Tag Archives: AI

Prepping Students for Persuasive Role-Play: Remote Work vs. Office, and Reduced Working Week Debate

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If you’re like me, you’ve probably used role-play countless times to get students talking and thinking on their feet. But lately, I’ve found myself wanting to take it up a notch—giving students real-world topics that they’ll actually encounter outside the classroom. So, I created two role-play scenarios that bring today’s workplace debates right to our classroom: remote work vs. in-office and the reduced working week. These topics got my students diving into different perspectives and working hard to persuade each other.

ROLE-PLAY 1: Remote Work vs. In-Office Work Debate

MY PREP APPROACH

  1. Visuals.First things first—I kicked off the role-play by setting the scene with a quick, visual presentation. There’s nothing like a few eye-catching slides to spark interest. Don’t you agree?

Role-play: working remote vs in person de cristina.cabal

2. The Context. (also in the presentation above)

You and your next-door neighbor, who is also your best friend, have been working at the same company for five years. You carpool and split the costs, which has been convenient, especially with the high price of petrol.

Recently, the company has given employees the option to work from home, only requiring them to come into the office once a month.

3. Help is coming: Ideas. Here’s the PDF .I gave my students a handout laying out key points for each side. Students choose which position they want to argue, but I make sure we have an even split between pro-remote and pro-office advocates.. I encourage them to add their own points to this list to make their argument more personal and compelling.

CHOOSING ROLES AND PREPARING ARGUMENTS

Once they know their stance, students jot down three solid arguments that support their position

ROLE-PLAY AND PERSUASION TIME

Each student has 5 minutes to make their case, present their points, and then attempt to sway the other person.

 

ROLE-PLAY 2: The Reduced Working Week

This second role-play taps into another current trend: the reduced workweek. I wanted students to explore this not only from a productivity standpoint but also from a cultural and economic perspective. The debate centers around proposals to reduce the standard working week in Spain, traditionally from 40 hours to potentially 37.5 or even 32 hours, without reducing wages.

The procedure is just the same as above

MY PREP APPROACH

  1. Visuals.

    Role-play: The reduced working week de cristina.cabal

  2. Context: (also in the slides above)

It’s lunch break at a mid-sized company in Madrid. You and your colleague are discussing the news about possible changes to the work week while having coffee in the break room.

        3. Some Extra Help. Text? No, this time help comes in he form of a video

So this one  comes from a short, engaging video made on InVideo, an AI tool that helps you create quick, professional-looking videos. In this case, I found a piece of news in ElPais in English and just pasted it on Invideo. This tool is such a gem because I can tailor the content exactly to what my students need. It’s also great for visual learners who absorb info faster through media.

CHOOSING ROLES AND PREPARING ARGUMENTS

Students watch the video and then pick a side. I ask them to prepare 3-5 key talking points. Here’s where I get them to think critically: How could a shorter workweek boost mental health? What about the potential strain on business operations?

I challenge them to think beyond themselves and consider how this change might impact families, communities, and industries at large.

ROLE-PLAY AND PERSUASION TIME

Each student makes their initial case, and then they respond to counterarguments. It’s a great way for them to see how they need to think on their feet!

EXTRA SPEAKING PRACTICE

To wrap up the class on a high note, a whole-class speaking activity can be a great way to keep the conversation going and let everyone share their thoughts. A few open-ended questions about work culture can get everyone talking and reflecting on what they’ve learned.

Speaking de cristina.cabal

Exploring the World of Work (with a little help from Brad Pitt!)

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Oh, this lesson sounds like it’s going to be SO much fun! I love how interactive and engaging it is—plus, who can resist Brad Pitt doing all sorts of jobs? Those who know me know that Brad Pitt is a constant in my life, and whenever I can, here he is—brightening my lessons or adding a little spice to the mix! And in this activity, how could I resist? 😄

By the way,  I used AI to generate the images. Hopefully, Brad Pitt won’t mind being used for educational purposes!

Step 1:  Vocabulary. The hard work.

handout

First up, hand out the vocabulary, guiding students to describe what jobs involve. Responsibilities, pros, cons, you know the drill! Here’s the handout I have used + it contains a QR code to help with pronunciation.

 

This is what I’ve done to introduce the vocabulary little by little

  1. I asked them to silently read all the information under the heading General Responsibilities.
  2. Then, I played the audio to work on pronunciation
  3. After that, I displayed the image of Brad Pitt performing a job, and they used some vocabulary to describe the general responsibilities this job involves.
  4. I repeated the same procedure for the heading Advantages and Disadvantages to ensure they were comfortable with all aspects of the vocabulary.

