ESL and AI

 It's here! You can now practice SPEAKING a second language using AI.  FREE.  This is the my first blog entry on the subject but not the last.

Go to Gliglish.com to converse with a native language "speaker". However, you get only 10 minutes per day.  I tested it out using French and Spanish, since my mother tongue is English.  I used up my minutes pretty fast just figuring out how the site works.  I chose French from a big list of languages. Gliglish (who appears as a young lady) greeted me, then, to reply, I needed to click a microphone icon to start my response.  Then I needed to click a red square to stop.  Just stopping talking was not enough.  I steered the "Hello, how are you" type of conversation onto the subject of pets.  I said I had a dog and a cat.  Gliglish said she had a cat.  It often took the AI a long time to respond but I think that resulted from my own ineptness in "turning off" the "microphone" promptly after I'd given her a statement.  Sometimes I would not realize I hadn't turned the mike on, at which point the screen would pop up some helpful examples of things I might say.

Next I tried Spanish.  This time I got a list of suggested subjects.  Unfortunately, upon choosing one, the screen said that I was now out of minutes.  I logged back in using the DuckDuckGo browser (rather than Google) and was able to go forward with a conversation on the subject of prices -- for the moment, anyway.  I asked how much a Spanish dictionary cost and got a price. Gliglish asked what country I was in.  I answered "Los Estados Unidos" and said a Spanish dictionary was expensive here.  (Actually, I don't think that's true if I get a used one.)

Overall, this ai app has great potential.  I'll go back to become more adept at using it, then evaluate how sophisticated a conversation it might be capable of.

Another ai app offering free usage with limited features is TalkPal.  Upon creating an account it says that the free trial lasts 14 days.  A 24 month premium subscription costs only $4.69 a month. (For now, anyway.)  That's really cheap.  But I can't start the free trial without entering a credit card to be billed after the trial.  So I didn't go forward.  I may try another day to see if I can get a limited-feature trial without entering a credit card.

Last but not least for today, people have simply been using the free versions of search chatbots to practice English.  Here's a YouTube video by Shivangi Gupta explaining how to do this. And here's another video comparing ChatGPT to ai apps with free freatures by Cloud English.

Synesthesia and Chromesthesia

In case you haven't met these, two words, here's an AI generated definition from Google: Synesthesia is a condition where stimulating one sense triggers experiences in another, and chromesthesia is the specific type where sounds evoke the perception of colors. 

I have the free version of a subscription at from academia.edu which gives you a summary every day of academic papers and shows people who share your interests.  Recently there seem to be more and more papers being published on the subject of chromesthesia which is, of course interesting to anyone who uses the Color Vowel® system.

For example, they recently suggested I read "Color Vision: Color Categories Vary With Language After All" by Debi Roberson.  The AI-generated abstract says: This research challenges the long-held belief that color categorization is universal and unaffected by language. It provides evidence from studies on Russian and English speakers, demonstrating that language significantly influences perceptual color categorization and shows that the cognitive organization of color categories varies across cultures. The findings highlight that distinct linguistic color categories can lead to measurable differences in color perception, suggesting the cognitive representation of color is shaped by linguistic frameworks.

If her research proves to be valid, that must be discouraging to the people who have been trying to develop a universal chart, similar to the Color Vowel® chart but applicable to all vowels in all languages and those who have been working on something similar in the field of music.

An example: Chromoacoustics: The Science of Sound and Color Chromoacoustique : La Science du son et de la couleur By Rose+Croix Journal.  Summary: The purpose of this presentation is to share findings from a decades-long search to develop the optimal method, with some basis in natural law, for translating music―and perhaps all auditory manifestations―into chromatic visual displays, a process this paper names Chromoacoustics, (" CAS ") or " color and sound. " The outcome could provide insights into the operation of well-concealed natural laws. It is clear that this research could furnish beneficial results through instructional and therapeutic applications, among which are means to provide enhanced tools for teaching the hearing-impaired.

If you want to get the same, free, subscrition I have, go to https://www.academia.edu.  I should warn you -- it will deluge you with emails. If possible, you might want to create an inbox "Rule" that puts all their messages into a special folder.

Party, party!

While thinking of dance styles I couldn't help thinking about the various types of balls, fiestas, fesitvals and so on where they take place.  How many types of party can you think of and which ones are common in your country of birth?

