February 21, 2025 • 49 mins
Breaking Language Barriers in Education with Pocketalk with Arturo Guajardo
🎧 Welcome to another exciting episode of My EdTech Life! This week, I'm joined by Arturo Guajardo from Pocketalk, where we explore how their groundbreaking translation device is helping break down language barriers in classrooms, school districts, and beyond! 🌍
Pocketalk is revolutionizing how educators, students, and parents communicate, especially in multicultural settings. Get ready to hear how this device empowers students, supports teachers, and strengthens connections within the community.
What you’ll learn in this episode:
- How Pocketalk removes language barriers in classrooms 💬
- The journey from bilingual education to cutting-edge EdTech 👨🏫
- Real-life stories of how schools use Pocketalk to improve communication 🎒
- The Ventana program for managing devices across districts 💡
- Privacy features that ensure your information is safe 🔐
Timestamps:
00:00 – Welcome & Introduction: Meet Arturo Guajardo
02:00 – Arturo’s Journey: From bilingual teacher to EdTech innovator
05:00 – Pocketalk's Role in the Classroom: Real-time translation at your fingertips
11:00 – How Pocketalk Works: Hands-on demo of the device
22:00 – Success Stories: How schools are using Pocketalk to support multilingual learners
29:00 – Ventana: Managing devices across districts for efficiency and impact
36:00 – Privacy Features: Keeping data safe with COPPA, FERPA, and HIPAA compliance
40:00 – Arturo’s Final Thoughts: Key takeaways and advice for educators
Don't forget to:
🔔 Subscribe to stay updated with the latest in EdTech!
💬 Drop a comment below and let us know how you plan to use Pocketalk in your school or district!
🌐 Check out Pocketalk at pocketalk.com – this episode’s sponsor is revolutionizing communication for students, parents, and educators!
🙏 Huge thanks to our sponsors, Eduaide.AI and Yellowdig, for their continued support!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Fonz (00:30):
Hello everybody and welcome to another great episode
of my EdTech Life.
Thank you so much for joiningme on this wonderful day and
wherever it is that you'rejoining us from around the world
, as always.
Thank you so much for yourcontinued support.
We appreciate all the likes,the shares, the follows.
Thank you so much for justinteracting with our content.
(00:50):
Thank you so much for all themessages.
We really appreciate it.
I really appreciate it.
As you know, we do this for youbecause we wanna bring you some
great conversations, we wannabring you some amazing guests
and, of course, all of this goesback into the education space,
where we can continue to learnand grow together, and I'm
really excited about today'sconversation.
(01:11):
Today, I would love to welcometo the show Mr Arturo Guajardo,
who is joining us from PocketTalk.
Arturo, how are you doing today?
Arturo Guajardo (01:20):
I'm doing great , Fonz.
How are you?
Well, I have to say I'm excitedto be here.
Before I even ask you that,you're doing.
Fonz (01:46):
That really just fills my bucket, too as well.
So today is going to be adouble portion, a double filling
of buckets today, for work andgetting to interview you and
getting to know you a little bitmore, and also for our audience
members, I should say, to getto know you a little bit more
and the work that you do.
So, arturo, let's go ahead anddive in.
So for our listeners today,those of you that are not
(02:09):
familiar with your work just yet, but after today I know that
you'll definitely have a lot offollowers Tell us a little bit
more about you, know yourbackground in education and what
your context is within theeducation space.
Arturo Guajardo (02:24):
Absolutely.
Yeah, I think I kind of losttrack a little bit.
I want to say about my 32ndyear in education altogether.
So I go back a ways.
I go back into the 90s, early90s, when I became a bilingual
teacher here in Austin, texas,did that for about 10 years I
(02:44):
think.
10 years of mostly fifth grade,some fourth, some third,
working with multilingual kidsfrom mostly from South Austin
and kids from all over LatinAmerica and a few from other
parts of the world.
So it was a wonderfulexperience for about a decade
there.
Beyond that I went into the edtech world.
(03:07):
Soon after that I became an edtech coach also in Austin ISD.
So I did that for about anothereight, nine years after that
and then I jumped over into theed tech vendor side, I guess on
the partner side, where I didabout, I think, 11 years at
BrainPop.
And then I went over to Osmoand now I'm here at Pocket Talk.
(03:30):
We're here a couple of yearsnow.
So, yeah, so everything fromthe classroom in the 90s all the
way over to the tech world,we're just trying to keep up
with it all.
Fonz (03:41):
Yes, absolutely, and you know what.
That's something that I doadmire and you know we were
talking a little bit, you know,briefly, before we got into the
chat.
You know talking about TCA andtalking about conferences and
you know it's always great forme at least, when I go and visit
a vendor and I do hear you knowthe experience that they've had
in education and many times,you know, sometimes the
(04:03):
experience is a little bit less,sometimes it's a little bit
more, but just hearing you know,like what you described you
working through Austin ISD,going from the classroom to
edtech coaching and then goinginto, you know, the world of
edtech as a vendor, workingthrough BrainPop and so on, it's
just amazing to the experiencethat you have and seeing
different perspectives, not onlyfor yourself.
(04:24):
But now you know the work thatyou're doing through Pocket Talk
and then, now that we are here,you're getting to tell us a
little bit more and using thatexperience to really just drive
up and amplifying what PocketTalk is doing.
So I'm really excited to get toknow that a little bit more.
But I did want to just touch alittle bit on your brief.
(04:45):
Well, briefly, on yourbackground, I know that you know
you yourself started as anon-native English speaker, you
know, and now you're 32 yearslater well, 32 years in
education now, you know, andwith all of that experience you
know, can you tell me a littlebit about how that helped you
transition kind of into ed techworld?
(05:06):
Or maybe are you seeing alittle bit more or ed tech
companies putting a little bitmore attention to that as far as
the language barriers and, youknow, trying to help students
just really overcome thosebarriers?
Arturo Guajardo (05:21):
Yeah, no, absolutely.
I went to, grew up in Houston,went to schools there in inner
city Houston and startedspeaking English because I had
two older sisters who they wouldbring home their English that
they were learning in school.
So I kind of picked up a littlebit at home before I started
(05:42):
school, kind of from then.
But it was definitely brokenEnglish, you know.
It was like what I was.
They were, you know, a fewyears older than me, so it was a
little kid English.
I guess you could say that theywere bringing home to me and
sort of teaching me.
And then school was.
It could be challenging at times.
There were definitely timeswhen I definitely felt that I
(06:03):
did have a little bit ofobstacles to overcome when it
came to language.
In particular once I got upinto the higher grades and was
given tougher readingassignments, you know, when
somebody handed me a WilliamShakespeare boy.
That just blew my mind when Ihad to try to figure that out on
top of just English in general.
(06:23):
And that's a whole other kindof English.
It's a whole other language asfar as I was concerned.
And so there are definitelytimes when I felt like there was
support that was lacking alongthe way.
But luckily I did have somereally good teachers that did
understand that and did help me,and help me not just
linguistically but also justhelping me figure out my
(06:46):
identity as a, as a latino, as astudent and and, uh, getting
comfortable with with just allof that.
Because it was definitely.
There were definitely timeswhen you know I needed a little
push, I need a little help in inthose kind of directions and,
and so there were definitely uh,uh teachers that helped along
the way and helped me get to getto where I am now.
(07:07):
But then in the ed tech world,yeah, absolutely there's there.
I would see it so much when Iwas teaching because I have
students who came in.
You know, I would have somestudents that spoke zero English
and then I'd have some studentsthat kind of were everywhere in
between, you know, zero to ten,and so so you kind of had to
figure out, okay, well, thisstudent needs this, the students
(07:27):
needs this, the students needsthis and and kind of figure out
what supports they needed andtrying to provide that.
And then back then, with EdTechcoming around, I was definitely
in the classroom during thoseopening EdTech environments that
were coming out and we we'retalking, I'm going back
pre-internet, I'm going back tocd-roms.
(07:48):
You know, I'm going back to tothose, to those periods of time
and and back then I have to say,you know, I would find those
cool technologies, oh yeah, thisis going to be great, this is
going to work wonderful,wonderfully well.
But then there was no, nolanguage support, and and so
that was that was like okay,well, that's going to work over
in this other classroom, but notnecessarily in mine, and so
(08:10):
slowly I would see it get betterand better.
There was definitely times whenyou would see a big jump in the
language support that wasavailable with some technologies
, but honestly it was slow.
It definitely took a while toget there and I'm happy to see
now that I think now we're sortof getting to that point where
(08:32):
you do see a lot more languagesupport and a lot of the
technologies have come a longway and in particular, like with
Pocket Talk, which we'll talk alittle bit more about, I'm just
excited that we finally have atool that can fundamentally
support a student when they justneed to communicate and when
parents and teachers need tocommunicate, and that, to me, is
(08:53):
going to be incredibly valuableacross the board in schools
everywhere, not just in the USbut around the world.
Fonz (09:01):
Excellent.
Well, thank you so much forthat answer and your background.
I mean it's kind of a littlebit similar.
For me, the only thing is isgrowing up as an only child, I
didn't have that support fromolder sisters or siblings, and
so, you know, going to schooland my first language obviously
being Spanish, I didn't learnEnglish until I was in about
that I can remember, probablyabout second grade, middle
(09:23):
second grade, my third grade.
I was, you know, pretty decentand I was okay, but I mean, talk
about those tough times being alanguage broker too as well.
For my parents I always tellpeople the story I was like you
know, I'm an eight year old kidreading like documents and
translating and and well, boys,I think.
It says and and well, I think itsays, and you know it was very
(09:49):
interesting and, like I said,kind of growing up here in the
Valley, you know that's onething that we, we always saw,
and of course now myself too,included, being now heavily
immersed in this world of attackit really surprises me many
times that we are barely wherewe're at right now as far as
what language supports are, andof course it's getting a lot
(10:09):
better.
But even in the years that I wasin the classroom, like I was
talking to you briefly, it wasthe technology just it wasn't
there, it didn't have thatlanguage support.
And then having to work withstudents that would often come
in, and I had students not onlycoming in from Mexico and
speaking Spanish, but then I hadstudents in my district where
they're coming in from Japan,they were coming in from Korea,
(10:31):
they were coming in from Israel,and to be able to communicate
with them was just verydifficult at that time.
