As far as I know, there are only five published items available for Japanese teachers who want to use TPRS. There are lots of materials, including novelas and textbook supplements for other languages, but hardly any for Japanese teachers…hence this website. Let’s create what we need together. In the meantime, here’s a look at what already exists since each work offers something special. These are in chronological order.
アクションで学習する日本語・Akushiyon de Gaku Shiuu Suru Nihongo by Bertha Segal Cook (1992), translated by Atsuko Morse.
Author Bertie Segal Cook is credited with being the creator of the foundational “circling technique” used in TPRS. This book, however, is a teacher’s manual for implementing a curriculum of total physical response (TPR) actions for beginners. There are 102 TPR lessons with scripts for the teacher. This work identifies the types of commands used in classic TPR and is helpful for showing how extensively TPR can be fleshed out. One limitation of this work is that it is a translation of the original English text so it lacks cultural context. However, it provides a very thorough model of how to begin with TPR, as long as you make it culturally appropriate.
生き生き日本語・IKIIKINIHONGO by Kazue Fukuda, Mary Sisk Noguchi, Contee Seely and Elizabeth Romijn (1994).
This is a student textbook comprised of 70 different series of total physical response (TPR) commands in various contexts like eating a meal, lighting a candle, and having a fight. The book builds on Segal Cook’s book and features TPR commands in actual contexts. This work also shows how literacy can be developed by providing written forms of the commands in both romanized script and Japanese script. Since the vignettes were written originally in Japanese for learners, the language is more culturally appropriate. The book is a creative idea for how to use TPR in specific, imaginary contexts that begin to resemble stories.
Japanese in Action! Student Book Year One and Teacher’s Manual (1998) by Laurie May and Kaoru Kimura
もっと教えて：羊飼いの話 Motto Oshiete: Hitsujikai no Hanashi (2004 & on CD, 2011) by Valeri Marsh and Christine Anderson, translated by a Japanese native speaker.
This is a textbook and teacher’s manual. The main text is a translation of the story about the boy who cried wolf. These materials are useful in that they demonstrate how to break down a larger text into smaller segments. A series of mini stories prepares students to read a longer one. One drawback to the materials is that, since it is a translation of a text in English, it does not provide access to authentic culture.
TPRS with Chinese Characteristics: Making Students Fluent and Literate Through Comprehensible Input (2015) by Terry T. Waltz.
OK, this is not specifically for Japanese teachers, but it is very useful. In this monograph of 176 pages, Waltz describes how to apply TPRS in a Chinese target-language environment. Chinese-language teachers face many of the same challenges that Japanese-language teachers do so Waltz’ insights are very useful to read. Waltz cultivated the “cold character reading” process in which she prepares students to read Chinese characters immediately. Japanese teachers will find this very relevant. She also provides wonderful encouragement and information about how to troubleshoot as the new TPRS practitioner begins.
Obviously, there is very little “out there” regarding TPRS/CI Approaches for Japanese teachers. On the bright side, maybe this lack of materials is a good thing because it means teachers must take this opportunity to create and tailor materials themselves, which is the topic of the next post.