You must trust your intuition and simply listen to each version of the story
without analyzing it. Try to quiet your analytic mind. Relax and focus on the
events of the story. With time, you will absorb the grammar intuitively, and
use it correctly without effort.
PUTTING THE PHYSICAL INTO STORYTELLING
Dr. James Asher, a psychologist at San José State University, was one of
the earliest researchers to identify the importance of physical movement in
learning. Asher developed the “total physical response” method (TPR)
after discovering that students learned language more effectively if they
associated words and phrases with meaningful movement. He taught
language without translation, solely through the use of actions. For
example, he would say to a class, “Sit down,” and then he would
demonstrate the action of sitting. Then he would say, “Stand up,” and he
would demonstrate standing. After repeating this series a few times,
students quickly understood the meaning of the phrases “Sit down” and
“Stand up.”
In the next phase of the lesson, Asher indicated to the class to join him.
So when he said “Stand up,” the whole class stood up together with him.
And when he said “Sit down,” the class demonstrated their understanding
by sitting.
In the final phase, Asher gave the commands but did not demonstrate
them. Rather, he watched to be sure the class understood. This eliminated
the need for translation, as the students connected the phrases to the
actions.
With time, students in Dr. Asher’s class were able to learn and
demonstrate very complex commands such as, “Stand up, turn around five