But things are getting a littlebit better.
But this is a great segue nowinto understanding and for you
to tell us a little bit better.
But this is a great segue nowinto understanding and for you
to tell us a little bit moreabout pocket talk and what
pocket talk is and what it doesfor the classroom.
Arturo Guajardo (10:53):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Pocket talk is amazing.
It's a we're a translationsolution that's being used all
over, all over the country.
Right now.
We're in about I think at thispoint about 500 school districts
coast to coast.
I've been lucky enough to workwith school districts in New
(11:14):
York City.
I was in Florida a couple ofweeks ago.
I'm going to California in afew weeks.
Next week I'll be in Seattle.
Lots of usage all over.
What we're known for primarilyis a device.
It's a little device like this,it's a little handheld device
that students can use, thatteachers can use, that your
(11:36):
front office can use, yourprincipals, your cafeteria
workers, your bus drivers Prettymuch anybody can have this
device and keep it in theirpocket, wear it around their
neck I have a little lanyardhere that I often wear and what
it allows you to do it allowsyou to communicate in more than
80 languages.
So right now, I think we're atabout 84.
We're going to be at 90 here ina few weeks and then we're just
(12:01):
going to be adding more andmore languages as we go along.
But, like I said, what's coolabout this is that it can be
used so that anybody from you asa second grader or newer, you
know picking up that English allthe way up to us as educators
in the classroom and yourfamilies at home.
So think about your familiaInstead of having to pull you to
(12:22):
be that translator out in thereal world, out in the doctor's
offices, at the DMVs, at allthose places that we all have to
go to at times.
Now you have a device that youcan actually have the parents
take along with them and be ableto make that communication so
much easier in all of thoseplaces.
So we're really excited to beable to provide that kind of
(12:44):
solution for not just forschools, but for offices and
public spaces, for governmentoffices, like I said, like the
DMVs, for doctor's offices, youname it Anywhere where
communication breaks down.
That's where Pocket Talk cancome in.
Fonz (13:02):
And that is fantastic and just by looking at it, just the
size of the device.
Now this and I'm going to sharea story because, like I
mentioned, my last year in theclassroom before I stepped into
this role, that is when I had mystudent that came in from
Israel and he came in mid-year.
Just sometimes the students, Imean, they don't want to move
(13:25):
but because of the parents' workand things of that sort, and
it's very difficult and he wasjust having a difficult time.
Obviously, the transition frombeing somewhere familiar to
somewhere somewhat unfamiliar.
But being able to work with himwas something that I just kind
(13:54):
of had to make it work.
You know, we, through the use ofChromebooks or and at that time
I had a, an iPad and we were hewas just typing in things just
so I can sit him next to me andjust whatever I can do to help
him just really capture thelearning or answer any questions
.
And but I tell you, you know,being able to use the Chromebook
or that iPad, as great as thosepieces of technology are one of
the things that I will say.
It was often bulky and it wouldjust be a barrier in itself
because of this, but the waythat you just shared Pocket Talk
(14:16):
and, just being a handhelddevice, that works very easily.
So now can you describe justthe way that this works?
Is it a real-time translator?
Arturo Guajardo (14:24):
just the way that this works.
Is it a real-time translator?
It is, it is, and absolutely so.
Imagine your student therebeing able to take this with
them to the cafeteria, to theplayground, obviously in the
classroom as well, in thehallways, and in some cases we
have some school districts thatallow the students to take these
home, use them for homework andeven allow parents to use them
(14:45):
in the community itself.
So they're checking these outto parents like a library book
and letting them, instead ofpulling you from the school, to
be the translator.
Now I can just check out one ofthese and use this and just
bring it back the next day ifneeded.
But the way it works is reallysimple.
It's basically you pick the twolanguages here on the screen.
You can kind of see there's twolanguages.
There's English and Spanish.
(15:06):
If I click on any of eitherlanguage, I'll see a list.
Here's where those 80 pluslanguages are stored.
I can just scroll up and downthe list here, pick whichever
one I want.
So in your case, you'll be ableto speak Hebrew.
Now we would find Hebrew on thelist and I'd be able to speak
English into the device.
It'll translate it into Hebrewand then your student would
(15:27):
speak Hebrew back into thedevice and you would hear it in
English.
So I talk, you talk, I talk, youtalk and I can show you how
that works here in just a minutewith this thing.
So notice the arrow there ispointing up.
So that means I'm going fromEnglish to Spanish.
If I click on the arrow, itflips and now I can speak
Spanish and it'll go intoEnglish.
So all I have to do is pressthe button.
(15:50):
There's one physical buttondown here that I'll need to
press and you have to hold itdown, kind of like a
walkie-talkie.
Press and hold the button,start talking.
The device starts listening,starts translating for you
automatically.
So there's the translation.
You can read it here.
It's a little bit tough to seeon the screen here, but there's
(16:11):
a translation.
You can read it here.
It's a little bit tough to seeon the screen here, but there's
a translation in Spanish.
If I didn't hear it the firsttime, I can click it for it
again, because we know sometimesour students need to hear
things a few times.
So I can repeat this as much asI want.
And then, if I'm the Spanishspeaker, this little button at
the bottom that I just pressedand that flips the arrow for us,
but again, I can just flip iton the screen as well, but you
can definitely read it and seeit at the same time, or hear it
at the same time, I should say.
(16:31):
And then, beyond that, there'sa little camera on the back.
That camera takes pictures oftext.
So that document that youmentioned when you were
translating, I can now snap apicture of it and I'll see the
translation on the screen, andthen I can also click on the
paragraph and it'll read it outloud to me as well in my
language.
So a lot of possibilities here.
(16:54):
And again, it's a device that'ssmall enough where I can put it
in my pocket, wear it around myneck, makes it easy to have
those conversations that sooften get missed.
There's just so manyconversations that you need to
have, sometimes with a student,or a student needs to have with
you, but because of thatlanguage barrier being there,
you know, sometimes it doesn'thappen, and then that has a cost
(17:16):
.
That could definitely.
That has a cost.
That might not happenimmediately, but it might happen
later on.
One quick story I'll ramblyhere, but one quick story that I
do want to share is the storyof a student that we heard from
a school.
A student came from Ukraine andwas at school.
Nobody spoke Ukrainian either,speak in English, was going to
(17:50):
have a fire drill, and so youcan imagine nobody being able to
explain to the student thatthis is just practice, you're
safe, don't worry.
This is what's going to happenand, of course, the alarm goes
off and the student gets veryupset.
The language that the personthat told me the story said the
student, freaked out essentially.
So just those kind ofconversations that we pretty
much take for granted you cannow have in more than 80
(18:13):
languages.
Fonz (18:15):
No, and that is so valuable.
As you're going through this,arturo, like my teacher voice or
my teacher self, like you know,like you mentioned, there's so
many possibilities, manypossibilities.
I mean not only with my studentthat came in you know that we
needed that Hebrew translationbut also the fact that you just
shared how you can actually takea picture of that document, so
(18:35):
for in class, you know, asyou're passing out a document.
Now one of the things for me is,you know, I always want to
eliminate any barriers forteachers also as well, or that
additional.
You know work sometimes,because it's like man, sometimes
you may have, you know, threeor four different students there
that may speak those three orfour different languages, and
(18:57):
now it's you have to producesomething in those three or four
different languages.
But the fact now that you cantake that document and you can
pass it out and the student cango ahead and set it to their
language and take a picture ofit, and now it's going to
translate that for them, rightnow my mind is like this is
amazing because, at least in mydistrict, I can see how this can
(19:19):
help our well number one, theclassroom, teacher, room teacher
, and then number two also helpour ESL strategists be able to
use this also with students tohelp them build up their skills
and especially the listeningskills.
This is huge too, and you'reworking on the speaking skills
too, so to me.
I'm already seeing, like all ofthese like TELPIS I'm seeing.
(19:42):
You know, just the languageacquisition, that practice,
being able to just feel morecomfortable.
You're learning, the studentdoes not have that barrier
anymore, the teacher doesn'thave the barrier and, like you
mentioned, not only teacher tostudent, but teacher to parent
also as well.
And many times, like in ourdistrict, we'll have district
engagement with parents and manytimes we need that support to
(20:06):
go from English to Spanish andif the parents can, you know, or
our presenter can go ahead anduse pocket talk to read out that
statement, or or, you know,give that comment and then be
able to play it in, whether it'sin Korean or Japanese or
Spanish.
That would be fantastic.
So I want to ask you know doesPocket Talk?
(20:28):
Can it connect to a headset, ifneeded?
Arturo Guajardo (20:32):
Yes, so the device comes with Bluetooth
connectivity so you couldconnect it to earbuds.
If you are doing a presentation, you know, for a large group,
you can plug or connect aBluetooth to a Bluetooth speaker
and just blast it out to theentire audience, to the
(20:53):
cafeteria, to the library,wherever the audience is.
And but yeah, to me everythingyou described is exactly what we
want to be able to provide forthe teachers Because, again,
teachers already have so muchgoing on, so much on their plate
as it is, and this is just atool to take some of that off of
their already overflowing plate.
Fonz (21:15):
Yes, absolutely, and I mean talk about the teacher
impact.
I mean right now justmentioning those examples and
myself I could have definitelybeen picturing myself just
simply, with this simple device,being able to communicate back
and forth with my students orstudents, for that matter, or
even parents too as well fromdifferent nationalities.
That makes a huge impactbecause many times, you know,
(21:35):
it's that communication piecethat is very difficult and by
removing that barrier, you'reremoving that frustration,
you're removing that barrier toaccess as well.
You're removing that frustration, you're removing that barrier
to access as well, and to beable to communicate with a
parent fluently in theirlanguage by using Pocket Talk to
translate, that's a gamechanger right there.
(21:55):
And now that the parent isinformed of anything that they
should know, and, of course,with the student.
And right now my mind is alreadygoing like right now when you
said you know presentations, Ican hook it up to my Bluetooth
speaker.
This is phenomenal, becausemany times we have parents that
come in and again it's not justone nationality but to be, able
(22:17):
to help them and serve ourlearning community, our parent
learning community.
That is huge also becausethey're a big.
You know they're an integralpart of the child's education
there in the classroom too aswell, so to be able to use that.
