Mira Canion: Mira Canion is an energizing presenter, author, photographer, stand-up comedienne, and high school teacher. Mira is best known for her spontaneous creativity and quick wit, not only as former CCFLT president and notorious pirate but also in the classroom. She has been captivating middle and high school students for 20 years with her enthusiasm, high energy, and passion. She has developed innovative approaches to instruction that include storytelling, drama, novellas, music, videos, photos, and technology. She is the author of the popular, historical novellas Piratas del Caribe y el mapa secreto, Rebeldes de Tejas, Agentes secretos y el mural de Picasso, La Vampirata, Rival, Tumba, La France en danger et les secrets de Picasso, Fiesta fatal, El capibara con botas, El escape cubano, as well as teacher’s manuals with reading strategies and activities, simplified non-fiction texts, and visuals. Her website is miracanion.com

Jennifer Degenhardt: “With over 20 years of teaching Spanish in public schools, I am excited to carry on my love of the language outside the classroom. Way back in high school was when I first learned Spanish as an exchange student to Bolivia. I’ve been hablando español ever since! Certainly the best way to learn a second (third, fourth) language is through immersion, though a good base can be achieved via traditional methods. Simply, the best part of learning Spanish for me was cultivating the ability to make myself understood to others, including (and especially) native speakers. It is a thrill that continues to this day. Be it chatting with the cashier at a local store or engaging with sellers in the markets in Cuba or Guatemala, I am always delighted with others’ reactions to my language skills. Their faces light up and my confidence is boosted once again. It is my hope that you, too, wish to hone (or create) those same interpersonal and cultural skills. The possibilities are endless”. Jennifer’s website is puenteslanguage.com

Rachel Emery: “I am a 5th and 6th grade Spanish teacher in Winnetka, IL. I have a B.A. in Spanish and English from the University of Michigan, and will soon be completing my MA in Foreign Language Teaching from Michigan State. Since switching to teaching with TPRS/CI 3 years ago, I have never looked back. I love learning from colleagues in this amazing community of teachers. My first book, Pancho y las momias, was inspired by a visit to Guanajuato. I contributed activities to levels 3 and 4 of a new online CI curriculum called Nuestra Historia. My next book, La madre perfecta, is a science fiction story written to accompany level 1 of Nuestra Historia. Coming soon!” Rachel has a website with a free teacher’s guide to teaching her novel “Pancho y las momias”: panchoylasmomias.weebly.com

Eric Herman: “I have been a communicative and comprehension-based language teacher at the elementary, middle, university, and adult levels. I am currently in the MA program in Hispanic Linguistics at FSU. I love helping teachers to learn a scientifically-supported approach to developing fluency. I am constantly trying to improve my own instruction and innovate better ways to engage students and facilitate language acquisition in the classroom. I taught Spanish to grades 3-8 at the Edgartown School in Massachusetts as well as teaching an Adult class. Then, I taught grades 7 and 8 at Charlotte Preparatory School in North Carolina. Now, I’m a grad student and teach Spanish as part of the FSU Spanish basic language program. For 2 years, I’ve co-taught an online summer course on Second Language Acquisition and Language Instruction as part of a language teacher certificate program at UC Boulder”. Eric’s website is acquisitionclassroom.weebly.com

JJ Hill, Roberta Price & Marissa Rubin

Bryan Kandel: “I am a Spanish teacher in Massillon, OH. I’ve been teaching language for 12 years (10 as a Spanish teacher and 2 as an English teacher in Costa Rica). I’ve been using TPRS since 2009. After my few years of using TPRS and my many years of research, I am convinced of the value of Comprehensible Input. My version of TPRS is my attempt to maximize input and effectively increase the abilities of my students. I am constantly developing my understanding and implementation of the method.” Bryan’s website is bryankandeltprs.com

