Episode 314: Arturo Guajardo

Episode 314: Breaking Language Barriers in Education with Pocketalk with Arturo Guajardo

Fonz: Hello everybody. And welcome to another great episode of my ed tech life. Thank you so much for joining me on this wonderful day. And wherever it is that you're joining us from around the world, as always, thank you so much for your continued support. We appreciate all the likes, the shares, the follows.

Fonz: Thank you so much for just interacting with our content. Thank you so much for all the messages. We really appreciate it. I really appreciate it. As you know, we do this for you because we want to bring you some Great conversations. [00:01:00] We want to bring you some amazing guests. And of course, all of this goes back into the education space where we can continue to learn and grow together.

Fonz: And I'm really excited about today's conversation today. I would love to welcome to the show. Mr. Arturo Guajardo, who is joining us from Pocketalk. Arturo, how are you doing today?

Arturo: Doing great Fonz. How are you? I'm, uh, well, I have to say I'm excited to be here before I even asked you how you're doing.

Arturo: This is so fun and exciting. So thank you for having me. And, and, and how are you? Yes. No, I'm doing

Fonz: great. Thank you so much. Had a great day at work. And then of course, coming home and getting to do something that you love to do, and obviously having some great conversations and amplifying, you know, voices such as yours through the work that you're doing, so That really just fills my bucket too, as well.

Fonz: So, so today's going to be a double portion, a double filling of buckets today for work and getting to interview you and getting, uh, to know you a little bit more and also for our guests, for our audience members, I should say [00:02:00] to get to know you a little bit more in the work that you do. So Arturo, let's go ahead and dive in.

Fonz: So for. Our listeners today, those of you that are not familiar with your work just yet, but after today, I know that you'll definitely have a lot of followers. Uh, tell us a little bit more about, you know, your background in education and what your context is within the education space.

Arturo: Absolutely. Um, yeah, I think I kind of lost track a little bit, but I want to say about my 32nd year in education altogether.

Arturo: So I go back a ways. I go back into the into the 90s, early 90s when I became a bilingual teacher here in Austin, Texas. Um, did that for about, uh, 10 years, I think, uh, 10 years as a mostly fifth grade, some fourth, some third, working with multilingual kids from, from, uh, mostly from South Austin. Um, and, uh, and from kids from all over Latin America and a few from, from other parts of the world.

Arturo: So it was, it was [00:03:00] a wonderful experience, uh, for, for about a decade there. Uh, beyond that, I went into the ed tech. World soon after that, I became an ed tech coach, uh, also in Austin ISD. So I did that for about another eight, nine years after that. Um, and then, uh, jumped over into the ed tech, uh, vendor side, I guess on the partner side where I did, uh, about, uh, I think 11 years at, at, uh, brain pop.

Arturo: And then, uh, went over to Osmo and now I'm here at, uh, at pocket. So I've been here a couple of years now. So, uh, yeah. So everything from the. From the classroom in the nineties, all the way over to, to the, the set tech world, we're just trying to keep up with it all.

Fonz: Yes, absolutely. And you know what, that's something that I do admire and, you know, we were talking a little bit, you know, briefly before we got into the chat, you know, talking about TCA and talking about conferences and, you know, it's always great for me, at least when I go and visit a vendor and I do hear, um, You know, the experience that they've had in [00:04:00] education.

Fonz: And many times, you know, sometimes the 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 ed tech coaching, and then going into, you know, the world of ed tech as a vendor working through brain pop and so on, it's just amazing to see, to the experience that you have and seeing.

Fonz: Different perspectives, not only for yourself, but now, you know, the work that you're doing through Pocketalk. And then now that we are here, you're getting to tell us a little bit more and, and using that experience to really just drive up and amplifying what Pocketalk is doing. So I'm really excited to get to know that a little bit more, but I did.

Fonz: want to just touch a little bit on your brief, well, briefly on your background. I know that, you know, you yourself started as a non native English speaker, you know, and now you're 32 years later, well, 32 years in education now, you know, and with all of that experience, you [00:05:00] know, can you tell me a little bit about how that.

Fonz: Helped you transition kind of into ed tech world, or maybe are you seeing a little bit more, uh, or ed tech companies putting a little bit more attention to that as far as the language barriers and, you know, trying to help students just really overcome those barriers.

Arturo: Yeah. Um, No, absolutely. I, I, uh, went to, grew up in Houston, uh, went to schools there in, in, uh, inner city Houston and, um, started speaking English, uh, because I had two older sisters who, who they would bring home their, their English that they were learning in school.

Arturo: So I, I kind of picked up a little bit at home before I started school, uh, kind of from them, but it was definitely broken English, you know, it was like, What I was, they were, you know, a few years older than me. So it was little kid English. I guess you could say that they were bringing home to me and sort of teaching me.

Arturo: And, um, and then, uh, school was, was, uh, could, could be challenging at times. [00:06:00] There were definitely times when, when I definitely felt that, that I did have a little bit of, uh, um, a little bit of obstacles to overcome when it came to language in particular, once I got up into the higher grades and was given tougher reading assignments, you know, when somebody handed me a.

