Feb. 21, 2025

Episode 314: Arturo Guajardo

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!

Stay Techie! 

Peel Back Education exists to uncover, share, and amplify powerful, authentic stories from inside classrooms and beyond, helping educators, learners, and the wider community connect meaningfully with the people and ideas shaping education today.

Authentic engagement, inclusion, and learning across the curriculum for ALL your students. Teachers love Book Creator.

Support the show

Thank you for watching or listening to our show! 

Until Next Time, Stay Techie!

-Fonz

🎙️ Love our content? Sponsor MyEdTechLife Podcast and connect with our passionate edtech audience! Reach out to me at myedtechlife@gmail.com. ✨

 

00:30 - Educator's Journey

14:20 - Language Translator Device Benefits Education

20:19 - Language Acquisition Facilitation Device Description

28:07 - Cost-Saving Communication Device With Data Benefits

37:03 - Enhancing Education With Pocket Talk

WEBVTT

00:00:30.076 --> 00:00:34.057
Hello everybody and welcome to another great episode of my EdTech Life.

00:00:34.057 --> 00:00:40.843
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.

00:00:40.843 --> 00:00:44.572
Thank you so much for your continued support.

00:00:44.572 --> 00:00:46.889
We appreciate all the likes, the shares, the follows.

00:00:46.889 --> 00:00:50.390
Thank you so much for just interacting with our content.

00:00:50.390 --> 00:00:52.548
Thank you so much for all the messages.

00:00:52.548 --> 00:00:53.784
We really appreciate it.

00:00:53.784 --> 00:00:55.026
I really appreciate it.

00:00:55.026 --> 00:01:11.649
As you know, we do this for you because we wanna bring you some great conversations, we wanna 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, and I'm really excited about today's conversation.

00:01:11.649 --> 00:01:18.084
Today, I would love to welcome to the show Mr Arturo Guajardo, who is joining us from Pocket Talk.

00:01:18.084 --> 00:01:19.807
Arturo, how are you doing today?

00:01:20.700 --> 00:01:21.564
I'm doing great, Fonz.

00:01:21.564 --> 00:01:21.906
How are you?

00:01:21.906 --> 00:01:24.266
Well, I have to say I'm excited to be here.

00:01:24.266 --> 00:01:45.700
Before I even ask you that, you're doing.

00:01:46.081 --> 00:01:48.847
That really just fills my bucket, too as well.

00:01:48.847 --> 00:02:02.724
So today is going to be a double portion, a double filling of buckets today, for work and getting to interview you and getting to know you a little bit more, and also for our audience members, I should say, to get to know you a little bit more and the work that you do.

00:02:02.724 --> 00:02:05.371
So, arturo, let's go ahead and dive in.

00:02:05.371 --> 00:02:23.033
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 Tell us a little bit more about you, know your background in education and what your context is within the education space.

00:02:24.159 --> 00:02:24.641
Absolutely.

00:02:24.641 --> 00:02:28.472
Yeah, I think I kind of lost track a little bit.

00:02:28.472 --> 00:02:32.972
I want to say about my 32nd year in education altogether.

00:02:32.972 --> 00:02:34.685
So I go back a ways.

00:02:34.685 --> 00:02:44.986
I go back into the 90s, early 90s, when I became a bilingual teacher here in Austin, texas, did that for about 10 years I think.

00:02:44.986 --> 00:02:59.366
10 years of mostly fifth grade, some fourth, some third, working with multilingual kids from mostly from South Austin and kids from all over Latin America and a few from other parts of the world.

00:02:59.366 --> 00:03:03.443
So it was a wonderful experience for about a decade there.

00:03:04.546 --> 00:03:07.794
Beyond that I went into the ed tech world.

00:03:07.794 --> 00:03:11.570
Soon after that I became an ed tech coach also in Austin ISD.

00:03:11.570 --> 00:03:25.992
So I did that for about another eight, nine years after that and then I jumped over into the ed tech vendor side, I guess on the partner side, where I did about, I think, 11 years at BrainPop.

00:03:25.992 --> 00:03:30.852
And then I went over to Osmo and now I'm here at Pocket Talk.

00:03:30.852 --> 00:03:32.044
We're here a couple of years now.

00:03:32.044 --> 00:03:40.765
So, yeah, so everything from the classroom in the 90s all the way over to the tech world, we're just trying to keep up with it all.

00:03:41.387 --> 00:03:42.830
Yes, absolutely, and you know what.

00:03:42.830 --> 00:03:49.091
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.

00:03:49.091 --> 00:04:24.485
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 you know the experience that they've had in education 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 edtech coaching and then going into, you know, the world of edtech as a vendor, working through BrainPop and so on, it's just amazing to the experience that you have and seeing different perspectives, not only for yourself.

00:04:24.485 --> 00:04:38.569
But now you know the work that you're doing through Pocket Talk and then, now that we are here, you're getting to tell us a little bit more and using that experience to really just drive up and amplifying what Pocket Talk is doing.

00:04:38.569 --> 00:04:41.461
So I'm really excited to get to know that a little bit more.

00:04:41.541 --> 00:04:45.211
But I did want to just touch a little bit on your brief.

00:04:45.211 --> 00:05:06.000
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 know, can you tell me a little bit about how that helped you transition kind of into ed tech world?

00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:20.295
Or maybe are you seeing a little bit more 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?

00:05:21.036 --> 00:05:22.963
Yeah, no, absolutely.

00:05:22.963 --> 00:05:38.766
I went to, grew up in Houston, went to schools there in inner city Houston and started speaking English because I had two older sisters who they would bring home their English that they were learning in school.

00:05:38.766 --> 00:05:44.247
So I kind of picked up a little bit at home before I started school, kind of from then.

00:05:44.247 --> 00:05:46.581
But it was definitely broken English, you know.

00:05:46.581 --> 00:05:47.923
It was like what I was.

