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.
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?
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:
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.
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
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
Pair up students.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Today, I am sharing with you an activity that’s as fun, as it is effective. Drumroll, please… introducing Tic Tac Talk with a Fun Twist!
Picture this: the traditional Tic Tac Toe grid is on the board and each square contains a conversation question related to the lesson or topic at hand; in my case, it was questions related to personal identity. If you pay attention to the picture of my board, you will see another difference; instead of the traditional 9-square grid, I designed a 12-square grid. More questions. More talk. More fun.
Another difference? They play in teams. Two teams: Xs and Os. And everybody talks here.
How to go about it. Let’s pretend Os start.
Pair up students; let’s say Student A chooses O and Student B, X. From now on, they will be called Os and Xs
Display the grid with the overhead projector. Less paper, more trees.
Ask a representative of Os to choose a square and read the question aloud.
Tell Os they have 90 seconds to talk to their buddy X answering the question. Encourage students to use target vocabulary. What do Xs do? They listen. Not for long. Soon, it will be their turn to speak.
Monitor the time and signal when the time’s up.
How Os win the Square
The teacher chooses a random O as representative of their team. (a different one each time, of course)
To win the square containing the question they have just answered, this representative will have to speak for 45 seconds, trying to deliver a continuous articulate monologue without repeating himself. If they manage to do so, their team, ie, Os, will have their icon written on the square but if they make pauses, repeat information or talk nonsense then the teacher, will a lot of drama and an apologetic face, will not grant them the desired square.
Now, it is Xs’ turn.
Who wins?
The rules for the traditional Tic Tac Toe apply here, too. Players take turns placing their “X” or “O”. The goal is to be the first to make a row of three of your marks, either vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. If all the boxes are filled up and no one has three in a row, it’s a tie. Needless to say, players can strategize to prevent the other players from getting three in a row, which adds to the fun.
How did I mark the Xs and the Os?
Remember that the grid is displayed on the board. I played the game with two different classes. In one of them, I had a digital board, so it was fun to draw the Os and Xs in different colours. In the other one, I used different coloured sticky notes. It was a colourful display and brightened up the whole board.
Here’s the grid with the questions I displayed in class