This is the image I have used for this part

 

Step 2: The Guided Game (a.k.a. Guess Brad's Job!)

Now for the fun part—and this one is guaranteed to get the whole class involved! Here’s the game plan and again we go from guided practice to free practice.

FROM GUIDED PRACTICE TO FREE PRACTICE.

HOT SEAT with a volunteer.

  • Pick a student to face away from the board (let’s call them the “guesser”).
  • Display one of the job images on the board for everyone else to see.
  • The rest of the class will give clues about the job, but here’s the catch—they have to use the vocabulary from the handout! So, instead of saying, “He works in a hospital,” they might say, “This job involves communication skills because you need to explain medical conditions clearly to patients.”
  • IMPORTANT:They must describe the job without mentioning the place of work or giving obvious clues! For instance, if Brad Pitt is playing a chef in the image, the student can’t say “restaurant,” but they can say things like, “This job requires excellent time management because you need to prepare things on time, and it can be physically demanding because you’re on your feet for long periods”.

Students will work together as a class, tossing out clues about the responsibilities, advantages, or disadvantages of the job, and the guesser has to figure out what job Brad is performing in the image! We’ll play a couple of rounds to give students the opportunity to use the language.

HOT SEAT in TEAMS

  • Divide class into 2 groups and ask a representative from each group to take the hot seat facing away from the board.
  • Give each representative a bell.
  • The whole class will now start giving clues about the responsibilities, advantages, or disadvantages of the job. The first representative to guess the job will score 1 point for their team.
  • Rules: they have to ring the bell every time they want to guess. If they make a mistake, they won’t be able to ring the bell again until the other team has had a chance to have a guess, too.

Here you have the rest of the images I have used.

Add a heading by cristina.cabal

Step 3: Free Practice in Pairs

Students will team up: one student will face away from the board while their partner looks at the image.

The goal is for students to dig deep into their vocabulary  knowledge to give accurate but challenging descriptions. This not only pushes them to be precise with their language but also forces them to think critically about the roles we see in different jobs.

Do you think this activity will work well for your C1 students? Are there any jobs you’re dying to see Brad Pitt doing? Let me know!

Step 4:  Personalization

Time to get students working in groups of 4 or 5. One student in each group will choose a job—it can be their real job or their dream job. The rest of the group has to figure out what it is by asking up to 10 questions.

Important: Encourage students to use their newly acquired vocabulary. Instead of asking simple questions like “Do you work in an office?” they could ask, “Does your job require strong problem-solving skills?” or “Is teamwork a key part of your role?”

This brings the lesson full circle, with students practising vocabulary while keeping the conversation interactive and personal!

Another activity further practising this vocabulary is coming. Keep posted!!!

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Challenge 3. Magic! from a YouTube Video, Create a Quiz on Google Forms or a Presentation on Google Slides

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Before I start, let me tell you that I’ve officially dubbed myself “The Free App Teacher” because every tool I share with you is either 100% free or comes with a super generous free version—perfect for teachers like us.

And you know how we’re always on the lookout for the next tool that can make our teaching lives easier and more dynamic, right? Well, this is Challenge 3, but hold on… it’s got a little twist. We’ve got two challenges using the SAME tool! Yes, that’s right. We’re about to take on two challenges with one amazing Chrome extension: Brisk Teaching.

Brisk Teaching is about to blow your mind with how easy it makes creating resources from just a YouTube video. In the quick and easy video (yes, it’s in Spanish, but trust me, you’ll follow along with no problem), I walk you through how in under 1 minute, you can generate either

1. A fully editable presentation in Google Slides
or
2. A fully editable quiz in Google Forms

And it’s all with just one click—seriously. It’s like magic!

How It Works

The first thing you need to do is install the Brisk Teaching Chrome extension. Don’t worry, I’ll show you how in the video. It’s super simple!

1.  Open the YouTube video of your choice (find something that’s relevant to your lesson).
2.  Open up the Brisk Teaching Chrome extension.
3. Now comes the fun part—choose what you want to create:
– If you need a presentation, click the “Presentation” button.
– If you’re in quiz-mode, hit Quiz instead.

And BOOM!  In seconds, you’ll have either an editable Google Slides presentation or a Google Forms quiz ready to give your students

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Challenge 1: Create a Google Slides Presentation with just One Prompt

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We all know how busy our days get. Between lesson planning, grading, and meetings, who has time to spend hours on presentations? Good news — I’ve got a solution that’ll save you time and energy!

I’ve started recording these super short video tutorials (in Spanish) to help busy teachers like us get our work done faster. I call them “Teacher Challenges” because I want to make the process fun, simple, and rewarding.

