MAKING LANGUAGE LEARNING LESS BOT-RING: THE ULTIMATE MEDIATION INSTRUCTOR!

Hi, fellow teachers!

I can't stop moving on through the ever-evolving language teaching journey, can you? I am continuously seeking tools to enhance my students' learning experiences. One such tool that has captured my attention recently is the chatbot. Who hasn't heard about the wonders of @Mizou from @ELT_CATION, @blogdecristina and @EliGozalo? I couldn't resist following suit to uncover the mysteries of integrating bots in the ESL class!

As I was brainstorming ideas for my bot design, inspiration came quickly: What aspect causes the most insecurity among my C1 students? Undoubtedly, it's mediation! They struggle to understand how oral mediation works here in Galicia when it comes to the standardized exam: "Identify the main idea of a small text and highlight the most relevant pieces of information without adding any personal opinion or extra ideas". Challenging, isn't it?

So, I got down to it and started designing a chatbot experience with Mizou that I'm now excited to introduce: The Ultimate Mediation Instructor🥰. It is a new bot specifically designed to help students practice mediation skills, which - as I have mentioned - are a crucial component of standardized language exams in Galicia. Just like the exam teacher here and complying with the Galician standards, the instructor evaluates students' ability to summarize and streamline main ideas effectively, guiding and supporting them throughout the building process.

I have already implemented it in class and also asked my students for feedback on the tool. Students' opinions are key to my teaching job! Here are five compelling advantages they have found out:

• 24/7 Availability: They all agreed that this chatbot is available round the clock, providing them with instant access to mediation practice whenever they needed it so that they could engage with the task at their own pace. How convenient!
• Personalized learning: I tailored the interaction so that each student could choose their own area of interest for the bot to provide the right text to mediate. My students pointed out that this personalized approach fostered greater engagement and motivation. I was thrilled!
• Immediate feedback: According to my students, the most significant advantage of the Ultimate Mediation Instructor is its ability to provide instant feedback on their responses, which not only reinforced learning in real time but also helped them identify and address areas for improvement more efficiently.
• Promotion of Speaking and Writing Skills: Through supportive prompts, the chatbot encouraged my students to practice and refine their speaking and writing skills in a safe environment. This active engagement facilitated language production and fluency development. They were so focused!
• Autonomy Enhancement: My students agreed that they managed to take over their own learning process by exploring mediation independently, experimenting with different language structures, and tracking their progress live and over time!

I will try and continue to enrich language learning experiences in my classroom, embracing the possibilities that #AI offers in fostering meaningful and effective language acquisition. Also, I will keep on considering risks and challenges that need to be overcome! So, stay tuned for updates on this journey!

USING A MAGIC COMBO TO CREATE AN ENGAGING TABOO GAME

Hi there!

As you all know, games are a great way to keep students engaged in the English class and I am sure you have all used Taboo in your lessons before. It is a classic!! A word game where one player tries to get their teammates to guess a word without using any of the forbidden words listed on the card. It’s a fun way to practice vocabulary, communication, and quick-thinking skills.

In this post, I would like to show you how I used ChatGPT and Canva to create some cards for a taboo game in English. It goes without saying that combining an artificial intelligence model and a graphic design platform will empower you as a teacher to create beautiful and professional-looking designs for various purposes. Do not hesitate to give this idea a try!

Step 1: Generate your taboo cards with ChatGPT.

I used ChatGPT to generate some taboo cards for the game. As you all know, ChatGPT can produce texts on any topic, so you can customize the cards according to your students’ level, interests and curriculum. How about that? You can also specify how many words you want on each card, and how many forbidden words you want to include. You may have a look at the whole conversation I had with ChatGPT to generate my customized cards and get a general idea of how to write an effective prompt. Just click here. (Yeah! You can also share your content via a link on ChatGPT!! Mind-blowing, isn´t it?)

Step 2: Design your taboo cards with Canva.

