Bodylanguage

Working with the connection between body and language, body language in the common sense is just a small part of it. But today I want to experiment with an argument that body language might very well be considered the basis of second language teaching, through a term I came across a few days ago (and have still to define properly): Total Physical Response (TPR) refers amongst other things to teaching children to respond physically to classroom commands such as "please sit down" and "turn to page 5." The idea is to make them use their passive understanding and passive vocabulary in communication, without demanding verbal responses.

I assume this also relates to theories that the listening skill is prior to the talking skill, and to the suspicion that group action is less scary to pupils than to stand up and demonstrate your knowledge solo.

TPR is on my library list for Monday.