What is the National TPR Storytelling® Conference?

NTPRS is massive training workshop for foreign language and ELA / ESL teachers in the methodology Teaching Proficiency Through Reading and Storytelling (formerly known as Total Physical Response Storytelling). It includes training workshops for beginning and advanced TPRS teachers. Teachers are given the opportunity to learn a language through TPRS by taking Fluency Fast classes in Mandarin, Russian, Spanish, French or Hebrew within the conference. All teachers are coached in TPRS and have an opportunity to practice using the method during the week-long conference.

The July 15-18th pre-conference is a 4 day Fluency Fast seminar with beginning classes for members of the general public and immersion classes for foreign language teachers to improve their own language skills. Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced Spanish, French, Mandarin, Arabic, German and Russian have all been offered in the past. This year's line-up will be announced in November. Click on the Fluency Fast Students After 15 Hours Link to the left to get a better idea of what to expect from beginning classes.

"This conference was everything I've heard it would be and more!"

"This was the quintessential professional development experience of my 25 years of teaching."

What have previous conferences been like?

Check out our handouts, class video clips and photos from the 2008 conference in Minneapolis by clicking the links on the left.

Most people who have attended agree that it is the friendliest foreign language conference in existence. New teachers find mentors, experienced teachers find peers, many people find lifetime friends and resources. Presenters are accessible. Coaching is available after hours. It's a shot in the arm before school starts again and, with the help of the moretprs listserv ( Join moretprs ), teachers have continuous support from peers throughout the following year.

Who generally presents at NTPRS?

Jason Fritze, National Board Certified Spanish teacher, Fluency Fast Spanish teacher, author of En Espanol's TPRS Supplement and member of California's Project Coach, Orange County, CA;

Carol Gaab, Spanish teacher, owner of TPRS Publishing and elementary TPRS methods expert;

Susan Gross, French teacher and TPRS trainer, Colorado Springs, CO;

Nahed Hazaa, Arabic teacher, Cairo, Egypt;

Dr. Stephen Krashen, language acquisition expert, professor emeritus, USC and author of hundreds of books on language acquisition.

Linda Li, Mandarin and English teacher and author of the I Love Learning Chinese series, Bankok, Thailand;

Michael Miller, German teacher and author of the Sabine und Michael German series, Colorado Springs, CO;

Joe Neilson, Spanish teacher and co-author of the Look, I Can Talk books, Tucson, AZ;

Diana Noonan, French teacher and World Languages Director of Denver Public Schools, Denver, CO;

Blaine Ray, inventor of TPRS, Spanish teacher and owner of Blaine Ray Workshops, Inc. and prolific author of Look, I Can Talk teaching materials and the Pobre Ana reader series, Arroyo Grande, CA;

Von Ray, Spanish teacher, TPRS presenter for Blaine Ray Workshops, Inc., Arroyo Grande, CA;

Karen Rowan, Spanish teacher and director of Fluency Fast Language Classes, Inc and author of Pearson / Prentice Hall's Paso a paso and Realidades TPRS supplements, Colorado Springs, CO;

Katya Paukova, Russian and French teacher, translator of Poor Ann into Russian, Connecticut.

Donna Tatum-Johns, French teacher and assistant principal, Louisville, KY;

How do I register?

The link is coming soon! Registration opens November, 2008. Registrations are ONLY taken on-line so that we can keep your costs down. Come back to www.NationalTPRS.com beginning in November.

How much does it cost?

This is a unique conference, created and run by foreign language and ELA teachers from across the world. Costs are kept as low as possible. Registration generally runs about $400 for the main conference and $200 for the pre-conference, not including room and board. Prices will be set after the hotel location is confirmed.

Where should I stay?

Most people stay at the hotel where the conference is taking place (information forthcoming) or a hotel nearby.

Can I get university credit?

We will provide you with a certificate of completion. In addition, you can purchase credit hours through the University of the Pacific for approximately $62 per credit hour.

Who can I call with questions?

Call Blaine Ray Workshops at 888-373-1920.

What is TPRS?

TPR Storytelling is a foreign language teaching methodology that was invented by Blaine Ray of Bakersfield, California. TPR Storytelling (TPRS) teachers tell personalized stories in their foreign language or English as a Second language classrooms as their students act those stories out.

Students comprehend the stories by virtue of the live action visual aids and acquire the target vocabulary because it is repeated dozens of times within the daily story. Sentence structure, vocabulary and grammar are acquired because non-stop comprehensible input is provided by the teacher.

Blaine Ray's TPR Storytelling is used by thousands of elementary school, middle school, high school, college and adult education English as a Second Language, English as a Foreign Language and Foreign Language teachers nationally and internationally. The long-term memory strategies, constant comprehensible input and intense personalization of this methodology are based on the pedagogy of Dr. James Asher (TPR) and Dr. Stephen Krashen (The Natural Approach). TPR Storytelling is similar to Classical TPR, except that the 3 Steps of TPRS® allow students to acquire the narrative and descriptive, rather than the imperative, modes of speech. The goal of TPRS® is to make students fluent and proficient in a second language through ample exposure to interesting, comprehensible input. TPRS® teachers direct their efforts toward their students, rather than the textbook, the grammar or the curriculum. We teach kids. As a result, we have students who are excited about foreign languages, eager to stay in our classes all the way through school.... and who are bilingual.

TPR Storytelling begins with introducing the vocabulary (step 1). Students then act out the stories as the teacher tells (or, more accurately, "asks") re-tells and asks questions about a story that uses the vocabulary words (step 2). The oral story is then followed up with reading (step 3). The best way to learn more about TPRS is to read Fluency Through TPR Storytelling, by Blaine Ray and Contee Seely. It is available at www.blaineraytprs.com. Students rapidly acquire the second language just as Dr. Krashen imagined: effortlessly and involuntarily. The method relies heavily on the five hypotheses of The Natural Approach: the acquisition hypothesis, the input hypothesis, the natural order hypothesis, the affective filter hypothesis and the monitor hypothesis, which are explained in detail in Foreign Language Education The Easy Way, by Dr. Stephen Krashen, as well as lots of comprehensible input through access to books. Find out more about TPRS.

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