Arturo: William Shakespeare. Boy, that just blew my mind when I had to try to figure that out on top of just English in general. And that's a whole other kind of English. It's a whole other language as far as I was concerned. And so, so there, there are definitely times when, when I felt like they were, uh, there, there was support that was lacking.

Arturo: Along the way. Uh, but luckily I did have some really good teachers that did understand that it did help me and, and help me not just linguistically, but also just understanding, helping me, uh, uh, figure out my identity as a, as a Latino, as a student and, and, uh, getting comfortable with, with just all of that, because it was definitely, there were definitely times when, you know, I needed a little push.

Arturo: I needed a little help in, in, in those kinds of directions. And, [00:07:00] and so there were definitely, uh, uh, teachers that helped along the way and, and helped me get. To get to where I am now. Um, but then as, as in the ed tech world, yeah, absolutely. There, there's there, uh, I would see it so much when I was teaching, uh, because I had students who came in, you know, I would have some students that spoke zero English and then I'd have some students that kind of were everywhere in between, you know, zero to 10.

Arturo: And so, so you kind of had to figure out, okay, well, this student needs this, the students exist, the students needs this and, and kind of figure out what supports they needed and trying to provide that. Um, and then back then. with EdTech coming around. I was definitely, um, in the classroom during those opening, uh, EdTech environments that were coming out.

Arturo: And we're talking, I'm going back pre internet. I'm going back to CD ROMs. You know, I'm going back to, to, to those, to those periods of time. And, and back then I have to say, you know, I would find all these cool technologies. Oh yeah, this is going to be great. This is going to work wonderful, [00:08:00] wonderfully well.

Arturo: But then there was no. No language support. And, and so that was, that was like, okay, well that's going to work over in this other classroom, but not necessarily in mine. And so, slowly, I, I, I would see it get better and better. There was definitely times when, um, when you would see a big jump in, in the language support that, that was available with some technologies.

Arturo: Uh, but honestly, it, it, it's, it was slow. It definitely took a while to get there and I'm happy to see now that I think now we're sort of getting to that point where you do see a lot more language support and a lot of the technologies have come a long way and in particular like with Pocketalk, which we'll talk a little bit more about, I'm just excited that we finally have a tool.

Arturo: That can fundamentally support a student when, when they just need to communicate and when parents and teachers need to communicate. And, and that to me is, is going to be, uh, incredibly valuable, you know, across the board and schools everywhere. And, uh, not just in the U [00:09:00] S but around the world.

Fonz: Well, thank you so much for that answer in your background.

Fonz: I mean, it's kind of a little bit similar for me. The only thing is, is growing up as an only child, I didn't have that support from older sisters or siblings. So, you know, going to school and my first language, obviously being Spanish, I didn't learn English until I was in about that. I can remember probably about second grade, middle, second grade by third grade.

Fonz: I was, you know, pretty decent and I was okay. But, uh, I mean, talk about those tough times being a language broker too, as well for my parents. And I always tell, I always tell people the story. I was like, you know, I'm, I'm an eight year old kid reading like documents and translating and, and, and Well, boys, I think it says, and you know, it was very interesting.

Fonz: And like I said, kind of growing up here in the Valley, you know, that's one thing that we, we always saw. And of course now myself too, included being now heavily immersed in this world [00:10:00] of ad tech. It really surprises me many times that we are barely where we're at right now, as far as what language supports are.

Fonz: And of course it's getting a lot better. But even in the years that I was in the classroom, like I was talking to you briefly, it was the technology, just, it wasn't there. It didn't have that language support. And then having to work with students that would often come in and I had students not only coming in from Mexico and speaking Spanish, but then I had students in my district where they're coming in from Japan, they were coming in from Korea, they were coming in from Israel and to, you know, Be able to communicate with them was just very difficult at that time, but things are getting a little bit better, but this is a great segue now into understanding and for you to tell us a little bit more about Pocketalk and what Pocketalk is and what it does for the classroom.

Arturo: Absolutely. Um, yeah, Pocketalk is amazing. It's a, uh, we're translation. solution, [00:11:00] uh, that's being used all over, all over the country right now. And, um, we're in about, I think at this point, about 500 school districts, uh, coast to coast. Um, I I've been lucky enough to, to, to, to work with school districts in New York city.

Arturo: And I was in Florida a couple of weeks ago. I'm going to California in a few weeks and next week I'll be in. So lots of, uh, lots of usage all over. Um, what we're known for primarily is a, is a device and it's a little device like this. It's a little handheld device, uh, that, uh, students can use, that teachers can use, that your front office can use, your principals, your cafeteria workers, your bus drivers, pretty much anybody can, can have this device.

Arturo: Uh, and, uh, keep it in their pocket, wear it around their neck. I have a little lanyard here that I often wear. Um, and what it allows you to do, it allows you to communicate in more than 80 languages. So right now I think we're at about 84. We're going to be at 90 here in a few weeks. [00:12:00] Um, and then we're just going to be adding more and more languages as we go along.

