It felt great to be back in my weekend #AdultESOL class today. Class went well, and they loved #SuperJintori. I'm not sure the English name, but it is a fast-paced card game good for practicing new vocabulary.

#ESOL #ESL #EFL

Don't remember if I mentioned this here, but I (finally??) came up with a good response to HS students "I have to take this call. It's an emergency" in the middle of class.

I tell them "of course, if it is an emergency, you need to take it. I care about you, so I'll call home later today to check that everything is okay."

"I care about you" is phrased as appropriate for our relationship and the age of the student.

Ofc, since I came up with this, I have not had to use it.

#k12 #ESOL #ESL

Anyone have experience with https://freesubtitles.ai?

I just discovered it, and it seems like something that I, as an ESOL teacher, could get a lot of use out of, even just for the subtitles. But, it also says it can translate subtitles - and the first language is *free*.

Many sites that translate subtitles cost a lot of money & require monthly / yearly subscriptions.

Thanks for any info. I'll try it ofc, but other's insights are appreciated.

#ESOL #ESL #AskMastodon #subtitles #EdTech #K12

I feel I should make an #Introduction now that I've moved to sdf from fosstodon. Retired now but worked in a number of countries in Africa and the Americas. Started as civil engineer but after MA in #Linguistics went on to teach #ESOL and also worked in #IT as a kind of jack of all trades... I'm also a relatively new (1 year +/1) #SteamDeck devotee 😃

cont...

5. These services will likely save a lot of teachers a lot of time.

6. They *might* result in some improvement in learning outcomes for students.

If I were starting a PhD program today, I would research number 6.

#K12 #ESOL #TESOL #EdTech

cont...

3. Those companies are all probably using #ChatGPT or similar on the back end to generate the content. Their added value is turning the generated content into documents, slides, polls, etc.

4. Yes, at the moment a lot of content is not great. Factual content cannot be trusted. Narrative content is often bland / generic / boring.

But, it should be safe to assume the generated content will get better.

2/?

#K12 #ESOL #TESOL

I am NOT an AI expert, so of course I have some opinions ...

1. #ChatGPT and similar Large Language Models are NOT AGI (artificial general intelligence). Not even close.

2. The ARE content creation tools. To the extent that you need to create content, they can be useful. Many companies now offer content creation services to #K12 educators. The list includes, but is not limited to, lesson plans; class slides; assessments; summaries; and modified and translated readings.

1/?

#ESOL #TESOL

Productive and educational (no pun intended) week. Completed a lot of prep for the new #k12 school year. Have more new (to our school) #EnglishLearners than I expected, so that's great news.

As always, looking forward to #AdultESL this weekend. Prepping for that now, then going to play some old-school #Quake3.

#ESOL #ESL

Beginning of the school year. So, open houses (so 12+ hour work days) at two schools this week, another next week, and another the week after. #k12 start of the year is so much fun.

Good news is that we have lots of new #EnglishLearners at the schools this year, so I will have a lot of great students to work with.

#ESOL #ESL

Little did I know when I wrote that toot, that (approximately) hundreds of #AI #EdTech startups were already in the works. Seems like every day I hear about 2 or 3 more companies that use AI to help with some aspect of teacher prep and teaching.

Honestly, it is a bit overwhelming. I feel like I need to try many of them and see which fits my needs best. But, not enough time in the day!

#ESOL #ESL #k12

Adult #ESOL class started today. As usual, I have a great group of students in class. Looking forward to working with them for the next 2 months.

I "work" 7 days a week (#k12 Mon to Fri, adults on weekend), but teaching ESOL doesn't feel like work when it is what you want to do anyhow.

In related news, debating if I should renew #Gimkit for another year or not. Don't use it that much, but when I do, it is well received.

#ESL

Forgot to include the link to my slides and resources from the #GTechSummit23 presentation, in case anyone is interested.

They are at https://www.chrisspackman.com/educator-resources/pd/2023-08-g-tech-summit/index.html

#ESOL #EdTech #TechInEd #ESL #K12

Subbed for an adult #ESOL class tonight. Wonderful students; had a great time. Slightly lower level, which means I might get to see some of them again in 6 months when they get to the level that I teach.

#ESL

Back from presenting on "Technology to Support English Learners & Multilingual Families" at #GTechSummit23.

My presentation went well - lots of good questions and comments. I also learned *a lot* at the other presentations.

Thanks to everyone involved is making the summit happen. Looking forward to #GTechSummit24!

#ESL #ESOL #k12 #EdTech

Got lots done today on prep for my presentation / workshop at #GTechSummit23. Presentation slides (LaTeX Beamer, ofc), Google Forms in several languages, docs to translate, html pages of links, as well as QR codes. So, productive day.

Also have to present about #ESOL and supporting #EnglishLearners to new staff at #K12 school tomorrow, so, oops, should probably prepare for that too.

I should be working on my #GTechSummit23 #ESOL / #EnglishLearner presentation, but I'm really loving the #RewatcherPodcast #BuffyTheVampireKiller podcast.

Had never heard of Morbid, the true crime podcast by the same people, but might have to check it out. Can't listen to science and political news all day every day, right?

Oops! Just found out that while I was in Japan, a proposal I made to present at an #EdTech conference was accepted!

Excited, but I didn't expect this and now have about 2 weeks to prep 80 minutes on "Technology to Support English Learners & Multilingual Families". Suggestions most welcome!

Oh, and I also need to get permission from the higher ups to be at the conference instead of at work that day. (This one is actually not going to be a problem, I don't think.)

#K12 #ESOL #ESL #MLL

There should be more programs to help USA #k12 #teachers experience living in another language and culture. Not only would many have a much better idea of what #EnglishLearners experience, but the teachers would also hopefully be better able to explain the importance of knowing / respecting more languages and cultures to the monolingual, monocultural students.

I can dream, right?

#ESOL #ESL #tesol

@nnedi

I will definitely be getting this. (Probably from bookshop.org, though)

Love Binti and have recommended it to several #k12 #ELA and #ESOL teachers. I know of at least 1 teacher who used Binti in her honors class the next semester.

Thank you!

(Almost finished with #OkoraforLagoon. It's been a long school year.)

Just back from another great day of PD with @ValentinaESL.

Today, AM was about reading and writing with k-5 and PM was about working with #SLIFE students.

Great content, and got do work with great teaching colleagues in #Ohio.

#K12 #ESOL #ESL #ProfessionalDevelopment