SLAyyy: Second Language Acquisition for Everyone

SLAyyy: Second Language Acquisition for Everyone Website

Overview of Can Do Statements

Proficiency, Performance, Can Do!

What is Intercultural Communication?

Function, Context, Text Type

Changes from 2017

Cultural Self-Knowledge

Minor Semantic Changes

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Use Them For Planning!

References

Social Accounts:

Facebook

Bluesky

Instagram

Avant ADVANCE - Proficiency Level Training

Language Functions List from The Keys to Planning for Learning

Facilitated Interdependent Language Learning (FILL) - blog by Michele Anciaux Aoki

SLAyyy: Second Language Acquisition for Everyone Website

Gaslight

What is school supposed to look like?

Misalignment of Objectives

Holistic Thinking vs. Right/Wrong Answers

Gatekeep - Kürüm, E. Y. (2025). Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Comprehension-Based Language Teaching: A Large-Scale Pretest-Posttest Study. RumeliDE Dil ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi, (47), 140-155.

Want to learn about CEFR and ACTFL comparisons? Click here!

ACTFL’s Inverted Pyramid

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Get Connected!

iFLT/TPRS/CI Teaching Facebook Group

ACTFL Special Interest Groups

See below for conferences mentioned!

References

Social Accounts:

Facebook

Bluesky

Instagram

Mitten CI, April 17-18, Saline, Michigan (outside Detroit),

Comprehensible Iowa, June 12-13th, Des Moines, Iowa

The CI Summit, July 15-17, Cincinnati, Ohio

The Agen Workshop, Agen, France, July 20-25

CI Reboot, all online, June 20-27

SLAyyy: Second Language Acquisition for Everyone Website

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Talking Yourself Out of Them

Brain Breaks vs. Games

Focus vs. Energize

Perception of Brain Breaks

Gatekeep

Sharpe, B. T., Trotter, M. G., & Hale, B. J. (2025). Sustaining student concentration: The effectiveness of micro-breaks in a classroom setting. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1589411.

Do students perform better on quizzes and tests if they get regularly microbreaks during class time?

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Meditation and Box Breaths

Games with Patterns

Simpler!

References

Social Accounts:

Facebook

Bluesky

Instagram

Headspace - meditation app, free for educators!

Calm - Breathe Bubble (for quick mindfulness in class)

Say the Word to the Beat Examples - Spanish, German

Heads Up, 7 Up - Spanish, German

Category Clapping from Claudia Elliott

SLAyyy: Second Language Acquisition for Everyone Website

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Overreliance on Translation

The Need for TL Usage

No Translation Ever! …Or?

Gatekeep

Does Translation Contribute to SLA?

How Do Students Perceive Translation in SLA?

Choral Translation

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Use Judiciously!

Keep Proficiency Level in Mind

References

Social Accounts:

Facebook

Bluesky

Instagram

Bryce Hedstrom - Stuff for Spanish Class

Keith Toda - Stultus (Liar!) Game (Ben’s note: it turns out “stultus” means something more like “stupid”! I use the word for “Lie!”)

Artists:

Ben Fisher-Rodriguez, Bill Langley

Main Points

SLAyyy: Second Language Acquisition for Everyone Website

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Where’s the consistency?

How to Deal with Reluctant or Resistant Students

Hesitate! Slow Down!

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Principles of TPR: Not Just Commands

Connecting Language to the Body

Lowering Anxiety

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TPR, or Gestures?

Model - Hesitate - Stop

Left-Brain “School” Processing Activities

TPR for Upper Levels

References

Social Accounts:

Facebook

Bluesky

Instagram

Jon Cowart’s Website

Berty Segal Cook - Teaching English Through Action

James Asher - Learning Another Language Through Actions

Contee Seely - TPR is More Than Commands

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The Class That Just Won’t Talk

Planning and Grading Struggle Bus

Accountable Reading

Explicitly Talking About Why We Do What We Do

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Book Study Takeaways

Synonym Stacking

Pronunciation Fun

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Having a Unit Framework Slays!

