"Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day…" - 5 new articles

About two years ago I wrote a post titled I Think This Study Shows The Best Way To Use AI To Help ELLs Develop Writing Skills.

In that study, the researchers showed that having students use a writing tool that periodically gave English Language Learners a few choices of words to use helped them become better writers.

Basically, it was a controlled Google “Smart Compose” or Apple autocomplete.

That made a lot of sense to me.  Unfortunately, Word Tune was the only tool out there that was similar (the researchers had built their own) and it was too expensive for most teachers to use.

Yesterday, on a whim, I tried to see if I could create such a tool through “vibe coding” – basically, using AI to create it for me (since I know absolutely nothing about programming).

First, I tried Google’s Gemini, which had a promising start.  In fact, it told me it could even connect a Google Sheet to it so that a teacher could see who used it, what they wrote, and which words they had actually chosen.  But, then its instructions got too complex and convoluted.   It ended up recommending that I take my idea to ChatGPT.

ChatGPT then basically threw up its hands (if it had them) and said it couldn’t do it.

Finally, I went to Claude.

After many exchanges, we created the “Write In English” tool, which is free and accessible to everyone and anyone.

In theory, after every few words you type into it, it’s supposed to show you three words to consider choosing as the next one (though you don’t have to accept its suggestions). The words it uses are supposed to be the 1000 most used English words, and its supposed to able to choose the three words by mimicking the literacy of a Beginning ELL. In addition, each of those three words has a short explanation of it.  It’s also supposed to tell you if misspelled a word, and how to spell it correctly (though seems to incorrectly flag some words).  It can offer topics, and many sentence starters.  It will also read aloud what is written.  It’s designed for Beginning English Language Learners.

It’s clunky and doesn’t do everything it’s supposed to do.  In fact, I don’t even think it works well enough that I’d use it in my own classroom.  

However, in a year or two, I bet AI coding will reach a point where any teacher could easily create something far more sophisticated.

Doing this took several hours – far longer than I had expected.  “Vibe coding” is not as simple as it’s supposed to be.

You might also be interested in I’ve Created Five Free Chatbots For Teachers & Others, And Some Have Become Quite Popular – Here Links To All Of Them.

I’m adding this info to THE BEST POSTS ABOUT USING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WITH ELLS .

     

JessBaileyDesign / Pixabay

With fewer and fewer ELL Newcomers entering schools because of Trump administration policies, many schools will likely be eliminating classes dedicated solely to Newcomers.

Which means that many of them will be parachuted into classes composed almost entirely of English-proficient students.

Good ELL teaching is better teaching for everybody, since it requires teachers to make their content more accessible.

However, that’s going to be a big challenge for any teacher if they have a student who knows next to no English.

That’s where Google’s announcement today that simultaneous translation features on Google Translate are now available on iPhones and can be used with earbuds.  See Transform your headphones into a live personal translator on iOS.

I’m adding this info to THE BEST RESOURCES TO HELP ELL STUDENTS WITH SIMULTANEOUS TRANSLATION IN THE CLASSROOM.

Here’s a video about how this new feature works:

     

Brent Warner is an ELL instructor who generally shares resources on multiple social media platforms, including a podcast.

I recently read a piece he wrote for TESOL, 4 Ways to Practice English With YouTube’s AI.

In it, he talks about how English Language Learners can use the “Ask About This Video” feature for language-learning.

You can identify videos that have this feature by a diamond icon next to the word “Ask” under the video (see the screenshot above).  Lots of videos don’t have it, but most of the  more education-related ones that I searched did.

You click on the icon, and this shows up on the side:

Brent’s post describes very creative ways motivated learners can take advantage of it.

I’m adding this info to THE BEST POSTS ABOUT USING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WITH ELLS .

     

jorono / Pixabay

The United Nations has declared April 7th to be the  International Day of Reflection on the Genocide in Rwanda.

You might be interested in The Best Sites To Learn About Genocide In Rwanda.

You might also be interested in “Best” Lists Of The Week: Resources On Genocide & Weapons of Mass Destruction.

     

Each week, I publish a post or two containing three or four particularly useful resources on classroom instruction, and you can see them all here.

You can also see all my “Best” lists on instructional strategies here.

Here are this week’s picks:

College students are bombarded by misinformation, so this professor taught them fact-checking 101 − here’s what happened is from The Conversation. I’m adding it to The Best Tools & Lessons For Teaching Information Literacy – Help Me Find More.

An opening build + writing activity to open our year!

10 min: free build

10 min: write in one of these genres with a one-page goal in writers notebooks (direction slide included)

Then share your build/writing with seat partners.

@angelastockman.bsky.social

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— Brett Vogelsinger (@thevogelman.bsky.social) September 2, 2025 at 3:24 PM

I’m adding this video to The Best Posts On Reading Strategies & Comprehension – Help Me Find More!:

 

Every year I ask students what their past experience was with school.

They write down a number.

The next class? They get to see all the different numbers from their classmates—an important reminder for them.

(And an even more important reminder for us as teachers.)

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— Marcus Luther (@marcusluther.bsky.social) September 6, 2025 at 6:47 AM

8 Questions New Teachers Often Ask—Answered is from Edutopia. I’m adding it to The Best Advice For New Teachers.

Teaching Causation to Students is from The OER Project.

Teaching Holocaust Literature is from Facing History. I’m adding it to I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About The Holocaust.