Contact: Sammy McDavid
Foreign language teachers from throughout the region are being invited Aug. 20 to a Mississippi State University workshop on Total Physical Response Storytelling.
Blaine Ray, nationally recognized inventor of what has been called "the most effective method for long-term retention of vocabulary," will lead the program. Ray teaches advance placement Spanish at Stockdale High School in Bakersfield, Calif.
The daylong workshop in 241 McCool Hall is being sponsored by the department of foreign languages through the university's Schillig Special Teaching Project Grant program.
"Mr. Ray is a dynamic speaker," said department head Edmond A. Emplaincourt. "His dramatic methods are designed to generate enthusiasm and interest for teaching students to speak a second language."
Emplaincourt said 100 students at Ray's school have passed the AP Spanish test over the past three years. "Among this group were 17 true beginners who went on to pass the AP test in their third year of study," he added.
In TPRS lessons, teachers model actions that students then mimic as they simultaneously hear vocabulary words and commands in the target language. The program's premise: As a particular action is associated with vocabulary words or phrases, students acquire the language while establishing long-lasting associations between the brain and the muscles.
A $50 workshop fee includes the cost of two TPRS books retailing for $25 each.
For additional information, telephone Emplaincourt at (662) 325-3480 or e-mail him at. Written correspondence also may be sent to the foreign languages department at P.O. Box FL, Mississippi State, MS 39762.