00:05:47.923 --> 00:05:51.002
They were, you know, a few years older than me, so it was a little kid English.

00:05:51.002 --> 00:05:54.290
I guess you could say that they were bringing home to me and sort of teaching me.

00:05:54.290 --> 00:05:57.663
And then school was.

00:05:57.723 --> 00:05:59.908
It could be challenging at times.

00:05:59.908 --> 00:06:10.154
There were definitely times when I definitely felt that I did have a little bit of obstacles to overcome when it came to language.

00:06:10.154 --> 00:06:18.353
In particular once I got up into the higher grades and was given tougher reading assignments, you know, when somebody handed me a William Shakespeare boy.

00:06:18.353 --> 00:06:23.870
That just blew my mind when I had to try to figure that out on top of just English in general.

00:06:23.870 --> 00:06:25.312
And that's a whole other kind of English.

00:06:25.312 --> 00:06:27.908
It's a whole other language as far as I was concerned.

00:06:27.908 --> 00:06:36.033
And so there are definitely times when I felt like there was support that was lacking along the way.

00:06:36.033 --> 00:06:52.543
But luckily I did have some really good teachers that did understand that and did help me, and help me not just linguistically but also just helping me figure out my identity as a, as a latino, as a student and and, uh, getting comfortable with with just all of that.

00:06:52.543 --> 00:06:54.110
Because it was definitely.

00:06:54.110 --> 00:07:05.651
There were definitely times when you know I needed a little push, I need a little help in in those kind of directions and, and so there were definitely uh, uh teachers that helped along the way and helped me get to get to where I am now.

00:07:07.180 --> 00:07:10.742
But then in the ed tech world, yeah, absolutely there's there.

00:07:10.742 --> 00:07:15.372
I would see it so much when I was teaching because I have students who came in.

00:07:15.372 --> 00:07:33.211
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 ten, and so so you kind of had to figure out, okay, well, this student needs this, the students needs this, the students needs this and and kind of figure out what supports they needed and trying to provide that.

00:07:33.211 --> 00:07:48.925
And then back then, with EdTech coming around, I was definitely in the classroom during those opening EdTech environments that were coming out and we we're talking, I'm going back pre-internet, I'm going back to cd-roms.

00:07:48.925 --> 00:08:00.550
You know, I'm going back to to those, to those periods of time and and back then I have to say, you know, I would find those cool technologies, oh yeah, this is going to be great, this is going to work wonderful, wonderfully well.

00:08:01.052 --> 00:08:13.711
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 would see it get better and better.

00:08:13.711 --> 00:08:24.329
There was definitely times when you would see a big jump in the language support that was available with some technologies, but honestly it was slow.

00:08:24.329 --> 00:09:01.128
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 Pocket Talk, which we'll talk a little bit more about, I'm just excited that we finally have a tool that can fundamentally support a student when they just need to communicate and when parents and teachers need to communicate, and that, to me, is going to be incredibly valuable across the board in schools everywhere, not just in the US but around the world.

00:09:01.809 --> 00:09:02.150
Excellent.

00:09:02.150 --> 00:09:04.263
Well, thank you so much for that answer and your background.

00:09:04.263 --> 00:09:06.827
I mean it's kind of a little bit similar.

00:09:06.827 --> 00:09:24.768
For me, the only thing is is growing up as an only child, I didn't have that support from older sisters or siblings, and 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, my third grade.

00:09:24.768 --> 00:09:31.409
I was, you know, pretty decent and I was okay, but I mean, talk about those tough times being a language broker too as well.

00:09:31.409 --> 00:09:42.203
For my parents I always tell people the story I was like you know, I'm an eight year old kid reading like documents and translating and and well, boys, I think.

00:09:42.244 --> 00:10:09.886
It says and and well, I think it says, and you know it was very interesting 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 of attack it really surprises me many times that we are barely where we're at right now as far as what language supports are, and of course it's getting a lot better.

00:10:10.408 --> 00:10:18.847
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.

00:10:18.847 --> 00:10:39.452
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 be able to communicate with them was just very difficult at that time.

00:10:39.452 --> 00:10:41.447
But things are getting a little bit better.

00:10:41.447 --> 00:10:45.062
But this is a great segue now into understanding and for you to tell us a little bit better.

00:10:45.062 --> 00:10:52.018
But this is a great segue now into understanding and for you to tell us a little bit more about pocket talk and what pocket talk is and what it does for the classroom.

00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:53.501
Absolutely.

00:10:54.083 --> 00:10:54.345
Yeah.

00:10:54.345 --> 00:10:55.908
Pocket talk is amazing.

00:10:55.908 --> 00:11:03.303
It's a we're a translation solution that's being used all over, all over the country.

00:11:03.303 --> 00:11:03.705
Right now.

00:11:03.705 --> 00:11:11.168
We're in about I think at this point about 500 school districts coast to coast.

00:11:11.168 --> 00:11:15.335
I've been lucky enough to work with school districts in New York City.

00:11:15.335 --> 00:11:17.081
I was in Florida a couple of weeks ago.

00:11:17.081 --> 00:11:18.725
I'm going to California in a few weeks.

00:11:18.725 --> 00:11:21.349
Next week I'll be in Seattle.

00:11:21.349 --> 00:11:24.403
Lots of usage all over.

00:11:25.716 --> 00:11:28.524
What we're known for primarily is a device.

00:11:28.524 --> 00:11:54.907
It's a little device like this, it's a little handheld device that 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 have this device and keep it in their pocket, wear it around their neck I have a little lanyard here that I often wear and what it allows you to do it allows you to communicate in more than 80 languages.

00:11:54.907 --> 00:11:56.581
So right now, I think we're at about 84.

00:11:56.581 --> 00:12:04.066
We're going to be at 90 here in a few weeks and then we're just going to be adding more and more languages as we go along.

