Prof. Ray von Schmalz

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Ray von Schmalz, or Reinaldo von Schmalz, is a specialist in Foreign Language Education, a lecturer at several universities in both Brazil and Canada, and an expert in Canadian history and culture. In addition to his academic contributions, and his academic specialization degree in Foreign Language Education, he is also a civil engineer, holding a master's degree in engineering.

Born in Brazil and a German citizen, Ray developed close ties with Canadian friends during his teenage years. He immigrated to Canada in the 1990s, obtaining Permanent Resident status and the right to become a Canadian citizen, a status he held for ten years. However, he ultimately chose not to acquire Canadian citizenship for personal reasons. Alongside English, Ray is fluent in German and Portuguese, possesses strong communication skills in French, Spanish, and Italian, and has foundational knowledge of Dutch and Russian.

Upon his return to Brazil in 1995, he founded the Canadian English Centre, fulfilling his long-standing dream of establishing the first Canadian culture center in the country. In 2005, he returned to Canada, where he was invited to lecture on his unique language education approach at a Canadian college. Following the lecture, he was offered a teaching position to launch a pilot program using his method. However, he declined the offer to focus on the new Canadian English Centre project, which led to the creation of a state-of-the-art school building, designed by him to meet the specific needs of his program. He assembled a highly qualified team of teachers, educators, educational technicians, and assistants from Canada, the United States, and Brazil.

Ray has conducted advanced scientific research in linguistics through Von Schmalz Linguistics, a company dedicated to developing new educational methods. His research spans multiple fields, including neurolinguistics, brain lateralization, interlingual phonetic and phonological transfer, sensory vocabulary acquisition, and intonation pattern acquisition in adulthood. The distinctive results of his methodology have attracted the attention of scholars in Brazil and Canada. His research took him to Scotland and England in 2016 and across the United States in 2023-2024. He has also gained experience in Germany, Switzerland, and Italy and is currently working on a German-language adaptation of his method.

Today, the Canadian English Centre serves students worldwide through its exceptional online programs. Despite its global reach, Ray continues his work and research in Brazil, ensuring that the Canadian English Centre remains the premier institution for Brazilian students to achieve English proficiency in the shortest time frame with minimal investment.

Musical Career

Beyond academia, Ray von Schmalz is an award-winning multi-instrumentalist musician, singer, and composer, earning recognition across North America and Europe. His 2020 album, Shadows of the Past, gained international attention, leading to an interview with a British music magazine. The album was featured on London's ARfm during its popular Unsigned show in February 2020, where two of its tracks—"Road Across the USA" and "No Time"—were broadcasted during prime time, reaching audiences across the United Kingdom and worldwide online. In 2023, Ray released his second album, Resignation & Rebirth.

Shadows of the Past and Resignation & Rebirth have been played in several countries, including Russia, Germany, Italy, and Japan. It is now available on major music platforms such as Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, and Deezer. Ray maintains two YouTube channels—one dedicated to his original productions and another for cover performances, where he showcases his multilingual vocal abilities in English, German, Portuguese, French, Italian, and Spanish.