I used Canva to design the taboo cards with the texts generated by ChatGPT in the conversation above. Canva can make your cards look attractive and appealing! This time I searched for “taboo cards” in the template library and then copy-pasted the texts from ChatGPT to the cards, adjusting the size, position, and style of the texts and adding some background colours, borders and icons to make my cards more fun and lively. Have a look!

education_taboo by Paula Gómez Cernadas

As easy as pie, isn't it? Using ChatGPT together with other apps saves time and effort and has benefits for both: teachers and students. In this designing process, for example, you will not have to come up with the words and forbidden words themselves or write them down on paper or cards. You can simply use ChatGPT to generate the texts, and Canva to design the cards. Also, your students' motivation is driven by the colourful and attractive content that is relevant and interesting to them, as in this case, I connected the words with a listening comprehension activity we had previously done in class. 

I hope you find this idea of integrating AI in your class useful and inspiring, and that you try it out with your own students. Who knows? Next time I might even ask mine to create their own taboo cards! If you try this out, please let me know how it goes, and share your feedback and suggestions. Can you come up with any other ways of integrating ChatGPT and Canva? 

Happy teaching and learning! 😊

INNOVATIVE ROLE PLAY ACTIVIES WITH AI

Dear language enthusiasts,

First of all, allow me to apologize for having been absent for so long! I have been exploring new ways to enhance my English language teaching practice, completely absorbed by the potential Artificial Intelligence has brought into play! I have been researching new methods of incorporating AI into my classroom and ended up designing captivating role-play activities, among others! As you all know, role-play activities have been hailed as powerful tools in language education. They immerse students in real-life situations, allowing them to apply new language skills in context.

With this idea in mind, I have crafted an activity that delves into diverse attitudes to ageing in present-day society. Any blended teachers in Galicia who are dealing with Module 2 in the C1.1 course... this has you covered! Obviously, I have used Canva to design the cards representing the different characters, each with their own perspective on ageing. 

Asking ChatGPT to create the roles was not difficult at all. Once I had the idea in mind, the game came out easily and it did the trick in class. Who do you think the most popular character was? Place your bets!

attitudes_to_ageing_debate by Paula Gómez Cernadas

AI IN THE CLASSROOM: GIVE CHATGPT A TRY AND YOU´LL NEVER REGRET IT!

No wonder why #ChatGPT is all the rage among ESL teachers right now! It is becoming increasingly popular due to its ability to generate human-like text and assist various teaching tasks such as creating content, generating dialogues in English, providing language exercises and quizzes and even helping with pronunciation and grammar. You name it!

I have been trying it lately to enhance my teaching practice and provide my students with rich language-learning experiences. In fact, I have noticed that I am slowly adopting it as a great new tool to obtain quick accurate responses to a great number of queries, among other interesting ideas that I am also exploring!

My last attempt was aimed at my C1 students, as we were about to wrap up a unit on consumerism and fast fashion. I asked Chat GPT to come up with a list of five short advantages and disadvantages of built-in obsolescence. For me, this should be a practice that we might tend to avoid when it comes to production. That was why I found it really hard to make up some real advantages!  As Chat GPT did the trick for me, I eventually gathered ten wonderful statements that I have used to create a #Genially presentation where students will be asked to drag and drop the prompts into the right column (for or against), trying to reach an agreement first. Just as easy as pie!

Hopefully, it will spark discussion in class as I will definitely ask the group to take a clear position on the issue using the vocabulary presented and also some other expressions we have already learned, once they have completed the columns. 

I hope you find this board useful! Enjoy!

WELCOME BACK TO SCHOOL!

A new school year has just kicked off and we are about to open up a new term full of unexpectedness and, of course, willingness to learn. It is high time for both teachers and students to pull up their socks to reinvent themselves for their lessons. Motivation is key! 

As usual at the beginning of the course, I have been figuring out how to welcome my C1 students as we arrive in class. I have even been scanning previous posts looking for a flash of sheer inspiration and I have been lucky enough to bump into it! I am going to re-use an activity I did a couple of years ago to re-think the classic getting-to-know-each-other idea. Hopefully, my students will be able to set their own learning goals together to progress over the next ten months. Although it looks like a long time... time does fly! So, let's get ready to give the new school year our best shot!