00:12:05.076 --> 00:12:18.383
But, like I said, what's cool about this is that it can be used so that anybody from you as a second grader or newer, you know picking up that English all the way up to us as educators in the classroom and your families at home.

00:12:18.383 --> 00:12:30.804
So think about your familia Instead of having to pull you to be that translator out in the real world, out in the doctor's offices, at the DMVs, at all those places that we all have to go to at times.

00:12:30.804 --> 00:12:39.726
Now you have a device that you can actually have the parents take along with them and be able to make that communication so much easier in all of those places.

00:12:39.726 --> 00:12:59.100
So we're really excited to be able to provide that kind of solution for not just for schools, but for offices and public spaces, for government offices, like I said, like the DMVs, for doctor's offices, you name it Anywhere where communication breaks down.

00:12:59.100 --> 00:13:01.167
That's where Pocket Talk can come in.

00:13:02.216 --> 00:13:05.482
And that is fantastic and just by looking at it, just the size of the device.

00:13:05.482 --> 00:13:20.503
Now this and I'm going to share a story because, like I mentioned, 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.

00:13:20.503 --> 00:13:32.029
Just sometimes the students, I mean, 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.

00:13:32.029 --> 00:13:37.033
Obviously, the transition from being somewhere familiar to somewhere somewhat unfamiliar.

00:13:37.033 --> 00:13:55.120
But being able to work with him was something that I just kind of had to make it work.

00:13:55.139 --> 00:14:00.114
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 him next to me and just whatever I can do to help him just really capture the learning or answer any questions.

00:14:00.114 --> 00:14:09.015
And but I tell you, you know, being able to use the Chromebook or that iPad, as great as those pieces of technology are one of the things that I will say.

00:14:09.015 --> 00:14:20.294
It was often bulky and it would just be a barrier in itself because of this, but the way that you just shared Pocket Talk and, just being a handheld device, that works very easily.

00:14:20.294 --> 00:14:23.140
So now can you describe just the way that this works?

00:14:23.140 --> 00:14:24.903
Is it a real-time translator?

00:14:24.923 --> 00:14:27.249
just the way that this works.

00:14:27.249 --> 00:14:28.711
Is it a real-time translator?

00:14:28.711 --> 00:14:32.294
It is, it is, and absolutely so.

00:14:32.294 --> 00:14:46.900
Imagine your student there being able to take this with them to the cafeteria, to the playground, obviously in the classroom as well, in the hallways, 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.

00:14:46.900 --> 00:14:53.721
So they're checking these out to parents like a library book and letting them, instead of pulling you from the school, to be the translator.

00:14:53.721 --> 00:14:58.424
Now I can just check out one of these and use this and just bring it back the next day if needed.

00:14:59.456 --> 00:15:00.642
But the way it works is really simple.

00:15:00.642 --> 00:15:03.696
It's basically you pick the two languages here on the screen.

00:15:03.696 --> 00:15:05.216
You can kind of see there's two languages.

00:15:05.216 --> 00:15:06.337
There's English and Spanish.

00:15:06.337 --> 00:15:10.081
If I click on any of either language, I'll see a list.

00:15:10.081 --> 00:15:13.725
Here's where those 80 plus languages are stored.

00:15:13.725 --> 00:15:17.369
I can just scroll up and down the list here, pick whichever one I want.

00:15:17.369 --> 00:15:20.111
So in your case, you'll be able to speak Hebrew.

00:15:20.111 --> 00:15:25.966
Now we would find Hebrew on the list and I'd be able to speak English into the device.

00:15:25.966 --> 00:15:30.081
It'll translate it into Hebrew and then your student would speak Hebrew back into the device and you would hear it in English.

00:15:30.503 --> 00:15:35.465
So I talk, you talk, I talk, you talk and I can show you how that works here in just a minute with this thing.

00:15:35.465 --> 00:15:38.417
So notice the arrow there is pointing up.

00:15:38.417 --> 00:15:40.582
So that means I'm going from English to Spanish.

00:15:40.582 --> 00:15:45.821
If I click on the arrow, it flips and now I can speak Spanish and it'll go into English.

00:15:45.821 --> 00:15:50.109
So all I have to do is press the button.

00:15:50.109 --> 00:15:56.634
There's one physical button down here that I'll need to press and you have to hold it down, kind of like a walkie-talkie.

00:15:56.634 --> 00:15:59.019
Press and hold the button, start talking.

00:15:59.019 --> 00:16:02.044
The device starts listening, starts translating for you automatically.

00:16:02.044 --> 00:16:03.869
So there's the translation.

00:16:03.869 --> 00:16:05.080
You can read it here.

00:16:05.080 --> 00:16:12.100
It's a little bit tough to see on the screen here, but there's a translation.

00:16:12.100 --> 00:16:12.732
You can read it here.

00:16:12.732 --> 00:16:14.653
It's a little bit tough to see on the screen here, but there's a translation in Spanish.

00:16:14.653 --> 00:16:15.884
If I didn't hear it the first time, I can click it for it again, because we know sometimes our students need to hear things a few times.

00:16:15.884 --> 00:16:18.248
So I can repeat this as much as I want.

00:16:18.248 --> 00:16:31.839
And then, if I'm the Spanish speaker, this little button at the bottom that I just pressed and that flips the arrow for us, but again, I can just flip it on the screen as well, but you can definitely read it and see it at the same time, or hear it at the same time, I should say.

00:16:31.839 --> 00:16:34.831
And then, beyond that, there's a little camera on the back.

00:16:34.831 --> 00:16:37.018
That camera takes pictures of text.

00:16:37.018 --> 00:16:51.530
So that document that you mentioned when you were translating, I can now snap a picture of it 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.

00:16:51.530 --> 00:16:54.083
So a lot of possibilities here.

00:16:54.083 --> 00:17:02.846
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.

