How Artificial Intelligence is Revolutionizing Second Language Learning

Señora Dionne, Upper School Spanish teacher, had a vision. Her vision is now the focus of the most recent episode of FutureCast*, a podcast highlighting the recipients of the school’s innovation microgrants, and features three SCH students who share their experience with AI in the Spanish classroom.

This year, after participating in the SCH Summer AI Task Force and attending two AI workshops at the American Council of Teaching Foreign Languages Conference in Philadelphia, Corinne Dionne has created avenues for second-language instruction using AI tools to adapt to each student’s proficiency level, providing targeted exercises and scaffolding to support their proficiency progress. The result? Enhanced student engagement and an opportunity for language acquisition specific to individual learning styles.

Dionne’s podcast provides insight into a teaching practice that takes students down a path to understanding how to use AI, when to use it, and then what to do with the feedback.

SCH 9th grader Charlotte Harris highlights one of many examples of the tool as it was used to enhance the persuasive speech she was tasked to deliver to her Spanish 3 Honors classmates for the Artist of the Year award. Dionne said we should utilize the Magic School chatbot, the platform used, for useful tips to make our writing more persuasive. She explains further, “After I wrote my script for my presentation, I put it into Magic School, and it gave me not only grammar feedback but also feedback on how to make it more persuasive and with vocabulary that was more convincing and more engaging than what I already had.”

Dionne affirms, “AI provides immediate feedback, allowing students to correct mistakes and improve fluency while learning how AI chatbots work, including strengths and limitations, fostering critical thinking about AI-generated content.”

Listen to the full podcast here and learn how one Spanish teacher has taken her students on a personalized learning journey while enhancing their proficiency and developing their AI literacy.

*FutureCast is the podcast produced by CEL executive director Ed Glassman and chief innovation officer Pete DiDonato to dive deeper into the 12 projects that were awarded funding with the faculty & staff whose vision will be coming to life this spring.
 

IMAGE: Spanish teacher Corinne Dionne and fellow podcasters, Tristyn Howard, Charlotte Harris, and Ava Trotter