CATESOL Bay Area Chapter Spring 2024 Conference

AI and ESL: When/Where Tradition Meets Innovation

Welcome to the Bay Area Chapter Spring Virtual Conference for TESOL Instructors! Are you ready to embark on a transformative journey in English language education? Join us for an exhilarating online experience at the Bay Area Chapter Conference to explore the dynamic intersection of foundational principles and cutting-edge AI technology. Together, let's shape the future of ESOL language education! We look forward to welcoming you to a conference like no other!

Keynote

Wrapping Your Head Around the Future: The Perils–and Possibilities–of AI

We stand at the dawn of an exhilarating era; from the inception of the Internet to the birth of the World Wide Web, and now the dawn of Artificial Intelligence, our contributions have sculpted the landscape of human progress irreversibly. As we navigate this new terrain, the question resonates: how will you harness the power of AI?

Keynote speakers Susan Gaer, Margi Wald, and David Wiese will demonstrate the integration of cutting-edge AI tools that may revolutionize the classrooms of today. Through her work in adult non-credit writing classes at the American University of Afghanistan, Susan will demonstrate how ethical considerations are seamlessly integrated into the fabric of AI utilization. Margi and David will highlight how they have used AI to create classroom materials, design first-year writing assignments incorporating ChatGPT in a guided manner, and create writing prompts that can “beat the bots.” Join us as we embark on a journey where innovation meets responsibility, shaping the future of education with purpose and integrity.

Susan Gaer is a retired professor of ESL Santa Ana College. She has been a promoter of digital literacy for teachers throughout the world for the last 25 years. She is a past President of CATESOL, a frequent presenter at TESOL, an English Language Specialist for the State Department, and a Subject Matter Expert for the Outreach Technical Assistance Center (OTAN) and World Education. She is currently an adjunct instructor in English for the American University of Afghanistan. In addition, she is a Google Innovator, Trainer, and is experimenting using AI with her students.

Margi Wald, M.A. Applied Linguistics, teaches first-year writing, reading, and grammar & vocabulary courses specifically designed for multilingual students. She directs UC Berkeley's Summer English Language Studies program, manages The CATESOL Journal, and has extensive experience presenting at and organizing conferences for English language teaching organizations. She co-edited Teaching U.S.-educated Multilingual Student Writers (with Mark Roberge and Kay Losey) and co-authored the textbook Exploring Options in Academic Writing: Effective Vocabulary and Grammar Use (with Jan Frodesen). Her research focuses on corpus-based materials development for and academic literacy development among immigrant ESL students.

David Wiese teaches first and second year writing during fall and spring, and is the Associate Director of the Summer English Language Studies Program. He also creates textbooks and online learning materials related to academic writing, reading, and English as a second language. Previously, he worked as the Submissions Editor for the CATESOL Journal. He holds a Master’s Degree in TESOL from Teacher’s College, Columbia University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations from the University of California Santa Barbara. A California native, his prior teaching experience includes corporate language training in Barcelona Spain and positions at New York University, The New School, Brooklyn College and the University of San Francisco. His interests include writing, applied linguistics, language learning, phonetics, assessment, and use of technology for educational purposes.

Featured Session

Empower Students to Use Generative AI Tools in Integrated-Skills Projects

The proliferation of AI tools raises questions about how education must change fundamentally to keep up with technological advances. Teachers are now adopting generative AI for their own use, but our English language learners also need to experiment with these tools while exercising their creative and critical thinking so that they don’t get left behind in this latest technological revolution. Learn about student projects with just a few of the countless AI tools that can be used in language instruction, giving students the opportunity to gain AI literacy and practice their language skills in an integrated way.

Kristi Reyes is a tenured faculty member in the Noncredit ESL program at MiraCosta College. She provides professional development to California adult educators through her roles as an OTAN subject matter expert and CALPRO facilitator. With more than 25 years of experience teaching ESL, finding new ways to integrate technology into language instruction and putting it in the hands of students so that they learn so much more than just English is what keeps her excited in this beautiful, rewarding profession.

Featured Session

Visualizing Speech to Enable Greater Intelligibility

"A picture is worth a thousand words." Especially if those words are oral, and they are aurally comprehensible! In this session, Marsha will demonstrate how teachers of speech, pronunciation, and listening can leverage digital audio recording applications like Audacity, utilizing the Spectrogram feature to enhance learners’ understanding and perception of spoken English. Discover how spectrograms can be a powerful tool for students with a strong visual learning modality.

Marsha J. Chan is Co-founder and Co-coordinator of the CATESOL Teaching of Pronunciation Interest Group (TOP-IG). She also volunteers as Web Manager, Professional Development Coordinator, Event Registrar, Conference Organizer, and YouTube Committee member. She is ESL Professor Emerita at Mission College and has served the U.S. Department of State as an English Language Specialist. She has authored books and digital materials for English language learners and is followed around the world as Pronunciation Doctor on Youtube.

Additional speakers

Amanda Simons, San Diego College of Continuing Education

Leslie Sherwood, UCLA, and Kara Mac Donald, Defense Language Institute–Monterey

Opportunity Drawing

Be sure to stay until the end of the conference. There will be prizes for attendees!

Location

Setting: Live Virtual
CATESOL Zoom Room
UNITED STATES

Contact Person

Johanna Esther Carranza

Links

http://www.catesol.org

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5/11/2024

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