Casa Xelajú Teachers Learn how to use whole language in the class.

Casa Xelajú Teachers Learn
TPRS Method

Nathan Lee, a Spanish teacher in the Minneapolis Public School System, conducted a workshop for the Casa Xelajú Spanish teachers.

He taught them how to further their usage of the Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS) method, and encouraged them to find more ways of incorporating TPRS into Casa Xelajú’s Spanish immersion program in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. He also taught them ways to adapt this method for use with adult students learning Spanish.

Mr. Lee’s workshop covered different ways of improving reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills through stories, focusing especially on teaching students in Spanish I and II. He used English language stories to illustrate his points in this workshop because most of the Casa Xelajú Spanish teachers do not speak English. By doing this, he was able to show the teachers how exposed and isolated students can feel when learning a second language without the appropriate support.

At the end of the workshop, several teachers said that this workshop had given them a better understanding of the TPRS technique and that the strategies taught would be important tools in improving the way they deliver lessons to their students. They also felt that many students would prefer this methodology over traditional textbook-based learning styles. These teachers had been previously trained in using TPRS methodology and have been sucessfully implementing this technique in their teaching for several years. However, they wanted to improve their knowledge of current teaching methodologies and keep up to date on new research. Casa Xelajú organized this workshop.

Please feel free to contact us if you have questions about the Casa Xelajú Spanish School or our teaching techniques.

Casa Xelajú teachers work together on newly learned TPRS techniques . Photo by Jaime Fernandez