times, then walk backwards to the door and close it.” Dr. Asher built core
fluency entirely through the use of commands and actions. Later, Dr. Asher
and other researchers modified TPR, adding gestures to represent more
abstract terms like “think” or “hope.”
TPR was a predecessor of Blaine Ray’s TPRS (Total Physical Response
Storytelling). Ray realized that if the actions and gestures were combined
to create a story, students would learn even more quickly. TPRS is a
method for getting students to physically and verbally interact as part of
storytelling. This technique was the starting point for much of the
Effortless English™ system.
A Sample Point-Of-View Story
Let me give you a very simple example of a point-of-view story: There is a
boy. His name is Bill. Bill goes to the store. He buys a bottle of water. He
pays two dollars for the water.
Ok, that’s it. That’s our little story right now. It’s not very interesting, but
you understand it easily. It’s in the present tense, and all you need to do is
just understand it. If this was an audio story, you would listen to it every day
for a week or more. Remember, we’re striving for deep learning, so you’re
going to repeat it a lot of times.
Next, I tell you the same story again, but now it’s in the past: There was a
boy named Bill. Yesterday, he went to the store. He bought a bottle of water.
He paid two dollars for the water.
Ok, that’s all. Very simple. Of course, in my lessons my point-of-view
stories are longer. They’re more difficult and they are more interesting. But
this is a simple example to help you understand the concept.
So now you’ve read or heard Bill’s story in the present and the past.
Ideally, you have audio versions and you listen to that story in the past many
times. When you listen, don’t think about the grammar rules. You don’t need
to analyze, “Oh, this is the past tense” or “Oh, ’paid’ is an irregular verb.”
No, no, no – no need to think about that. Just listen to each story version and