00:17:02.975 --> 00:17:16.324
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, you know, sometimes it doesn't happen, and then that has a cost.

00:17:16.324 --> 00:17:17.888
That could definitely.

00:17:17.888 --> 00:17:18.830
That has a cost.

00:17:18.830 --> 00:17:21.339
That might not happen immediately, but it might happen later on.

00:17:21.339 --> 00:17:30.122
One quick story I'll rambly here, but one quick story that I do want to share is the story of a student that we heard from a school.

00:17:30.122 --> 00:17:34.728
A student came from Ukraine and was at school.

00:17:34.728 --> 00:17:53.284
Nobody spoke Ukrainian either, speak in English, was going to have a fire drill, and so you can imagine nobody being able to explain to the student that this is just practice, you're safe, don't worry.

00:17:53.284 --> 00:18:01.548
This is what's going to happen and, of course, the alarm goes off and the student gets very upset.

00:18:01.548 --> 00:18:06.699
The language that the person that told me the story said the student, freaked out essentially.

00:18:06.699 --> 00:18:14.170
So just those kind of conversations that we pretty much take for granted you can now have in more than 80 languages.

00:18:45.046 --> 00:18:46.331
No, and that is so valuable.

00:18:46.484 --> 00:18:58.725
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, many possibilities.

00:18:58.746 --> 00:19:09.256
I mean not only with my student that came in you know that we needed that Hebrew translation 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.

00:19:09.317 --> 00:19:16.926
Now one of the things for me is, you know, I always want to eliminate any barriers for teachers also as well, or that additional.

00:19:16.926 --> 00:19:31.056
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 in those three or four different languages.

00:19:31.056 --> 00:20:04.096
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, room teacher, and then number two also help our ESL strategists be able to use this also with students to help them build up their skills and especially the listening skills.

00:20:04.096 --> 00:20:08.813
This is huge too, and you're working on the speaking skills too, so to me.

00:20:08.873 --> 00:20:12.131
I'm already seeing, like all of these like TELPIS I'm seeing.

00:20:12.491 --> 00:20:17.470
You know, just the language acquisition, that practice, being able to just feel more comfortable.

00:20:17.470 --> 00:20:28.377
You're learning, the student does not have that barrier anymore, the teacher doesn't have the barrier and, like you mentioned, not only teacher to student, but teacher to parent also as well.

00:20:28.377 --> 00:20:53.882
And many times, like in our district, we'll have district engagement with parents 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 pocket talk 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.

00:20:54.344 --> 00:20:55.528
That would be fantastic.

00:20:55.528 --> 00:20:58.696
So I want to ask you know does Pocket Talk?

00:20:58.696 --> 00:21:01.772
Can it connect to a headset, if needed?

00:21:02.895 --> 00:21:10.994
Yes, so the device comes with Bluetooth connectivity so you could connect it to earbuds.

00:21:10.994 --> 00:21:25.693
If you are doing a presentation, you know, for a large group, you can plug or connect a Bluetooth to a Bluetooth speaker and just blast it out to the entire audience, to the cafeteria, to the library, wherever the audience is.

00:21:25.693 --> 00:21:44.975
And but yeah, to me everything you described is exactly what we want to be able to provide for the teachers Because, again, teachers already have so much going on, so much on their plate as it is, and this is just a tool to take some of that off of their already overflowing plate.

00:21:45.456 --> 00:21:48.372
Yes, absolutely, and I mean talk about the teacher impact.

00:21:48.372 --> 00:22:02.619
I mean right now 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.

00:22:02.619 --> 00:22:17.019
That makes a huge impact because many times, you know, it's that communication piece that is very difficult and by removing that barrier, you're removing that frustration, you're removing that barrier to access as well.

00:22:17.220 --> 00:22:25.953
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 Pocket Talk to translate, that's a game changer right there.

00:22:25.953 --> 00:22:31.570
And now that the parent is informed of anything that they should know, and, of course, with the student.

00:22:31.944 --> 00:22:38.838
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.

00:22:38.838 --> 00:22:53.296
This is 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.

00:22:53.296 --> 00:22:56.079
That is huge also because they're a big.

00:22:56.079 --> 00:23:02.346
You know they're an integral part of the child's education there in the classroom too as well, so to be able to use that.

00:23:02.346 --> 00:23:09.669
So, because I'm getting so excited here, I know I'm the one that's rambling, but I'll ask you, can you tell me?

00:23:09.709 --> 00:23:24.310
you know, I know you don't have to 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.

00:23:24.330 --> 00:23:28.134
Absolutely so there's, there's a ton.

00:23:28.134 --> 00:23:37.375
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 so I always started in New York City.

00:23:37.375 --> 00:23:44.913
So the New York City Department of Education, the biggest school district in the country, has really adopted Talk Talk.

00:23:44.913 --> 00:23:50.356
I think at this point we're probably closing into about 600 schools that use Talk Talk.

00:23:50.356 --> 00:23:51.790
They're in the thousands.

00:23:51.790 --> 00:24:03.952
There's one school in particular there that what they ended up doing was welcoming their families, their newcomer families, and this is out where you can find, you know, medical help.

00:24:03.952 --> 00:24:22.846
Here's where you can find if you need food.

00:24:22.846 --> 00:24:27.134
Here's where you can find the supply.

00:24:27.134 --> 00:24:29.939
You know places where you can pick up free food.

00:24:29.939 --> 00:24:38.366
Here's where you can find job placements, job placements.

00:24:38.366 --> 00:24:45.331
And in that bag, beyond that information, they include a pocket tuck so that the family can now take that with them when they're out looking for these resources that they need in order to make their lives a little bit better.

00:24:45.331 --> 00:24:50.448
So New York City by far is our biggest partner at this point.

00:24:50.989 --> 00:25:00.574
Orange County down in Florida and in the Orlando area they use this in their welcome center so when families arrive in their districts from other countries.

