Have you ever taken a language course and had trouble using the new vocabulary, so you consulted Google Translate to supplement your inability to understand?
Me too. And it never worked out very well.
My high school French teacher could always point out when students had tried to fudge their assignments using Google Translate because it does not do an adequate job translating complex phrases into coherent thoughts. It makes phrases sound choppy and out of order.
As a candidate for a teaching degree, I have tried to consider how in the world I will build community and rapport with my students and their families if they do not speak the same language as I do, and I know that Google Translate is not the tool of choice. However, in exploring this new Generative AI phenomenon, I have learned that ChatGPT is an effective tool for such a situation.
One of the key benefits of using ChatGPT in the classroom is its ability to act as a versatile translator. With this tool, teachers can easily translate writings into different languages, helping bridge the gap between students who have English as their second language and those who don't. This promotes inclusivity and allows all students to fully participate in classroom discussions and activities. By using ChatGPT as a translator, teachers can build a stronger sense of community and ensure that students and their families feel valued and understood. Parents and guardians have a right to be included in the conversations about their child's education. I do not want a language difference to create a barrier, so creating a space for communication in the language they are comfortable with is a game changer.
Additionally, ChatGPT can be utilized to reshape content to fit varying developmental stages and learning abilities. By adjusting vocabulary and complexity, teachers can cater to the diverse needs of their students. This allows exceptional learners to access the same content as their peers and ensures that no student is left behind. Group discussions become more inclusive, as every student has the opportunity to explore and engage with the same material, fostering a sense of equality and collaboration within the classroom. An example of how this would be incredibly useful is in an ELA classroom. If students are reading articles to practice analysis of text, an ELA teacher could run the articles through ChatGPT, having it rewrite the articles using vocabulary and concepts at a lower stage of learning. This situation would allow any learners who struggle with reading at their grade level to still engage fully with the same content as their peers, just at a level that is equitable for them.
Though I value social engagement more than technological engagement, I do find these specific ChatGPT abilities to be extremely helpful in thinking about a fully inclusive and equitable space for my future students. This is definitely a tool that I will utilize!
(Created with the assistance of Generative AI)
Emily,
ReplyDeleteI am so happy you blogged about the translation opportunities that ChatGPT unlocks! In class, I played around with it by translating an email into Vietnamese and then translating the Vietnamese version back into English. Other than a few descriptive adjectives, the third version of the email matched the original version. Next, I translated this third version into Russian and back into English again, and with the exception of a few adjectives and one noun, this fifth version of the email still matched the original version. I am not sure how fool-proof my test was, but I was pretty astounded. Translation is a very difficult art as no two words mean the exact same thing across languages and context is everything.
As a teacher, I am also thrilled about the opportunity to use this function to communicate more effectively with my students and families who are more comfortable speaking a language other than English. Moreover, as an ELA teacher, I am excited to be able to translate some of the texts I assign into my student's primary language so that they can focus on engaging in analysis, identifying and evaluating rhetoric, or practicing other vital skills without their language barrier disadvantaging them compared to their peers!
I'm so glad you did a test too! I was also very curious about using ChatGPT to translate - I found a Saudi Arabian site in Arabic that had a two-sided marketing flyer for World Cup tickets (one side in the Arabic, the other in English) and I compared Google Translate to ChatGPT... astounding the difference and how accurate ChatGPT was. Then I wanted to see how well it would translate through multiple languages so I put some passages from the Fellowship of the Ring through Arabic, Spanish, and back into English using different Chats for each translation so it wouldn't remember that it had translated from the previous language. ALSO astounding! Here is the link to those so y'all can see if you want: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NyD43b7MMHGIJUUAwkLs00mI60aawWee/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=102762114325213769459&rtpof=true&sd=true
DeleteEmily, thank you for writing this - it has implications for our students' ability to create assignments in their own language too! If we can plug their text into ChatGPT and understand their process of learning in that way, then they can do the work of learning without having to also do the work of translating! I love this, thank you!
I love this....and I'm excited for you to bring this to your classroom. I really think you all having time to play with and understand how ChatGPT can support learning in the classroom is going to give you a head start in your classrooms, in interviews for jobs and as team leaders.
ReplyDeleteHi Emily! I really appreciate that you've been considering how to build a community with the students & families in your class who don't speak English as their primary language. I can tell you first-hand that this will have an amazing impact on the lives of those students. When I was in school and learning English, it was also hard for my parents to communicate with my teachers. But once in a while, a teacher put in extra effort to get a translator and be proactive about the extra support that me and my family needed. When this happened, my parents would remember these teachers forever and be more willing to get involved at school! I'm happy there is a tool like ChatGPT that can help with this process & I wonder if there are similar AI tools that can help you communicate verbally or even translate written language from students.
ReplyDelete