Tag Archives: fun

ChatGPT Dicey Discussions: A Grammar and Conversation Challenge

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Welcome back, everyone! I’ve missed connecting with you and sharing ideas. Another year of sharing my classroom experiences with you all—20 years publishing and still going strong! I’m just as pumped about it, even though I barely have time to write. Al least, not as much as I’d like. Over the summer, I’ve been busy testing new ways to make the most of AI in our classrooms. I can’t wait to dive in and explore these exciting possibilities together!

Remember when we used to spend hours crafting conversation games? Well, those days are over! This prompt will save you tons of time while sparking lively discussions in your classroom. Plus, it’s a breeze—just roll a die! The best part? It also sneaks in some essential grammar practice during conversations.

OPTION 1. THE TRADITIONAL TOUCH I AM SO FOND OF.

Now, this is the prompt I’ve written on ChatGPT. I have used ChatGPT, but you can use any of his friends-Gemini, Bard, Claude, Llama…etc.

Create a conversation game using a die, where each number corresponds to [six] questions. The questions should cover [advanced] grammar points such as [conditionals, relative clauses, modal verbs, passive voice, reported speech], and other [complex] structures. Some other questions should explore a variety of semantic fields such as [emotions, travel, relationships, work, and technology]. Group the questions under each dice number according to the grammar points or to the semantic fields.

Now, let me walk you through how to use this in your classroom:

  1. Go to ChatGPT and paste in the prompt. (Easy peasy, right?)
  2. Watch in awe as it generates a full set of questions grouped by die numbers.
  3. Copy the results and print them out. (Or go paperless and display them on your smart board)
  4. Grab a die and roll it twice for each conversation. The first roll picks the category, and the second roll selects the question students will answer.
  5. Put your students in pairs and let conversations flow.
  6. Add movement: after about 5 minutes, have students stand up and switch partners, roll the dice again to get a new question and keep the discussions lively and engaging. It’s a simple and effective way to spark interaction while reinforcing key grammar points!
  7. Wanna add to the fun? Then, use a giant foam dice and let students roll it!!! Have a look at mine!

Note: These questions have been created by ChatGPT with the input of the prompt above. You can modify the prompt to fit your students’ needs.


Click here to go full screen. Roll the die and answer the question by cristina.cabal

OPTION 2. INTERACTIVE AND TECH-POWERED

If you can think it, you can probably make it happen! Tech has never been more accessible. Everything’s at your fingertips—you just need to know where to look.

So guess what? I’ve taken the game above and given it a fresh, interactive twist! We’re talking paperless, more engaging, and way more fun. Imagine the same game, but now it’s fully interactive and tech-powered.

This is the prompt I have used  to feed the amazing website Websim. https://websim.ai/c/nXmnW5OcZ7UNFCbWN

Create an interactive page with this prompt. Create a conversation game using a die, where each number corresponds to [six] questions. The questions should cover [advanced] grammar points such as [conditionals, relative clauses, modal verbs, passive voice, reported speech], and other [complex] structures. Some other questions should explore a variety of semantic fields such as [emotions, travel, relationships, work, and technology].  The questions should be grouped by grammar category or semantic field. State which grammar point or semantic field each number corresponds to and include a text “www.cristinacabal.com” which will link to this website. The background should be light red.

And this is what I got. Well, what do you think?

Now, I know what you’re thinking. Isn’t AI taking over our jobs?” Fear not! This is where our expertise comes in. We can use the AI-generated questions as a starting point, then tweak and personalize them to fit our students’ needs and interests. This is really the perfect blend of efficiency and personalization!

We are not replacing our teaching skills; we’re enhancing them. We’re eliminating the tedious prep work so we can focus on what really matters – connecting with our students and creating those “aha!” moments we live for.

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AI App Smashing for a Farewell Message for my Students and my new Workshops on AI

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One of the best things in life is loving what you do, and I have been very lucky in that respect.

Can you guess? I have 33 years’ experience under my belt (OMG, am I that old?) and when I started, we could only teach with a textbook and a chalkboard. Computers in the classroom? Not found!  And guess what? I had a blast with just those! So, I am not going to tell you to ditch the book altogether, I am going to suggest blending it with a bit of tech.