00:25:00.574 --> 00:25:03.720
They can go there and find people that can speak their language.

00:25:03.720 --> 00:25:12.834
So they have staff that speak Spanish and Haitian, Creole and a couple of other languages, but you know there are many more languages that they need help with.

00:25:12.834 --> 00:25:15.277
So that's where the pocket talk comes in.

00:25:15.277 --> 00:25:17.634
So they equip their staff there with pocket talk to welcome those families and to get them the resources they need help with.

00:25:17.634 --> 00:25:18.605
So that's where the pocket talk comes in.

00:25:18.605 --> 00:25:21.691
So they equip their staff there with pocket talk to welcome those families and to get them the resources they need.

00:25:21.691 --> 00:25:30.098
And then we go across to places like Moreland in the Bay Area in California.

00:25:30.098 --> 00:25:35.394
They're a district that actually checks these out like a library book.

00:25:35.394 --> 00:25:43.013
As I mentioned, they actually have these barcoded and they scan them and then the students can check them out as they need them.

00:25:43.765 --> 00:25:47.231
And you know, with students and with families, their language needs come and go.

00:25:47.231 --> 00:25:53.052
As students get a little bit further along with their English, they may not need a pocket talk anymore and that's okay.

00:25:53.052 --> 00:26:01.875
It's like a scaffold that can be removed, can be removed, and I can turn that in and and then make that available for another student that does need that scaffold right now.

00:26:01.875 --> 00:26:10.414
So so lots of different um ways to use this, everything from families to students to to the classroom uh, you name it, it's it.

00:26:10.414 --> 00:26:11.879
I'm always amazed.

00:26:11.879 --> 00:26:14.948
I love to hear these stories because I love to hear how people are.

00:26:14.948 --> 00:26:19.355
Our educators are using pocket talk and finding new ways to use it that I had not about at all.

00:26:19.355 --> 00:26:21.219
They're like, oh yeah, this is how we use it.

00:26:21.219 --> 00:26:22.807
I'm like, oh, that's amazing.

00:26:22.827 --> 00:26:34.987
So, yes, 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, you know, just in the real world, you know just for adults even, and that's something huge.

00:26:35.027 --> 00:27:16.051
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 kind of start growing themselves and understanding the language and being able to work, you know, through a conversation, and then slowly they're just by themselves kind of weaning themselves off of this, then, you know, you just simply submit 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, they're always, their eye is always on budget, and what can we do and how can we maximize what we have and maximize that return on investment?

00:27:16.092 --> 00:27:28.807
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.

00:27:28.807 --> 00:27:35.249
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?

00:27:35.249 --> 00:27:36.471
Is this something that is?

00:27:36.471 --> 00:27:39.415
You know, do we need Wi-Fi, do we need a subscription?

00:27:39.415 --> 00:27:50.192
So how can we like just to give some information for any of our influencers within the district or people with purchasing power that are like whoa, you know, we've got to look into this.

00:27:50.192 --> 00:27:53.749
Can you give us a little bit, a little rundown as far as how Pocket Talk works?

00:27:54.390 --> 00:27:58.759
Sure, no, absolutely, and everything you mentioned is dead on.

00:27:58.759 --> 00:28:05.317
We are one of those products that I think can save a district money in a few different ways.

00:28:05.317 --> 00:28:13.579
One of the ways is that each device does include five years of cellular data right out of the package.

00:28:13.579 --> 00:28:14.810
So there's no subscription.

00:28:14.810 --> 00:28:16.821
You don't have to pay anything After you buy the device.

00:28:16.821 --> 00:28:16.960
That's it.

00:28:16.960 --> 00:28:17.806
You don't have to pay anything After you buy the device, that's it.

00:28:17.806 --> 00:28:24.634
You don't have to pay another dime, but you get five years of cellular data included in that one time you purchase it.

00:28:24.634 --> 00:28:31.112
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.

00:28:31.112 --> 00:28:46.090
I can use it on the school bus, I can send it home with a student or if I'm doing a home visit, I can knock on that door and be ready to talk, because it's automatically looking for those cellular towers in your neighborhood and connecting that way.

00:28:46.090 --> 00:28:48.907
So at school, yeah, get it on your Wi-Fi.

00:28:48.907 --> 00:28:57.752
That tends to be the best way to connect within a school building, just because of dead zones that sometimes come up.

00:28:57.752 --> 00:29:09.986
So put it on your Wi-Fi at school, but off campus it'll just automatically flip over to the cell tower and work that way, so that'll say there's no subscription at all, nothing.

00:29:09.986 --> 00:29:12.033
You have to worry about paying after you buy it.

00:29:12.033 --> 00:29:17.977
Then, on the other hand, we do have a subscription service.

00:29:17.977 --> 00:29:22.817
We do have one subscription service that you can choose to pick up and that's called Ventana.

00:29:22.817 --> 00:29:26.234
And with Ventana, that's your mobile device management system.

00:29:26.234 --> 00:29:49.809
So that for big districts like I mentioned Moreland, where they bought a thousand of these, I believe they need a program to be able to sort of keep track of the devices, know how they're being used, where the devices are getting used most like, which campus is using them, which languages are being translated, are there languages that we didn't know were being used on a certain campus?

00:29:49.809 --> 00:30:01.324
Now we know because they're using them on the pocket top, 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 top.

00:30:01.324 --> 00:30:03.575
So you have usage reports and your IT guys will love it because you can do all your Wi-Fi settings remotely.

00:30:03.575 --> 00:30:03.914
Now another campus that does meet the of the pocket time.

00:30:03.914 --> 00:30:16.554
So you have usage reports, you have, and your it guys will love it because you can do all your right, your wi-fi settings remotely now, so you can just make a wholesale changes to your, your network, uh, the network settings, I should say, on the devices, without ever having to touch them.