Arturo: Uh, but like I said, what's cool about this is that it can be used with anybody from, from you as a second grader when you were, uh, you know, picking up that English all the way up to, to, to us as educators in the classroom, uh, and, and your families at home. So, so think about your familia instead of having to pull you to, to, to be that translator.

Arturo: Later, out in the out in the real world, out at the doctor's offices at the DMVs that, you know, all those places that we all have to go to at times. Now you have a device that you can actually have the parents take along with them and, and be able to make that communication so much easier in all of those places.

Arturo: Uh, so, so we're, we're, we're really excited to be able to, to provide that kind of solution for, for not just for schools, but for, um, you know, for Offices and, and, uh, public spaces for, for government, um, uh, offices. Like, like I said, like the DMVs for doctor's offices, you name it. Anywhere where communication breaks down, uh, [00:13:00] that's where Pocketalk can come in.

Fonz: And that is fantastic. And just by looking at it, just the size of the device now, this, what, and I'm going to share a story because like I mentioned my, my last year in the classroom, before I stepped into this role. That is when I had my student that came in from Israel and he came in mid year. And I mean, talk about, you know, obviously culture shock, talk about just sometimes the students, I mean, it, it, it.

Fonz: They don't want to move, but because of the parents work and things of that sort, and it's very difficult. And he was just having a difficult time, obviously the transition from being somewhere familiar to somewhere somewhat unfamiliar, but being able to work with him was something that. Well, I just kind of had to make it work.

Fonz: You know, we, through the use of Chromebooks or, and at that time I had a, an iPad and we were, he was just typing in things just so I can sit them next to me and just whatever I can do to help him just really capture the learning or answer any questions. And, [00:14:00] but I tell you, you know, being able to use the Chromebook or that iPad, as great as those pieces of technology are.

Fonz: One of the things that I will say it was. Often bulky, and it would just be a barrier in itself because of this. But the way that you just shared Pocketalk and just being a handheld device that works very easily. So now can you describe just the way that this works? Is it a real time translator?

Arturo: It is.

Arturo: It is. And absolutely. So, so imagine your student there being able to, um, take this with them to, to the cafeteria, to, to the playground, um, obviously in the classroom as well, in the hallways, uh, and, and in some cases we have some school districts that allow the students to take these home, use them for homework and even allow parents to use them in the community itself.

Arturo: So they're checking these out to parents, uh, like a library book. And letting them, instead of pulling you from the school to be the translator, now I can just check out one of these and use this, and this, bring it back, uh, you know, the next day if needed. Um, but the way it [00:15:00] works is really simple. It's basically, you pick the two languages, you know, here on the screen you can kind of see there's two languages.

Arturo: There's English and Spanish. If I click on any of the, either, either language, I'll see a list. Here's where those 80 plus languages are stored. I can just scroll up and down the list here, pick whichever one I want. So in your case, you'd be able to speak Hebrew now. We would find Hebrew on the list and I'd be able to speak English into the device.

Arturo: It'll translate it into Hebrew, and then your student would speak Hebrew back into the device, and you'd hear it in English. So I talk, you talk, I talk, you talk. And I can show you how that works here in just a minute with Espanol. Um, so notice the arrow there is pointing up, so that means I'm going from English to Spanish.

Arturo: If I click on the arrow, it flips, and now I can speak Spanish, and it'll go into English. Um, so, uh, all I have to do is press the button. There's one physical button down here that I'll need to press, so now you have to hold it down like this. Kind of like a walkie talkie, um, you press and hold the button, start talking, the device starts [00:16:00] listening, it starts translating for you automatically.

Arturo: So there's what I just said in English.

Arturo: So there's a translation. You can read it here. It's a little bit tough to see on the screen here, but there's a translation in Spanish. If I didn't hear it the first time, I can click it, hear it again, because we know sometimes our students need to hear things a few times, right? So I can repeat this as much as I want.

Arturo: And then, uh, if I'm the Spanish speaker, there's a little button at the bottom that I just pressed, and that flips the arrow for us. But again, I can just flip it on this screen as well. Hablo en Español y me traduce a Inglés.

Arturo: Sorry, the glare is a little bit tougher, but yeah, you can definitely read it and see it at the same time, or hear it at the same time, I should say. Um, and then beyond that, there's a little camera on the back. That camera takes pictures of text, so that document that you mentioned when you were translating, I can now snap [00:17:00] a picture of it.

Arturo: And I'll see the translation on the screen. And then I can also click on the paragraph and it'll read it out loud to me as well in my language. So a lot of possibilities here. And again, it's a device that's small enough where I can put it in my pocket, wear it around my neck. Makes it easy to have those conversations that so often get missed.

Arturo: There's just so many conversations that you need to have sometimes with a student, or a student needs to have with you. But because of that language barrier being there, um, you know, it sometimes doesn't happen. And then that has, that has a cost. That can definitely, uh, that has a cost that might not happen immediately, but it might happen later on.

Arturo: Um, one quick story, I know I'm rambling here, but one quick story that I do want to share is the story of a student Uh, that we heard from the school. A student came from the Ukraine and, um, uh, was in school. Nobody spoke Ukrainian. He didn't speak in English. And, uh, what happened one particular day is [00:18:00] that, uh, the school was gonna have a, uh, fire drill.