Back to my story: After some years, cool educational apps started popping up.  But though I tried and used lots of websites and created tons of digital activities, using them was never enough for me, so I used them, yes, absolutely, but in such a way that allowed me to combine traditional teaching and these new fancy tools to add colour and modernize teaching. Guess what? I realized that incorporating those new apps only added to my lessons.

And now all the fun is Artificial Intelligence. And I have hopped on board, too! Let me tell you; if I can do it, you can do it too.  Let me guide you through blending tech into your lessons for maximum fun, both for you and your students. Check my new catalogue full of AI workshops. ‘Cause trust me!  AI isn’t going anywhere—it’s here to stay and you, as a teacher, cannot be left behind. It’s not just learning about AI apps and productivity, though – it’s about learning how to integrate AI seamlessly into your lessons

So, what are you waiting for? Check out my workshops and get ready to level up your teaching game with AI.

https://ccd.my.canva.site/iacabal

Oh, and don’t forget to check out the little goodbye video I made for my students using 5 or 6 very easy AI technologies. I loved creating it, and I’m pretty sure they did too, but who needs confirmation when you’ve got laughter in the air, right?

Back to Basics: Conditional Sentences with Two Decks of Cards

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Imagine being asked this question: If you were abducted by aliens, would you tell anybody? or this one, If you could switch lives with someone for a week, living their experiences and routines, who would it be and why?   Imagine being prompted to use an alternative to IF in your answer like, for example, as long as or provided.

Fun, challenging and …. grammar-oriented

When preparing a lesson, I normally try to design activities that help students reinforce what we have been working with; more often than not, they have a communicative approach, as I firmly believe in giving students ample opportunity to put into practice what they’ve been studying.

And if there is one thing that clearly defines the way I teach is how I try to keep a balance between traditional teaching and the latest technology. These last weeks were all about AI; and today, we are going for traditional. The very traditional cards.

Materials:
  1. Questions. One deck of cards featuring engaging and entertaining conversation questions, each formulated as a conditional sentence. These questions include prompts like:
  •  If you were abducted by aliens, would you tell anybody? Why?
  • If you could have a conversation with your younger self, what advice would you give?
  • If you were granted two wishes, what would be your choices?
  • …etc

provided by ChatGPT, if I may say so.

2. Alternatives to IF: one set of cards containing alternatives to IF: provided (that), on condition that, supposing, as long as… etc.

Before the class, prepare a set with both types of cards for each group of 4 students.

Get the PDF here

Condtional Prompts by cristina.cabal

How to go about it
  • Put students into groups of 3–5 students and give them a set of cards with questions and a set of cards with alternatives to If.
  • Instruct students to place the cards face down on the table
  • Ask each student to draw a Question Card and an If-Alternative Card, and allow them some thinking time.
  • Emphasize the importance of elaborating on their answers rather than providing brief responses. In their answers, they will have to try to use the words in the If-Alternative card and speak for about 2 minutes, at the end of which they should pose their question to the members of their group.
  • Rotate turns, repeating the procedure for each student.
  • With my students, we have done two rounds of questions

Creative Collaborative Writing with a Touch of Fun to Fix Fossilized Errors

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It might not be your case, but most teachers, including myself, do not dedicate enough time to practise writing in class. And this needs to be fixed because students may simply get better if given the right guidance and enough practice. However, I think it’s crucial that we ask them to reflect on their errors and then, ask them to make the necessary corrections, rather than just correcting them ourselves.

This exercise you are about to read is fun, creative, and collaborative; it gets students out of their seats but most importantly, gives them an opportunity to learn from their mistakes and fix fossilized errors.

On Fossilized Errors

Fossilized errors are persistent mistakes that students make despite repeated correction. You know what I am talking about, don’t you?  While teachers play an important role in identifying and correcting these errors, it is imperative for students to take ownership and  conscientiously analyse and rectify their errors; that’s, in my experience, the most effective way to eliminate them.  If you ask me and generally speaking, when students are given a composition with corrected errors, they just have a quick look at them, but they don’t truly reflect on their mistake and then, inevitably, they are bound to make the same mistake over and over again.