So, because I'm getting soexcited here, I know I'm the one
that's rambling, but I'll askyou, can you tell me?
(22:39):
you know, I know you don't haveto mention the districts or
district that you're workingwith, but I would love to hear,
just you know, some, somefeedback or just some of those
like great stories that that arehappening within some of the
districts that you're currentlyworking with.
Arturo Guajardo (22:54):
Absolutely so there's, there's a ton.
So like I kind of always startup in the Northeast and my brain
always has this image of kindof going across the country, but
so I always started in New YorkCity.
So the New York City Departmentof Education, the biggest
school district in the country,has really adopted Talk Talk.
(23:14):
I think at this point we'reprobably closing into about 600
schools that use Talk Talk.
They're in the thousands.
There's one school inparticular there that what they
ended up doing was welcomingtheir families, their newcomer
families, and this is out whereyou can find, you know, medical
help.
Here's where you can find ifyou need food.
(23:52):
Here's where you can find thesupply.
You know places where you canpick up free food.
Here's where you can find jobplacements, job placements.
And in that bag, beyond thatinformation, they include a
pocket tuck so that the familycan now take that with them when
they're out looking for theseresources that they need in
(24:13):
order to make their lives alittle bit better.
So New York City by far is ourbiggest partner at this point.
Orange County down in Floridaand in the Orlando area they use
this in their welcome center sowhen families arrive in their
districts from other countries.
They can go there and findpeople that can speak their
(24:33):
language.
So they have staff that speakSpanish and Haitian, Creole and
a couple of other languages, butyou know there are many more
languages that they need helpwith.
So that's where the pocket talkcomes in.
So they equip their staff therewith pocket talk to welcome
those families and to get themthe resources they need help
with.
So that's where the pocket talkcomes in.
So they equip their staff therewith pocket talk to welcome
those families and to get themthe resources they need.
And then we go across to placeslike Moreland in the Bay Area
(24:59):
in California.
They're a district thatactually checks these out like a
library book.
As I mentioned, they actuallyhave these barcoded and they
scan them and then the studentscan check them out as they need
them.
And you know, with students andwith families, their language
needs come and go.
As students get a little bitfurther along with their English
(25:20):
, they may not need a pockettalk anymore and that's okay.
It's like a scaffold that canbe removed, can be removed, and
I can turn that in and and thenmake that available for another
student that does need thatscaffold right now.
So so lots of different um waysto use this, everything from
families to students to to theclassroom uh, you name it, it's
it.
I'm always amazed.
(25:41):
I love to hear these storiesbecause I love to hear how
people are.
Our educators are using pockettalk and finding new ways to use
it that I had not about at all.
They're like, oh yeah, this ishow we use it.
I'm like, oh, that's amazing.
Fonz (25:52):
So, yes, no, and that is all wonderful, like you said,
because I mean, not only is itjust making an impact within the
classroom, but also, you know,just in the real world, you know
just for adults even, andthat's something huge.
But one thing that I love thatyou mentioned and I want to
highlight is, like you mentioned, when students need those
additional supports, buteventually, once they kind of
(26:14):
start growing themselves andunderstanding the language and
being able to work, you know,through a conversation, and then
slowly they're just bythemselves kind of weaning
themselves off of this, then,you know, you just simply submit
it or turn it in, somebody elsecan go ahead and start using it
, which is great because, as youknow, arturo, like right now,
(26:35):
school districts and everybodyis, you know, they're always,
their eye is always on budget,and what can we do and how can
we maximize what we have andmaximize that return on
investment?
And I think that this would besomething great that, as you can
see, that the student needs thedevice, but as they kind of
grow and they grow, they cangrow out of the device and then
(26:56):
let it, you know, be used bysomebody else.
So I want to ask you as far asthat is concerned, can you tell
us the way that the deviceactually functions, the inner
workings?
Is this something that is?
You know, do we need Wi-Fi, dowe need a subscription?
So how can we like just to givesome information for any of our
influencers within the districtor people with purchasing power
(27:18):
that are like whoa, you know,we've got to look into this.
Can you give us a little bit, alittle rundown as far as how
Pocket Talk works?
Arturo Guajardo (27:24):
Sure, no, absolutely, and everything you
mentioned is dead on.
We are one of those productsthat I think can save a district
money in a few different ways.
One of the ways is that eachdevice does include five years
of cellular data right out ofthe package.
So there's no subscription.
(27:44):
You don't have to pay anythingAfter you buy the device.
That's it.
You don't have to pay anythingAfter you buy the device, that's
it.
You don't have to pay anotherdime, but you get five years of
cellular data included in thatone time you purchase it.
So what that means is that Ican now take this device and
take it off campus if I need to,and use it on a field trip.
I can use it on the school bus,I can send it home with a
(28:05):
student or if I'm doing a homevisit, I can knock on that door
and be ready to talk, becauseit's automatically looking for
those cellular towers in yourneighborhood and connecting that
way.
So at school, yeah, get it onyour Wi-Fi.
That tends to be the best wayto connect within a school
building, just because of deadzones that sometimes come up.
(28:27):
So put it on your Wi-Fi atschool, but off campus it'll
just automatically flip over tothe cell tower and work that way
, so that'll say there's nosubscription at all, nothing.
You have to worry about payingafter you buy it.
Then, on the other hand, we dohave a subscription service.
(28:47):
We do have one subscriptionservice that you can choose to
pick up and that's calledVentana.
And with Ventana, that's yourmobile device management system.
So that for big districts likeI mentioned Moreland, where they
bought a thousand of these, Ibelieve they need a program to
be able to sort of keep track ofthe devices, know how they're
being used, where the devicesare getting used most like,
(29:11):
which campus is using them,which languages are being
translated, are there languagesthat we didn't know were being
used on a certain campus?
Now we know because they'reusing them on the pocket top,
and then if there's a campusthat maybe doesn't need them as
much, well, I can now take thoseresources and put them onto
another campus that does meetthe pocket top.
(29:31):
So you have usage reports andyour IT guys will love it
because you can do all yourWi-Fi settings remotely.
Now another campus that doesmeet the of the pocket time.
So you have usage reports, youhave, and your it guys will love
it because you can do all yourright, your wi-fi settings
remotely now, so you can justmake a wholesale changes to your
, your network, uh, the networksettings, I should say, on the
devices, without ever having totouch them.
You just do it all uh throughthrough ventana.
So so that's another uh costsaving, time saving uh tool that
(29:54):
we offer.
And then, beyond that, this isone thing that Pocket Talk has
that most other translationdevices don't have is that we've
locked down the privacy onthese devices, so you don't have
to worry about, if you're, forexample, using this in iep uh
meeting, that that's supposed tobe confidential.
(30:16):
Uh, now you know that all thetranslation, uh any translation
that happens basically lives onthis device.
I can delete it immediately.
I can choose to not even had itstored anywhere.
So so you don't have to worryabout that information getting
anywhere, getting into the wronghands, and you can even.
(30:37):
These devices have beencertified to be COPPA compliant,
they're FERPA compliant andthey're also HIPAA compliant, so
you can even have medicalconversations.
If your school nurse uses them,you can actually have those
conversations that should beconfidential, and this device
takes care of that for you.
So you don't have to worryabout having to.
You know, take care of thosethings separately.
(31:00):
It's all done within the device.
Fonz (31:02):
This is amazing.
I mean, one of the things thatyou hit on and I know we talk
about it and for anybody that'slistening and if you are just an
influencer within your districtas far as purchasing or
anything but just the fact thatthe return on investment, you're
buying the device five years,you know that you have, you know
, cellular service, you can getit on the Wi-Fi, you can use it
(31:25):
with parents, you can use itwith students, teachers, teacher
to student, teacher to parent,maybe even teacher to teacher,
however it is, but you're goingto have something on hand that
is going to be able to help youhave a conversation, or at least
translate what you're saying,to break that barrier of
communication between twodifferent people, or or you know
your learning community as faras parents are concerned, which
(31:48):
is fantastic.
But then what really uh caughtmy attention was you were
mentioning Ventana, which isfantastic because you know, as
we know, and what I've learnedis that data drives decisions
and, like you said, if you'remaking an investment, sometimes
you know we may think that thisschool needs this more or this
(32:10):
school needs this more, but now,when we're getting that data
that you mentioned, we're notonly getting what languages are
being used the most, which willgive us some insight as far as
what we may need to support, butthen also which campuses may be
using it more or have a higherneed, and then you can
reallocate that, which I thinkis fantastic, but not only that,
(32:32):
the management side.
I mean, for any CTO out therethat is looking for an easy way
to manage these devices, you'vegot the solution for it, and I
think that this really setsPocket Talk apart from really,
to be honest with you, I haven'tseen anything like Pocket Talk
out there.
Out there, because a lot of thelanguage supports you know they
(32:57):
integrate them within theplatforms or maybe the students
are using specific programs, butit's only for that specific
program, it's not for aconversation that you're having
off of that program, which Ithink this is phenomenal that
Pocket Talk would be able tohelp support the students in
that aspect, and that'sphenomenal.
Arturo Guajardo (33:16):
Yeah, no, no.
And also think, think in termsof I'm not sure if your district
where the phone policy is inyour district, but I know as
many districts are phones are,are, you know, are need to be
put away.
You know, and oftentimesteachers, students, we use
phones to, to, to translate, andI get that.
That makes sense.
I always remind teachers,though, keep in mind that if you
(33:39):
use your phone in a privateconversation, well you know,
your phone is now subject togetting pulled and getting
reviewed if there's aninformation act that gets
requested, a freedom ofinformation act that gets
requested, freedom ofInformation Act that gets
requested.
And the other thing I remind youon the student side for Pocket
Talk is that Pocket Talk doesone thing really, really well,
(34:01):
and that's translate.
Our translations are, I think,better than Google's, better
than many other translationservices that are out there, but
that's really all they do.
So you can feel fine handingthis to a student.
They can't play games, theycan't get on the internet, they
can't really do anything otherthan communicate, and that's
really what we want them to do,right.
(34:21):
We want them to be able to talkand give them a voice when they
might not have one until youhave some sort of technology
like Pocket.
Fonz (34:43):
And I love what you said there too.