Craig Klein Dexemple: Craig is a native Spanish speaker from Colombia, South America. He was born and raised in Cúcuta, a city near the Venezuelan border. His family has always been involved in education. Craig’s father was a college professor and his mother ran her own private elementary school in Colombia for over 30 years. Craig has a Bachelor’s in Spanish and a Master’s in Spanish Literature. He is also a certified Spanish teacher in the state of Iowa. Teaching Spanish is his life and passion, and this comes across in his lessons and correspondence. He is passionate about teaching the Spanish language and has created unique comprehensible input lessons which incorporate current events, music, literature, games, poetry, Latino folk, pop culture, and storytelling, all with much conversation. Craig’s goal is to allow students to learn a second language through the senses and comprehensible input. Acquisition takes place when students focus on the message and not on the form of the message. When students are able to produce meaningful language without thinking about rules but just by knowing that everything they say or write sounds right, that’s when you know that language acquisition has taken place. His website is Spanish Cuentos.

Inga Paterson-Zuniga: Inga Paterson-Zúñiga is a Spanish language educator in Northern New Jersey where she has taught to all levels K-12 for over 20 years. She is an expert in Comprehensible Input methodology and has facilitated TPRS workshops throughout the Eastern United States since 2005. She spends her summers in the Central Mexican cities of Querétaro and San Miguel de Allende with her husband and family, working to enrich her cultural awareness and raise her son bilingual and bicultural. She has a special affinity toward all things Mexican, including the vast gastronomy, art scene and depth of social interaction. One of her favorite pastimes is snapping photographs of her travel experiences, many of which are depicted here in sketch form. This novelita was inspired by Inga’s own experiences, including those of her first awkward interactions as an exchange student back in the late 1980’s and her subsequent years residing in Mexico.

Margarita Pérez García:

Mike Peto: Mike led his department to transition to these methods and, with the collaboration of his team, they enjoy a 100% pass rate on AP and IB exams. Mike Peto was Department Chair of World Languages at Temescal Canyon High School in Lake Elsinore, CA until June 2017. He has been a Spanish teacher since 2000 and ran the heritage speakers program at his high school since 2007. He is the editor of a collection of essays about teaching heritage learners, Practical Advice for Teachers of Heritage Learners (2nd edition 2018) and the author of My Perfect Year, a succinct guide for language teachers who want to adapt a non-targeted approach to a CI classroom. Among his other publications is an essay in the seminal guide to the TPRS method, Fluency through TPR Storytelling (Ray & Seely, 7th edition, 2016) and an essay in A Natural Approach to the Year (Hargaden & Slavic, 2018). He presents frequently at regional and national conferences, including NTPRS and ACTFL (2018), and regularly gives workshops around the country. Mike has written several limited vocabulary novels for language learners of Spanish, French and Portuguese. One of his current projects focuses on designing an approach for self-learners of Japanese. He writes about his teaching on the education blog My Generation of Polyglots. Mike is also a founding member of The CI Posse.

A.C. Quintero: Are you learning Spanish? Do you wish you could read books that were at your proficiency level? Are you a Spanish or French teacher looking for relevant, diverse, and engaging books for your class? Well, you’ve come to the right page! I enjoy writing “aventuras” and the pages of my books are filled with them! ¡Ojo! These may not be your average run-of-the-mill novels. Your students will enjoy reading about classroom crushes gone awry, teachers “attempting” to play match-maker, best friends hopelessly trapped in the friend zone, but don’t know how, and a thrilling sci-fi series “Las apariencias engañan”, that will put everyone’s “pelos de punta!” Whether you are looking for engaging novels for your classroom, or are learning to speak Spanish, my novels can be a “perfect” place to start. Are your students ready to enter into “La clase de confesiones”? Beware, because everyone has a confession, even the teacher!

