Editing Total physical response (section)

== Procedure ==

The majority of class time in TPR lessons is spent with language-body conversations as Asher refers to it, in which the instructor gives commands using the imperative mood. Students respond to these commands with physical actions. Initially, students learn the meaning of the commands they hear by direct observation. After they learn the meaning of the words in these commands, the teacher issues commands that use novel combinations of the words the students have learned in which they respond with a physical action modeled by the instructor. For instance, if the teacher says, "Stand up and clap." students watch the instructor model the utterance before they act it out themselves to show comprehension.{{sfn|Richards|Rodgers|2001|p=76}}

Instructors limit the number of new vocabulary items given to students at any one time. This is to help students differentiate the new words from those previously learned, and to facilitate integration with their existing language knowledge.{{sfn|Richards|Rodgers|2001|p=76}} Asher suggests that students can learn between 12 and 36 words for every hour of instruction, depending on their language level and class size.{{sfn|Richards|Rodgers|2001|p=76}}

While procedures using the imperative are the mainstay of classes, teachers can use other activities as well. Some typical other activities are role plays, skits, storytelling and slide presentations.{{sfn|Richards|Rodgers|2001|p=76}} However, beginners are not made to learn conversational dialogs until 120 hours into their course.{{sfn|Richards|Rodgers|2001|p=76}}

There is little error correction in TPR. Asher advises teachers to treat learners' mistakes the same way a parent would treat their children's. Errors made by beginning-level students are usually overlooked, but as students become more advanced teachers may correct more of their errors. This is similar to parents raising their children; as children get older parents tend to correct their grammatical mistakes more often.{{sfn|Richards|Rodgers|2001|p=76}}

According to Asher, TPR lesson plans should contain the detailed commands that the teacher intends to use. He says, "It is wise to write out the exact utterances you will be using and especially the novel commands because the action is so fast-moving there is usually not time for you to create spontaneously."<ref>{{harvnb|Asher|1977|p=47}}, cited in {{harvnb|Richards|Rodgers|2001|p=76}}.</ref>