Arturo: And, uh, so you can imagine nobody being able to explain to the student that this is just practice, you're safe, don't worry, this is what's going to happen. Um, and of course the alarm goes off and student, uh, gets very upset. That's the language that the, the, the, the person who told me the story said the student freaked out essentially.

Arturo: So, so just those kinds of conversations that we pretty much take for granted. You can now have in, in, in. More than 80 languages.

Fonz: No. And that is so valuable as you were going through this, Arturo, like my teacher boy, or my teacher self, like, you know, like you mentioned, there's so many possibilities. I mean, not only with my student that came in, you know, that we needed that Hebrew translation, but.

Fonz: But also the fact that you just shared how you can actually take a picture of that document. So for in class, you know, as you're passing out a document now, one of the things for me is, [00:19:00] you know, I always want to eliminate any barriers for teachers also as well, or that additional, you know, work sometimes, because it's like, man, sometimes you may have, you know, three or four different students there that may speak those three or four different languages, and now it's, you have to produce something.

Fonz: In those three or four different languages. But the fact now that you can take that document and you can pass it out and the student can go ahead and set it to their language and take a picture of it. And now it's going to translate that for them right now. My mind is like, this is amazing because at least in my district, I can see how this can help our, well, number one, the classroom teacher, and then number two, also help our ESL strategist.

Fonz: It Unmutes and, and, and it can only mute themselves. That's the cool thing about it. I'm like, and I can't wait to see what it does. You can put it on, or [00:20:00] you can't wait to see what it does. Yeah, wow. I mean, in the, in the gym too, you can put it on the wall. You don't have to put the or the, the gym on there.

Fonz: But the bubble, the teachers can just, you can just put, you can just touch the wall and it's you know, just you can just, you can just put it on there and it will it will do whatever you want it to do. But teach it a parent also as well. And many times, uh, like in our district, we'll have a district engagement with parents.

Fonz: And many times we need that support to go from English to Spanish. And if the parents can, you know, or our presenter can go ahead and use a Pocketalk to read out that statement or, or, you know, give that comment and then be able to play it in, whether it's in Korean or Japanese or Spanish, then we That would be fantastic.

Fonz: So I want to ask, you know, it does Pocketalk. Can it connect to a headset if needed?

Arturo: Yes, uh, so the device comes with Bluetooth, uh, connectivity. So yeah, you could put it, uh, connect it to earbuds. [00:21:00] If you are doing a, a presentation, you know, for a large group, uh, you can plug or connect it Bluetooth to a Bluetooth speaker.

Arturo: Um, and just blast it out, uh, to the, to the entire audience, to the cafeteria, to the library, wherever the audience is, um, and, uh, uh, but yeah, the, the, to me, uh, that, that those, everything you described is exactly what we, what we want to be able to provide for, for the teachers. Cause again, teachers always already have so much going on so much on their plate as it is.

Arturo: And this is just a tool to, to, to take some of that off of there. Already overflowing plate.

Fonz: Yes, absolutely. And I mean, talk about the teacher impact. I mean, right now, I just mentioning those examples and myself, I could have definitely been picturing myself just simply with this simple device, being able to communicate back and forth with my students or students for that matter, or even parents too, as well from different nationalities, that makes a huge impact because many times, you know, it's that communication piece that is very difficult.

Fonz: And we. By [00:22:00] removing that barrier, you're removing that frustration. You're removing that barrier to access as well. And to be able to communicate with a parent fluently in their language, by using Pocketalk to translate, that's a game changer right there. And now that the parent is informed of anything that they should know.

Fonz: And of course with the student, and right now my mind is already going like right now, when you said, you know, presentations, I can hook it up to my Bluetooth speaker. This is. It's phenomenal because many times we have parents that come in and again, it's not just one nationality, but to be able to help them and serve our learning community, our parent learning community, that is huge also because they're a big, You know, they're an integral part of the child's education.

Fonz: They're in the classroom too, as well. So to be able to use that, so I, because I'm getting so excited here. I know that's rambling, but I want to ask you, can you tell me, you know, I know, and you don't have to [00:23:00] mention the districts or district that you're working with, but I would love to hear just, you know, some, some feedback or just some of those like great stories that, that are happening within some of the districts that you're currently working with.

Arturo: Absolutely. So, um, there's, there's a time. So like, I kind of always start up in the Northeast and my brain always has this image of kind of going across the country. But, um, so I always started in New York City. So the New York City Department of Education, the biggest school district in the country, um, has, have, have really adopted Pocketalk.

Arturo: Um, I think at this point we're probably closing into about 600 schools that use Pocketalk. They, they're in the thousands. There's one school in particular there that, um, that, uh, what they ended up doing was, uh, welcoming, uh, their families, their newcomer families, and this is out in Staten Island, mind you, uh, welcoming their newcomer families with a, um, sort of like a welcome bag that has resources in [00:24:00] the bag for them.

