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Lack of Communicative Purpose

Bad Input! Bad!

Need for Scaffolding

We Teach Much More Than Language

Gatekeep - Sadri, E. & Tahririan, M.H.. (2018). Teacher-assisted vs. peer-assisted performances and L2 development: A mixed methods approach. Journal of Research in Applied Linguistics. 9. 3-27.

When Do Students Get the Most Gains from Peer Assistance?

Feedback Amount and Quality

What This Feedback Accomplished

Girlboss

Bill’s Framework That Slays

The Question of Proportion

Interactive Tasks That Are Secretly Input

Real Tasks, Really Supported

References

Social Accounts:

Facebook

Bluesky

Instagram

Timothy Chávez on Instagram and His Website!

Examples of Tasks shared by Timothy

Arcoíris from The Comprehensible Classroom

Huellas from Somewhere to Share

AnneMarie Chase - AP Strategies

Episode Notes

SLAyyy: Second Language Acquisition for Everyone Website

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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

Girlboss

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?

Girlboss

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

Girlboss

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!

Gatekeep

Principles of TPR: Not Just Commands

Connecting Language to the Body

Lowering Anxiety

Girlboss

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

Gatekeep

Book Study Takeaways

Synonym Stacking

Pronunciation Fun

Girlboss

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

Girlboss

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