Blaine Ray
Blaine is the inventor of TPRS and author of several TPRS materials. Blaine developed and refined TPRS while teaching high school for over 20 years in Ontario, OR and Bakersfield, CA. During a 4-year period while teaching in CA, more of Blaine’s students passed the AP Spanish test than the 11 other high schools in the district combined. Blaine is an experienced presenter and has given TPRS presentations in all 50 states and in many foreign countries in various settings and continues to do so now, while also teaching Spanish and English online.
He currently resides with his family in Woods Cross, UT, where he loves to visit with his children and grandchildren.
Von Ray
Von is Blaine’s son. Von learned TPRS from his father. He taught middle school and high school Spanish for several years in CA. The middle school where he taught had a placement exam. Those that passed the exam were placed in level 2 high school Spanish. While teaching with TPRS over a 5-year span, Von and his colleague saw the pass rate increase from 30% the first year to over 90% the last year. Von is a seasoned presenter and has given TPRS presentations in 35 states and three foreign countries in various settings. He currently resides in Chandler, AZ near Phoenix with his family. He currently works full-time for his father’s business and teaches his elementary aged children using TPRS.
Craig Sheehy
Craig, a former high school student of Blaine’s, found TPRS while teaching as an adjunct professor of Spanish at Boise State University where he taught from 2003-2017. After seeing the amazing results there, he decided to become a high school teacher as well. He taught all levels at the high school in Nampa, Idaho from 2005-2017 and again from 2022 to the present. Craig has a Bachelor's Degree in Spanish and a Master's in Education: Curriculum and Instruction from Boise State University. Craig started presenting TPRS Workshops in 2011 and has presented at the National TPRS Conference since 2014. Craig has also served as President of both IATLC (Idaho Association of Teachers of Languages and Cultures) and PNCFL (Pacific Northwest Council for Languages). Craig currently resides in Nampa with his wife and five children.
Jeremy Jordan (Señor Jordan)
Jeremy Jordan (known to many by Señor Jordan) has been a Spanish teacher since 2006. He went to his first TPRS® workshop back in 2010 and it completely changed what he does in his classroom. Over the years, Jeremy has presented in numerous state and regional conferences as well as for TPRS Books and Voces Digital. He also received the FLAM Distinguished Educator Award in 2016 and was a runner up for the CSCFTL Teacher of the Year award in 2017.
Jeremy enjoys learning languages, making videos on YouTube, dabbling with musical instruments, and spending time with his family. To date, he also has written 6 novels for TPRS Books.
Zayde González
Zayde has been a Business Administrator for more than 20 years with experience in sales and marketing in LATAM. She has worked in education for more than 10 years in different positions. She is currently a Spanish and English TPRS Tutor for kids and adults. In 2020 she started using the TPRS methodology in her classes and she noticed a big difference for her students. She started her training with TPRS Books and decided that leading and helping more teachers in Central and South America could have a major impact on students and teachers in Latin America. Today, she develops strategies to open TPRS in LATAM through alliances with tutors and associations in different countries. She presents workshops in Spanish and works closely with tutors and teachers as a helper and coach.
She lives in Bogotá, Colombia with her husband Álvaro. She also has a daughter studying at Johnson University, in Tennessee.
Anderson Ortiz
Anderson is a passionate ESL and SSL tutor and TPRS collaborator. He found out about TPRS through his curiosity while trying to figure out the best method to teach his students after feeling frustrated by the poor results of teaching through traditional classes. He started TPRS training in 2021 and applied the techniques right away, which had an immediate impact on his students and his vocation. Since then, he is aiming to help widen the knowledge of TPRS in Colombia and LATAM by working with Zayde. Anderson motivates through his experience, arguing that TPRS changed his life, and since he has been applying it, his students feel motivated and excited in each class, and their results are amazing! He's currently living in Colombia with his wife and keeps earning experience through his lessons and training.
Karol Gallego
Karol had been working as an English teacher for a while and was unsatisfied with how her classes were going. So she decided to search for something better. She’s been using TPRS ever since and it has made all the difference. Students are speaking, and enjoying the class and they are compelled to continue the journey. She lives in Latin America and is a part of Zayde’s team for TPRS LATAM.
Nathan Spencer
Nathan Spencer has been doing TPRS since 2012 and, after seeing tremendous results, has been passionate about it ever since. Nathan became a National Presenter for TPRS books in 2017. He has taught in the Nampa School District in Nampa, Idaho since 2014 and is currently the department chair. Nathan has a Bachelor’s Degree in BYU Idaho, a Master's Degree from Boise State University and teaches all levels of Spanish. Nathan currently resides in Meridian, Idaho with his wife and children.
Missy Urushidani
Missy Urushidani is currently a high school teacher of Japanese and English to multilingual learners in the beautiful peninsula of Washington state. She was sent to teach English in Japan for 3 months as her final project to earn her BA in Japanese Language & Culture from The Evergreen State College. It was then that she discovered her passion for teaching languages. Her 3 months in Hyogo, Japan quickly turned into 11 years. Every moment was a blast, (HELLO! Have you ever tasted Japanese food or met a Japanese person!? Amazing!) but something was missing. Acquisition wasn’t happening how she wanted it to. Missy knew there had to be a better way, and she had to find it!. That’s when she decided to return to the states and earn a Master in Education (Japanese & ELL endorsed) at Saint Martin’s University to search for the secret of BETTER teaching. She found it in TPRS! Missy has been working closely with her work-partner Yuya Kurata to translate and create a Japanese version of the LICT curriculum, attending every TPRS & CI training she can find. The results she dreamed of in Japan are finally happening in America! She is working closely with other Japanese teachers across the globe to perfect TPRS for Japanese. When she’s not obsessing over becoming the best possible teacher she can be, you’ll probably find her out on some random adventure with her 2 kiddos.
Julie Smith
It only took Julie a few months into her first year of teaching to become frustrated with the limits of TPR and begin the search for “what’s next?”. She attended a conference that summer (1995) to meet James Asher and ask him in person, but ended up also meeting Blaine and finding her answer in TPRS! She caught the vision for what could be possible, and has taught hundreds of students from kindergarten - college level since that time. Julie is thrilled to join the TPRS Books training team and share her passion for this highly effective approach. She studied at La Universidad Autónoma de Campeche in Campeche, México, and holds a Bachelor's Degree in Spanish and a Master's Degree in Teaching, both from Austin College in Sherman, TX. After homeschooling her own children, Julie became certified in TPRS 2.0 and returned to the classroom. She currently teaches high school Spanish in person part-time, and teaches privately online, working with both children and adults (some of whom took years of grammar-based Spanish classes in the past and are shocked at the gains they are making now!). Julie lives in North Texas where she enjoys her growing family - especially the grandkids!