And don’t worry, these videos are quick, clear, and even if you don’t speak Spanish fluently, you’ll find them easy to follow.

Challenge 1: Create a Google Slides Presentation with ONE Prompt

Thanks to Magic School, you can create an entire Google Slides presentation just by typing a prompt. Yep, AI does the heavy lifting — you write a few sentences, and it generates the slides for you. It’s that simple and … free!

Watch the Video

In less than 3 minutes, you’ll see how to use AI to create a presentation with no hassle. Ready to take on the challenge?

Custom-Made Mind-Blowing Chatbots for Spoken Interactions

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It’s mind-blowing! Believe me!!! Artificial Intelligence, particularly talking chatbots, are reaching levels of excellence that are simply unbelievable. Have you ever imagined having a smooth, natural conversation with a robot? Think about all the help it can offer students when practising for speaking exams.  Play.ai, is an AI tool that lets you have smooth, natural conversations with a virtual voice assistant. They are super easy to use, they are fun,  students don’t even have to register, and they can download or share the conversation with their teachers.

More? More! Teachers can also create their own talking chatbots with or without cloning their voice..

The app

Just by chance, I bumped into this new tool that is just mind-blowing and scary at the same time. Play.ai uses advanced natural language processing and machine learning algorithms to interact with users. They understand what you say and respond in a way that feels friendly and engaging. And honestly, it is mind-blowing how natural they now sound and interact. It’s like having a super-smart chat buddy. Play.ai calls them AGENTS.

 How it works

Think of it like this: you ask your friend “What’s the capital of France?” and they say “Paris!” Play.ai works in a similar way, but it has access to a TON of information, so it can answer pretty much anything you throw at it. Plus, it can adjust its responses based on what you say, making the conversation feel more like you’re talking to a real person. For learning purposes, instead of asking about capitals, you can ask it to have a conversation about…climate change , extreme sports, education or maybe stereotypes. Take your pick!

Students: no registration needed

1. Interacting with a talking chatbot (agent) Easy! When you first come to their page, just click the icon and start talking. You will be amazed at how natural it sounds and how smoothly and naturally the conversation develops.

 

  • If you want to talk to another, more specialized “agent”, click on shuffle and choose the one you like best.
  • If you want to save a conversation, or you are a student and want to share it with your teacher, you click on the Share Recording button, and you’ll get a link to share. You can also download the conversation.
  • Give it a try now and tell me what you think. Here
Teachers: registration required to create your own chatbot

2. Creating your own agent to share with your students.

That’s where the fun is. How do you create your own agent?

  • Click on Create Agent and pick a voice, or clone your own voice; they just need 30 seconds of your voice. You can either record your own voice directly on the website or upload an MP3 file. In my case, I have cloned my own voice.
  • Give the agent a name and upload a picture or avatar.
  • You can choose the Agent behaviour (I’ll go for Super Chatty, but you can select professional or neutral)
  • And then, you need to customize your Agent with some relevant information and instructions. You can also upload a document with the knowledge you want the Agent to have. In my case, I have decided to give it these instructions

In bold, the information the chatbot requires and then, you will find my own instructions to create my chatbot.

You are a friendly neighbourhood English teacher, specializing in grammar, vocabulary, and all things English language related. You are programmed to interact with students in a supportive and engaging way.
GREETING MESSAGE: Hey there! Looking to chat and practice your English conversation skills, or do you have some grammar or vocabulary questions?

ADD CUSTOM KNOWLEDGE My AI assistant will have access to a vast database of English language knowledge, including:

  • Grammar rules: From verb conjugation to sentence structure, we’ll tackle those tricky grammar points together. Think of me as your personal grammar genie!
  • Vocabulary expansion: Want to spice up your word choice? We’ll explore synonyms, antonyms, and even idioms to make your English shine.
  • Cultural context: Language is more than just words. My AI will provide insights into English-speaking cultures, helping you understand everyday expressions and nuances.
  • Real-world examples: I won’t just throw grammar rules at you. We’ll use examples from movies, music, and everyday life to make learning fun and relevant.
  • Once it is ready, share it with your students. Ask students to interact with the chatbot and send you the link to give them feedback on their conversations.

NEGATIVE POINTS:

  • In the free version, students can interact with your custom chatbots for a maximum of 30 minutes per month.
  • At the moment, chatbots can only speak English.
Try my Own Custom-made Chatbots Cloning my Voice

I am sharing two links for two custom-made chatbots. Remember, it might not work if I have exceeded my 30 minutes/month. If so, try again next month, please.

  • with my cloned voice here
  • With a voice from their library here