The 2019 JALT CALL conference was informative and enjoyable as usual! Here are some handy highlights and tech tips I picked up during the three days of presentations…
- The big names that come up every year include English Central, WordEngine, Pocket Passport, and XReading. Check them out if you don’t already know them!
- Did you know you can use MoodleCloud to host your Moodle installation?
- According to English Central, “difficulties”, “colony”, and “discovered” are amongst the words Japanese learners of English find the most difficult to pronounce
- The University of Kyoto is using blockchain to power its learning analytics. Find out more about the uses of blockchain here
- Kai-Fu Lee discusses AI in his best-selling book “AI Super Powers“
- Musio X robot helps Japanese kids learn English
- Google Duplex can call local businesses to arrange appointments
- Pocket Talk puts the power of two-way voice translation in your pocket
- Translatotron can translate L1 speech directly into L2 speech without the need for an intermediary text transcription stage
- Critical thinking, people management, and creativity will be among the top 10 job skills in 2020 according to the World Economic Forum
- DialogFlow can be used to create natural AI-powered “conversation experiences”
- Seesaw empowers students to demonstrate and share learning
- Google Classroom is gaining traction in Japan, although I experienced issues inviting students from certain institutions that hadn’t yet granted access to the tool
- Did you know that Google complies with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR)?
- Did you know that there are 118 million smart speakers in US households?
- Alexa Skill Blueprints allow you to easily create your own Alexa Skill
- jb11.org contains lots of useful text analysis tools
- Learner English corpora include ICLE, JEFFL, and many others
- There are also many native speaker corpora
- Manaba is a popular LMS in Japan
Also, don’t forget to check out my own sites:
… and buy my book if you’re interested in learning more about how to use tech in the ESL classroom!
paulsensei.com 