Posts

Creative Writing and ELT on TTR

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 I really enjoyed speaking to Larbi Arbaoui about creative writing and ELT on my Teachers Talk Radio show today. The recording of this can be found here , and it's also on the Teachers Talk Radio Youtube channel . Among other things, Larbi spoke about the Oliveseed foundation and the short story competition and anthologies of student writing .

AI & Language teaching and learning - TTR with Joe Dale

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Today, I was pleased to have Joe Dale join me for the second time on my Teachers Talk Radio show . Among other things,  Joe is  UK Independent modern foreign languages & technology consultant in the UK Former host of TES MFL forum & short-listed for NAACE Impact Award 2013 for Curriculum Support. Over the last couple of years, Joe has established his expertise in the use of artifical intelligence in language teaching and learning, and so it was fascinating to talk to him about this, and he generously shared his knowledge and experience of using a wide number of AI tools and how to use them with language learners. The recording of the show is below (and another (longer) audio recording is here ) Joe shared the transcript of our conversation here , and an audio overview , produced by Google's notetaking assistant, NotebookLM .  I highly recommend keeping an eye on Joe through Twitter (X) and following Joe's Youtube channel if you want more useful ideas.  Joe also runs t

TTR: Critical Citizenship with Eugenia Carrión

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On today's Teachers Talk Radio show, I was joined by Eugenia Carrion from Argentina for a conversation centring around critical citizenship. You can listen to the show at this link or on Youtube (below).

Decentring ELT - Teachers Talk Radio

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 Decentring English Language Teaching (ELT) was the topic of todays' Teachers Talk Radio show. We also talked about AI and action research in ELT. You can listen back to the conversation I had with Leonardo Lima from Brazil on Youtube (below) or at this link . 

What's the best GenAI tool for language learning?

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  Check out the video for an interesting comparison between ChatGPT , Bing , and Bard when it comes to learning a language. Here's how they are rated: Speaking and listening How easy is it to speak and listen with these GenAI? ChatGPT 2.5 (mobile app) - 2.5. Speaking works, but ChatGPT doesn't listen back.  ChatGPT Mod   4.5 ( modified Chrome voice extension ) - Good for speaking and listening Bing 3.0 - voice features (Speaking and listening) are easy to use but no way to trigger a voice response and 30 response limit Bard 4.0 - Speaking and listening features, but mobile not as good as ChatGPT. Speed and accent Which of the GenAI allows you to modify the accent (speed and actual voice accent)? ChatGPT 1.0 - the unmodified version does not let you change speed or accent ChatGPT Mod  4.0 (modified Chrome voice extesion) - this allows you to adjust listening speed and it gives you a choice of accents for popular languages Bing 1.0 - no change of listening speed or a

Learning Design in the age of Generative AI

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Donald Clark has published a very interesting blog post about how 'Learning Designers will have to adapt or die' and suggests 10 ways for them to upskill to AI. Just how AI will affect the job market has been a hot topic for discussion recently. The Economist's message is that the West suffers from too little automation, not too much, and we shouldn't worry .  Anecdotally, I have heard of two very different sides to how generative AI is affecting work right now. A partner's colleague who works in educational publishing has reported that this publisher has stopped working with the three freelance graphic designers they regulalrly contracted work to, and instead have hired a ' prompt engineer ' for their illustration needs. On the other hand,  Mexican friend who works for a PR agency told me her boss has embraced the changes and is giving the team (copywriters and illustrators, etc) weekly training sessions on how to get the best out of AI tools, and is encou

AI has Killed the Metaverse

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  I heard it first on Facebook, it sounded so sublime. A virtual world beyond what we see in space and time. A place where we could live and work and play. A digital dream where anything was okay.  But now AI's killed the Metaverse. and we never saw it coming at all. AI killed the Metaverse.  And now we're left with nothing at all. Remember the Metaverse ? That place that resembled Second Life but which was actually many places (Meta Multiverse?) and where you could use VR, and where the avatars didn't have any legs ? What's happened to it? I think the buzz around ChatGPT, MidJourney, and all things AI has basically killed it off as anything to get excited about. To use Gartner hype-cycle-speak, the Metaverse is probably languishing in the Trough of Disillusionment with little chance of dragging itself up the Slope of Enlightenment.  It doesn't surprise me. Although, I briefly got excited that the initial flicker of virtual worlds becoming the next big thing again,