Sarah Said, an English teacher working with English learners at an alternative high school near Chicago, has seen translation apps evolve over time.
Enough input from users and linguists have made Google Translate a much more useful tool than it might have been a few years back.
Lately, her English learners at Dream Academy in Elgin, Ill., have demonstrated a knack for using and finding a variety of generative artificial intelligence tools and translation apps, prompting Said to learn more about this technology and guide her students in responsible and ethical uses.
With more than 20 years of experience working with English learners, Said encourages other teachers to familiarize themselves with new AI tools. She presented on this topic virtually at the annual WIDA conference in mid-October and spoke with Education Week about how teachers working with English learners should approach AI tools in class.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Why should teachers working with English learners not shy away from AI tools?
They’re already using it.
I’ve noticed you will get things that don’t look like your students’ writing, and they have tried to use AI, but they haven’t done it responsibly. It’s really then taking what they’ve done and working with them on saying, “Hey, this is a starting point. Let’s work on expanding the idea that AI gave you so that now it becomes your own idea to where your own feelings and your own emotion is in there.”
I do have students who regularly will use translation apps in class and outside of class. I’m noticing, where is this coming from? Students will tell you, “I used ChatGPT to help translate.” I’m like, “Well, OK, but now we have to grow what you did.”
That’s where it becomes a one-on-one conversation. How can we change the sentence to bring your voice into the sentence rather than AI’s voice into the sentence? Almost like using a calculator in math class, right? You may struggle with certain operations, but you still have to do the algebra, you still have to do the proofs in geometry. AI is your starting point to build on better ideas in learning and understanding language.
I didn’t totally know what was out there. [Students] were showing me things. You do have to teach them that there’s a line that they have to walk with AI, and it’s definitely not going away. My students, when they’re looking for jobs and they’re writing things—applications and resumes—they have to make sure that they are using certain words. Unfortunately, there are employers out there that are using AI to help them sift through resumes because they have thousands of resumes to sift through.
English learners might be the first ones to actually be in the know because they’ve had to adapt to using so many tools in the classroom.
In my building, I feel that way, because they had to learn language for survival. Years ago in another district, I was actually a coordinator, and I worked with moms from Yemen, and it was very interesting. This is when Google Voice first came out. And these moms would just use Google Voice with their phones. I’m like, “Wow, that’s so innovative.”
I think that sometimes our language learners are the most innovative because they’ve had to work to navigate certain situations, that they might be on the cusp of more than some of the gen. ed. students.
What should teachers keep in mind when exploring AI tools?
A teacher has to understand what the tools are and what the language of AI is, because it’s another world. So before even beginning to embark on AI in a classroom, the teacher has to understand it. I know that this is a work in progress with states and districts right now, but districts have to have parameters on how schools and districts can use it.
First, the teacher has to become knowledgeable about what tools are out there. Then, as they’re becoming knowledgeable about the tools, that’s where they become knowledgeable about the parameters, they become knowledgeable about policy. We have to regulate it in a sense, too. You don’t want kids putting their data out there, so you have to regulate that and understand that. If a student is using a tool, you have to show them how to use it responsibly.
I think AI enhances language learning. It’s up to the teacher on how they model the usage of it. The kids need to see an appropriate model in order to develop those skills.
What have been some of the strategic ways AI has helped your instruction?
I’ve used it as a model. I’ll break down a sentence for students, and I’ll show them how the AI helps to find meaning within the sentence. I will use AI in front of them to show them, “Hey, when you ask this question, this is what’s going to come up, and this is what they’re going to tell you. It’s not just the question you ask. It’s how you ask the question.”
Then it teaches this idea of, how do we command language? Because a computer takes everything literally. It’s kind of like Amelia Bedelia, right? And what is the difference, then, between that literal and figurative language?
When you send an email to a person, the person cannot tell what you are like on the other end. If you send an email and you sound mad but you didn’t mean to sound mad, the person on the other end doesn’t see that. So how do we command language when we are not in front of people?
Even designing on Canva [an online graphic design tool], you could use their AI tools to design something.
