SLAyyy: Second Language Acquisition for Everyone

SLAyyy: Second Language Acquisition for Everyone

Join Ben (he/him), and Bill (he/him) as they Gaslight (reflect), Gatekeep (read research), and Girlboss (share successes) language teaching!

Episodes

December 2, 2025 50 mins

Gaslight

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

Bil...

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Gaslight

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...

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November 4, 2025 37 mins

Artists:

Ben Fisher-Rodriguez, Bill Langley

Main Points

SLAyyy: Second Language Acquisition for Everyone Website

Gaslight

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 + Complexit...

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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

Girlboss

Know Your Context and Know Your Students

Bring Diverse Stories to the Classroom

Tell Your Stories, Explore How to Make Other...

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Gaslight

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, Pr...

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September 23, 2025 57 mins

SLAyyy: Second Language Acquisition for Everyone Website

Gaslight

Everything Will Work Out in the End (Maybe?)

The Critical Period

Relationship to One’s Own Accent

Gatekeep - Vijay A Ramjattan, Imagining an anti-racist pronunciation pedagogy, ELT Journal, Volume 78, Issue 3, July 2024, Pages 318–325

Webinar on the Same Topic

Refusal - Relational - Activist

Girlboss

Parking on the Language to Enjoy It!

How do we frame pronunciation to our st...

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SLAyyy: Second Language Acquisition for Everyone Website

Gaslight

Missing Out on Kindergarten Day

Kids Books Are For the Adults

Bored During Shared Reading

Gatekeep -

Reading Children’s Books Rule

How many repetitions do they need?

Use of L1 to Get Back to the L2

Program Length, Abstraction, Home Language

Girlboss

Park and Pause

Comprehension-Based Reader Storybooks

Picture Talk

Story Listening

Justice for Kindergarten Day

References

Proficiency-...

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Gaslight

We explore the common challenges of using TV series in class: the major investment of time and prep, the difficulty of finding content that is both engaging and linguistically appropriate, and the eternal struggle over which subtitles to use.

Gatekeep

We unpack research showing how to make video work for listening proficiency, based on Zakar & Zippo (2023).

  • The Study: Researchers had third-semester German students watc...
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July 28, 2025 48 mins

Housekeeping

  • Book Study: Join us on social media (Blue Sky, Threads, Facebook) to read Proficiency Based Instruction: Teaching Grammar for Proficiency by Ritz & Travers. The discussion starts the week of August 18th. Get the book from ACTFL.
  • Support the Podcast: Help us cover costs by contributing at slayyypod.com.
  • Review: Please leave a rating and review to help others find the show!

Gaslight: Rethinking the Traditional W...

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May 7, 2025 39 mins

Gaslight
Defining Dynamic Assessment
Examples from Language Teaching
Formative Assessment in the Classroom
How are we responsive in our assessments?

Gatekeep - Najjarpour and Salimi: “Navigating Mindset Trajectories: Exploring EFL Teachers’ Evolution in Embracing Dynamic and Summative Assessment in the Language Classroom”

Dynamic Assessment

Girlboss

Successfully and Accountably Collecting Assessment Data
Taking Advantage of Opportunities to...

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April 21, 2025 58 mins

Gaslight

Isolated Vocabulary
Useful Vocabulary Lists
Idioms and Stock Phrases
Use Language in Context

Gatekeep - Takizawa, K., & Suzuki, S. (2025). The role of multiword sequences in fluent speech: The case of listener-based judgment in L2 argumentative speech. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 1–21.

Perceived Fluency and Proficiency Ratings
It’s Giving Library
Speaking to the Heart
What Even Is Fluency?
Lowering Cognitive Load for Spe...

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Gaslight
Course-End Exams
Vertical Alignment - To University and Beyond
Understanding Ordered Development
Setting Realistic Goals

Gatekeep - Gombert, W., Keijzer, M., & Verspoor, M. (2024). Long-term effects of structure-based versus dynamic usage-based instructional programs for French. Journal of the European Second Language Association, 8(1), 18–33.

Dynamic Usage-Based Programs vs. Structure-Based Programs
Homework and Accountability
W...

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Gaslight
Judge, Jury, Executioner
What Are Our Goals?
Time Investment


Gatekeep - Amanda Beck, Central States Languages for All Regional TOY 2024
How We Invest Our Time
Guessing Games
Games as Scaffolds for Learning and Social Interaction
Games Provide Structure for Listening and Reading
Have Backups


Girlboss
Level Your Games
Use Templates
Novelty Makes People Curious
Predictions
Winning!
B I N G O


References

Joint National Committee for Languages (J...

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Gaslight
Lack of Training and Preparation
Reading IEPs and 504s
Diagnosis - or No?


Gatekeep - Sara Lee, 2024 Southwest Conference on Language Teaching TOY
Formative Assessment to Evaluate Strengths and Needs
Teaching for Proficiency
What About Explicit Grammar Teaching?
Anxiety!
Theory: Mental-Graphemic Representation


Girlboss
Readable Fonts
Identify the “Easy” Spelling Rules
Differentiation
Alternatives to Writing
Pro Tip!
Equality and Equity: Ar...

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Bertha Delgadillo, Southern Conference On Language Teaching (SCOLT) Regional Teacher of the Year 2024

Bertha’s Story

Staying Informed and Incorporating Authentic Voices

Abundance Mindset and Belonging

Engaging Students With Local Communities

Connecting Students to Needed Resources

Joy


References

Bertha’s Padlet: Advocating & standing with immigrant students

“A Multilingualism-as-a-Resource Orientation in Dual Language Education” by de Jong,...

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Gaslight
Humor Doesn’t Always Work
Not Being Intentional
Some Things Don’t Work In YOUR Context
Thinking Expected Behaviors Are Obvious


Gatekeep - Kei Tsukamaki, ACTFL National Language Teacher of the Year 2025
Dog Training Teaches Us About Classroom Environments
The ABCs
Taking Time for Reflection
Prioritizing Relationships and Routines


Girlboss
Understanding Students’ Responses to Questions
Hallway Conversations That Honor Student Agency
Valu...

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Gaslight
Gradebook Categories
What is included in a grade?
Assessments

Gatekeep - Student Perceptions on Standards-Based Grading in the World Language Classroom by our own Bryan Smith!
History of SBG
SBG in Bryan’s Classes
What Kids Like, and What They Don’t

Girlboss
Clarity, Rubrics, Consistency
Helping Get Classwork and Homework Done
Change One Thing at a Time!

References
Webinar for Tumbao Bilingual Books’ newest book - We Celebrate Junetee...

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January 13, 2025 50 mins

GaslightDifferences Between Language Standards and Other Content Areas

Setting Expectations from a Textbook

Proficiency vs. Performance

Hours of Instruction

Gatekeep What proficiency levels do K-16 world language learners achieve? (van Gorp and Coss)

Document about AP and ACTFL Proficiency Levels

Don’t Beat Yourself Up, Girl

What Does Self-Assessment Look Like?

Girlboss

Course-End Expectations

Proficiency-Based Instruction, TL Usage, Motivat...

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