00:30:16.554 --> 00:30:19.520
You just do it all uh through through ventana.

00:30:19.520 --> 00:30:25.527
So so that's another uh cost saving, time saving uh tool that we offer.

00:30:26.067 --> 00:30:46.251
And then, beyond that, this is one thing that Pocket Talk 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, if you're, for example, using this in iep uh meeting, that that's supposed to be confidential.

00:30:46.251 --> 00:30:53.492
Uh, now you know that all the translation, uh any translation that happens basically lives on this device.

00:30:53.492 --> 00:30:55.317
I can delete it immediately.

00:30:55.317 --> 00:30:58.530
I can choose to not even had it stored anywhere.

00:30:58.530 --> 00:31:07.573
So so you don't have to worry about that information getting anywhere, getting into the wrong hands, and you can even.

00:31:07.573 --> 00:31:15.636
These devices have been certified to be COPPA compliant, they're FERPA compliant and they're also HIPAA compliant, so you can even have medical conversations.

00:31:15.636 --> 00:31:25.157
If your school nurse uses them, you can actually have those conversations that should be confidential, and this device takes care of that for you.

00:31:25.157 --> 00:31:27.557
So you don't have to worry about having to.

00:31:27.557 --> 00:31:30.017
You know, take care of those things separately.

00:31:30.017 --> 00:31:32.214
It's all done within the device.

00:31:32.836 --> 00:31:33.740
This is amazing.

00:31:33.740 --> 00:32:19.759
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 just an influencer within your district as far as 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 Wi-Fi, 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, to break that barrier of communication between two different people, or or you know your learning community as far as parents are concerned, which is fantastic.

00:32:19.939 --> 00:33:03.875
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 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 can reallocate that, which I think is fantastic, but not only that, the management side.

00:33:04.069 --> 00:33:19.964
I mean, for any CTO out there that is looking for an easy way to manage these devices, you've got the solution for it, and I think that this really sets Pocket Talk apart from really, to be honest with you, I haven't seen anything like Pocket Talk out there.

00:33:19.964 --> 00:33:45.643
Out there, because a lot of the language supports you know they integrate them within the platforms or maybe the students are using specific programs, but it's only for that specific program, it's not for a conversation that you're having off of that program, which I think this is phenomenal that Pocket Talk would be able to help support the students in that aspect, and that's phenomenal.

00:33:46.230 --> 00:33:46.853
Yeah, no, no.

00:33:46.853 --> 00:33:58.294
And also think, think in terms of I'm not sure if your district where the phone policy is in your district, but I know as many districts are phones are, are, you know, are need to be put away.

00:33:58.294 --> 00:34:04.259
You know, and oftentimes teachers, students, we use phones to, to, to translate, and I get that.

00:34:04.259 --> 00:34:05.536
That makes sense.

00:34:05.536 --> 00:34:22.702
I always remind teachers, though, keep in mind that if you use your phone in a private conversation, well you know, your phone is now subject to getting pulled and getting reviewed if there's an information act that gets requested, a freedom of information act that gets requested, freedom of Information Act that gets requested.

00:34:23.182 --> 00:35:17.820
And the other thing I remind you on the student side for Pocket Talk is that Pocket Talk does one thing really, really well, and that's translate.

00:35:17.820 --> 00:35:25.296
Our translations are, I think, better than Google's, better than many other translation services that are out there, but that's really all they do.

00:35:25.296 --> 00:35:28.697
So you can feel fine handing this to a student.

00:35:28.697 --> 00:35:36.869
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.

00:35:36.869 --> 00:35:45.079
We want them to be able to talk and give them a voice when they might not have one until you have some sort of technology like Pocket.

00:35:58.215 --> 00:35:59.257
And I love what you said there too.

00:35:59.257 --> 00:36:05.599
I think that's huge too, that no distractions and you're to technology like Right now I'm in Telpist mode because we're doing.

00:36:05.619 --> 00:36:06.641
Telmastessi so.

00:36:06.681 --> 00:36:16.586
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.

00:36:16.586 --> 00:36:21.927
So not only are you still working on your Spanish, but you're listening to it in English and making those connections.

00:36:25.050 --> 00:36:25.672
And that is the translanguaging.

00:36:25.692 --> 00:36:25.932
That we want.

00:36:25.932 --> 00:36:26.855
You know you don't want to, you don't have.

00:36:26.855 --> 00:36:27.958
That you know you don't want to, you don't have to.

00:36:27.958 --> 00:36:31.930
You know your, your Spanish or your, whatever your home language is, is a superpower.

00:36:31.930 --> 00:36:40.461
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, you don't need any more of that.

00:36:40.461 --> 00:36:42.331
Sorry, move on without without it.

00:36:42.331 --> 00:36:47.519
But for those students who need it, hey, it's going to really be a game changer for them.

00:36:48.079 --> 00:36:48.541
I love it.

00:36:48.541 --> 00:36:49.581
That's fantastic.

00:36:49.581 --> 00:36:51.264
Now, arturo, I do want to ask.

00:36:51.264 --> 00:37:00.119
As you know, we were talking, I did go to the website, which is pockettalkcom pockettalkcom if you guys want to check that out.

00:37:00.119 --> 00:37:00.541
Now it is with one T.

00:37:00.541 --> 00:37:07.659
All right, guys, please, because I know you may be listening to the podcast and you're putting in pocket and then talkcom and you're probably getting an error.

00:37:07.760 --> 00:37:08.902
It's one T pocket.

00:37:08.902 --> 00:37:18.918
Yeah, now I do notice that, that that you offer not just the, the pocket talk S, but there's a pocket talk plus, which is a little bigger screen and everything.

00:37:18.918 --> 00:37:26.329
So I mean do school districts and I guess I guess, depending on the budget, you know, and so on, but I mean they, they both have the same functionality.

00:37:26.329 --> 00:37:31.293
It's just really just the screen size that makes the difference correct it is, it's the size of the device.