Adriana Ramirez

Karen Rowan: Karen Rowan is a teacher, author and speaker on TPRS® (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling, formerly known as Total Physical Response Storytelling). Her presentations are based on the research and teachings of Dr. Stephen Krashen, co-creator of the Natural Approach; and Blaine Ray, inventor of TPRS. Karen is the author of Pearson / Prentice Hall’s TPR Stories for Paso a paso I and II (2000/2001) and TPRStories for Realidades I and II (2004/2005). She co-authored TPRS® Gestures and Mini-Situations for Look, I Can Talk More with Blaine Ray (2001), and edited Look, I’m Really Talking by Joe Neilson and Blaine Ray. She also contributed the Personalization chapter to Fluency Through TPR Storytelling by Blaine Ray and Contee Seely. She is the author of El secreto de Isabela, Las aventuras de Isabela, Isabela captura un congo, Carl no quiere ir a Mexico and Don Quijote: el ultimo caballero, which have been translated into English, French and Latin. Since 1996 Karen has been training and coaching teachers and presenting workshops on adapting the textbook to TPRS. She now presents TPRS® workshops and teaches adult language classes through Fluency Fast Language Classes. Karen was the conference chair for the National TPR Storytelling Conference, from 2001 to 2006 where she was able to combine all of her passions into one massive week-long project. Karen has taught Spanish since 1995 at both public and private schools in Colorado Springs. As the foreign language department chair at The Colorado Springs School she created and implemented a Pre-school through 12 TPRS® curriculum based on the Colorado State Standards and taught 8th-12th grade Spanish classes. From 2000-2002 she served a two-year term on the CCFLT board of directors. Karen has a BA in Spanish from The Colorado College and an MA in Spanish and pedagogy from the University of Northern Colorado. She currently teaches Spanish classes for Fluency Fast Language Classes, presents inservices at school districts implementing Comprehension-based language programs and continues writing readers for novice and intermediate language learners. She is part of a team of presenters, including Jason Fritze, Linda Li and Dr. Stephen Krashen, who provide inservices for school districts under the name the CI Teaching Team. Her greatest talent has always been the ability to surround herself with the most wildly talented teachers in the world and to convince them to collaborate with her. For this reason, Fluency Fast continues to have a reputation for having strong, talented TPRS teachers and she continues to consider herself to be the luckiest and most grateful member of the team. Her website is fluencyfast.com

John Sifert: John Sifert is a high school Spanish teacher in Belmond, Iowa. He has been teaching Spanish for 20+ years in both Iowa and Texas. His focus on music and books in the classroom has inspired writing stories and novels for his students. John is the author of La isla más peligrosa, with more novels to come. Besides making a fool of himself in front of his classes, his great loves are his wife Melissa, his five children, and the occasional good book, movie, or out-of-tune family sing-a-long. His website can be found at: padredecinco.wordpress.com.

Andrew J. Snider: Andrew J. Snider is the author of several novels, books and courses that help people improve their abilities in Spanish. In 2014 he founded Reading 633, an organization dedicated to helping language students get access to compelling and comprehensible materials. He is the lead author at readtospeakspanish.com. Over the years, Andrew has taught Spanish at the high school and college levels. Currently, Andrew lives in Puyallup, Washington with his wife and two beautiful children. Andrew is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Spanish at Pierce College.

Terry Waltz: Terry Waltz holds a Ph.D in Foreign Language Education (Mandarin Chinese) and is a NYS-certified teacher of Mandarin Chinese and a internationally-recognized presenter on teaching languages through TPRS and Comprehensible Input methodologies. A polyglot at 13 languages and counting, she is the author of numerous readers for emergent readers in second and foreign languages, including materials for uncommonly-taught languages. Her original contributions to Mandarin pedagogy include the cold character reading method of teaching Chinese literacy, the TOP (Tonally Orthographic Pinyin) system of tonal spelling, and directional gestures for teaching Chinese tones. A qualified conference interpreter, Dr. Waltz lived in Taiwan for a decade, where she earned a second MA in Conference Interpreting at Fujen University and taught languages and interpreting at schools and government agencies around the island. She now lives in upstate New York, dividing her time between training and coaching teachers in using Comprehended Input in the classroom, writing and creating language card games for Squid For Brains, and continuing her longtime interpreting and translation practice in Mandarin and Spanish. Her website is terrywaltz.com and her materials are available at squidforbrains.com.