Using Total Physical Response Method in Early Childhood Foreign Language Teaching Environments

Early years of life are the period when emotional, physical, cognitive and language development is very fast. It is the most valuable time to start teaching a foreign language or languages to young children. Although there are various methods and techniques in teaching foreign languages, the most appropriate one for young learners is Total Physical Response (TPR) method. TPR is a method which is built around the coordination of speech and action in other words it is to teach language through activity (Richards and Rodgers, 2001). There are no texts in the teaching environment but there is a teaching via songs, games, stories accompany actions which attracts the attention of young active learners. In this paper, the positive sides of using TPR in foreign language classrooms for young learners are discussed and some sample activities are introduced.