Materials and equipment

Three black paper strips and three red paper strips for yourself and one black and one red strip for each tutor, or whatever else you wish to use
Flip chart and markers

Preparation

Practise your version of the Total Physical Response activity before the tutor session.
Decide whether you want to add one of the optional components to the Total Physical Response activity. Add another five minutes to accommodate this.

STEP-BY-STEP PROCESS

1. Tell tutors that they will be participating in a listening activity called Total Physical Response. Give a definition, either your own or the one on the Listening List handout. Make sure they know that Total Physical Response is usually an activity for beginner ESL learners only. Ask that all questions be held until after the demonstration.
   Note: in the following instructions, we write the words tutors need to learn in English. You will substitute the same words in the language you are using for this exercise.
2. First component: Listening
   • Set the context. Signal the group to be silent and to listen by putting a finger to your lips and saying “shhhhh.”
   • Hold up a red piece of paper and say “paper.” Hold it up both horizontally and vertically to make the point that you’re using the word for paper rather than for a particular direction.
   • If tutors repeat, discourage them by shaking your head and indicating that they are to listen.
   • Hold up another red piece of paper and say “paper.”
   • Hold up a black piece of paper and say “paper.”
   • Continue to hold up individual black and red pieces of paper and say “paper.”
3. Second component: Substitution (Listening)
   • Hold up a black piece of paper and say “black paper.”
   • Hold up another black piece of paper and say “black paper.”
   • Repeat.
   • Hold up a red piece of paper and say “red paper.”
   • Hold up another red piece of paper and say “red paper.”
   • Repeat.
4. Third component: Following Directions (Comprehension Check - Physical Response)
   • Lay all six pieces of paper on the table.
   • Pick up a black piece of paper, saying “Pick up black paper.”
   • Repeat this for all black pieces of paper.
   • Pick up a red piece of paper, saying “Pick up red paper.”
   • Repeat for all red pieces of paper.
   • Holding all six pieces of paper in your hand, put one black piece of paper down on the table, saying “Put down black paper.”
   • Alternate with red paper, saying “Put down red paper.”
   • Give tutors each a piece of red and a piece of black paper.
   • Encourage tutors to follow your directions.
   • While encouraging them to pick up and put down appropriate papers, say “Pick up red (black) paper” and “Put down red (black) paper.”