Arturo: So it'll be things like, okay, here's where you can find medical help. If here's where you could find, uh, if you, if you're, if you need, um, uh, food, here's where you, you know, here's where you could find the, the, um, uh, the supply, you know, where places where you can pick up, uh, free, free food. Here's where you could, uh, find job placements.

Arturo: And in that bag, beyond that information, they include a Pocketalk so that the family can now take that with them when they're out looking for these resources that they need to, in order to make their lives a little bit better. Um, so New York City, by far, is our biggest partner at this point. Uh, Orange County, down in Florida, in the Orlando area, Uh, they use this in their welcome center.

Arturo: So when families arrive on, uh, in their districts from, from other countries, they can go there and find people that can speak their language. So, so they have, uh, they have staff that speak Spanish and Haitian Creole and a couple of other languages, but you know, there are many [00:25:00] more languages that, that, that, that, that they need help with.

Arturo: So that's where the Pocketalk comes in. So they, they equip their, their staff there, um, with Pocketalk to, to welcome those families and to get them the resources they need. Um, And then if we go across to, uh, places like, uh, uh, Moreland and, and, uh, the Bay Area and California, uh, there, there are district that, that actually, uh, checks these out like a library, like a, like a library book, as I mentioned.

Arturo: They actually have these barcoded. And you can, they scan them, and then the students can check them out as, as they need them. And you know, with students and with families, uh, language needs come and go. Um, as students get a little bit further along with their English, they may not need a Pocketalk anymore.

Arturo: And that's okay. They, they, it's like a scaffold that can be And I can turn that in and then make that available for another student that does need that scaffold right now. So, so lots of different ways to use this everything from families to students to the classroom. You name it. It's, it's [00:26:00] I'm always amazed.

Arturo: I love to hear these stories. Cause I love to hear how people are, are, are educators are using Pocketalk and finding new ways to use it that I hadn't thought about at all. And they're like, Oh yeah, this is how we use them. I'm like, ah, that's amazing. So cool.

Fonz: No, and that is all wonderful. Like you said, because I mean, not only is it just making an impact within the classroom, but also.

Fonz: You know, just in the real world, you know, just for adults even. And that's something huge. But one thing that I love that you mentioned, and I want to highlight is like you mentioned when students need those additional supports, but eventually once they, they kind of start growing themselves and understanding the language and, Being able to work that, you know, through a conversation and then slowly they, they're just by themselves kind of weaning themselves off of this.

Fonz: Then, you know, you just simply submitted it or turn it in. Somebody else can go ahead and start using it, which is great because as you know, Arturo, like right now, school districts and everybody is, you know, it's, they're always, their eye is always on budget and what can we do [00:27:00] and how can we maximize what we're doing.

Fonz: What we have and maximize that return on investment. And I think that this would be something great that as you can see that the student needs the device, but as they kind of grow and they grow, they can grow out of the device and then let it, you know, be used by somebody else. So I want to ask you, as far as that is concerned, can you tell us the way that The device actually functions, the inner workings.

Fonz: Is this something that is, you know, do we need wifi? Do we need a subscription? So how can these, like, just to give some information for any of our, um, uh, influencers within the district or people with purchasing power that are like, whoa, we, you know, we got to look into this. Can you give us a little bit, a little rundown as far as how Pocketalk works?

Arturo: Sure. No, absolutely. And, um, everything you mentioned is dead on. We, uh, we are one of those products that I think can save a district money and in a few different ways. One of the ways is that each device does include five years [00:28:00] of cellular data. Right out of the package. So there's no subscription. You don't have to pay anything after you buy the device.

Arturo: That's it. You don't have to pay another dime. Um, but you get five years of cellular data included in that one time you purchase it. So what that means is that I can 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 Uh, I can I can send it home with a student or I can if i'm doing a home visit I can knock on that door and and You Be ready to talk because it's automatically looking for those cellular towers in your neighborhood and connecting that way.

Arturo: So at school, yeah, get it on your Wi Fi. That tends to be the best way to connect in a within a city within a school building just because of the Dead zones that sometimes come up, uh, so put it on your Wi Fi at school, but on off campus, it'll just automatically flip over to, to the cell tower and, and work that way.

Arturo: Um, so, so that'll save you. There's no subscription at all. Nothing. You have to worry about paying [00:29:00] after you buy it. Um, then on the other, on the other hand, there is a, uh, we do have a, a subscription service. We do have one subscription service that you can to pick up and that's called Ventana. And with Ventana, that's your mobile device management system, uh, so that for big districts like, like I mentioned, Moreland, where they bought a thousand of these, I believe, uh, they, they, they need a program to be able to, to sort of keep track of the devices, have, know how they're being used.

Arturo: Where, where do the devices are getting used most, like which campuses is using them, which languages are being translated? Are there languages that we didn't know were being used and on a certain campus now we know because they're, they're using them and on the pocket time. Um, and then if there's a campus that maybe doesn't need them as much, well, I can now take those resources and put them onto another campus that does meet the pocket time.

