Over time TAGteach has evolved and will continue to evolve. One thing that we have discovered is that there is more acceptance by learners (and the broader community) if we use neutral language. This conveys the idea that we are doing something together as opposed to doing something TO each other. For example, the phrase “I will tag you”, sounds like something I am going to do TO you as opposed to WITH you. We’d like to replace this phrase with “It’s my turn to tag”.

You may notice that in some of our example videos on our YouTube channel, the phrasing is not what we would like to use now. These videos were made before we (and others) realized that using specific phrasing makes teaching more efficient and effective.

We have created a script that we suggest you use while you are learning to implement TAGteach. This will help to minimize words and will make your lessons go smoothly. You may find that different ways of speaking work best with different learners and as you become fluent in your use of TAGteach you may want to do things differently if that’s what works best for you.

Please click here to download the TAGteach Session Script

As part of the Primary Certification process you must submit a video showing you reciting the script using cue cards. You can make the cue cards from craft foam or construction paper.

Copy the text from the left column of the script onto the cue cards. Fill in the script blank spaces with whatever tag point information you want to pretend to teach. Use our volleyball example as in the video below if you like.

Note that this is not a real teaching session. The purpose is just to show you reciting the parts of the script fluently. You don’t need to have another person in the video. You can just pretend there is a learner.

Here are photos of the cue cards you’ll need to make:

Stack the cue cards so that you can turn them over in order. Put the first one down face up, then put #2 on top of that then #3 etc until they are all stacked. Flip the whole pile on its horizontal axis so that it’s face down with the first card on the top. Then you can flip them over one at a time as you go through them to practice and and make the video.

Once you’ve made your cue cards, you need to make a video exactly like the one below and submit it with your other materials for certification.

Your video must show you using the cue cards fluently as in the demo here. If there are mistakes or stumbles over words, please do another take until you get it perfect.

You don’t need to have a second person in the video. You can just pretend you’re talking to a learner. You don’t need to add captions.

Make lots of copies of the script and use it while you are teaching until you are very familiar with using the TAGteach wording. You may not always use all parts of the session all the time, but you will always use the phrasing as in the script for the video you will submit for your certification. For example, instead of saying “I will tag you”, you’ll say “It’s my turn to tag”. Instead of saying “You tag me”, you’ll say “It’s your turn to tag”. This script keeps talking to a minimum and helps the teacher to be fluent and not stumbling around for words.

Here is a chart with examples of acceptable and unacceptable phrasing for videos submitted for certification.

Click here for more information about specific certification requirements.