In this episode of the ETAS Podcast, Anna welcomes educator and EdTech observer Ben Hoyt to explore what AI really means for the language classroom. Drawing on decades of teaching experience and a long history with digital technologies, Ben reflects on the rapid rise of generative AI and shares personal observations from both teaching and studying, raising important questions about learning, creativity and accountability. This episode invites listeners to consider AI's true place in English language teaching.

All views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the speakers and do not necessarily represent or reflect the official position or views of ETAS.

Content warning:
This episode includes discussion of distressing experiences related to mental health, including self-harm. You may wish to skip the section from min. 38 to min. 40:30 and from min. 43 to min. 43:30.

About Ben

Ben has worn many hats in ETAS since he joined around 15 years ago. In addition to being the ETAS president, he also served as the Web Chair and a member of the web team for many years, which included the years of “Surprise! All events have to be online now” during the pandemic. He’s been teaching English for almost 20 years but that came after his first career as a digital artist and computer animator in San Francisco. He was on the internet before Google existed and has followed tech trends enthusiastically ever since. He did online teaching back in 2010 and has been integrating digital tools into his real-life classrooms since before then.

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Podcast team:
Host: Anna Boyko
Editor: Maria Terec