danielmartin67

Lesson makeover 1

Today I am going to try to enhance and expand the types of tasks included in a coursebook lesson with the assistance of ChatGPT. My aim is to create a variety of activities centered around the lesson’s main theme, which I can choose to use during the lesson or assign as homework or extended work.

Speak like a local

Today we’re going to take a look at how students can use Gemini (or any Gen.AI tool of their choice) to collect and practice a range of useful social language that isn’t often present in the language classroom. The generated learning material for learners is incredible.

Trivia quiz

Today I will ask ChatGPT to create trivia questions for the students based on a class reader. The students will be working in teams to answer the questions. I will also be exploring other types of trivia activities we can use in the language class.

Keeping a journal

Have you ever tried having your students keep journals in the language classroom? This can be done using personal notebooks or digital tools, allowing students to record their thoughts and ideas. Journals are very useful as language learning tools because they help build the habit of writing regularly. Good habits learn the foundation for consistent progress.

Memorization

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.

Odd one out

Today I am going to create odd-one-out activities, that is, exercises where students are presented with a list of words, and their task is to identify which item doesn’t belong with the others. After experimenting with ChatGPT for a while for odd-one-out activities, I have found that results are not always up to scratch. However, one must acknowledge that technology will save us tons of time in the process, and in the end, we can simply leave out bits we are not pleased with and just take with us what we think will work well for our teaching needs and purposes.

From reading passage to speaking exam practice

Today I will be asking ChatGPT to generate speaking exam practice material based on reading passages from coursebooks. We can use this material to create exam papers for speaking exams or simply engage students in conversations around the ideas stemming from those reading passages in pairs or small groups.

Story dice

Story dice are a set of small cubes with a different picture or symbol on each face. By rolling the dice, users generate a random combination of images—such as a ladder, a balloon and a bicycle—which they can then use as prompts to create a story. They are an excellent tool for the language classroom as they promote creativity and stimulate imagination. Additionally, story dice are available from a handful of websites.

Today I will explore ways to use story dice in the classroom in combination with the ChatGPT voice extension or the Android/iOS app for added elements of creativity, interaction and multimodal language use and practice.

Handout from board annotations

Today we are going to take a look at an incredibly powerful way to create meaningful homework material based on vocabulary that crops up in lessons and is noted on blackboards/whiteboards/IWBS.

Reverse conversation questions

Gen.AI can be of enormous help in explaining vocabulary. There are various things we can do as learners to explore, understand and get exposure to lexical items, such as asking for definitions, requesting example sentences with the target words, or asking Gen.AI to write stories incorporating that vocabulary. In addition to these methods, teachers can also ask Gen.AI to generate conversation questions incorporating the target words for further exposure and practice in the language classroom. In this blog post I am going to give this last method a twist.