This opening activity is called "The Compass". You can download it here! I have asked students to use their creative skills to identify their goals for the new school year by drawing. It took them a while to design their own compasses, but, after done, they managed to guess what their classmates' goals were by figuring out the meaning of their pictures.

It was quite an inspirational activity that sparked a lot of interesting discussions so do not hesitate to try it!

END-OF-THE-YEAR REVISION GAME

All good things must come to an end... and this school year is no different! That is why I usually tend to finish my last class of the year on a happy note. If that does not get my students into the right mood to enroll in our school again, I have no idea what will!

Since this year I am into #RetrievalPractice and boosting long-term learning, I decided to put a new class game into practice: a Retrieval Bingo Game. Also, I added an unexpected twist by using wheeldecide.com, which spiced up the atmosphere. I must say it worked out quite well in the end! Here is how we played:

Go to wheeldecide.com and create a wheel with the titles of all the units you have covered in the year. Just in case you need an example, this is what the roulette looked like for my C1.1 "Blended" students.  

When in class, give each student a bingo card like the one below (click here for a sample model in Spanish that you can customize to your own needs!) and explain that, as in any bingo game, the final aim of the game is to complete their card so that they shout bingo! as loud as they can. 

First, students should be asked to fill in the questions themselves before they start playing. To do just that, ask them to spin the wheel one at a time to write one question for every single unit in the year. Students complete their cards individually as units pop up on the screen. They can write true-false questions, multiple-choice questions, open-ended questions... on anything in the units: vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation... you name it! Here is one example: I know little about mediation. Re-write the sentence using inversion. Promise your students will come up with much better questions! Let them know that creativity is power and, when it comes to learning a language, it also means progress!

Once they have completed their questions, it is time for them to mingle and play! As they ask each other their questions, tell them to write the name of the student who knows the answer and the correct answer itself. The game is much more effective if you tell students not to repeat names on their cards. That was hard, indeed!

At the end of the game, I awarded a certificate to the student with the highest number of correct answers and covered the questions that were left unanswered. It was a fun, furious and very compelling way to retrieve course content that students had almost forgotten! 

Give it a try and let me know how it goes!

ESCUELAS AMIGAS BOUNCES BACK!

#Escuelas Amigas is a project that brings together Language Schools (EOIs) around Spain. Teachers and students work jointly to learn about their different cultures, practice their English skills and, overall, have fun! I have been taking part in the project with my students for three years now. In this third edition, we are going partners with C1 English students at EOI Málaga. The South of Spain awaits us! We just can't wait!

Taking off will include the following steps:

• Introducing each other in a Padlet board to meet our fellow mates and their teacher Blanca in Málaga. I really appreciate the fact that Blanca and her students have shared their introductions board with us! You rule!

• Filling in a questionnaire which will definitely be our roadmap during the project. We have decided to empower our students by asking them how the project will evolve. The google form questionnaire will definitely become the linchpin of the whole adventure. 

Hopefully, the final episodes will help us discover a lot of interesting information about different places and areas in both cities: Málaga and Pontevedra. 

Blanca and I count on our C1 students to shape this cooperative podcast program together. That is why we have asked them to tailor it by taking these first steps and adapting them to meet their own needs as English learners. In for a new adventure?

PLAYING TRIVIA: CAN STUDENTS BE THE PROTAGONISTS?

Whether the subject at hand is movies, geography, or '80s ballads, playing a trivia game is always a fun way to spice up your lessons so that the class community can bond and compete over shared knowledge in a motivating environment. However, I had been struggling for ages to come up with some sort of new version of the game that had a greater impact on language learning than just that of  "You got the wrong answer". Luckily, I came up with a clever idea when I found the @simplificamates template on Twitter. It was just the perfect game to give my class trivia a new twist. 

It is true that the template @genially_es provides is great for the classic "correct vs incorrect" feedback type. However, David´s template goes the extra mile! If you use his template (he has been generous enough so as to share it on Twitter🙏), students will not be able to know whether their guesses are right until the end of the game. So, if they fail any of the questions, they have to go back to start and play again. What a nightmare, or is it?