Arturo: So you have usage reports you have, uh, and your it guys will love it because you can do all your, your wifi settings remotely now. So you can just make a wholesale changes to your, your [00:30:00] network, uh, the network settings, I should say, on the devices without ever having to touch them. You just do it all, uh, through through Ventana.

Arturo: So, so that's, uh, another, uh, cost saving time saving, uh, uh, tool that we offer. And then beyond that, um, This is, uh, one thing that we, that Pocketalk has that most other translation devices don't have is that we've locked down the privacy on these devices so you don't have to worry about, um, if there's, if you're, for example, using this in an IEP, uh, meeting that that's supposed to be confidential.

Arturo: Uh, now you know that, uh, all the translation, uh, any translation that happens basically lives on this device. I can delete it immediately. I can choose to not even have it stored anywhere, so, so you don't have to worry about that, that information getting anywhere, being in, uh, getting into the wrong hands.

Arturo: Um, And, uh, you can even, uh, these devices have been certified to be COPPA compliant, they're FERPA [00:31:00] compliant, and they're also HIPAA compliant, so you can even have, uh, medical conversations if your school nurse uses them. Um, you can actually have these, those conversations that, that, that should be.

Arturo: Confidential, uh, and this device takes care of that for you. So you don't have to worry about, uh, uh, having to, to, you know, take care of those things separately. Uh, it's all done within the device.

Fonz: This is amazing. I mean, one of the things that you hit on, and I know we talk about it and for anybody that's listening, and if you are, uh, just an influencer within your district, as far as.

Fonz: Purchasing or anything, but just the fact that the return on investment, you're buying the device five years, you know, that you have, you know, cellular service, you can get it on the wifi. You can use it with parents. You can use it with students, teachers, teacher to student, teacher to parent, maybe even teacher to teacher, however it is, but you're going to have something on hand that is going to be able to help you have a conversation, or at least translate what you're saying.

Fonz: To break that [00:32:00] barrier of communication between two different people or, or, you know, you're learning community as far as parents are concerned, which is fantastic. But then what really, uh, caught my attention was you were mentioning Ventana, which is fantastic because, you know, as we know, and what I've learned.

Fonz: Is that data drives decisions. And like you said, if you're making an investment, sometimes, you know, we may think that this school needs this more or this school needs this more. But now when we're getting that data that you mentioned, we're not only getting. What languages are being used the most, which will give us some insight as far as what we may need to support, but then also which campuses may be using it more or have a higher need, and then you could reallocate that, which I think is fantastic, but not only that the management side, I mean, for any CTO out there that is looking for an easy way to manage these devices, you've got the solution for [00:33:00] it.

Fonz: And I think that this really sets. Pocketalk apart from really, to be honest with you, I haven't seen anything like Pocketalk out there because a lot of the language supports, you know, they integrate them within the, the platforms, or maybe the students are using specific programs, but. But it's only for that specific program.

Fonz: It's not for a conversation that you're having off of that program, which I think this is phenomenal. That Pocketalk would be able to help support the students in that aspect. And that's, yeah. Phenomenal .

Arturo: Yeah. No, no. And also think, think in terms of, I, I'm not sure if your district, uh, where the phone policy is in your district mm-hmm

Arturo: But I know many districts are phones are, are, you know, are, need to be put away. You know, and oftentimes teachers, students will use phones to translate. And I get that, that makes sense. Um, I always remind teachers, though, keep in mind that if you use your phone in a private [00:34:00] conversation, well, you know, your phone is now subject to Through to getting pulled and getting reviewed.

Arturo: If, if there's a information act that gets requested a freedom of information act that gets requested. I, and, um, the other thing I remind you on, on the student side for, for Pocketalk is that Pocketalk does one thing really, really well. And that's, that's translate that our translations are, I think better than Google is better than many other translation services that are out there.

Arturo: But that's, that's really all they do. So you can't, you can. Feel fine handing this to a student. They can't play games. They can't get on the internet. They can't really do anything other than communicate. And that's really what we want them to do, right? We want them to be able to talk and, and, uh, give them a voice when, uh, they might not have one until you have some, some sort of technology line pocket.

Fonz: And I love what you said there too. I think that's huge too, that no distractions and you're using it. You're using the tool for what it's meant to be and meant to do, [00:35:00] which is great too. And, and I love that line that you said is for them to talk and that's what we want them to do, practice the language.

Fonz: But like for me right now, I'm in Telpus mode cause we're doing Telpus testing. So I'm like, man, not only are they talking it, but they're also listening. And they're building up. And of course, you know, you as a bilingual to me has always been bilingual as a superpower. So not only are you still working on your Spanish, but you're listening to it in English and making those connections.

Fonz: And that is that translanguaging

Arturo: that, that we want, that, that, you know, you don't want to, you don't have to, you know, your, your Spanish or your, whatever your home language is, is a superpower. And now, now you have a way to build on that. And, and this just device helps you along the way. And like, like I mentioned earlier, when you're ready.

Arturo: You don't need anymore. That's fine. Move on with that without it. But for those students who need it. Hey, it's gonna really be a game changer for them.

