Ai is an innovation that has rapidly affected all of our lives. One way that AI has affected the lives of RAHS students is English learning.
Karin Johnson, an EL teacher at RAHS said, “…there are appropriate times to use translation apps…allowing them to put things in their first language is super helpful with language learning. What I don’t want to see is that they write a whole paragraph and try to put that into a translator because that just comes out all funky.”
Different EL teachers at RAHS have had different experiences with students using AI in their classes. Roger Kerbage, a teacher at RAHS for EL 1 & 2, said, “…they don’t use AI much yet. I am beginning to use it to generate ideas and simple extra practice activities for these classes.”
Johnson has had a different experience. She said, “I see students using AI when aren’t sure how to respond to certain prompts…I definitely see it when they are asked to summarize things and those kind of easier comprehensive questions…I try and actually tailor my lesson plans and my assignments so that its difficult to use AI so there is some more higher level thinking where they have to put in their thoughts and opinions, which is hard to get from AI.”
Some EL teachers express that AI can be a helpful tool in helping their students learn English. Kerbage said, “ we use google translate and Microsoft apps to help them understand the spoken and written materials.”
Johnson verifies Kerbage’s claim when she said, “we use a translating app by Microsoft, and the thing I like about it is that it’s got a speaking…so that you can just speak into it and it will translate…its really good for clarifying instructions or trying to understand a situation that has happened between students that we aren’t sure of.”
Soliana Fikadu, a sophomore at RAHS, demonstrates Johnson’s and Kerbages point when she said, “I use AI to help me with my school things, so when I don’t understand something, I ask AI and it explains it for me. I just don’t copy and paste, I try to use my own words.”
Kerbage shared some advice for other teachers with students in their classes who are learning English. He said, “Every teacher who has ELs in their class could benefit from these two apps in order to ensure that students understand the directions and activities. Also, they could use AI to differentiate their activities to the ELs’ appropriate level.”
Johnson also shared advice she said, “one of the best ways to help students is in vocabulary. If your teaching vocabulary is dependent on your content, having students be able to know what those are in their first language can often help with all of the other things around it.”
