AI for English teaching, more than language teaching

It's my honor to hear the presentation of Nicky Hockly, who explained the history and introduced the latest research on Digital literacies and AI. I have many reflections after listening to the presentation.

The advent of ChatGPT has attracted tremendous attention since 2022. Digital literacies of AI have advanced enough to produce what you want, a picture for an advertisement, a passage for an official document, or a code for a program, by typing keywords in the dialog box. What's more, if I don't tell you that you are chatting with a machine, you might never realize that! We have to admit that ChatGPT can complete the tasks quickly and well. Thus, the hearsay that AI will finally replace people, or many people are at risk of losing jobs, generates more and more heated debate. Here is an interesting video:

I never worried that AI would replace people. Just like the blogger in the video mentioned Al can't generate original information. That is, AI can think as humans do. However, the last time I felt that AI might replace my job as an English teacher was when my students told me they would use some AI tools to practice their oral speaking and they wouldn't need my help anymore. When they submitted their homework, I felt less anxious since with the help of AI, their writing was so patterned and emotionless. This experience gives me much inspiration. Language teaching should teach students how to think and then express their thoughts, rather than pursuing to write an article without grammatical errors.

However, I needn't be so hostile to the AI. They can also bring much fun to my life, like Deepfakes. Although I know they are not real at all, I couldn't help laughing when I saw Elon Mask seriously introduce the constructed news.

AI can also support teaching. Here I want to introduce Eduaide.AI to you. (Link: https://www.eduaide.ai/)

How to use Eduaide.AI

Open the website and make an account.

(website screenshot of Eduaide.AI)

Put the keywords in the dialog box. (Click 'Enhance', and you will get a clear order with your keywords)

(website screenshot of Eduaide.AI)

Then you can see a completed activity plan.

(website screenshot of Eduaide.AI)

You can also use it to help you make a lesson plan.

(website screenshot of Eduaide.AI)

Then, you can get a lesson plan!

(website screenshot of Eduaide.AI)

Why use Eduaide.AI

I think Eduaide.AI is useful, especially for extremely busy teachers and novice teachers who want to know the outline or some basic tips for preparing a lesson. The reason why we use AI partly is that we want to improve efficiency and give us more time to do something more creative and valuable. Eduaide.AI provides teachers with basic ideas for lesson preparation. Teachers of all levels will get inspiration from it.

Limitations

One important thing is that teachers shouldn't rely on this tool too much. What Eduaide.AI can provide are some basic and common activities, which might be simple and dull to your students. Teachers should think about whether those plans can meet students' learning needs rather than use them directly. Besides, AI, in some cases, is not intelligent enough. If you look at the lesson plan I made in the above pictures, you will notice that the lesson plan for teaching grammar is so rigid! You can't use 'Present perfect tense' these three words to organize a passage!!! It seems that it is a perfect plan with a completed teaching procedure. However, if you look at this plan in detail, you may find many unreasonable designs. Thus, as a teacher, stopping thinking is dangerous even though you are really busy! You don't want to be replaced by AI, right?

Further explanation of Eduaide.AI

Enjoy your English learning trip! Have fun!