00:37:31.311 --> 00:37:34.374
So the Pocket Talk S imagine a credit card.

00:37:34.374 --> 00:37:41.617
It's about that size, just thicker obviously, but about the size, length and width-wise, of a credit card.

00:37:41.617 --> 00:37:48.019
So for people like me with old eyes, you know that screen is a little small, honestly.

00:37:48.019 --> 00:38:01.625
For students probably okay, but for I always recommend, if you are on the educator, if you're thinking of using this as a teacher, as an educator, the Pocket Talk Plus is probably the better device.

00:38:01.625 --> 00:38:04.786
It's just easier to read, speaker is a little bit bigger.

00:38:04.786 --> 00:38:06.767
Battery life is better.

00:38:06.767 --> 00:38:09.427
You know we can put a bigger battery in there, since it's a bigger device.

00:38:09.427 --> 00:38:19.059
So I always recommend, if you are thinking of using this in the classroom, I recommend thinking of the Pocket Talk Plus as being the device that's going to meet your needs.

00:38:19.059 --> 00:38:27.557
The Pocket Talk S is great just because it's tiny, but again, probably better for little hands and younger eyes.

00:38:28.829 --> 00:38:30.317
Absolutely, that's fantastic.

00:38:30.317 --> 00:38:33.375
Well, I am just blown away, arturo.

00:38:33.375 --> 00:38:34.677
This has been fantastic.

00:38:34.677 --> 00:38:44.374
And again, you know, knowing now you know about Pocket Talk, and man, I just wish that this was at least around, or at least I knew about it when I was in the classroom.

00:38:44.374 --> 00:39:00.644
This could have been make things so much easier, 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 out and listening to this podcast, but for anybody that's listening.

00:39:00.644 --> 00:39:14.643
You know, definitely check it out, because I mean, right now I'm thinking, 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.

00:39:14.643 --> 00:39:31.958
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, either take a picture of their worksheet or just to simply be able to communicate in class and not feel left out.

00:39:32.351 --> 00:39:38.135
You know that they can go ahead and get an answer, and they're part of the conversation and that is huge.

00:39:38.135 --> 00:39:39.259
That makes a big difference.

00:39:39.530 --> 00:39:41.637
I always remind people of a couple of things For the classroom.

00:39:41.637 --> 00:39:43.693
Think about all the teaching practices that we do.

00:39:43.693 --> 00:39:55.143
Just think about one like turn and talk when I need to talk to my classmate, and if my classmate and if that classmate doesn't speak my language, well, turnip talk just doesn't really work right.

00:39:55.143 --> 00:39:57.077
How am I going to talk to this student?

00:39:57.077 --> 00:40:07.722
So with a pocket talk you can do that, you can have the class discussion, you can have the small group and you're giving that student that voice, instead of them just kind of sitting there and listening and kind of shrugging their shoulders.

00:40:07.722 --> 00:40:12.519
Now you can find out what they know and how much they know, because a lot of times it's there.

00:40:12.519 --> 00:40:14.613
You just they just can't express it yet.

00:40:14.613 --> 00:40:18.081
So keep that in mind for the classroom and for the front office.

00:40:18.309 --> 00:40:33.090
I always remind everybody that first experience that a family has when they walk in the school door and they've walked 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.

00:40:33.090 --> 00:40:40.316
So if that, 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.

00:40:40.316 --> 00:40:45.755
If it's a bad experience and they think well, nobody can communicate with me, why am I good?

00:40:45.755 --> 00:40:47.017
Why would I go back to school?

00:40:47.017 --> 00:40:51.104
You know it probably won't come back, so just keep that in mind.

00:40:51.104 --> 00:40:55.630
I always recommend you have one in that front office, just to make sure that that first experience is a good one.

00:40:56.170 --> 00:40:58.018
Oh, that is some fantastic advice.

00:40:58.018 --> 00:41:04.019
That is fantastic advice, arturo, because you're absolutely right, that first impression is huge.

00:41:04.019 --> 00:41:10.941
And then again, just to be able to communicate with a parent immediately, and it's just that level of customer service, personalization.

00:41:10.941 --> 00:41:15.019
You feel welcome, you feel like, wow, you know, I was able to communicate.

00:41:15.019 --> 00:41:23.764
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.

00:41:23.764 --> 00:41:25.594
So fantastic, arturo.

00:41:25.594 --> 00:41:30.552
Well, thank you so much, arturo, for just sharing a little bit about your story, too, in education.

00:41:30.552 --> 00:41:36.300
But just, you know, going back and forth and, like I said, you, got my creative juices flowing too as well.

00:41:36.570 --> 00:41:50.096
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 for the student growth, and this is fantastic.

00:41:50.096 --> 00:41:52.275
So thank you so much for sharing that.

00:41:52.275 --> 00:41:57.313
But before we wrap up, remember we always love to end the show with the last three questions.

00:41:57.313 --> 00:41:59.179
So, arturo, I hope that you're ready.

00:41:59.239 --> 00:42:02.112
All right, all right, here we go, all right.

00:42:02.552 --> 00:42:08.423
Question number one as we know, every superhero has a weakness or a pain point.

00:42:08.423 --> 00:42:11.789
So for superman, kryptonite was his weakness.

00:42:11.789 --> 00:42:27.961
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?

00:42:31.112 --> 00:42:46.691
Wow, to me I think it still goes back to my edu kryptonite that I had 20 plus years ago when I was still in the classroom, and that tended to be just the focus on testing.

00:42:46.691 --> 00:42:48.112
That was going on then and I know it's still going on now.

00:42:48.112 --> 00:43:09.454
That was going on then and I know it's still going on now, and the idea that I had situations where we were doing amazing things with our students and none of them necessarily were obviously preparing for the test, but we were teaching them things, they were laying down the foundation for so much information and so much learning to take place.

