MODULE 2: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TO ENHANCE STUDENTS' ENGLISH SKILLS

INTRODUCTION

After successfully completing module one I was exceptionally motivated to continue learning more about AI and its potential for English language teaching. Therefore, I had to keep getting better at creating effective and more specific prompts for the creation of didactic material. Also, I had the expectation to learn about new tools that will help me as an educator in my teaching development and my students in their learning process.

Consequently, this module also comprises the creation of gems as virtual assistants using Gemini, and the first gem I created was to perform a specific task that consisted of analyzing children's stories in the “Read Along Project”. This project consisted of identifying appropriate and inappropriate stories for English language teaching in the Salvadoran educational system. I must confess that at the beginning I assumed that it was going to be a very complex project, but after receiving a very good instruction from our guiding teacher on how the work was going to be developed, I was able to do it in an orderly manner and with a lot of dedication to obtain the best result.

Besides, I learned about tools such as read theory, read along to improve receptive language skills and Elsa Speak, Talkpal, Grammarly, and NotebookLM for productive language skills which opened my eyes to new ways of teaching English. At the end of this module, I polished my ability to create prompts and the creation of more sophisticated and effective activities for each macro skill. To do this, I put my knowledge into practice by creating a mock TOEFL test using ElevenLabs, gemini and ttsmp3.com.

REFLECTION ON KEY CONCEPTS

VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS

One of the most important concepts that I learned was virtual assistants wich are basically super intelligent assistant found in computers, smartphones etc. that are based on artificial intelligence and understand my language, learn from my interactions and help me get things done, making my digital life more comfortable and easier. Consequently, In this module I learned how to create a ‘Gem’ using a more extensive and detailed prompt for the task that will help us analyze appropriate or inappropriate reading content for children. Moreover, I analyzed in detail the illustrations and pictures of each assigned story in the Red Along tool of Google classroom. Therefore, each story was evaluated in a systematic and orderly manner, and a detailed report was created on the appropriate stories that were found. In addition, this project focused on analyzing and filtering inappropriate content on the Read Along tool in Google classroom as many of these were not regulated and my group and I conducted a thorough review of every detail present in each of the assigned contents, pictures and ilustrations as well. Then, we create a detailed report with each inappropriate story describing why and with their respective examples. Fortunately, we were able to successfully complete the work on time.

The concepts of this module enriched my knowledge in creating gems and thus having my own virtual assistant for specific educational purposes. Besides, I was taught how to improve students' English language skills, taking into consideration the four macro skills. In addition, I learned how English language teaching can be more personalized and creative using IA tools; for example, NotebookLM helps students to better understand the study materials by generating a study guide, creating quizzes, diagrams, podcasts, real-time interaction with the IA and any questions about the provided material such as a PDF of a novel, story, a complex topic, etc. Therefore, NotebookLM has become one of my favorite tools as it is one of the best ones for teaching and learning English.

Moreover, read along is a tool that I really liked as it is another excellent option for assigning readings to students, so that they can practice their reading aloud skills and at the same time listen to how each word is pronounced. The tool is easy to use and is very interactive with students, even awarding them progress points if they pronounce the words of the assigned reading correctly.

Furthermore, read theory also caught my attention because it consists of a personalized AI for reading and it adapts to the reading level of each student by making them take a quiz at the end of each reading; in addition, the teacher can review the progress of each student which makes the students adopt a healthy and beneficial reading habit for their learning. On the other hand, Eleven Labs seemed to me an excellent tool to create my own listening of texts or dialogues to get out of the monotony of traditional ones. Finally, the integration of Gemini in google docs is a marvel since I have the power to create drafts of any topic I want, summarize the text or expand it, have a writing editor to improve my content, etc.

I plan to create customized 'Gems' with very detailed prompts for each macro skill: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Therefore, this will help me to organize and have essential support in my teaching activities. I plan to implement both NotebookLM and read theory with my future students; for example, I will assign homework to analyze the lyrics of the song ‘Ordinary by Alex Warren’ or some other famous song of the moment that the students know. Also, I will set a goal of reading a minimum of five readings per day to my students outside of class hours using ‘Read Theory’ so that they will improve their reading comprehension every day and the best part is that I will be constantly checking their progress and will even develop a few more readings during class.

Further, I would upload YouTube videos, podcast transcripts, news audios to NotebookLM and then generate an ‘audio overview’ of the content for learners to subsequently interact with the AI by asking questions about the audio content. Consequently, this will allow them to practice listening comprehension and questioning, and I would ask the IA to generate multiple choice, open-ended, true or false comprehension questions to adapt the activity to the level of my students.

I plan to incorporate Elsa Speak and Talkpal as additional practice for my students since both apps use AI effectively to personalize learning and provide instant feedback, making them valuable tools for improving students' English skills. Therefore, they will have short daily practices taking advantage of the limited functions they offer and they will improve their speaking skills with a study guide according to their interests and needs. Finally, I would also leverage gemini's AI in Google Docs to create my own readings for my classes and combine ElevenLabs to create customized listenings for my students. 