In the US, what would you wear to a:

• cocktail party
• birthday party
• reception
• fund-raising gala
• tea party
• picnic
• retirement paty
• backyard barbecue
• dance party
• ball
• graduation party
• wedding party
• Halloween party
• New Year's Eve party

Party vocabulary would be a good follow-on to, or a combintation with, a lesson about clothes.

Today, preparing for a camping trip with my dog, I kept thinking about all the pet products, health, care and training vocabulary necessary if you live in an English-speaking country.

I really must get back to giving ESL classes so I can put some ot these ideas into practice.

Dancing Into Summer

 I can't believe I totally missed posting in May.  

Having clobbered my toe in April, I may have been a bit off balance when I slipped and wrenched my left arm, shoulder and back getting the dog buckled into the car in May.  So I did not return to ballet classes even though the foot healed up.  Instead I'm doing tap dance this summer.  It does not require specific arm movements.

I had forgotten that the terminology is so colorful: 

• Tap, flap, slap.  
• Spank, stomp, step.  
• Brush, scuff.  Scuffle, shuffle. 
• Ball-change, dig.

I could do an entire ESL class on how to tap dance, teaching the practical meaning of these words at the same time.

And then there are all the different types of dance.  That vocabulary could be useful for a group discussion about the types of dance done in their country of birth: ballet, folk, modern, hip-hop, jazz,  bollywood, ballroom, waltz, salsa, rhumba, swing and so much more.

What A Month!

My son got dental surgery, then false teeth upper and lower.

I got a brief stomach bug.

My website's links to VOA's great ESL lessons went dead (of course).

We adopted a wonderful, new dog!

I stubbed (probably broke) my toe.

My grandson's new puppy broke his leg. (He is healing OK.)

My granddaughter made plans to move to California.

I "cut the cord" on my cable TV subscription and now do everything over the Internet.

With all this I've made only a little progress on starting up online classes again! This time around I will try not just one-on-one classes but small groups. With a more complicated schedule, I must utilize more sophisticated software to not just present material but keep me organized and enable students to sign up for classes independently.  Google Classroom paired with Google Meet looks very promising but trying to link in a free student signup is proving to be more complicated.

A Vocabulary Lesson With Teeth In It

This has been a season for dentistry. At my regular teeth-cleaning appointment the technician found a cavity, necessitating another appointment for a filling.  Then my son lost one of his remaining bridges so that there was no more putting it off -- time for an overall evaluation and major restructuring plan.

His dental surgery is finally complete.  He's adapting bit by bit to temporary dentures so that around September the clinic will make permanent ones.  Meanwhile, I've spent a lot of time playing chauffeur and waiting in dental offices.  Of course that has inspired a new Color Vowel Vocabulary Warm-Up Chart for an ESL lesson about all things dental.  Here's the vocabulary list so far:

Well, it's a start.

Stress and DeStressing

 If I want to do a blog post in February I'd better start writing!

At the beginning of February, it became apparent that this month would be dedicated to encouraging my son with his search for a new dental clinic, getting an evaluation and plan, faciltating appointments, then finally (today) chauffeuring him to dental surgery.  And, indeed, all of that happened, including the chauffeuring.  However, he could have driven himself home because the surgery got postponed for another month (long story).  

So now I have a freezer and fridge full of ice cream, protein shakes, jello, and puddings.  Plus hot/cold bead ice-packs which can go in the microwave to become hot packs when needed.  They'll keep.

As of now, my main project is to de-stress. 

Which reminded me that when I left-off teaching I was trying to develop more and better material to practice word, syllable and sentence stress.  I especially needed more dialogs with sentence stress to convey meaning and informal vocabulary with more use of the schwa (de-stress!) for better understanding of Americans when they speak.  De-stressing even further, I need to write more practice conversations using elisions.  What are the most common English words involving elisions?  As usual, I have started my own list.

I have found three super videos from Oxford Online English to help me with ideas.

The Schwa /ə/ Sound - How to Pronounce the Schwa - How to Improve English Pronunciation --This video is slightly less than 16 minutes long and covers word, phrase and sentence, all three.

Sentence Stress in English Pronunciation  -- This video is just over 13 minutes and covers content words vs grammar words.  It doesn't cover the schwa but offers good examples of intonation. Sample conversations show how stress conveys meaning.

Syllables and Word Stress - English Pronunciation Lesson -- This 14 minute video covers the main, most often-encountered rules.  At the very end it mentions the schwa.

So, the month of March will be dedicated to stressing and de-stressing, in more ways than one.