63rd Annual MALT Spring Conference 

Craig Sheehy,
Thank you for the wonderful TPRS workshop in Great Falls.
MALT members had a blast!
​

​Craig, a former high school student of Blaine Ray (inventor of TPRS), has been teaching in the Nampa School District in Nampa, Idaho since 2005. He has taught all levels of Spanish and has taught as an adjunct professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Boise State University since 2003 and the College of Western Idaho since 2009. Craig learned TPRS as a student teacher and has been using it with his students ever since. Craig started presenting TPRS Workshops in 2011 and has presented at the National TPRS Conference since 2014. Craig currently resides in Nampa with his family.

​2018 MALT Spring Conference

​Workshop Rundown

 2 DAY TRAINING INCLUDES the following essential aspects of TPRS:

1. Explanation of SLA principles that inform best practices in language acquisition and TPRS.
2. The “student experience” of attendees learning a new language.
3. Attendee practice and coaching sessions

1. SLA PRINCIPLES
Second Language Acquisition Theory

• Understand the difference between acquisition and learning
• Learn why acquisition trumps learning
• Find out which teaching practices enhance acquisition
• Discover when, how, and why to teach grammar for the best results

2. STUDENT EXPERIENCE
Learn a new language

• Learn to understand, speak, read, and write a new language
• Experience TPRS as a student
• Experience the pacing, techniques, and questioning that make TPR Storytelling® so effective

The Three Steps of TPRS®

• Experience the three steps as a student
• Dissect the process from the teacher’s perspective
• Determine activities that enhance each step

Using Reading to Enhance Acquisition

• How to implement guided reading
• How brains naturally link meaning & decode
• Teaching techniques, discussion techniques
• Why linking meaning is necessary

3. ​PRACTICE
Scaffolded Questions

• Learn how to make 12 questions from one statement through “Circling”
• Partner Practice “circling”
• Make a circling script for your own needs
• Learn and practice 7 tips on how to make input comprehensible, repetitive and interesting.

Hands-On Practice

• Scaffolded questions (circling) in a variety of situations, for different levels
• Creating personalized questions that are engaging and highly comprehensible
• Combine PQA and circling
• Adding details to maintain engagement

Make Grammar Meaningful

• How to teach grammar so that all students can improve their accuracy