I think that's huge too, thatno distractions and you're to
technology like Right now I'm inTelpist mode because we're
doing.
Arturo Guajardo (34:50):
Telmastessi so.
Fonz (34:51):
I'm like man, not only are they talking it, but they're
also listening and they'rebuilding up and of course, you
know you as a bilingual to mehas always been bilingual as a
superpower.
So not only are you stillworking on your Spanish, but
you're listening to it inEnglish and making those
connections.
Arturo Guajardo (35:09):
And that is the translanguaging.
That we want.
You know you don't want to, youdon't have.
That you know you don't want to, you don't have to.
You know your, your Spanish oryour, whatever your home
language is, is a superpower.
And now, now you have a way tobuild on that and and this just
device helps you along the wayand like, like I mentioned
earlier, when you're ready, youdon't need any more of that.
Sorry, move on without withoutit.
But for those students who needit, hey, it's going to really
(35:30):
be a game changer for them.
Fonz (35:32):
I love it.
That's fantastic.
Now, arturo, I do want to ask.
As you know, we were talking, Idid go to the website, which is
pockettalkcom pockettalkcom ifyou guys want to check that out.
Now it is with one T.
All right, guys, please,because I know you may be
listening to the podcast andyou're putting in pocket and
then talkcom and you're probablygetting an error.
It's one T pocket.
(35:53):
Yeah, now I do notice that,that that you offer not just the
, the pocket talk S, but there'sa pocket talk plus, which is a
little bigger screen andeverything.
So I mean do school districtsand I guess I guess, depending
on the budget, you know, and soon, but I mean they, they both
have the same functionality.
It's just really just thescreen size that makes the
difference correct it is, it'sthe size of the device.
Arturo Guajardo (36:16):
So the Pocket Talk S imagine a credit card.
It's about that size, justthicker obviously, but about the
size, length and width-wise, ofa credit card.
So for people like me with oldeyes, you know that screen is a
little small, honestly.
For students probably okay, butfor I always recommend, if you
(36:39):
are on the educator, if you'rethinking of using this as a
teacher, as an educator, thePocket Talk Plus is probably the
better device.
It's just easier to read,speaker is a little bit bigger.
Battery life is better.
You know we can put a biggerbattery in there, since it's a
bigger device.
So I always recommend, if youare thinking of using this in
the classroom, I recommendthinking of the Pocket Talk Plus
(37:01):
as being the device that'sgoing to meet your needs.
The Pocket Talk S is great justbecause it's tiny, but again,
probably better for little handsand younger eyes.
Fonz (37:13):
Absolutely, that's fantastic.
Well, I am just blown away,arturo.
This has been fantastic.
And again, you know, knowingnow you know about Pocket Talk,
and man, I just wish that thiswas at least around, or at least
I knew about it when I was inthe classroom.
This could have been makethings so much easier, but now,
even currently though, you havegiven me some bright ideas, you
(37:36):
know, and so I'm really excitedto just even share this, not
only for our audience membersthat are checking this out and
listening to this podcast, butfor anybody that's listening.
You know, definitely check itout, because I mean, right now
I'm thinking, you know, testingsupport, just day to day support
, homework support, and how easyit is to transport, and so the
(37:56):
possibilities are definitelyfantastic for the students.
And, just again, it's all aboutremoving that barrier for
teachers as well and justlightening their load with a
device that students can use inthe classroom, either take a
picture of their worksheet orjust to simply be able to
communicate in class and notfeel left out.
Arturo Guajardo (38:17):
You know that they can go ahead and get an
answer, and they're part of theconversation and that is huge.
That makes a big difference.
I always remind people of acouple of things For the
classroom.
Think about all the teachingpractices that we do.
Just think about one like turnand talk when I need to talk to
my classmate, and if myclassmate and if that classmate
doesn't speak my language, well,turnip talk just doesn't really
(38:39):
work right.
How am I going to talk to thisstudent?
So with a pocket talk you cando that, you can have the class
discussion, you can have thesmall group and you're giving
that student that voice, insteadof them just kind of sitting
there and listening and kind ofshrugging their shoulders.
Now you can find out what theyknow and how much they know,
because a lot of times it'sthere.
You just they just can'texpress it yet.
(38:59):
So keep that in mind for theclassroom and for the front
office.
I always remind everybody thatfirst experience that a family
has when they walk in the schooldoor and they've walked into
the school office, that's goingto set the, that's going to kind
of set the standard or thegroundwork for the rest of that
relationship.
So if that, if that experienceis a good one and you're able to
(39:21):
communicate with that family,that first time they come in
they're likely to come back.
If it's a bad experience andthey think well, nobody can
communicate with me, why am Igood?
Why would I go back to school?
You know it probably won't comeback, so just keep that in mind
.
I always recommend you have onein that front office, just to
make sure that that firstexperience is a good one.
Fonz (39:41):
Oh, that is some fantastic advice.
That is fantastic advice,arturo, because you're
absolutely right, that firstimpression is huge.
And then again, just to be ableto communicate with a parent
immediately, and it's just thatlevel of customer service,
personalization.
You feel welcome, you feel like, wow, you know, I was able to
communicate.
I mean it, just like you said,it makes a big difference for a
(40:03):
parent to say, hey, you know, ifthey took the time to do this
for me, then I know that my kidis going to be in good hands.
So fantastic, arturo.
Well, thank you so much, arturo, for just sharing a little bit
about your story, too, ineducation.
But just, you know, going backand forth and, like I said, you,
got my creative juices flowingtoo as well.
And seeing the possibilities ofhow to be able to integrate this
(40:24):
in just more than just a meretranslator, but just to be able
to use it effectively andintentionally for the student
growth, and this is fantastic.
So thank you so much forsharing that.
But before we wrap up, rememberwe always love to end the show
with the last three questions.
So, arturo, I hope that you'reready.
Arturo Guajardo (40:44):
All right, all right, here we go, all right.
Fonz (40:47):
Question number one as we know, every superhero has a
weakness or a pain point.
So for superman, kryptonite washis weakness.
So I want to ask you, arturoand I guess you can go in
different varieties here ordifferent routes I should say
your answers if you'd like, butI just want to ask you in the
current state of education, whatwould you say, is your current
(41:11):
edu kryptonite?
Arturo Guajardo (41:15):
Wow, to me I think it still goes back to my
edu kryptonite that I had 20plus years ago when I was still
in the classroom, and thattended to be just the focus on
testing.
That was going on then and Iknow it's still going on now.
That was going on then and Iknow it's still going on now,
and the idea that I hadsituations where we were doing
amazing things with our studentsand none of them necessarily
(41:40):
were obviously preparing for thetest, but we were teaching them
things, they were laying downthe foundation for so much
information and so much learningto take place.
But if it didn't look like wewere getting ready for the test,
then we would get, yeah, getour our hands slapped and and
I'm guessing that's stillhappening and and today, and and
(42:03):
to me are.
To me, that's the one thatthose little bit pokey don't
remember, um, but uh, my guessis that, uh, that that would be
my kryptonite at this point andit it probably still is for any
couple.
Fonz (42:15):
No, that is a great answer , and I'll just say un poquito
todavía, un poquito todavía, allright.
Well, here's question numbertwo.
Question number two is if youcan trade places with someone
for a day, who would it be andwhy?
Arturo Guajardo (42:33):
So a couple of things.
I really love to travel.
If I could travel, I would dothat 365.
You know it's always good tocome home, don't get me wrong,
but I love seeing the world andmeeting people and learning new
cultures and new languages, soI'd probably be.
I love Rick Steves.
So I don't know if everybody youmight not know who Rick Steves
(42:55):
is, uh out there, but uh, he'son PBS and he's a travel uh, he
has a travel shop, so he gets togo all over the world and and
so teach people about, uh, thesedifferent parts of the world
and and uh, it seems like that'sjust a great job and you get
(43:17):
job, I get to travel and helppeople learn about these amazing
places.
Probably Rick Steves wouldprobably be the one that I would
want on a selfish level.
Beyond that, I'm a big fan ofChef Jose Andres, who I love to
cook as well.
He puts his cooking powers towork in places that I've had
trying to think of the wordearthquakes or hurricanes,
(43:39):
anywhere that there's been anatural disaster.
He and his team go out thereand basically feed people and to
me that's an amazing again anamazing thing that I wish I
could do and help with more.
Fonz (43:51):
That's fantastic, and you know what I'll tell you.
Pocket Talk can also be a greatcompanion for those trips for
sure, exactly Easy for yourtrips for translation wherever
you are around the world, in adifferent country, or if you do
get to ever help out in a zonewhere there's, you know, helping
people in an area of naturaldisasters.
It doesn't have to be here inthe US, but hey, you've got a
(44:14):
wonderful tool in your pocketthat can help you communicate,
so that's wonderful, all right.
My last question, arturo, foryou would be is if you could
have a billboard with anythingon it, what would it be and why?
Arturo Guajardo (44:28):
Okay, I think I learned this from I can't
remember which show it was, butthe idea is try not to judge,
instead try to understand.
And to me that's so huge rightnow, particularly in the state
that we're in, where people arenot using that advice and
(44:53):
instead of trying to understandeach other, we're just kind of
being critical and judgmental.
And to me, just understandingcan go a long way and can change
people and change the world.
Fonz (45:04):
There you go.
That is a great billboard.
I don't know, is it maybe TedLasso?
Thank?
Arturo Guajardo (45:08):
you.
I'm saying Ted Lasso, don't bejudgmental.
Fonz (45:15):
And the only reason that that rang a bell, too, is also
because several months back Ihad another guest, and that was
his billboard too so that'sgreat that's fantastic.
Don't be judgmental.
All right, arturo.
Well, arturo, thank you so much.
It was an honor to have youhere.
Thank you so much for justsharing the work that you're
doing with pocket talking,really bringing down barriers of
communication and just makingthat connection, helping us make
(45:38):
connections through Pocket Talkwithin our classrooms, within
our parent learning communityand even outside of that, just
to be able to use something likethis on a day-to-day to be able
to help anybody.
This is such a wonderfulproduct and, again, I'm really
excited for what you're doingand the work that you continue
to do, and I hope that you wouldcome back whenever there is
(46:00):
another, either like majorupdate or anything that you may
be working on.
You always have an open invite.
