TPR and Storytelling to foster the development of 6th graders’ communicative skills

Abstract

Learning English as a second language can be a challenging yet rewarding experience for many students. It can open up opportunities to communicate with people from different cultures and backgrounds, enabling them to gain a better understanding of the world. To become a proficient user of English, it is important for students to practice the language regularly and to learn grammar rules and vocabulary in order to be able to express themselves confidently. With dedication and hard work, students can achieve their goal of becoming proficient in English and use it as an advantage in their studies or career. This research work was carried out at the Institución Escuela Normal Superior de Popayán. The main objective of this study was to foster 6th graders’ communicative skills through TPR and Storytelling, thus, because we identified in the students of the institution with whom we work a lack in communicative skills, in addition to the lack of motivation to learn the topics offered in English classes. Consequently, understanding the Total Physical Response as an alternative strategy to learning a language when using motor skills, we combine it with Storytelling to generate a much greater impact on student learning, showing a strategy focused on learning the four joint skills, working all while making the most of the motivation that could generate the playful learning created in each activity worked with these strategies of teaching. Likewise, a qualitative method was used, all in order to rate the students from the learning achieved by each one, the process they managed to go through by being in constant communication with Storytelling and the vocabulary generated in the readings and the exercises carried out to appropriate the language. In this way, taking into account that the target population were students from 10 to 12 years old, it was possible to generate a strategy enriched in didactics and that was striking for them, being thus, a class in which they could work in groups and also socialize each other in every activity, In addition to this, there was a great change with respect to classes and how they had been working, because when they reached the global situation of the pandemic due to Covid-19, the way of attending classes was restructured and likewise the didactic strategies were adapted to this new system of virtual classes. In this sense, our research work resulted in the improvement of their communication skills and their confidence towards learning a second language, despite the situation of virtual classes due to the Covid-19 pandemic; concluding that as teachers we are the ones who must make the school environment, play and constant communication an important bridge for our students to achieve the development of skills in a second language such as English.