CONCLUSION AND KEY LEARNING

The tools that this module provided me with have influenced me in a more innovative way in which I will teach my future classes, implementing a variety of tools to improve my teaching methods and my students' learning. I have realized that as a teacher I have sometimes focused on the outcome that my students have when they complete some task, and not on the process involved in their learning. Therefore, the knowledge and tools acquired during this module will allow me to boost and reinforce my students' knowledge in their four macro skills. In addition, I will constantly improve in the creation of my activities by implementing the tools in the most creative ways possible and always trying to innovate in every aspect of English language teaching.  

THE MOCK TOEFL TEST

The mock TOEFL test was a precise activity to demonstrate what I had learned during this module since my classmates, and I had to create a test making responsible use of artificial intelligence. In addition, we had to conduct research to establish the format, content, and essential features of the test. Consequently, each member of my team participated in the development of this test by dividing the tasks equally and asking for feedback from everyone for each activity we would add to the paper. We brainstormed many ideas, but always reviewing which idea was most appropriate for the test and identifying hallucinations in the IA-generated materials. Besides, I used NotebookLM to create certain specific questions, Eleven labs to create audios derived from previously reviewed texts and dialogues. The TOEFL mock exam was completed on time and was successfully delivered following established instructions. 

INCORPORATION OF CONTENT CREATED WITH AI

GEM CREATION - ESSAY TUTOR

I created a visual assistant in Gem for the purpose of analyzing academic essays. First, I started creating the prompt for such an assistant by assigning it the role of an expert academic writing tutor specialized in providing constructive and practical feedback on essays written by English as a foreign language (EFL) students. Therefore, I followed the anatomy of a PARTS prompt such as person, aime, recipient, theme, and structure that my prompt was to follow. Besides, I did a lot of research on information related to how to write an excellent academic essay and its essential components; as well as words and things to avoid when writing such a text. I then added all the information gathered to my gem in the ‘knowledge’ section so that I would have even more knowledge. Therefore, this virtual assistant demonstrates my knowledge gained in this module and will help me a lot in maximizing my students' essay revision, always giving feedback on my own as well.

Prompt of my created gem:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1767Zj0RnJo6xWfzNs_NRmImCBubpxBdoOnIbti5Tg2Y/edit?usp=sharing 

Images and videos created with Kling AI

Prompt: 

'A dramatic magical duel between two powerful wizards in the ruins of a forgotten castle swirling spells, bursts of light, slow-motion wand combat, wind blowing through cloaks, magical shields, and an intense cinematic tone under a fiery sunset sky'.

Prompt: 

'A visually rich and detailed tour of Diagon Alley cobblestone streets bustling with wizards, colorful and whimsical shops like Ollivanders and Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, owls flying overhead, glowing potions in store windows, and the warm magical atmosphere of London’s hidden alley'.

Prompt: 

'A cinematic journey through a day in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry golden sunlight shining on the castle, students in robes attending classes, magical creatures roaming the grounds, floating candles in the Great Hall, and a breathtaking night sky over the Forbidden Forest'.

Link: Video generated in Kling Ai

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1qceyBhgHwn1q1hmLN3vzyx5fImVBCWIu?usp=drive_link

First of all, I had to look for information on how to use Kling AI; it turned out that it is an excellent tool that fascinated me a lot as it is another way to create images and also allows the creation of AI generated videos, text to video, image to video, and multi-elements using my own prompt or I have the option to ask Ai Deepseek to help me generate the prompt for what I want to create. Consequently, I experimented with different prompts to create Harry Potter style images of ancient castles.

The result surprised me as the images have a clean and stunning style, and do not present hallucinations as such. Also, I experimented with creating videos from an image, so I was able to generate a video of a moving train and a Hobbit running through Hobbiton; however, this last content took me 3 hours to generate completely. Generating my own material like this gives me the guideline to illustrate posible stories in my classes and make them more interactive with my students. When I integrate these types of AI-created images into my classes, I will not only be offering a richer and more varied learning experience, but I will also be preparing my students to interact with technological tools that are more common nowadays.

NotebookLM - Created books 

Analyzing the song Ordinary by Alex Warren

https://notebooklm.google.com/notebook/90fff37c-a934-4bd8-bb07-856f044137da

Global Perspectives Comparison

https://notebooklm.google.com/notebook/d92fd60a-8df1-4bf0-ae11-5bb2b3c2c989

NotebookLM undoubtedly surprised me by the variety of its features and how it can play an important role for a more meaningful learning in students. Consequently, I have created two notebooks with different content; one of them focuses on the analysis of the lyrics of a song ‘Ordinary' by Alex Warren in which I have generated a study guide and questions about it which my students can discuss in class. 

On the other hand, I have gathered and selected six resources about life in the United States and Australia, and I have added them to a Notebook in which students will learn and compare the different ways of living in these countries. I have generated a podcast about global perspectives which they will understand the information better. Using the ‘Interactive Mode’ function, they will be able to interact with it by asking questions in an orderly fashion as if it were a live podcast.

Listening practice created in groups using Elevenlabs. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Htjudbzm2wDgpC5C7kaArkEVJ_PPyms5EK758Wy4ukw/edit?usp=drivesdk 

This practice was developed during a class in which my group and I had a time limit to create a listening activity from scratch using the tools previously seen in class which were ElevenLabs, ttsmp3.com, Gemini among others. Also, this activity marked a before and after in my training in the course of specialization applied to education since I learned how to create my own activities depending on the level of the student and I will definitely implement this type of activities focusing on the generation of excellent quality content for my students' learning.