Kicking Butt and Taking Names

References

Social Accounts:

Facebook

Bluesky

Instagram

The Partner Speaking / Q+A Game

Bill’s Unit Planning Framework

Independent Textivities from the Comprehensible Classroom

Bill’s Post for the Educational Knowledge Network: Podcasts as Tools for Knowledge Brokers: How We’re Working to Make Evidence Accessible, Relevant, and Actionable

SLAyyy: Second Language Acquisition for Everyone Website

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Grammar as a Concept

Do ACTFL levels describe language development?

Use of the L2 in Grammar Explanations

Balancing Authentic/Found Resources and Created Resources

Gatekeep - Proficiency-Based Instruction: Teaching Grammar for Proficiency by Ritz and Travers

Teaching Grammar? Start with Input!

Referential and Affective Tasks in Structured Input

Bill Talks about SI and Eats It Up

Performance and Proficiency

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Form-Focused Feedback

Structured Input 2: Electric Boogaloo

Rethinking Our Relationship to Grammar

References

Social Accounts:

Facebook

Bluesky

Instagram

Stacy’s BlueSky Account

Language Learner Literature Advisory Board - reviews of readers for issues of identity/bias

Stacy’s Session at ACTFL 2025: Friday, 4:30pm, Room 213

Ben’s SideBar at ACTFL 2025: Saturday, 11-11:45am

Common Ground: Second Language Acquisition Theory Goes to the Classroom by Henshaw and Hawkins

Timothy Chavez’ Instagram Account - language teaching research and practice

Artists:

Ben Fisher-Rodriguez, Bill Langley

Main Points

SLAyyy: Second Language Acquisition for Everyone Website

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Parking on New Vocabulary

Allowing for Negotiating Meaning

Talking Ourselves Out of Using the TL

Gatekeep - Adu, Michael & Abunya, Levina & Owusu, Edward & Budu, Gifty. (2025). THE IMPACT OF INTERACTION ON SECOND-LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LISTENING. 31-42.

Input + Interaction

Quantity + Redundancy + Complexity

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Teach to the Eyes (Despite the “Gen Z Stare”)

Teaching Students How to React

Synonym Stacking

MODEL EVERYTHING

References

Proficiency-Based Instruction: Teaching Grammar for Proficiency by Ritz and Travers

Social Accounts:

Facebook

Bluesky

Instagram

Bill’s Rules

Ben’s TL Usage Reflection

Dr. Liam Printer and The Motivated Classroom Podcast

Carrie Toth’s “Discussion Thursdays”

Krashen and Mason: “Comprehension-Aiding Supplementation”

Gaslight

What is it that we want to / have to teach?

There Is No Faking a Storyteller’s Intention

“One Day, You Will Have a Real Conversation”

Gatekeep - Jim Wooldridge

What does the life of a kid look like?

The Novelty Disappears - What is the Driving Reason?

Start With Your Problem and Communicative Purpose

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Know Your Context and Know Your Students

Bring Diverse Stories to the Classroom

Tell Your Stories, Explore How to Make Other Stories Work

Does the repetition “teach the structure,” or serve the story?

References

Proficiency-Based Instruction: Teaching Grammar for Proficiency by Ritz and Travers

Social Accounts:

Facebook

Bluesky

Instagram

Woology Facebook Group

Conversations About Language Teaching Podcast

SLAyyy: Second Language Acquisition for Everyone Website

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Challenge and Accommodation

The Neverending Rubric

Time Investment

Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Gatekeep - Tajik, O., Noor, S. & Golzar, J. Investigating differentiated instruction and the contributing factors to cater EFL students’ needs at the collegial level. Asian. J. Second. Foreign. Lang. Educ. 9, 74 (2024).

Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

Content, Process, Product, Learning Environment

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Diverse Tips for Differentiating!

References

Proficiency-Based Instruction: Teaching Grammar for Proficiency by Ritz and Travers

Social Accounts:

Facebook

Bluesky

Instagram

Feedback Options (via Meredith White)