TPR (Tempered, Pre-fontal cortex Regulation) Pronunciation

Clip art
Clker

I'm often asked how HICP/EHIEP relates to Total Physical Response teaching methods. In some sense, one is a mirror image of the other. TPR, very effective in what it does well, focuses for the most part on learners connecting up movement to words and concepts--in that order. HICP, on the other hand, foregrounds movement, ideally creating an experience for the learner where all dimensions of the word are integrated simultaneously, but pedagogically, beginning with movement and then "attaching" sounds, letters and meanings.

The best way to understand what we try to achieve, however, relates to the previous post on juggling and pronunciation. What juggling creates, in part, is a temporary state where some of the conscious executive and planning functions of the brain are at least distracted or taken partially offline (The point of Nike's famous "Just do it!"logo.) Many of those functions are located in the pre-frontal cortex of the brain. By tempering the need to control, monitor and regulate emotional receptivity in the awareness of the learner, we can often capture enough focussed attention to get a sound change registered and more likely to be remembered and recalled later. If you do haptic work, you are hereby commanded to use more TPR!