As there is no other way to get positive feedback than playing until the end, the debate is guaranteed as students strive to get all the right answers! No wonder they will hate starting from scratch! On top of that, once they get all their correct guesses (hopefully, it will not take them too long!), you may add very interesting feedback or even follow-up questions, which really worked out for me.

I have been using this template with the forums of my blended learning courses, bringing students' contributions and comments into our at-school lesson. I must admit it did the trick. Students got actively involved and their work at home paid off! You may give it a try below... even though answers were based on the students' posts onto Moodle, they should not be too hard to guess. Up for a challenge?

ITip of MAY: SPEECHNOTES

This month I am going to present you with a great class working tool. Speechnotes is the perfect voice editor to move from voice-typing (dictation) to key-typing seamlessly and boost your pronunciation skills at the same time. You will love it thanks to its high level of accuracy, great features and ease of use. Luckily, it is free and needs no registration. It also allows you to edit speech results, which might also come in handy!

You can type at the speed of slow clear speech and even insert punctuation marks. How does it work? just speak into the mic to let Speechnotes transcribe for you and beware... if the notes make no sense, you might need to adjust your pronunciation a bit!

#ESCUELAS AMIGAS STRIKES BACK!

Hi everyone! 

Do you remember our dearest friends from EOI Pamplona?💌 Right now they are all putting up with exactly the same confinement period we are going through. So, their teacher Carlos and I have been coming up with ideas to get you connected again to motivate you and finish off our "Discover my City" project. 

With this idea in mind, here is the final step. One last thing I would like you to do for me🙏:

1. 💡 Choose your favourite place in your area. Bear in mind that you are going to recommend our friends in Pamplona to visit the place as soon as the quarantine is over! Be original!

2. 🎤 Record yourself on vocaroo.com describing that place: location, history, why is it your favourite place... I am definitely sure you can be creative enough so as to give a fantastic depiction. Your recording must be up to 2min long.

3. 📬 Send me your recording and a picture of your place (it can be downloaded from the internet) before 3 May.

Do not miss this great opportunity to exhibit your awesome C1 English skills! Avoid tired and overused words like "beautiful" or "pretty". Use complex sentences and wide vocabulary and make a great impression on both students and teachers alike!

I am looking forward to all your recordings! 

Stay safe 🏡 and keep in touch!

COPING WITH THE QUARANTINE TIPS

C1 teachers at EOI Pontevedra have come up with a very imaginative idea to encourage students through the health crisis and try to calm them down. Our final goal was no other than making their staycation as enjoyable as possible! Listen to our informal chat and put into practise those tips that best suit you. Do not miss the links at the end to kick off new quarantine habits! Stay safe at home!

NEW YEAR LANGUAGE RESOLUTIONS

Here are the British Council´s top tips for learners to try in 2020 to help them with their English. In my first class in the year I will play the video for my students to make two different lists according to their language resolutions for the new year:

1. Which of these tips already play a crucial role in your learning habits?

2. Which of these recommendations are you willing to adopt to boost your learning in the new year?

Let´s find out how many of my students are honestly ready to accomplish the hard task of long-life learning! The follow-up discussion might also bring in some new tips!

ITip OF DECEMBER: SPEEK

Here is a new ITip for ESL students to practice English at their own pace. Speek lets you record and share voice notes, memos and responses without an account. You just click on the microphone and start giving your two-minute speech. That is just how much the web allows you to speak. As soon as you are done, click on the microphone again and you will be able to save your clip as a link that you can share on social media afterwards. Simple and user-friendly!

Experience the sense of giving your voice a try in English and hear what it really sounds like! If looking for more voice recorders, check all my ITips of the month. Some others are also worth a try!

OUR ENGLISH BOOK CLUB: THE GLOBEPLOTTERS

Are you keen on reading? Would you also like to improve your speaking skills? The GLOBETROTTERS book club invites you to join their first meeting for both advanced and intermediate level students:

Advanced level meeting: 21 october at 18.00 at the library.
Intermediate level meeting: 23 october at 17.00 at the library.

Enjoy a wide variety of books and relax in the perfect atmosphere! Click for more information on registration and further meetings!