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D. Rationale of choosing Total Physical Response

After finishing my lesson plans and also scheme of work for a week, I am truly
sure that TPR is my kind of method that will be used during the lesson as it has lots
of advantages that can help me to make my lesson to become better and also
interesting. Other than that, TPR is also the kind of techniques that can gain the
pupils interest and also will make them to give full cooperation during the lesson.
Basically, TPR emphasizes on the physical activities in order to make the
pupils understand better. In order to make the pupils to gain a better understanding
during the lesson, the teacher must first make the pupils to master vocabulary and
also make sure that their listening skill is excellent. It is to make sure that the pupils
can listen clearly to the instructions from the teacher. The main roles that must be
done by the pupils are listening and performing. In other words, the pupils listened
to the teacher the pupils must know how to imitate the teachers actions. So it
would make the pupils and also the teacher to become an actor during the lesson.
One of the main characteristics of TPR is the pupils can monitor and evaluate their
own progress. As an example, if for the first time the pupil could not imitate the
teacher well, he or she can improve herself or himself by repeating the actions and
soon will manage to act it out perfectly and successfully.
TPR also is one of the methods that do not allow any stress during the lesson.
It will make the pupils to enjoy the lesson hence giving full cooperation to the
teacher. Besides, TPR also emphasizes on the repetition. When the pupils are
repeating the actions thought by the teacher during the lesson, the pupils will
understand more and also will be able to memorize and get the idea of that days
lesson. The main point of TPR is the pupils are learning the language of gestures or
body movements. So other than making the pupils to understand more during the
lesson, TPR will also make the pupils to become more active and talkative as this
approach needs the pupils to be active during the lesson.
There are lots of advantages using this approach. One of the advantages is
by using TPR it will make the learning to become more fun, easy and memorable. As
an example, based from my lesson plan that is teaching about insects, it is sort of
like not a simple lesson as the pupils need to remember the names of the bodies of

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the insects. As an example, one of the difficult words used in the lesson plan is
thorax. So to make the pupils to understand better and to make them to enjoy the
lesson, TPR can be used. The pupils will enjoy themselves as the teacher will act out
in front of them while teaching the difficult words. The pupils will understand the
words better. TPR can also facilitate pupils with the meaning in real context. As an
example, the word long can be taught by the teacher are making their hands
long, so the pupils will understand the exact meaning of long by seeing what the
teacher is acting in front of the class. Moreover, TPR also does not require a great
deal of preparations. In other words, it does not need much time to prepare the
lesson as it only requires less interaction using words but much interaction using
physical responses. As said earlier, TPR helps the pupils to understand the target
language easier as the teacher can imitate the meaning of the words by using
physical interactions. As an example that I took from my lesson plan, I would like to
teach the word large, so I can make myself to look large like a balloon so that the
pupils will know what is the exact meaning of large.
Similarly, TPR is also inclusive and works well in a class that contains a mixed
ability level of pupils as it does not emphasize on the words but it prefers action
more that words. Any level of pupils can actually take part during the lesson. So it
will make the pupils feel belong thus will give full cooperation to the teacher and
also take part during the lesson. Last but not least, one of the advantages of TPR is
TPR creates a positive thinking. This happens as when the pupils did not understand
what they are reading about during the lesson, they can ask the teacher to imitate
the meaning so that they will understand more. So they will not feel stress and will
enjoy themselves during the lesson.
Other than having lots of advantages, there are some disadvantages that will
occur when applying TPR during the lesson. First of all, one of the disadvantages of
using TPR is pupils are not generally given the opportunity to express their own
thoughts in a creative ways. This happens because the teacher is the one who are
doing all the actions, not the pupils. Pupils are imitating the teacher, so they
actually are repeating the same actions rather than making themselves to develop
new ideas to make new actions. So this is other ways of saying that pupils are not
given the chance to actually spreading their ideas and also creativity because this
approach emphasize on acting and imitating. Besides, TPR will be a big challenge

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towards the shy pupils as they will be shy doing all the actions that has been done
by the teacher. Some of the pupils will feel very shy to jump around or even run
during the lesson as they did not feel confident doing it. So it will be a challenge to
the teacher to make the pupils to imitate their actions during the lesson.
TPR is also classified as not a creative approach as it only emphasize on the
physical responses rather than making the pupils to be more creative in their
thinking skills. This happens as the TPR approach is more on the movements in
order to make the pupils understand the lesson. Moreover, one of the characteristic
of TPR is by using repetitions. Pupils will be repeating the same actions all over
again during the lesson. It will soon make the pupils feel bored and will develop
them not to focus anymore during the lesson. Last but not least, one of the
disadvantages of using TPR is, TPR is limited, as in other words, not all meaning of
the words can be explained by using TPR. As an example based from my lesson
plan, if I would like to teach the word green which is, green color, how will I make
the action that will make the pupils understand the meaning of the word green?
So it is one of the biggest challenges for the teacher when applying TPR during the
lesson because not all words can be imitated by using actions.
As a future English teacher, TPR is one of the approaches that can be used in
order to gain the pupils attention during the class. This happens as, TPR is a fun
approach and will make the pupils to enjoy themselves imitating the teacher in
order to gain the knowledge during the lesson. As for the disadvantages of using
TPR, there are several ways that can be used in order to make the disadvantages to
become the advantages too. As for the part pupils are not being given chances to
express their own feelings, the teacher can first, asked the pupils what is their own
opinions regarding the lesson and asked for the pupils ideas so that they will feel
belong and will also enjoy the lesson. As for the shy pupils, the teacher must help
them to feel belong during the class and also make them feel comfortable so that
they will not feel stress during the lesson and will soon enjoy the lesson. Besides, in
order to make the pupils do not feel bored during the lesson, the teacher can add in
some interesting and fun music as the background so that they will enjoy the lesson
more.

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To summarize, TPR is one of the approaches that can be applied during the
lesson as it will gain the pupils interest and also make the pupils feel fun and
motivated to learn as they will enjoy the lesson more. TPR is one of the teaching
methods that emphasize active learning through actions. It means that learners
speaking skill through listening to their teacher and before requiring them to speak,
and asking them to practice using verbal communication accompany by physical
actions. Other than that, TPR can also be used with other approaches to make the
lesson more meaningful.
Last but not least, I would like to emphasize that TPR is one the greatest
approach that can be used to make the pupils to give their full attention towards the
lesson based and also to make the lesson become meaningful. This happens as TPR
is one of the methods that are emphasizing towards the physical activities, which is
preferred by all the pupils in the younger ages as they loves to stay in a fun and
interesting environment. So it will make them to engage and paying full attention
towards the lesson.
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