Fonz: I love it. That's fantastic. Now, Arturo, I do want to ask, as you know, we were talking, I did go to the website, which is at pockettalk. com, [00:36:00] pockettalk. com, if you guys want to check that out.

Fonz: Now, it is with one T. All right guys, please, because I know you may be listening to the podcast and you're putting in pocket and then talk. com and you're probably getting an error. It's 1T Pocketalk. Yeah. Now I do notice that, that, that you offer not just the, the Pocketalk S, but there's a Pocketalk plus, which is a little bigger screen and everything.

Fonz: So, I mean, do school districts, I, and I guess, I guess, depending on the budget, you know, and so on, but I mean, they, they both have the same functionality. It's just really just the screen size that makes the difference. Correct.

Arturo: It is. It's the size of the device. So the Pocketalk asks, uh, imagine a credit card.

Arturo: Um, it's about that size, just thicker obviously, but about the size length and width wise of a, of a credit card. So for people like me with old eyes, um, you know, that screen is a little small, honestly, maybe for students, probably okay. Um, but for, for, um, I always recommend if you are on the educator, if you're [00:37:00] thinking of using this as a teacher, as an educator.

Arturo: The Pocketalk plus is probably the better device. It's just easier to read. Uh, speakers a little bit bigger. Battery life is better. You know, we can put a bigger battery in there since it's a bigger device. So, so I always recommend if you are thinking of using this in the classroom, I recommend thinking of the Pocketalk plus as being the device that's, that's going to meet your needs.

Arturo: Um, the Pocketalk S is, is great just cause it's tiny. Uh, but again, probably better for little hands and younger eyes.

Fonz: Absolutely. That's fantastic. Well, I am just blown away. Um, Arturo, this has been fantastic. And again, you know. Knowing now, you know, about Pocketalk and man, I just wish that this was, or at least around, or at least I knew about it when I was in the classroom, this could have been make things so much easier.

Fonz: But now even currently though, you have given me some bright ideas, you know? And so I'm really excited to just even share this, not only for our audience members that are checking this [00:38:00] out and listening to this podcast, but for anybody that's listening, you know, definitely check it out because I mean, right now I'm thinking.

Fonz: you know, testing support, just day to day support, homework support, and how easy it is to transport. And so the possibilities are definitely fantastic for the students. And just, again, it's all about removing that barrier for teachers as well, and just lightening their load with a device that students can use in the classroom.

Fonz: Take a, either take a picture of their, of their worksheet, or Or just to simply be able to communicate in class and, and not feel left out, you know, that they can go ahead and get an answer and they're part of the conversation. And that is huge. That makes a big difference.

Arturo: I always remind people of a couple of things for the classroom.

Arturo: Think about all the teaching practices that we do. Just think about, you know, one, like a turn and talk when, when I, I need to talk to my, my classmate and if that classmate doesn't speak my, my language, well, turn and talk to doesn't really work. Right. How am I going to. [00:39:00] Talk to the student. So with a Pocketalk, you can do the, you can have the class discussion, you can have the small group and you're giving that student that voice set.

Arturo: Instead of them just kind of sitting there and listening and kind of shrugging their shoulders. Now you can find out what they know and how much they know, because a lot of times it's there, you just, you know, They just can't express it yet. So keep that in mind for the classroom. And for the front office, I always remind everybody that first experience that you, that a family has when they walk in the school door and they walk into the school office, that's going to set the that's going to kind of set the standard or the groundwork for the rest of that relationship.

Arturo: So if that experience is a good one and you're able to communicate with that family that first time they come in, they're likely to come back. If it's a bad experience, then they think, well, nobody can communicate with me. Why am I good? Why would I go back to school? Um, you know, it probably won't come back.

Arturo: So, so, so just keep that in mind. I'll, I always recommend you have one of that front office just to make sure that that first experience is a good one.

Fonz: Oh, [00:40:00] that is some fantastic advice. That is fantastic advice, Arturo, because you're absolutely right. That, that first impression is huge. And then again, just to be able to communicate with a parent immediately.

Fonz: And it's just that level 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 parent to say, Hey, you know, if they took the time to do this for me, then I know that my kid is going to be in good hands.

Fonz: So. Fantastic, Arturo. Well, thank you so much, Arturo, for just sharing a little bit about your story too, in education, but just, you know, going back and forth. And like I said, you got my creative juices flowing too, as well, and seeing the possibilities of how to be able to integrate this in just more than just a mere translator, but just to be able to use it effectively and intentionally.

Fonz: For the student growth. And this is fantastic. So thank you so much for sharing that. But before we wrap up, remember, we always love to end the show with the last [00:41:00] three questions. So Arturo, I hope that you're ready. All right. All right. I hope so. Here we go. All right. Question number one, as we know, every superhero has a weakness or a pain point.

Fonz: So for Superman kryptonite. Was his weakness. So I want to ask you, Arturo, and I guess you can go in different varieties here or different routes. I should say your answers if you'd like, but I just want to ask you in the current state of education, what would you say is your current edu kryptonite?

Arturo: Wow.

