The Teacher Behind the Prompt: Human-AI Collaboration in Pre-Service ESL Teacher Education

This paper describes the design and delivery of an elective one-semester course, AI for English Teachers (Course No. 22084), for third-year pre-service ESL teachers (PSTs) at Michlalah College Jerusalem, in Jerusalem, Israel. The course was built to address three goals: using GenAI platforms to develop academic research skills, applying GenAI platforms to design ESL lessons, and creating GenAI-assisted tasks for learners across varying age groups and proficiency levels. Working through collaborative Padlet boards and a structured final portfolio, PSTs developed prompt literacy and pedagogical judgment alongside practical GenAI skills. This paper argues that when GenAI is introduced within a coherent pedagogical framework, it changes not only what PSTs can do, but also how they understand their own professional role, shifting from consumers of ready-made curricula to designers of learning