Please come back and visit usagain, because we definitely
love to have you back, that'sfor sure.
Arturo Guajardo (46:11):
Awesome, fonz.
Thank you very much.
It's an honor to be on myEdTech Life.
It's a lot of fun and, yeah,I'd love to come back.
I think I'm sure we'll havesomething coming soon, so we'll
talk to you then.
Fonz (46:24):
Definitely Well, I'm looking forward to that and for
our audience members, pleasemake sure that you visit our
website at myedtechlife, whereyou can check out this amazing
episode and the other 314wonderful episodes where, I
promise you, you will find alittle something just for you
that you can sprinkle on to whatyou are already doing great.
If you haven't done so yet,guys, please jump over to our
(46:45):
YouTube channel also as well.
Give us a thumbs up, subscribe.
We're about 32 people shy of1,000 subscribers, and that is
our goal for this year.
So please make sure you hit usup and subscribe and, as always,
my friends, don't forget untilnext time.
Stay techie, thank you.
Hello everybody and welcome to another great episode
of my EdTech Life.
Thank you so much for joiningme on this wonderful day and
wherever it is that you'rejoining us from around the world
, as always.
Thank you so much for yourcontinued support.
We appreciate all the likes,the shares, the follows.
Thank you so much for justinteracting with our content.
(00:50):
Thank you so much for all themessages.
We really appreciate it.
I really appreciate it.
As you know, we do this for youbecause we wanna bring you some
great conversations, we wannabring you some amazing guests
and, of course, all of this goesback into the education space,
where we can continue to learnand grow together, and I'm
really excited about today'sconversation.
(01:11):
Today, I would love to welcometo the show Mr Arturo Guajardo,
who is joining us from PocketTalk.
Arturo, how are you doing today?
Arturo Guajardo (01:20):
I'm doing great , Fonz.
How are you?
Well, I have to say I'm excitedto be here.
Before I even ask you that,you're doing.
Fonz (01:46):
That really just fills my bucket, too as well.
So today is going to be adouble portion, a double filling
of buckets today, for work andgetting to interview you and
getting to know you a little bitmore, and also for our audience
members, I should say, to getto know you a little bit more
and the work that you do.
So, arturo, let's go ahead anddive in.
So for our listeners today,those of you that are not
(02:09):
familiar with your work just yet, but after today I know that
you'll definitely have a lot offollowers Tell us a little bit
more about you, know yourbackground in education and what
your context is within theeducation space.
Arturo Guajardo (02:24):
Absolutely.
Yeah, I think I kind of losttrack a little bit.
I want to say about my 32ndyear in education altogether.
So I go back a ways.
I go back into the 90s, early90s, when I became a bilingual
teacher here in Austin, texas,did that for about 10 years I
(02:44):
think.
10 years of mostly fifth grade,some fourth, some third,
working with multilingual kidsfrom mostly from South Austin
and kids from all over LatinAmerica and a few from other
parts of the world.
So it was a wonderfulexperience for about a decade
there.
Beyond that I went into the edtech world.
(03:07):
Soon after that I became an edtech coach also in Austin ISD.
So I did that for about anothereight, nine years after that
and then I jumped over into theed tech vendor side, I guess on
the partner side, where I didabout, I think, 11 years at
BrainPop.
And then I went over to Osmoand now I'm here at Pocket Talk.
(03:30):
We're here a couple of yearsnow.
So, yeah, so everything fromthe classroom in the 90s all the
way over to the tech world,we're just trying to keep up
with it all.
Fonz (03:41):
Yes, absolutely, and you know what.
That's something that I doadmire and you know we were
talking a little bit, you know,briefly, before we got into the
chat.
You know talking about TCA andtalking about conferences and
you know it's always great forme at least, when I go and visit
a vendor and I do hear you knowthe experience that they've had
in education and many times,you know, sometimes the
(04:03):
experience is a little bit less,sometimes it's a little bit
more, but just hearing you know,like what you described you
working through Austin ISD,going from the classroom to
edtech coaching and then goinginto, you know, the world of
edtech as a vendor, workingthrough BrainPop and so on, it's
just amazing to the experiencethat you have and seeing
different perspectives, not onlyfor yourself.
(04:24):
But now you know the work thatyou're doing through Pocket Talk
and then, now that we are here,you're getting to tell us a
little bit more and using thatexperience to really just drive
up and amplifying what PocketTalk is doing.
So I'm really excited to get toknow that a little bit more.
But I did want to just touch alittle bit on your brief.
(04:45):
Well, briefly, on yourbackground, I know that you know
you yourself started as anon-native English speaker, you
know, and now you're 32 yearslater well, 32 years in
education now, you know, andwith all of that experience you
know, can you tell me a littlebit about how that helped you
transition kind of into ed techworld?
(05:06):
Or maybe are you seeing alittle bit more or ed tech
companies putting a little bitmore attention to that as far as
the language barriers and, youknow, trying to help students
just really overcome thosebarriers?
Arturo Guajardo (05:21):
Yeah, no, absolutely.
I went to, grew up in Houston,went to schools there in inner
city Houston and startedspeaking English because I had
two older sisters who they wouldbring home their English that
they were learning in school.
So I kind of picked up a littlebit at home before I started
(05:42):
school, kind of from then.
But it was definitely brokenEnglish, you know.
It was like what I was.
They were, you know, a fewyears older than me, so it was a
little kid English.
I guess you could say that theywere bringing home to me and
sort of teaching me.
And then school was.
It could be challenging at times.
There were definitely timeswhen I definitely felt that I
(06:03):
did have a little bit ofobstacles to overcome when it
came to language.
In particular once I got upinto the higher grades and was
given tougher readingassignments, you know, when
somebody handed me a WilliamShakespeare boy.
That just blew my mind when Ihad to try to figure that out on
top of just English in general.
(06:23):
And that's a whole other kindof English.
It's a whole other language asfar as I was concerned.
And so there are definitelytimes when I felt like there was
support that was lacking alongthe way.
But luckily I did have somereally good teachers that did
understand that and did help me,and help me not just
linguistically but also justhelping me figure out my
(06:46):
identity as a, as a latino, as astudent and and, uh, getting
comfortable with with just allof that.
Because it was definitely.
There were definitely timeswhen you know I needed a little
push, I need a little help in inthose kind of directions and,
and so there were definitely uh,uh teachers that helped along
the way and helped me get to getto where I am now.
(07:07):
But then in the ed tech world,yeah, absolutely there's there.
I would see it so much when Iwas teaching because I have
students who came in.
You know, I would have somestudents that spoke zero English
and then I'd have some studentsthat kind of were everywhere in
between, you know, zero to ten,and so so you kind of had to
figure out, okay, well, thisstudent needs this, the students
(07:27):
needs this, the students needsthis and and kind of figure out
what supports they needed andtrying to provide that.
And then back then, with EdTechcoming around, I was definitely
in the classroom during thoseopening EdTech environments that
were coming out and we we'retalking, I'm going back
pre-internet, I'm going back tocd-roms.
(07:48):
You know, I'm going back to tothose, to those periods of time
and and back then I have to say,you know, I would find those
cool technologies, oh yeah, thisis going to be great, this is
going to work wonderful,wonderfully well.
But then there was no, nolanguage support, and and so
that was that was like okay,well, that's going to work over
in this other classroom, but notnecessarily in mine, and so
(08:10):
slowly I would see it get betterand better.
There was definitely times whenyou would see a big jump in the
language support that wasavailable with some technologies
, but honestly it was slow.
It definitely took a while toget there and I'm happy to see
now that I think now we're sortof getting to that point where
(08:32):
you do see a lot more languagesupport and a lot of the
technologies have come a longway and in particular, like with
Pocket Talk, which we'll talk alittle bit more about, I'm just
excited that we finally have atool that can fundamentally
support a student when they justneed to communicate and when
parents and teachers need tocommunicate, and that, to me, is
(08:53):
going to be incredibly valuableacross the board in schools
everywhere, not just in the USbut around the world.
Fonz (09:01):
Excellent.
Well, thank you so much forthat answer and your background.
I mean it's kind of a littlebit similar.
For me, the only thing is isgrowing up as an only child, I
didn't have that support fromolder sisters or siblings, and
so, you know, going to schooland my first language obviously
being Spanish, I didn't learnEnglish until I was in about
that I can remember, probablyabout second grade, middle
(09:23):
second grade, my third grade.
I was, you know, pretty decentand I was okay, but I mean, talk
about those tough times being alanguage broker too as well.
For my parents I always tellpeople the story I was like you
know, I'm an eight year old kidreading like documents and
translating and and well, boys,I think.
It says and and well, I think itsays, and you know it was very
(09:49):
interesting and, like I said,kind of growing up here in the
Valley, you know that's onething that we, we always saw,
and of course now myself too,included, being now heavily
immersed in this world of attackit really surprises me many
times that we are barely wherewe're at right now as far as
what language supports are, andof course it's getting a lot
(10:09):
better.
But even in the years that I wasin the classroom, like I was
talking to you briefly, it wasthe technology just it wasn't
there, it didn't have thatlanguage support.
And then having to work withstudents that would often come
in, and I had students not onlycoming in from Mexico and
speaking Spanish, but then I hadstudents in my district where
they're coming in from Japan,they were coming in from Korea,
(10:31):
they were coming in from Israel,and to be able to communicate
with them was just verydifficult at that time.
But things are getting a littlebit better.
But this is a great segue nowinto understanding and for you
to tell us a little bit better.
But this is a great segue nowinto understanding and for you
to tell us a little bit moreabout pocket talk and what
pocket talk is and what it doesfor the classroom.
Arturo Guajardo (10:53):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Pocket talk is amazing.
It's a we're a translationsolution that's being used all
over, all over the country.
Right now.
We're in about I think at thispoint about 500 school districts
coast to coast.
I've been lucky enough to workwith school districts in New
(11:14):
York City.
I was in Florida a couple ofweeks ago.
I'm going to California in afew weeks.
Next week I'll be in Seattle.
Lots of usage all over.
What we're known for primarilyis a device.
It's a little device like this,it's a little handheld device
that students can use, thatteachers can use, that your
(11:36):
front office can use, yourprincipals, your cafeteria
workers, your bus drivers Prettymuch anybody can have this
device and keep it in theirpocket, wear it around their
neck I have a little lanyardhere that I often wear and what
it allows you to do it allowsyou to communicate in more than
80 languages.