IMPORTANT:For this activity, I have used a classroom that has several small whiteboards on the walls. I am not going to deny that using these whiteboards is more appealing, but what if you don’t have these cute whiteboards? No problem, it will work just the same with A3 or A4 paper (the bigger, the better)

Step by Step

STEP 1: FORMING PAIRS AND GETTING A STORY STARTER

  1. Pair up students.
  2. Display the visual below and explain that the boxes contain different story starters. Ask pairs to choose a box. The sentence inside the box will be the beginning of their story. All pairs must choose a different box, meaning they will all have different beginnings.
  3.  I have asked each pair of students to stand next to a board  (alternatively, as explained, a A3 or A4 sheet of paper ) and write the beginning of their story.
  4. Give students about 5/6 minutes to continue the story in any way they fancy.

STEP 2: ADDING A RANDOM PROMPT AND A CONNECTOR OF CONTRAST

After approx 5 minutes, draw students’ attention and ask a volunteer for the whole class to

  • choose a box from the exercise below. Pairs will have to continue the story, incorporating the prompt in the box. Right after opening the box with the prompt,
  • click on the wheel  (fed with connectors of contrast and purpose and some verbs) and ask them to continue the story using the connector/verb randomly picked in the wheel.

Give students 5 or 6 minutes to continue the story.


How many times have I repeated Step 2? 

I have repeated this procedure three times (i.e. three prompts+ three connectors). Make sure you tell them when they need to finish their stories.

Step 3. Giving students Feedback on their Writing 

Give students something to do while you quickly underline the mistakes in their writings. Keywords here: underline their mistakes. I don’t correct them, I underline them. This is vital if you want students to get rid of errors.

Step 4. Students correct their mistakes

Ask students to stand up in their pairs and comment, reflect and try to fix the underlined mistakes.

Important: I ask them not to delete the original text so that I can have it as a reference.

Step 5.  Quickly give feedback on their corrections
Step 6. Students vote for the best story

Student stand up again, read their classmates’ stories, and individually vote for the best. They do it by drawing a heart next to the story they like best.

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Talking Avatars and Cleft Sentences? Yes, please!!!

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A talking avatar + cleft sentences? Yes and yes!!! It only got better when one of the  available options was a Santa Claus. Lucky chick!

The words “artificial intelligence” have become a constant hum in the background of our teaching world. But let’s get real – AI isn’t a magic wand. It might help you capture the interest of the students the first time you use them, but if they don’t learn anything from it, the interest will quickly fade.

Playing around with AI can be a blast, but the real payoff comes when learning and enjoyment are combined. Talking avatars are not new in the class and I have been using them on and off to spice up my lessons for a long time ( remember Voki or ChatterPix)  but now…, now they have reached a new level. Our options are limitless when it comes to what we can do with them and how they can benefit students.

Let me share with you how I am going to use talking avatars with my students today.

In my C1 class, and in the last two sessions, we have been working with Cleft Sentences. Remember Cleft Sentences? Yes, those we use to emphasize or correct information.  Well, so let’s ask a Santa Claus male and a Santa Claus female to help us with an exercise on Cleft sentences. Are you in? Follow me, then.

What I did and how I did it
  • Think about your previous lesson with the specific class you are going to give the exercise to; think about things you or your students did or said and then, feed the talking avatar with some wrong information. For example:

Information to feed the talking avatar. I have highlighted the inaccurate information so that my students can create cleft sentences.

On Tuesday, Cristina, our English teacher, decided to wrap up Unit 4.  We revised Conditional sentences and then talked a bit about unusual people in our Spanish homes. Cristina invited Aisha to leave the class because he was not feeling very well. The class finished with a listening exercise.

  • Now go to  D-ID and sign up to create your talking avatar.

Note: I have gone the extra mile and used Canva.com ( I am a Canva Addict) to put together a more beautiful exercise, but don’t follow me here if you don’t feel like it. Creating the avatar should be enough.

Revising C1.1B CLEFT SENTENCES by cristina.cabal

  • Done!!!! Use the computer to display the avatar and have the students generate the cleft sentences, correcting the information.
  • Note: Although students might be tempted to correct more than one piece of wrong information at a time, instruct them not to. You want 5 cleft sentences.

For example: It was on Monday that Cristina decided to wrap up the lesson ( not on Tuesday)

More fun? Yes!!!!
  •  I created a QR code with the URL generated in D-ID of the avatar. I use this one
  • I asked students to form groups of three or four and asked one student in the group to scan the code.
  • Groups listened to the talking avatar and generated 5 cleft sentences, correcting the information.
  • The winning group is the first to get them all right. The rest of the groups will have two more minutes to complete the exercise. Add a bell for more fun – and more noise.

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