Deepfaking Multilingualism - AI in ESL

AI IN ESL
Deepfaking
Multilingualism
There’s no way around it: This is going to

freak the “second” out of a lot of English as a
Second Language Teachers.
If we weren’t already dealing with concern

about ChatGPT commandeering students’
writing, here comes AI for their speaking,
too.
That’s right; for only $3 you can speak –

actually speak – English (or a smattering of
other languages), show yourself talking on
video, enunciate the sounds with your lips,
and upload it to your teachers online. Oh, and
all of this in your own voice, natch.
Don’t believe me? Check out this video of me

speaking Chinese, a language I didn’t know I
could speak!
This is going to freak a lot of teachers the hell out.
1:03 / 1:03
Alright, so unless you really haven’t been

paying attention you probably had at least an
idea that something like this might come
along. Honestly, I knew it was coming fast,
but I thought this type of stuff would become
available in Spring of ’24, not Summer of ’23.
Not that the extra 8-9 months would have
given us a lot of breathing room. So here we
are.
Before we get into implications for ESL, can

we pause for a minute and just admire HOW
AWESOME THAT IS?!?! I mean, I know people
are worried about the future of the field, but
come on!
Updates to
Deepfaking
This is less of a deepfake and more of a very
sophisticated filter. Unlike in the Deepfaking
Myself post, this actually is a video of me
talking, and it is saying what I’m saying, it’s
just that it’s all in Chinese — which again — I
do not speak. Also, it seems like they made
me a little prettier in the Chinese version .
Less than a month ago Ixchell and I put out

an episode called Will AI Kill TESOL? We got
some feedback that there’s no need to scare
people, but that wasn’t our intention. If we’re
serious about our profession, we need to be
willing to have open talks about where things
are in the field, and like my doctor said, “You
can’t just ignore that thing growing on your
nose”
Listen in here. I think it’s a fair conversation:
FOLLOW SHARE
The DIESOL Podcast | EdTech in ESL
DIESOL 088 - Will AI Kill TESO
0:00 55:30
15 30 1x
How Easy Is It?

Crazy easy. I thought the few steps for
deepfaking myself were easy, but they’re
nothing compared to this.
I made an account with HeyGen and jumped

into their “Labs” section. Basically, this is still
considered to be in Beta, but you already saw
what it’s producing above.
TEST OUT HEYGEN FOR YOURSELF
(note using the link above gives me a free

credit to experiment more. If you don’t want
to use a Friend Link, you can go directly to
HeyGen.com)
You upload a video of yourself, and then

about 5 minutes later you download yourself
speaking in another language. That’s it.
The only problem is that it takes 1.5 credits,

and you are only given 1 credit to sample, so
you actually have to make a purchase to get
it. Hey Gen gives you 15 credits for $29, so
doing the math it cost me $3 to make that
video.
Cool things you could

do for your students
I know there are concerns, but first let’s think
about some of the very cool things you could
do with this. At the moment you can have
yourself speak in the following languages:
English
Spanish
French
Hindi
Italian
German
Polish
Portuguese
Mandarin
Japanese
Dutch
Turkish
Korean
For those of you teaching true beginners,

imagine how powerful a video of you greeting
your students in their language before the
class even began would be. You don’t have to
—and shouldn’t— make videos of everything,
of course, but it would be a gesture that
could go a long way, especially for students
who are shy or unsure of what to expect.
You could also have students introduce each

other to each other in different languages.
This would seem to be the real goal of being
a multilingual learner if we can strip away our
idea that English is the way to do that.
With a little imagination, you can start to see

the ways this can make your life easier, and
your students’ lives better.
Ok, I do admit this is a fair question:
But what do I do if my
students start using
it?
Alright. Let’s get down to brass tacks. It’s a
come-to-Jesus moment for some, but here’s
the truth:
You.
Can’t.
Stop.
Them.
Students are going to find these tools and

find use in them. As Ixchell and I talked about
in Episode 88 above, we’re going to need to
start looking at student motivation for
learning English. It’s becoming more and
more apparent that they won’t need English
to communicate and succeed in a multi-
cultural world.
Will we lose some students? Yes.
Will other students start to see that learning

a language has value beyond communicating
an idea? Yes!
Students will study English just like they

study anything else in the world. Most people
who study cross-stitching or engine repair or
photography don’t need those things, but
they find joy and value in them, and they
continue to find ways to get better at them –
often with the support of excellent teachers.
So will be the case with English. A wonderful
hobby with a rich and deep culture that can
open up people’s minds to the world and
increase their ability to be at the high end of
critical thinkers and global citizens.
Isn’t that, after all, what we’re teaching them

for?
Brent
September 22, 2023
Uncategorized
AI, Deepfake, ESL, ESOL, Language Learning,

Multilingualism, Teaching, TESOL
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AI IN ESL

There’s no way around it: This is going to

If we weren’t already dealing with concern

That’s right; for only $3 you can speak –

Don’t believe me? Check out this video of me

This is going to freak a lot of teachers the hell out.

Alright, so unless you really haven’t been

Before we get into implications for ESL, can

Less than a month ago Ixchell and I put out

Listen in here. I think it’s a fair conversation:

The DIESOL Podcast | EdTech in ESL

DIESOL 088 - Will AI Kill TESO

How Easy Is It?

I made an account with HeyGen and jumped

TEST OUT HEYGEN FOR YOURSELF

(note using the link above gives me a free

You upload a video of yourself, and then

The only problem is that it takes 1.5 credits,

Cool things you could

For those of you teaching true beginners,

You could also have students introduce each

With a little imagination, you can start to see

Ok, I do admit this is a fair question:

Students are going to find these tools and

Will we lose some students? Yes.

Will other students start to see that learning

Students will study English just like they

Isn’t that, after all, what we’re teaching them

September 22, 2023

AI, Deepfake, ESL, ESOL, Language Learning,

Save my name, email, and website in this

Creating Low-Stakes Canvas

Our EdTech & Innovation in ESL podcast

© 2023 © AI IN ESL. All rights reserved.

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