Strokes, AI, and My Son Said...

There were a ton of articles from Google Alerts this week. Unfortunately, not all were relevant to our ESL topic but many were oh, so interesting!

My favorite article this week comes from Australia where Rebecca Vukovic writing for Teacher featured comments from Professor Neil Selwyn, (Faculty of Education at Monash University) an expert on digital education. In the article, “How Will Schooling Change Over the Next Ten Years?” Professor Selwyn points out that the issues facing schools mirror those that will be faced by the nation. Climate change, dealing with changing demographics, and developing schooling to fit the needs of Indigenous and migrant populations are some of the obvious issues schools will need to address.

Selwyn also believes new challenges may come from changes in the economy and the workplace. Selwyn questions, “if schools are not necessarily a route straight into jobs, then there’s not this really strong link between schools and the work that you do – what would “school” mean?” An interesting question for all of us to ponder! Would school provide a “well-rounded” basic education for all with on-the-job training molding workers into what a company needs?

Selwyn describes the classroom of the future to be based around sensors, technology, and data driven. Data from artificial intelligence (AI) may even learn to “read” students so that more personalized learning environments may be created instantly. AI will be used to look for patterns in masses of data, make predictions, and suggest courses of action. Selwyn also believes learning will become more mobile with kids on the move, learning at coffee shops, bus stops, and malls. This mobile learning may need to happen in contrast to what we see now with 1:1 device initiatives. Climate crisis may impact the availability of materials and energy to fuel 1:1.

Australia or the United States, I found Selwyn’s comments to be relevant for all, addressing global needs and trends that need global solutions.

Sure, we are all thinking about ESL and techniques to assist those learners but have you ever thought about ESL classes to help stroke victims?! Ted W. Baxter, (retired global financial executive) suffered a stroke in 2015 and enrolled himself in ESL classes to help regain communication skills. In Every Day Health, “How Speech Therapy Can Help People With Aphasia Regain Communication Skills,” the process is equated to learning a foreign language. Intense repetition and one-on-one work with therapists helps patients see the most results. Also, similar to ESL strategies, pictures and one-word associations can start the re-learning process for those who suffer from aphasia.

Finally, nothing I needed to read in an article. My son (21 yr.) is teaching himself Hindi this summer before he begins his PhD studies in Physics at the University of Delaware. (Yes, a little mom bragging there!) Yesterday he and I had the most interesting conversation via Google Translate. He spoke in Hindi, I read the translation, and replied in English. We both had a great time laughing and being amazed at the technology. I’m impressed how well his pronunciations are, as Google had little trouble translating his needs. Although some of the dialogue was rather predictable – he was hungry and wanted food – what else is new? The whole process reminded me of how mobile technology can play a huge role in assisting L2s.