The learners' affective filter is kept at a low level by a relaxed classroom atmosphere, where the stress of performing and being judged is kept to a minimum. The teacher or a peer assists the learner during tasks that could not yet be performed without help. Materials and guides for TPR-S are available for teaching Spanish, French, German, and English as a Second Language. The procedures outlined in these sources could be adapted to the teaching of any language, including Native American ones, if educators, school districts, and community members wanted to engage in such a project. However, these TPR strategies develop receptive language skills and ignore the productive ones.
Many Native children can understand their tribal language because they hear it spoken at home.
These children can be very useful during TPR lessons, acting as assistants, demonstrators, and group leaders. This situation is especially serious in the case of languages such as Hopi or Zuni that are spoken only in a particular community, whose members cannot import speakers from other parts of the world, a choice which is available to Hispanics, Slovenes, Chinese, and other groups. It is essential that Native children learn to use their tribal language instead of just understanding it. In some cases, their reluctance to speak may be owing not only to the pressures of an English-speaking society but also to unreasonable expectations of correctness and accuracy. Children who have suffered ridicule or embarrassment because they mispronounced or misused a word are likely to avoid the risk of further unpleasantness and take refuge in silence.