So right now, I think we're atabout 84.
We're going to be at 90 here ina few weeks and then we're just
(12:01):
going to be adding more andmore languages as we go along.
But, like I said, what's coolabout this is that it can be
used so that anybody from you asa second grader or newer, you
know picking up that English allthe way up to us as educators
in the classroom and yourfamilies at home.
So think about your familiaInstead of having to pull you to
(12:22):
be that translator out in thereal world, out in the doctor's
offices, at the DMVs, at allthose places that we all have to
go to at times.
Now you have a device that youcan actually have the parents
take along with them and be ableto make that communication so
much easier in all of thoseplaces.
So we're really excited to beable to provide that kind of
(12:44):
solution for not just forschools, but for offices and
public spaces, for governmentoffices, like I said, like the
DMVs, for doctor's offices, youname it Anywhere where
communication breaks down.
That's where Pocket Talk cancome in.
Fonz (13:02):
And that is fantastic and just by looking at it, just the
size of the device.
Now this and I'm going to sharea story because, like I
mentioned, my last year in theclassroom before I stepped into
this role, that is when I had mystudent that came in from
Israel and he came in mid-year.
Just sometimes the students, Imean, they don't want to move
(13:25):
but because of the parents' workand things of that sort, and
it's very difficult and he wasjust having a difficult time.
Obviously, the transition frombeing somewhere familiar to
somewhere somewhat unfamiliar.
But being able to work with himwas something that I just kind
(13:54):
of had to make it work.
You know, we, through the use ofChromebooks or and at that time
I had a, an iPad and we were hewas just typing in things just
so I can sit him next to me andjust whatever I can do to help
him just really capture thelearning or answer any questions
.
And but I tell you, you know,being able to use the Chromebook
or that iPad, as great as thosepieces of technology are one of
the things that I will say.
It was often bulky and it wouldjust be a barrier in itself
because of this, but the waythat you just shared Pocket Talk
(14:16):
and, just being a handhelddevice, that works very easily.
So now can you describe justthe way that this works?
Is it a real-time translator?
Arturo Guajardo (14:24):
just the way that this works.
Is it a real-time translator?
It is, it is, and absolutely so.
Imagine your student therebeing able to take this with
them to the cafeteria, to theplayground, obviously in the
classroom as well, in thehallways, and in some cases we
have some school districts thatallow the students to take these
home, use them for homework andeven allow parents to use them
(14:45):
in the community itself.
So they're checking these outto parents like a library book
and letting them, instead ofpulling you from the school, to
be the translator.
Now I can just check out one ofthese and use this and just
bring it back the next day ifneeded.
But the way it works is reallysimple.
It's basically you pick the twolanguages here on the screen.
You can kind of see there's twolanguages.
There's English and Spanish.
(15:06):
If I click on any of eitherlanguage, I'll see a list.
Here's where those 80 pluslanguages are stored.
I can just scroll up and downthe list here, pick whichever
one I want.
So in your case, you'll be ableto speak Hebrew.
Now we would find Hebrew on thelist and I'd be able to speak
English into the device.
It'll translate it into Hebrewand then your student would
(15:27):
speak Hebrew back into thedevice and you would hear it in
English.
So I talk, you talk, I talk, youtalk and I can show you how
that works here in just a minutewith this thing.
So notice the arrow there ispointing up.
So that means I'm going fromEnglish to Spanish.
If I click on the arrow, itflips and now I can speak
Spanish and it'll go intoEnglish.
So all I have to do is pressthe button.
(15:50):
There's one physical buttondown here that I'll need to
press and you have to hold itdown, kind of like a
walkie-talkie.
Press and hold the button,start talking.
The device starts listening,starts translating for you
automatically.
So there's the translation.
You can read it here.
It's a little bit tough to seeon the screen here, but there's
(16:11):
a translation.
You can read it here.
It's a little bit tough to seeon the screen here, but there's
a translation in Spanish.
If I didn't hear it the firsttime, I can click it for it
again, because we know sometimesour students need to hear
things a few times.
So I can repeat this as much asI want.
And then, if I'm the Spanishspeaker, this little button at
the bottom that I just pressedand that flips the arrow for us,
but again, I can just flip iton the screen as well, but you
can definitely read it and seeit at the same time, or hear it
at the same time, I should say.
(16:31):
And then, beyond that, there'sa little camera on the back.
That camera takes pictures oftext.
So that document that youmentioned when you were
translating, I can now snap apicture of it and I'll see the
translation on the screen, andthen I can also click on the
paragraph and it'll read it outloud to me as well in my
language.
So a lot of possibilities here.
(16:54):
And again, it's a device that'ssmall enough where I can put it
in my pocket, wear it around myneck, makes it easy to have
those conversations that sooften get missed.
There's just so manyconversations that you need to
have, sometimes with a student,or a student needs to have with
you, but because of thatlanguage barrier being there,
you know, sometimes it doesn'thappen, and then that has a cost
(17:16):
.
That could definitely.
That has a cost.
That might not happenimmediately, but it might happen
later on.
One quick story I'll ramblyhere, but one quick story that I
do want to share is the storyof a student that we heard from
a school.
A student came from Ukraine andwas at school.
Nobody spoke Ukrainian either,speak in English, was going to
(17:50):
have a fire drill, and so youcan imagine nobody being able to
explain to the student thatthis is just practice, you're
safe, don't worry.
This is what's going to happenand, of course, the alarm goes
off and the student gets veryupset.
The language that the personthat told me the story said the
student, freaked out essentially.
So just those kind ofconversations that we pretty
much take for granted you cannow have in more than 80
(18:13):
languages.
Fonz (18:15):
No, and that is so valuable.
As you're going through this,arturo, like my teacher voice or
my teacher self, like you know,like you mentioned, there's so
many possibilities, manypossibilities.
I mean not only with my studentthat came in you know that we
needed that Hebrew translationbut also the fact that you just
shared how you can actually takea picture of that document, so
(18:35):
for in class, you know, asyou're passing out a document.
Now one of the things for me is,you know, I always want to
eliminate any barriers forteachers also as well, or that
additional.
You know work sometimes,because it's like man, sometimes
you may have, you know, threeor four different students there
that may speak those three orfour different languages, and
(18:57):
now it's you have to producesomething in those three or four
different languages.
But the fact now that you cantake that document and you can
pass it out and the student cango ahead and set it to their
language and take a picture ofit, and now it's going to
translate that for them, rightnow my mind is like this is
amazing because, at least in mydistrict, I can see how this can
(19:19):
help our well number one, theclassroom, teacher, room teacher
, and then number two also helpour ESL strategists be able to
use this also with students tohelp them build up their skills
and especially the listeningskills.
This is huge too, and you'reworking on the speaking skills
too, so to me.
I'm already seeing, like all ofthese like TELPIS I'm seeing.
(19:42):
You know, just the languageacquisition, that practice,
being able to just feel morecomfortable.
You're learning, the studentdoes not have that barrier
anymore, the teacher doesn'thave the barrier and, like you
mentioned, not only teacher tostudent, but teacher to parent
also as well.
And many times, like in ourdistrict, we'll have district
engagement with parents and manytimes we need that support to
(20:06):
go from English to Spanish andif the parents can, you know, or
our presenter can go ahead anduse pocket talk to read out that
statement, or or, you know,give that comment and then be
able to play it in, whether it'sin Korean or Japanese or
Spanish.
That would be fantastic.
So I want to ask you know doesPocket Talk?
(20:28):
Can it connect to a headset, ifneeded?
Arturo Guajardo (20:32):
Yes, so the device comes with Bluetooth
connectivity so you couldconnect it to earbuds.
If you are doing a presentation, you know, for a large group,
you can plug or connect aBluetooth to a Bluetooth speaker
and just blast it out to theentire audience, to the
(20:53):
cafeteria, to the library,wherever the audience is.
And but yeah, to me everythingyou described is exactly what we
want to be able to provide forthe teachers Because, again,
teachers already have so muchgoing on, so much on their plate
as it is, and this is just atool to take some of that off of
their already overflowing plate.
Fonz (21:15):
Yes, absolutely, and I mean talk about the teacher
impact.
I mean right now justmentioning those examples and
myself I could have definitelybeen picturing myself just
simply, with this simple device,being able to communicate back
and forth with my students orstudents, for that matter, or
even parents too as well fromdifferent nationalities.
That makes a huge impactbecause many times, you know,
(21:35):
it's that communication piecethat is very difficult and by
removing that barrier, you'reremoving that frustration,
you're removing that barrier toaccess as well.
You're removing that frustration, you're removing that barrier
to access as well, and to beable to communicate with a
parent fluently in theirlanguage by using Pocket Talk to
translate, that's a gamechanger right there.
(21:55):
And now that the parent isinformed of anything that they
should know, and, of course,with the student.
And right now my mind is alreadygoing like right now when you
said you know presentations, Ican hook it up to my Bluetooth
speaker.
This is phenomenal, becausemany times we have parents that
come in and again it's not justone nationality but to be, able
(22:17):
to help them and serve ourlearning community, our parent
learning community.
That is huge also becausethey're a big.
You know they're an integralpart of the child's education
there in the classroom too aswell, so to be able to use that.
So, because I'm getting soexcited here, I know I'm the one
that's rambling, but I'll askyou, can you tell me?
(22:39):
you know, I know you don't haveto mention the districts or
district that you're workingwith, but I would love to hear,
just you know, some, somefeedback or just some of those
like great stories that that arehappening within some of the
districts that you're currentlyworking with.
Arturo Guajardo (22:54):
Absolutely so there's, there's a ton.
So like I kind of always startup in the Northeast and my brain
always has this image of kindof going across the country, but
so I always started in New YorkCity.
So the New York City Departmentof Education, the biggest
school district in the country,has really adopted Talk Talk.
(23:14):
I think at this point we'reprobably closing into about 600
schools that use Talk Talk.
They're in the thousands.
There's one school inparticular there that what they
ended up doing was welcomingtheir families, their newcomer
families, and this is out whereyou can find, you know, medical
help.
Here's where you can find ifyou need food.
(23:52):
Here's where you can find thesupply.