Arturo: Um, to me, I think it still goes back to my edge of kryptonite that I had 20 plus years ago when I was still in the classroom. Um, and and that tended to be just the focus on on testing, uh, that was going on then. And I know it's still going on now. And, you know, And the idea that, you know, I had situations where we were doing amazing things with our students and, and, uh, none of them necessarily were [00:42:00] obviously gonna, uh, preparing for the test, but, but we were teaching them things that were laying down the foundation for so much information and so much learning to take place.

Arturo: But if it didn't look like we were. Getting ready for the test and we would get, get our, our hands slapped. And, and I'm guessing that's still happening and today. And, and to me, uh, to me, that's the one that a little bit, but, uh, my guess is that, uh, that, that would be my kryptonite at this point. And it's probably still is for many people.

Fonz: No, that is a great answer. And, and I'll just say. Un poquito todavía. Un poquito todavía,

Arturo: claro. All right.

Fonz: Well, here's question number two. Question number two is, if you can trade places with someone for a day, who would it be and why?

Arturo: So, uh, a couple of things. I really love to travel. Uh, if I could travel, I would do that [00:43:00] 365.

Arturo: You know, it's always good to come home, don't get me wrong. But I love seeing the world and meeting people and learning new cultures and new languages. So, so I'd probably be, uh, I love, uh, Rick Steves. So I don't know if everybody, you might not know who Rick Steves is, uh, out there, but, uh, he's on PBS and he's a travel, um, he has a travel show.

Arturo: So he gets to go all over the world and, and tell, teach people about, uh, these different parts of the world. And, and, uh, it seems like that's just a great job. You get to, I get to travel and help people learn about these amazing places. So probably Rick Steves would probably be the one that I would want, uh, you know, Kind of on a selfish level.

Arturo: Beyond that, I'm a big fan of Chef Jose Andres, who, uh, who I love to cook as well. So, so he, he, he puts his cooking powers to work in, in, in places that, um, in, uh, you know, places that I've had, um, you know, um, uh, what, um, Trying to think of the word earthquakes or hurricanes, anywhere that there's been a natural [00:44:00] disaster.

Arturo: He and his team go out there and, and basically feed people. And, and to me, that's a, that's an amazing, again, an amazing thing that, uh, that I wish I could do and help with more.

Fonz: That's fantastic. And you know what? I'll tell you, Pocketalk can also be a great companion for those trips. For sure. Exactly, exactly.

Fonz: For your trips, for translation, wherever you are around the world in a different country. Or if you do get to ever help out in a zone where there's, you know, helping people in, in an area of natural disasters, it doesn't have to be here in the U S, but Hey, you've got a wonderful tool in your pocket that can help you communicate.

Fonz: So that's wonderful. All right. My last question, Arturo, for you would be, is if you could have a billboard with anything on it, what would it be and why?

Arturo: Okay, I think I learned this, uh, from, um, uh, I can't remember which show it was, uh, but, uh, the idea is, um, uh, try not to judge, [00:45:00] instead try to understand.

Arturo: And, and to me that's so huge, and, and, uh, right now, in particular, this, this state that we're in, where people are, um, you know, not using that advice, and instead of trying to understand each other, we're just kind of being critical, and, and judgmental, and, and to me, um, Just understanding can, can go a long way and can, can change people and change the world.

Fonz: There you go. That is a great billboard. I don't know. Is it maybe Ted Lasso? Thank you. That's it. That's it. It was Ted Lasso. And the only reason that that rang a bell too is also because, uh, several months back I had another guest and that was his billboard too. So that's great. Oh, wow. Fantastic. Don't be judgmental.

Fonz: All right. Arturo. Well, Arturo. Thank you so much. It was an honor to have you here. Thank you so much for just sharing the work that you're doing with Pocketalk and really bringing down barriers of communication and just making that connection, helping us make connections through Pocketalk within our community.

Fonz: Our [00:46:00] classrooms within our parent learning community. And even outside of that, just to be able to use something like this on a day to day, to be able to help anybody, this is such a wonderful product. And again, I'm really excited for what you're doing and the work that you continue to do. And I hope that you would come back whenever there is another, either like major update or anything, you know, that you may be working on.

Fonz: Yeah. You always have an open invite. Please come back and visit us again, because we definitely love to have you back. That's for sure.

Arturo: Awesome. Fonz. Thank you very much. It's an honor to be on my take life. And, uh, it's a lot of fun and, uh, yeah, I'd love to come back. I think, uh, we, I'm sure we'll have something coming soon.

Arturo: So we'll talk again.

Fonz: Definitely. Well, I'm looking forward to that. And for our audience members, please make sure that you visit our website at my tech dot life, where you can check out this amazing episode and the other 314 wonderful episodes, where I promise you, you will find a little something just for you to enjoy.

Fonz: That you can sprinkle on to what you [00:47:00] are already doing. Great. If you haven't done so yet guys, please jump over to our YouTube channel also as well, give us a thumbs up, subscribe. We're about 32 people shy of a thousand subscribers, and that is our goal for this year. So please make sure you hit us up and subscribe.

Fonz: And as always, my friends don't forget until next time, Stay Techie!.