00:43:09.454 --> 00:43:19.420
But if it didn't look like we were getting ready for the test, then we would get, yeah, get our our hands slapped and and I'm guessing that's still happening and and today, and and to me are.

00:43:19.420 --> 00:43:29.979
To me, that's the one that those little bit pokey don't remember, um, but uh, my guess is that, uh, that that would be my kryptonite at this point and it it probably still is for any couple.

00:43:30.892 --> 00:43:37.213
No, that is a great answer, and I'll just say un poquito todavía, un poquito todavía, all right.

00:43:37.213 --> 00:43:40.177
Well, here's question number two.

00:43:40.177 --> 00:43:47.264
Question number two is if you can trade places with someone for a day, who would it be and why?

00:43:48.789 --> 00:43:50.597
So a couple of things.

00:43:50.597 --> 00:43:52.657
I really love to travel.

00:43:52.657 --> 00:43:56.840
If I could travel, I would do that 365.

00:43:56.840 --> 00:44:06.275
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 I'd probably be.

00:44:06.275 --> 00:44:08.221
I love Rick Steves.

00:44:08.450 --> 00:44:33.557
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 uh, he has a travel shop, so he gets to go all over the world and and so teach people about, uh, these different parts of the world and and uh, it seems like that's just a great job and you get job, I get to travel and help people learn about these amazing places.

00:44:33.557 --> 00:44:35.286
Probably Rick Steves would probably be the one that I would want on a selfish level.

00:44:35.286 --> 00:44:40.351
Beyond that, I'm a big fan of Chef Jose Andres, who I love to cook as well.

00:44:40.351 --> 00:44:56.356
He puts his cooking powers to work in places that I've had trying to think of the word earthquakes or hurricanes, anywhere that there's been a natural disaster.

00:44:56.356 --> 00:45:05.816
He and his team go out there and basically feed people and to me that's an amazing again an amazing thing that I wish I could do and help with more.

00:45:06.818 --> 00:45:09.083
That's fantastic, and you know what I'll tell you.

00:45:09.750 --> 00:45:26.349
Pocket Talk can also be a great companion for those trips for sure, exactly Easy 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 an area of natural disasters.

00:45:26.349 --> 00:45:39.710
It doesn't have to be here in the US, but hey, you've got a wonderful tool in your pocket that can help you communicate, so that's wonderful, all right.

00:45:39.710 --> 00:45:43.434
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?

00:45:44.135 --> 00:45:57.858
Okay, I think I learned this from I can't remember which show it was, but the idea is try not to judge, instead try to understand.

00:45:57.858 --> 00:46:12.701
And to me that's so huge right now, particularly in the state that we're in, where people are not using that advice and instead of trying to understand each other, we're just kind of being critical and judgmental.

00:46:12.701 --> 00:46:18.842
And to me, just understanding can go a long way and can change people and change the world.

00:46:19.302 --> 00:46:19.784
There you go.

00:46:19.784 --> 00:46:21.014
That is a great billboard.

00:46:21.014 --> 00:46:22.634
I don't know, is it maybe Ted Lasso?

00:46:22.634 --> 00:46:23.277
Thank?

00:46:23.297 --> 00:46:23.396
you.

00:46:23.396 --> 00:46:26.675
I'm saying Ted Lasso, don't be judgmental.

00:46:30.210 --> 00:46:36.492
And the only reason that that rang a bell, too, is also because several months back I had another guest, and that was his billboard too so that's great that's fantastic.

00:46:36.532 --> 00:46:37.576
Don't be judgmental.

00:46:37.576 --> 00:46:38.921
All right, arturo.

00:46:38.921 --> 00:46:40.887
Well, arturo, thank you so much.

00:46:40.887 --> 00:46:42.414
It was an honor to have you here.

00:46:42.414 --> 00:47:05.646
Thank you so much for just sharing the work that you're doing with pocket talking, really bringing down barriers of communication and just making that connection, helping us make connections through Pocket Talk within our 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.

00:47:05.646 --> 00:47:20.181
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 that you may be working on.

00:47:20.181 --> 00:47:22.217
You always have an open invite.

00:47:22.217 --> 00:47:26.137
Please come back and visit us again, because we definitely love to have you back, that's for sure.

00:47:26.858 --> 00:47:27.380
Awesome, fonz.

00:47:27.380 --> 00:47:28.192
Thank you very much.

00:47:28.192 --> 00:47:30.317
It's an honor to be on my EdTech Life.

00:47:30.317 --> 00:47:34.215
It's a lot of fun and, yeah, I'd love to come back.

00:47:34.215 --> 00:47:39.155
I think I'm sure we'll have something coming soon, so we'll talk to you then.

00:47:39.717 --> 00:47:57.787
Definitely Well, I'm looking forward to that and for our audience members, please make sure that you visit our website at myedtechlife, 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 that you can sprinkle on to what you are already doing great.

00:47:57.787 --> 00:48:02.099
If you haven't done so yet, guys, please jump over to our YouTube channel also as well.

00:48:02.099 --> 00:48:03.583
Give us a thumbs up, subscribe.

00:48:03.583 --> 00:48:08.561
We're about 32 people shy of 1,000 subscribers, and that is our goal for this year.

00:48:08.561 --> 00:48:15.952
So please make sure you hit us up and subscribe and, as always, my friends, don't forget until next time.

00:48:15.952 --> 00:48:47.184
Stay techie, thank you.
Arturo Guajardo Profile Photo

Director of K-12 partnerships at Pocketalk

Arturo Guajardo is the Director of K-12 partnerships at Pocketalk. As a non-native English speaker with experience as a student and an educator, Arturo deeply understands how transformative language inclusivity in the classroom can be. Arturo has over 31 years of experience as a bilingual and educational technology teacher in Texas and works directly with teachers to implement Pocketalk technology in the classroom.