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Karen Rowan is an author and speaker on comprehension based
language acquisition teaching methodologies including Total
Physical Response (TPR®), Story Based Methods, Story-Asking
and Reading. Her presentations are based on the research and
teachings of Dr. Stephen
Krashen, co-creator of the Natural Approach and Dr. James
Asher, inventor of TPR. Karen is the author of TPR Stories
for Paso a paso I (2000), TPR Stories for Paso a paso II (2001)
and TPR Stories for Realidades I (2004) and TPR Stories for
Realidades II (2009), all published by Pearson
Prentice Hall (formerly Scott Foresman). 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.
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Von Ray and Karen Rowan presented a TPRS® workshop together in Denver last July |
Since 1996 Karen has been training and coaching teachers
and presenting workshops on adapting the textbook to comprehension
based methods.. She worked as a workshop presenter of Blaine
Ray Workshops from 1996 through 2008 and started her own business,
Karen Rowan Workshops, Inc., in 1998. She now teaches adult
language classes through Fluency Fast Language Classes, www.FluencyFast.com.
Karen was also the conference chair for the National
TPR Storytelling Conference from 2001-2005.. She is now
working with the International Forum on Language Teaching,
(www.iFLT.org) under conference director Diana Noonan and
in collaboration with Jason Fritze, Dr. Steve Krashen and
Project Coach. She is excited to bring years of experience
with a national conference to iFLT as the director of the
Fluency Fast classes that will be presented pre-conference
and during the conference.
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 co-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.
In January 2009 she became the owner of Fluency Fast Language
Classes, Inc., which has presented classes in Russian, Spanish,
French, German, English, Mandarin and Arabic. Teachers who
completed the Fluency Fast Level I teacher training in the
Summer of 2009 are now teaching all over the world. www.fluencyfast.com
Karen is also the editor of The International Journal
of Foreign Language Teaching, a peer-reviewed scholarly
journal containing current research on language acquisition
theory.
Her most recent book, Las Aventuras de Isabela, a
beginning reader with a 200 word vocabulary is available through
Fluency Fast in Spanish.
The English version is available on-line for free to language
programs teaching English within the U.S. and internationally.
She travels between Costa Rica and the U.S. alternately writing
new readers and teaching language classes for Fluency
Fast.
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