You know places where you canpick up free food.
Here's where you can find jobplacements, job placements.
And in that bag, beyond thatinformation, they include a
pocket tuck so that the familycan now take that with them when
they're out looking for theseresources that they need in
(24:13):
order to make their lives alittle bit better.
So New York City by far is ourbiggest partner at this point.
Orange County down in Floridaand in the Orlando area they use
this in their welcome center sowhen families arrive in their
districts from other countries.
They can go there and findpeople that can speak their
(24:33):
language.
So they have staff that speakSpanish and Haitian, Creole and
a couple of other languages, butyou know there are many more
languages that they need helpwith.
So that's where the pocket talkcomes in.
So they equip their staff therewith pocket talk to welcome
those families and to get themthe resources they need help
with.
So that's where the pocket talkcomes in.
So they equip their staff therewith pocket talk to welcome
those families and to get themthe resources they need.
And then we go across to placeslike Moreland in the Bay Area
(24:59):
in California.
They're a district thatactually checks these out like a
library book.
As I mentioned, they actuallyhave these barcoded and they
scan them and then the studentscan check them out as they need
them.
And you know, with students andwith families, their language
needs come and go.
As students get a little bitfurther along with their English
(25:20):
, they may not need a pockettalk anymore and that's okay.
It's like a scaffold that canbe removed, can be removed, and
I can turn that in and and thenmake that available for another
student that does need thatscaffold right now.
So so lots of different um waysto use this, everything from
families to students to to theclassroom uh, you name it, it's
it.
I'm always amazed.
(25:41):
I love to hear these storiesbecause I love to hear how
people are.
Our educators are using pockettalk and finding new ways to use
it that I had not about at all.
They're like, oh yeah, this ishow we use it.
I'm like, oh, that's amazing.
Fonz (25:52):
So, yes, no, and that is all wonderful, like you said,
because I mean, not only is itjust making an impact within the
classroom, but also, you know,just in the real world, you know
just for adults even, andthat's something huge.
But one thing that I love thatyou mentioned and I want to
highlight is, like you mentioned, when students need those
additional supports, buteventually, once they kind of
(26:14):
start growing themselves andunderstanding the language and
being able to work, you know,through a conversation, and then
slowly they're just bythemselves kind of weaning
themselves off of this, then,you know, you just simply submit
it or turn it in, somebody elsecan go ahead and start using it
, which is great because, as youknow, arturo, like right now,
(26:35):
school districts and everybodyis, you know, they're always,
their eye is always on budget,and what can we do and how can
we maximize what we have andmaximize that return on
investment?
And I think that this would besomething great that, as you can
see, that the student needs thedevice, but as they kind of
grow and they grow, they cangrow out of the device and then
(26:56):
let it, you know, be used bysomebody else.
So I want to ask you as far asthat is concerned, can you tell
us the way that the deviceactually functions, the inner
workings?
Is this something that is?
You know, do we need Wi-Fi, dowe need a subscription?
So how can we like just to givesome information for any of our
influencers within the districtor people with purchasing power
(27:18):
that are like whoa, you know,we've got to look into this.
Can you give us a little bit, alittle rundown as far as how
Pocket Talk works?
Arturo Guajardo (27:24):
Sure, no, absolutely, and everything you
mentioned is dead on.
We are one of those productsthat I think can save a district
money in a few different ways.
One of the ways is that eachdevice does include five years
of cellular data right out ofthe package.
So there's no subscription.
(27:44):
You don't have to pay anythingAfter you buy the device.
That's it.
You don't have to pay anythingAfter you buy the device, that's
it.
You don't have to pay anotherdime, but you get five years of
cellular data included in thatone time you purchase it.
So what that means is that Ican now take this device and
take it off campus if I need to,and use it on a field trip.
I can use it on the school bus,I can send it home with a
(28:05):
student or if I'm doing a homevisit, I can knock on that door
and be ready to talk, becauseit's automatically looking for
those cellular towers in yourneighborhood and connecting that
way.
So at school, yeah, get it onyour Wi-Fi.
That tends to be the best wayto connect within a school
building, just because of deadzones that sometimes come up.
(28:27):
So put it on your Wi-Fi atschool, but off campus it'll
just automatically flip over tothe cell tower and work that way
, so that'll say there's nosubscription at all, nothing.
You have to worry about payingafter you buy it.
Then, on the other hand, we dohave a subscription service.
(28:47):
We do have one subscriptionservice that you can choose to
pick up and that's calledVentana.
And with Ventana, that's yourmobile device management system.
So that for big districts likeI mentioned Moreland, where they
bought a thousand of these, Ibelieve they need a program to
be able to sort of keep track ofthe devices, know how they're
being used, where the devicesare getting used most like,
(29:11):
which campus is using them,which languages are being
translated, are there languagesthat we didn't know were being
used on a certain campus?
Now we know because they'reusing them on the pocket top,
and then if there's a campusthat maybe doesn't need them as
much, well, I can now take thoseresources and put them onto
another campus that does meetthe pocket top.
(29:31):
So you have usage reports andyour IT guys will love it
because you can do all yourWi-Fi settings remotely.
Now another campus that doesmeet the of the pocket time.
So you have usage reports, youhave, and your it guys will love
it because you can do all yourright, your wi-fi settings
remotely now, so you can justmake a wholesale changes to your
, your network, uh, the networksettings, I should say, on the
devices, without ever having totouch them.
You just do it all uh throughthrough ventana.
So so that's another uh costsaving, time saving uh tool that
(29:54):
we offer.
And then, beyond that, this isone thing that Pocket Talk has
that most other translationdevices don't have is that we've
locked down the privacy onthese devices, so you don't have
to worry about, if you're, forexample, using this in iep uh
meeting, that that's supposed tobe confidential.
(30:16):
Uh, now you know that all thetranslation, uh any translation
that happens basically lives onthis device.
I can delete it immediately.
I can choose to not even had itstored anywhere.
So so you don't have to worryabout that information getting
anywhere, getting into the wronghands, and you can even.
(30:37):
These devices have beencertified to be COPPA compliant,
they're FERPA compliant andthey're also HIPAA compliant, so
you can even have medicalconversations.
If your school nurse uses them,you can actually have those
conversations that should beconfidential, and this device
takes care of that for you.
So you don't have to worryabout having to.
You know, take care of thosethings separately.
(31:00):
It's all done within the device.
Fonz (31:02):
This is amazing.
I mean, one of the things thatyou hit on and I know we talk
about it and for anybody that'slistening and if you are just an
influencer within your districtas far as purchasing or
anything but just the fact thatthe return on investment, you're
buying the device five years,you know that you have, you know
, cellular service, you can getit on the Wi-Fi, you can use it
(31:25):
with parents, you can use itwith students, teachers, teacher
to student, teacher to parent,maybe even teacher to teacher,
however it is, but you're goingto have something on hand that
is going to be able to help youhave a conversation, or at least
translate what you're saying,to break that barrier of
communication between twodifferent people, or or you know
your learning community as faras parents are concerned, which
(31:48):
is fantastic.
But then what really uh caughtmy attention was you were
mentioning Ventana, which isfantastic because you know, as
we know, and what I've learnedis that data drives decisions
and, like you said, if you'remaking an investment, sometimes
you know we may think that thisschool needs this more or this
(32:10):
school needs this more, but now,when we're getting that data
that you mentioned, we're notonly getting what languages are
being used the most, which willgive us some insight as far as
what we may need to support, butthen also which campuses may be
using it more or have a higherneed, and then you can
reallocate that, which I thinkis fantastic, but not only that,
(32:32):
the management side.
I mean, for any CTO out therethat is looking for an easy way
to manage these devices, you'vegot the solution for it, and I
think that this really setsPocket Talk apart from really,
to be honest with you, I haven'tseen anything like Pocket Talk
out there.
Out there, because a lot of thelanguage supports you know they
(32:57):
integrate them within theplatforms or maybe the students
are using specific programs, butit's only for that specific
program, it's not for aconversation that you're having
off of that program, which Ithink this is phenomenal that
Pocket Talk would be able tohelp support the students in
that aspect, and that'sphenomenal.
Arturo Guajardo (33:16):
Yeah, no, no.
And also think, think in termsof I'm not sure if your district
where the phone policy is inyour district, but I know as
many districts are phones are,are, you know, are need to be
put away.
You know, and oftentimesteachers, students, we use
phones to, to, to translate, andI get that.
That makes sense.
I always remind teachers,though, keep in mind that if you
(33:39):
use your phone in a privateconversation, well you know,
your phone is now subject togetting pulled and getting
reviewed if there's aninformation act that gets
requested, a freedom ofinformation act that gets
requested, freedom ofInformation Act that gets
requested.
And the other thing I remind youon the student side for Pocket
Talk is that Pocket Talk doesone thing really, really well,
(34:01):
and that's translate.
Our translations are, I think,better than Google's, better
than many other translationservices that are out there, but
that's really all they do.
So you can feel fine handingthis to a student.
They can't play games, theycan't get on the internet, they
can't really do anything otherthan communicate, and that's
really what we want them to do,right.
(34:21):
We want them to be able to talkand give them a voice when they
might not have one until youhave some sort of technology
like Pocket.
Fonz (34:43):
And I love what you said there too.
I think that's huge too, thatno distractions and you're to
technology like Right now I'm inTelpist mode because we're
doing.
Arturo Guajardo (34:50):
Telmastessi so.
Fonz (34:51):
I'm like man, not only are they talking it, but they're
also listening and they'rebuilding up and of course, you
know you as a bilingual to mehas always been bilingual as a
superpower.
So not only are you stillworking on your Spanish, but
you're listening to it inEnglish and making those
connections.
Arturo Guajardo (35:09):
And that is the translanguaging.
That we want.
You know you don't want to, youdon't have.
That you know you don't want to, you don't have to.
You know your, your Spanish oryour, whatever your home
language is, is a superpower.
And now, now you have a way tobuild on that and and this just
device helps you along the wayand like, like I mentioned
earlier, when you're ready, youdon't need any more of that.
Sorry, move on without withoutit.
But for those students who needit, hey, it's going to really
(35:30):
be a game changer for them.
Fonz (35:32):
I love it.
That's fantastic.
