Memory plays a vital role in language learning. However, memory in language learning is not merely a matter of exposure, understanding and storage of new words; it also involves retrieval, quick access and the ability to use that language competently. Regardless of age or inherent ability, memory can and should be trained. Here is a class activity that can help learners store and activate language.
Find a reading passage that you would like your students to read in class and work with in class. It could come from the digital coursebook version or an online source. I will be using a paragraph from the reading passage The Buy Nothing Movement from the British Council site. You can access this reading material HERE.
To wrap up our series of activities around the text, we could copy and paste a portion of it into a Gen.AI tool. I will be using Gemini this time. Then, we could ask the tool to remove certain words for the students to retrieve.
Prompt:: Rewrite this passage exactly as it is but only show the first letter of the words that start with an asterisk, replacing the remaining letters of those words with dotted lines: In Britain, the *average person spends more than £1,000 on new clothes a year, which is around four per cent of their *income. That *might not sound like much, but that *figure hides two far more worrying *trends for society and for the environment. First, a lot of that consumer spending is *via credit cards. British people currently *owe approximately £670 per adult to credit card companies. That’s 66 per cent of the average wardrobe *budget. Also, not only are people spending money they don’t have, they’re using it to buy things they don’t need. Britain *throws away 300,000 tons of clothing a year, most of which goes into *landfill sites.
So, after copying and pasting the text, I just quickly typed “*” before the first letter of interesting words to be learned or reinforced.
In Britain, the a……… person spends more than £1,000 on new clothes a year, which is around four per cent of their i……… That m……… not sound like much, but that f……… hides two far more worrying t……… for society and for the environment. First, a lot of that consumer spending is v……… credit cards. British people currently o……… approximately £670 per adult to credit card companies. That’s 66 per cent of the average wardrobe b……… Also, not only are people spending money they don’t have, they’re using it to buy things they don’t need. Britain t……… away 300,000 tons of clothing a year, most of which goes into l……… sites.
For space-saving purposes, I just selected a sample paragraph, but we could be copying and pasting a selection of paragraphs or the whole text. While the students are silently reading the tex, talking about it, or doing reading comprehension-related activities, we could take a minute or two to use the computer and make those adjustments.
Then we could tell students to look at the board and to, in their heads, try to retrieve the missing words silently and individually. Afterward, we could pair them up and have them take turns to read and call out the missing words.
We could retrieve the prompt with the text containing asterisks, copy and paste it into Gemini again and add more asterisks to it for a second, more challenging round (or invite a student to use the class computer and place additional asterisks before 5/10/15 words from the text). Here’s the updated version now:
This procedure also works really well with lexical sets for lower levels by asking Gen.AI to generate a text rich in a specific lexical set. For example, let’s take a look at this prompt: Write a reading passage of about 100 words about someone’s daily routine. The passage must be suitable for Elementary students of English.
A Busy Day
Every morning, Tom wakes up early. He washes his face and brushes his teeth. Then, he eats breakfast. After breakfast, he gets dressed and goes to school. At school, he learns math, science, and English.
After school, Tom plays with his friends. Sometimes they play soccer or ride their bikes. When it’s time for dinner, he goes home and eats with his family. In the evening, he does his homework and reads a book. Then, he goes to bed.
The generated text is not exactly very exciting reading material but it will be useful for helping learners at that language level store words in memory by placing asterisks (or any other chosen symbol) before every verb related to daily routine.
This procedure also works well with functional language or language in situations. I just used the prompt “Write a conversation of about 150 words between a sales assistant and a customer for Elementary students of English at a clothes shop”. I then copied and pasted the text into Gemini, added asterisks before key words and asked Gemini to generate a new version displaying only the first letters of those words.
Can you guess the words? Easy task if you are a teacher and perfectly balanced one for an A2-B1 learner. In this case students can work in pairs and take roles. Once they are familiar with the conversation, and for a more challenging task, we could copy and paste the text with the asterisks again, but this time ask Gemini to replace the words marked with an asterisk with dotted lines (without providing the first letters).
Sales Assistant: Hi there! W……… to our shop. Can I h……… you find anything today?
Customer: Yes, please. I’m l……… for a new shirt.
Sales Assistant: Great! What k……… of shirt are you l……… for? A t-shirt, a polo shirt, or a dress shirt?
Customer: A t-shirt, p……… I like the blue one in the window.
Sales Assistant: Oh, that’s a nice one. What size do you w………? Customer: I w……… a m………
Sales Assistant: Let me c……… Ah, h……… it is. Would you like to t……… it on?
Customer: S………, thanks.
A few minutes later…
Customer: It f……… perfectly! I’ll t……… it.
Sales Assistant: Great! W……… you like to look at any other items? We have some nice jeans and hats.
Customer: No, t……… I just need the shirt. How m……… is it?
Sales Assistant: It’s 15 euros.
Customer: Okay, here you g………
Sales Assistant: Thank you. Have a n……… day!
AI in ELT 