From the blackboard to AI: a language teacher’s journey

When EP was first introduced, it was used for vocabulary and quizzes on an ad hoc basis. Today, it is fully integrated into the curriculum, “We have adopted a highly sequential approach using customised smart lessons to align with the textbook and creating a uniform template for all classes. The smart lessons include the learning intentions, teacher-written instructions on what notes they need to make in their workbooks, and activities from EP’s extensive library or we might upload a video from YouTube or the student grammar book.” This approach allows students to work at their own pace, with teachers monitoring and providing support in real time.

Over the years, Maria’s department has developed customised assessments to track student progress, “We created a rubric that matches EP’s insights and we assess the smart lessons based on student attempts, accuracy, and completion. We don’t have to correct students work anymore, which is just amazing!”

EP also supports students with different learning needs, especially those who struggle with writing, “EP offers a digital alternative where they can complete their work and experience success and a sense of accomplishment, which they may not feel in other subjects that require written tasks. And of course, EP’s monitoring features means we quickly identify student difficulties and can adjust lessons in real-time. The students also appreciate the recommendations feature that guides them to other activities to provide extra practice.”

The ease with which EP can be tailored using the Scratchpad feature and the numerous question types has given Maria and her team the flexibility to adapt to new approaches to language teaching such as Dr Gianfranco Conti’s Extensive Processing Instruction, “He has books of sentence builders that we simply import into EP, adding to the existing EP content, to provide the students with the repetition required to make the connections in the brain necessary for language learning but in a highly engaging way.”

This sequential smart lesson approach is used from Years 7 to 10, with some adaptations for Vocational Education and Training (VET) in the higher grades whilst still predominantly using EP’s content. In the senior years, students rely heavily on EP for vocabulary practice and revision, “All the students love it. They find the content absorbing and appreciate being in control of their own learning, so different from when I first started teaching.”