.”
S Assign each person in a home group an “expert number” (1, 2,
3 or 4)
S Assign each “expert group” a part of the story
S Students join their assigned “expert group” and read the text
and decide how best to teach the material to their home
groups.
S Experts return to home groups and share content learned in
expert groups
CONVERSA

Think-Pair-Share
S Pose a question or a topic to the class. Ask students to think
about the answer to this question or their reactions to the topic.
S Wait for 5-7 seconds or longer while students “think.”
S Next, ask each student to turn to a Buddy (pair) and talk about
their answers or reactions.
S Finally, after several minutes of sharing, ask students to share
their responses with the entire class.
CONVERSA

First Turn/Last Turn
S Students are placed in groups of four to six. They each
have two to three index cards in front of them.
S A piece of text in the form of an article, short story, or
letter is introduced and the students read silently to
themselves.
S After reading, students fill out comments about the
reading onto the index cards. Then a group discussion
begins where one student reads their comment to the
group .
CONVERSA

First Turn/Last Turn
S The student to their left then makes a comment about
their comment.
S This continues around the group until the first person to
comment has a final say.
S Then the next comment is started with another student in
the group and the process begins again.
CONVERSA

Stay and Stray
S Divide the students into groups of no more than four students.
S Have each group put a poster paper on the wall so that there
are blank posters stuck to the walls throughout the classroom.
S Have each student write a predetermined title to his or her
poster.
S Then have the student’s number off in their groups (1-4).
CONVERSA

Stay and Stray
S Have them write on their particular poster all things related to
their topic.
S After two to three minutes call out a number and have that
numbered student stay at the poster.
S The rest of the students move clockwise to the next poster.
S The student who has “stayed” now talks about why their group
wrote what they wrote to the “strayed” group and then the
“strayed” group can then add to the poster.
CONVERSA

Directed Reading-Thinking
Activity
This is a group activity to get students to think about the content of
a fiction or non-fiction reading selection.
The steps are:
1) Students predict what they will read and teacher set purposes
for reading.
2) Students read the material.
3) Students discover if their predictions and hypotheses are
confirmed.
CONVERSA

SQP2RS
1. Surveying – scanning the text to be read for 1 – 2 minutes.
2. Questioning – having students generate questions likely to be
answered by reading the text, with teacher guidance
3. Predicting – stating 1 – 3 things students think they will learn based
on the questions that were generated
4. Reading – searching for answers to questions and formulating new
ones for the next section of text to be read.
5. Summarizing – Orally or in writing summarizing the text’s key
concepts.
CONVERSA

Speedwriting
Speed writing requires that all learners become
actively engaged in their own learning
because, rather than generating ideas orally,
students are instructed to write down all their
ideas as quickly as they can.
CONVERSA

Independent studies resources
S Entre mundos (Alonso-Lyrintzis, Zaslow, & Villarreal, 1996,
Prentice Hall).
S Nuevos mundos (Roca, 1999, John Wiley & Sons).
S Español escrito (Valdés & Teschner, 1999 Prentice Hall).
S Nosotros y nuestro mundo (Schmitt & Woodford, 2000,
Glencoe/McGraw-Hill).
S Tu mundo (Samaniego, Alarcón, & Otheguy, 2002, McDougal).
S La lengua que heredamos (Sarah Marqués, 2009 Wiley & Sons,
Inc).
CONVERSA

Questions?
CONVERSA

Native Speakers in the TPRS classroom

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