Bridging The Gap: Pocketalk Seeks UK Schools For Free AI Translator Trial

Pocketalk is launching a School Partnership Programme in the UK. They are looking for schools and early years settings to trial their AI powered handheld translation devices. You can apply for up to 10 devices, free of charge, and will be asked to feed back how you are using them to support EAL learners in the classroom. The application form is at https://www.pocketalk.com/uk-partner-program.

When I have worked with learners who are new to English or recently arrived in the UK, I have found it helpful to have some samples of their home language ready prepared. Here is a brief YouTube video for numbers and greetings in Telegu as an example. These days there is plenty of content in different languages on the web, and many videos which help with pronunciation. Now we can all have access to greetings, numbers and a small core vocabulary. There is nothing like seeing a child’s face light up when in the buzz of a busy classroom, they hear a snatch of their own language.

Technology can provide a solution

Now with AI, the range and reach of information in different languages is growing daily. This is just as well since we have an expanding population of children who are learning English from scratch. Schools quite rightly celebrate their diversity and the multicultural nature of their population. However, they can struggle to build bridges for language learners who cannot understand even the simplest instructions.

Now with apps and AI we are beginning to find simple cost effective solutions to overcome the language barriers. AI is a game changer. According to Wordly, it uses: ‘machine learning algorithms to analyse large amounts of text data in multiple languages and learn the relationships between words and phrases. The algorithms then use this information to translate new text in real-time.’ This makes it a highly proficient language learner.

A translator in your pocket

One of the most exciting examples of AI is Pocketalk. It is a small handheld device which can speak 84 languages. Choose your home language. Press and hold the button, speak in your own language and the clever technology will translate it in an instant. Hand the device to the person you are talking to; they answer in their language which is translated in a split second to give you your answer.

A few schools in the UK are already using it. A year one teacher in the northeast was finding it hard to communicate with a new arrival who spoke Telegu. This is a language spoken in southern India and parts of Malaysia. Frustrated by the communication barriers, she agreed to give Pocketalk a go. ‘Being able to use a handheld device so quickly and effortlessly was a lifesaver on many occasions.  I was able to move between both languages effectively and keep the flow of the lesson well whilst being fully inclusive.’

She was concerned that the technology would be no match for her Geordie accent but her fears were ill-founded. It stores spoken sentences so high frequency words and phrases come up again and again. This gives the child a chance to plug into the key vocabulary of a curriculum area.

Features of Pocketalk:

• It is powered by AI
• Intuitive to use
• Real time translation
• Deciphers accents
• Can understand regional dialect and slang
• Can be used independently by children
• Gives access to 84+ languages
• Robust
• Not dependent on Wi-Fi

Is AI a good way to deal with language barriers?

Wordly says: ‘ There are many benefits to AI translation, including lower cost, easier setup, and on-demand access without the need for human interpreters or special equipment.’

Critics of AI claim that it has problems dealing with ‘linguistic nuances. Including abstract language, humour and sarcasm, or cultural-specific idioms’. To be fair, most school children have problems with these! What AI translation lacks in nuance, it more than makes up for in speed. This lets children have real time conversations in a classroom across two languages.

Pocketalk in rural schools

My own experience running projects on ICT and EAL showed that learners in inner city schools fared better than those in rural areas and small towns. Often teachers could call on interpreters and had bilingual or multilingual teaching assistants. They could access posters and printed resources in a wide range of languages. They were plugged into community groups and had many children who could act as buddies and day to day translators. While city schools welcomed children of different nationalities, children attending rural schools were seen as a cause for concern. There was often a tendency to adopt a deficit model of ‘these children cannot speak English’ instead of seeing them as an asset to the school.

In 2018, the EAL Journal published the findings of research conducted by Emily Starbuck, who did her Masters at Oxford Brookes University. She had noticed that year on year, in the annual DfE survey, Newly Qualified Teachers consistently said that their initial teacher training did not prepare them adequately for the job of teaching EAL learners. She also noted that the numbers of EAL learners nationally had grown 275% between 2004 and 2018. The big rise was in rural areas.

Technology lets teachers communicate with a distressed child

Aston Clinton Primary School educates around 400 students aged between four and 11 years old and around 5% of those children do not speak English as a first language, and some do not speak or understand any English at all. Melissa Garraway, SENCO lead at the school, says: ‘Children as young as four are only just learning to read and write in their mother tongue, let alone a second language, so being put into an environment where they cannot converse with teachers or fellow students can be incredibly isolating for them.’

Earlier this year, a little Bulgarian girl joined the school in KS1. She didn’t speak or understand any English at all, and her parents spoke very little English. The language barrier between school and the family caused severe upset and distress for the child, particularly when her parents left. Without knowing what the little girl feared, the staff at the school were unable to reassure her and comfort her that she was safe and cared for. 

Melissa opted to use an online translation tool. However, for safeguarding reasons, the website was not accessible on the school’s network and the tool didn’t offer Bulgarian as a language. Staff are not permitted to use phones in the school, so solutions were limited.

Pocketalk saves the day!

Within a couple of days of the little girl arriving at the school, Pocketalk donated a device to help overcome the language barriers. Melissa described it as ‘a saviour’. The child was so distressed it meant she would only be at school for an hour or so but once the school’s teaching staff started to use Pocketalk, the little girl stayed all day and has done so ever since.

Melissa says: ‘We could immediately communicate. We could allay her fears and worries and help her to understand where she was and that she was safe. Using the Pocketalk device we could understand what was causing upset. It transpired that she thought she was being left and that she wouldn’t see her parents again. Without Pocketalk, we would never have understood that. I don’t think she would’ve stayed in the school without the support of this technology. It has been invaluable.’ Since using the Pocketalk, the little girl has thrived and in just a few weeks she was able to sound out her first word in English – ‘cat’.

Rolling it out to older learners

Since having Pocketalk at the school the teachers have also used it to help overcome language barriers for another Bulgarian child who joined the school in KS2.

He had never attended school in Bulgaria and joined Aston Clinton Primary unable to read in his own language. The Pocketalk device has transformed his learning and the school is looking at how they can use the device when he sits his SAT exams.

Melissa concludes: ‘Pocketalk is a very safe, data compliant device, which has opened up life-changing opportunities for the children in our school who speak little, or no, English. Early years learning is crucial and without Pocketalk these two children would not have been able to learn and enjoy school in the way they have over the last few weeks. We understand that there are hundreds of children in the UK, who don’t speak English as a first language and who are struggling. I would recommend Pocketalk to every school.’

The closing date for the Pocketalk UK School Partner Programme is 12 July. See https://www.pocketalk.com/uk-partner-program