Now, arturo, I do want to ask.
As you know, we were talking, Idid go to the website, which is
pockettalkcom pockettalkcom ifyou guys want to check that out.
Now it is with one T.
All right, guys, please,because I know you may be
listening to the podcast andyou're putting in pocket and
then talkcom and you're probablygetting an error.
It's one T pocket.
(35:53):
Yeah, now I do notice that,that that you offer not just the
, the pocket talk S, but there'sa pocket talk plus, which is a
little bigger screen andeverything.
So I mean do school districtsand I guess I guess, depending
on the budget, you know, and soon, but I mean they, they both
have the same functionality.
It's just really just thescreen size that makes the
difference correct it is, it'sthe size of the device.
Arturo Guajardo (36:16):
So the Pocket Talk S imagine a credit card.
It's about that size, justthicker obviously, but about the
size, length and width-wise, ofa credit card.
So for people like me with oldeyes, you know that screen is a
little small, honestly.
For students probably okay, butfor I always recommend, if you
(36:39):
are on the educator, if you'rethinking of using this as a
teacher, as an educator, thePocket Talk Plus is probably the
better device.
It's just easier to read,speaker is a little bit bigger.
Battery life is better.
You know we can put a biggerbattery in there, since it's a
bigger device.
So I always recommend, if youare thinking of using this in
the classroom, I recommendthinking of the Pocket Talk Plus
(37:01):
as being the device that'sgoing to meet your needs.
The Pocket Talk S is great justbecause it's tiny, but again,
probably better for little handsand younger eyes.
Fonz (37:13):
Absolutely, that's fantastic.
Well, I am just blown away,arturo.
This has been fantastic.
And again, you know, knowingnow you know about Pocket Talk,
and man, I just wish that thiswas at least around, or at least
I knew about it when I was inthe classroom.
This could have been makethings so much easier, but now,
even currently though, you havegiven me some bright ideas, you
(37:36):
know, and so I'm really excitedto just even share this, not
only for our audience membersthat are checking this out and
listening to this podcast, butfor anybody that's listening.
You know, definitely check itout, because I mean, right now
I'm thinking, you know, testingsupport, just day to day support
, homework support, and how easyit is to transport, and so the
(37:56):
possibilities are definitelyfantastic for the students.
And, just again, it's all aboutremoving that barrier for
teachers as well and justlightening their load with a
device that students can use inthe classroom, either take a
picture of their worksheet orjust to simply be able to
communicate in class and notfeel left out.
Arturo Guajardo (38:17):
You know that they can go ahead and get an
answer, and they're part of theconversation and that is huge.
That makes a big difference.
I always remind people of acouple of things For the
classroom.
Think about all the teachingpractices that we do.
Just think about one like turnand talk when I need to talk to
my classmate, and if myclassmate and if that classmate
doesn't speak my language, well,turnip talk just doesn't really
(38:39):
work right.
How am I going to talk to thisstudent?
So with a pocket talk you cando that, you can have the class
discussion, you can have thesmall group and you're giving
that student that voice, insteadof them just kind of sitting
there and listening and kind ofshrugging their shoulders.
Now you can find out what theyknow and how much they know,
because a lot of times it'sthere.
You just they just can'texpress it yet.
(38:59):
So keep that in mind for theclassroom and for the front
office.
I always remind everybody thatfirst experience that a family
has when they walk in the schooldoor and they've walked into
the school office, that's goingto set the, that's going to kind
of set the standard or thegroundwork for the rest of that
relationship.
So if that, if that experienceis a good one and you're able to
(39:21):
communicate with that family,that first time they come in
they're likely to come back.
If it's a bad experience andthey think well, nobody can
communicate with me, why am Igood?
Why would I go back to school?
You know it probably won't comeback, so just keep that in mind
.
I always recommend you have onein that front office, just to
make sure that that firstexperience is a good one.
Fonz (39:41):
Oh, that is some fantastic advice.
That is fantastic advice,arturo, because you're
absolutely right, that firstimpression is huge.
And then again, just to be ableto communicate with a parent
immediately, and it's just thatlevel of customer service,
personalization.
You feel welcome, you feel like, wow, you know, I was able to
communicate.
I mean it, just like you said,it makes a big difference for a
(40:03):
parent to say, hey, you know, ifthey took the time to do this
for me, then I know that my kidis going to be in good hands.
So fantastic, arturo.
Well, thank you so much, arturo, for just sharing a little bit
about your story, too, ineducation.
But just, you know, going backand forth and, like I said, you,
got my creative juices flowingtoo as well.
And seeing the possibilities ofhow to be able to integrate this
(40:24):
in just more than just a meretranslator, but just to be able
to use it effectively andintentionally for the student
growth, and this is fantastic.
So thank you so much forsharing that.
But before we wrap up, rememberwe always love to end the show
with the last three questions.
So, arturo, I hope that you'reready.
Arturo Guajardo (40:44):
All right, all right, here we go, all right.
Fonz (40:47):
Question number one as we know, every superhero has a
weakness or a pain point.
So for superman, kryptonite washis weakness.
So I want to ask you, arturoand I guess you can go in
different varieties here ordifferent routes I should say
your answers if you'd like, butI just want to ask you in the
current state of education, whatwould you say, is your current
(41:11):
edu kryptonite?
Arturo Guajardo (41:15):
Wow, to me I think it still goes back to my
edu kryptonite that I had 20plus years ago when I was still
in the classroom, and thattended to be just the focus on
testing.
That was going on then and Iknow it's still going on now.
That was going on then and Iknow it's still going on now,
and the idea that I hadsituations where we were doing
amazing things with our studentsand none of them necessarily
(41:40):
were obviously preparing for thetest, but we were teaching them
things, they were laying downthe foundation for so much
information and so much learningto take place.
But if it didn't look like wewere getting ready for the test,
then we would get, yeah, getour our hands slapped and and
I'm guessing that's stillhappening and and today, and and
(42:03):
to me are.
To me, that's the one thatthose little bit pokey don't
remember, um, but uh, my guessis that, uh, that that would be
my kryptonite at this point andit it probably still is for any
couple.
Fonz (42:15):
No, that is a great answer , and I'll just say un poquito
todavía, un poquito todavía, allright.
Well, here's question numbertwo.
Question number two is if youcan trade places with someone
for a day, who would it be andwhy?
Arturo Guajardo (42:33):
So a couple of things.
I really love to travel.
If I could travel, I would dothat 365.
You know it's always good tocome home, don't get me wrong,
but I love seeing the world andmeeting people and learning new
cultures and new languages, soI'd probably be.
I love Rick Steves.
So I don't know if everybody youmight not know who Rick Steves
(42:55):
is, uh out there, but uh, he'son PBS and he's a travel uh, he
has a travel shop, so he gets togo all over the world and and
so teach people about, uh, thesedifferent parts of the world
and and uh, it seems like that'sjust a great job and you get
(43:17):
job, I get to travel and helppeople learn about these amazing
places.
Probably Rick Steves wouldprobably be the one that I would
want on a selfish level.
Beyond that, I'm a big fan ofChef Jose Andres, who I love to
cook as well.
He puts his cooking powers towork in places that I've had
trying to think of the wordearthquakes or hurricanes,
(43:39):
anywhere that there's been anatural disaster.
He and his team go out thereand basically feed people and to
me that's an amazing again anamazing thing that I wish I
could do and help with more.
Fonz (43:51):
That's fantastic, and you know what I'll tell you.
Pocket Talk can also be a greatcompanion for those trips for
sure, exactly Easy for yourtrips for translation wherever
you are around the world, in adifferent country, or if you do
get to ever help out in a zonewhere there's, you know, helping
people in an area of naturaldisasters.
It doesn't have to be here inthe US, but hey, you've got a
(44:14):
wonderful tool in your pocketthat can help you communicate,
so that's wonderful, all right.
My last question, arturo, foryou would be is if you could
have a billboard with anythingon it, what would it be and why?
Arturo Guajardo (44:28):
Okay, I think I learned this from I can't
remember which show it was, butthe idea is try not to judge,
instead try to understand.
And to me that's so huge rightnow, particularly in the state
that we're in, where people arenot using that advice and
(44:53):
instead of trying to understandeach other, we're just kind of
being critical and judgmental.
And to me, just understandingcan go a long way and can change
people and change the world.
Fonz (45:04):
There you go.
That is a great billboard.
I don't know, is it maybe TedLasso?
Thank?
Arturo Guajardo (45:08):
you.
I'm saying Ted Lasso, don't bejudgmental.
Fonz (45:15):
And the only reason that that rang a bell, too, is also
because several months back Ihad another guest, and that was
his billboard too so that'sgreat that's fantastic.
Don't be judgmental.
All right, arturo.
Well, arturo, thank you so much.
It was an honor to have youhere.
Thank you so much for justsharing the work that you're
doing with pocket talking,really bringing down barriers of
communication and just makingthat connection, helping us make
(45:38):
connections through Pocket Talkwithin our classrooms, within
our parent learning communityand even outside of that, just
to be able to use something likethis on a day-to-day to be able
to help anybody.
This is such a wonderfulproduct and, again, I'm really
excited for what you're doingand the work that you continue
to do, and I hope that you wouldcome back whenever there is
(46:00):
another, either like majorupdate or anything that you may
be working on.
You always have an open invite.
Please come back and visit usagain, because we definitely
love to have you back, that'sfor sure.
Arturo Guajardo (46:11):
Awesome, fonz.
Thank you very much.
It's an honor to be on myEdTech Life.
It's a lot of fun and, yeah,I'd love to come back.
I think I'm sure we'll havesomething coming soon, so we'll
talk to you then.
Fonz (46:24):
Definitely Well, I'm looking forward to that and for
our audience members, pleasemake sure that you visit our
website at myedtechlife, whereyou can check out this amazing
episode and the other 314wonderful episodes where, I
promise you, you will find alittle something just for you
that you can sprinkle on to whatyou are already doing great.
If you haven't done so yet,guys, please jump over to our
(46:45):
YouTube channel also as well.
Give us a thumbs up, subscribe.
We're about 32 people shy of1,000 subscribers, and that is
our goal for this year.
So please make sure you hit usup and subscribe and, as always,
my friends, don't forget untilnext time.
Stay techie, thank you.
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