Module 2

Artificial Intelligence Applied to ELT 

Module 2  

Introduction: 

Module 1 was the beginning of my journey in learning various concepts about AI, in module 2 I expected to use the ideas I have learned. My expectations for module 2 were to learn more concepts and how to use new apps for teaching. It is true that all the new concepts, apps, AIs, etc... that I expected to learn in this module have been amazing and have helped me a lot in improving my teaching techniques.   

The objective I wanted to achieve in this module was to get more options for AI, which I will use in my classes to help my students improve all their English skills such as writing, reading, speaking, and listening. At the same time, learning more about AI to help me to grow as a teacher, so that I can make my classes more interactive, interesting, and joyful for students.  

All the new concepts, apps, programs, AIs, etc... that I have learned in this module were so much more than in the previous module. In that way, I can say I have learned more in this module than in the previous one, and that is amazing because you see how wide the concept of AI is. 

As I said, in this module I have learned a wide range of new content, and new ways of how to use AI, for example: using ChatGPT for assisting in writing, creating new authentic material, and using the concepts I have already known for creating new things. Also, new LLMs such as You and Gemini. Besides, new unique and funny apps like Suno, Notta ai, Hugging´s face, Talkpal, Elsa´speak, etc. This module was hard and full of new knowledge, I am so happy and satisfied with it.   

 

Reflection on Key Concepts:  

 

Introduction of the apps and how I learn to use them:  

 

In this module I have learned how to use technology to facilitate or improve every aspect of my English skills, in some extent, I have learned how to use technology to improve my speaking, writing, reading, and listening skills. Now, I can use technology to assist myself, for example in writing; when I don’t know what word to use when I use a wrong word in a wrong context, or if I make mistakes while writing; I can aboard that problems and solve them using AI or certain problems. 

 

ChatGPT for assisting in writing:  

 

Talking about the AI and programs that help students like me, there exists a lot and every time there are more and more. But we have to learn how to use them to our benefit. For example, you can use AI of Large Language Models, such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot; to help you to practice, to improve, or to learn the English Language. Using this AI, you can practice all; your speaking: Ask the AI to create simulated conversations in which you can answer the questions using your voice, then ask the AI for feedback, which are the things that you have to improve or what are some recommendations that the AI can provide. Now for you to practice your listening; you can ask the AI to provide difficult audio to practice, and then to ask you questions for you to test if you understand the audio. Also, you can ask the AI to read long texts for you to practice how to pronounce certain words. About your reading, AI can provide a lot of vocabulary, its meanings, and concepts, and also you can ask for stories or to help you in comprehend long passages. In writing, it is simple, you can write a text by yourself, and ask the AI to analyze it, so it can give you feedback on your writing; how to improve it, what words to change, if your grammar is ok, or if you are using wrong tenses; all that you imagine to improve your writing and getting your texts improved.   

 

Authentic material:

 

AI besides helping you in your English skills, can also help you to create authentic material for your classes, or for your homework. There are a lot of ways of creating authentic material, and there are a lot of programs, webpages, or AI that you can use. One way to create authentic material is to ask LLM, for example, Copilot, to create an image for you; with a good prompt you can ask whatever you want, your creativity is the limit, and you can ask the AI to create “new version of the Pokémons”, and you will get new Pokémons that you have not even imagined. For classes, you can create authentic materials such as lesson plans, interactive activities, flashcards, etc. There is general AI that can help with this, but also there are specific AI that have been created for a specific purpose that we can take advantage of.   

 

Deffit.me is an educational platform designed to help teachers create differentiated instructional materials quickly and efficiently. By using Diffit, teachers can generate standards-aligned content tailored to different grade levels and languages. The platform allows for re-leveling, translation, and the addition of images, making it easier to create student-ready activities. You just have to visit the web, sign up, log in, and start creating your content. You can select standards, re-level your content, translate, and add the images you want.   

 

The AI Comic Factory by Hugging Face is an innovative tool that allows users to create their own comic panels using artificial intelligence. It is a platform developed by Hugging Face that leverages large language models (LLMs) and Stable Diffusion XL (SDXL) to generate comic panels based on user prompts. I really loved learning how to use this AI, I like stories, and I like to create them; and with it, you just have to describe the scene and story, pick the layout, and add captions, and the comic is automatically generated. This AI does a great job of creating these comics, and it can be very useful in the creation of stories in your class.   

 

The Suno app is a versatile platform with several applications, primarily focusing on music creation and personal development. Suno is very easy to use, you just have to create your account, explore the features, and start creating your songs. You just have to introduce a good prompt, and you will obtain the song you want, with the lyrics you want, and even with the rhythm. In education, this can be great, creating songs about the class, about grammar; just be creative. 

 

Notta.ai is a powerful AI-driven tool designed to transcribe and summarize audio and video content. Notta automatically converts audio and video recordings into searchable text. This feature is particularly useful for meetings, interviews, lectures, and other spoken content. If you have a video and you want the script, you can use Notta and you will have it. You just have to sign up, upload, or record the audio or video, and you will get the transcription.   

 

For writing:  

 

AI can also help you with your writing skills, you can use programs such as Aithor, copilot, perplexity, etc. In general AI (LLM) such as Copilot and Gemini, you can ask the AI or introduce a prompt that helps you to improve your writing skills. You can get corrections in your grammar, and suggestions about your writing, you can get personalized feedback, and your writing will be better or improved. You can also use other programs like perplexity.  

 

Perplexity AI is an advanced AI-powered search engine and chatbot designed to provide accurate, real-time answers to user queries. So, you can do the same as you do with Copilot or Gemini, and get your personalized feedback in your writing.   

Talking about writing, for me, the best option is Grammarly. Grammarly is a comprehensive AI-powered writing assistant designed to help users improve their writing across various platforms. Grammarly identifies and corrects grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and punctuation issues in real time. Also, you can use it to check your students' works; Grammarly has Plagiarism Detection, using it, you can be sure that your students are creating authentic writing.   

 

For speaking:  

 

For speaking, you can use AI such as talkpal, copilot, Elsa’speak, etc. Talkpal is an AI-powered language learning app designed to help users improve their language skills efficiently. You can find immersive conversations, roleplays, debates, and also get feedback in real-time.  

 

In this module, we learn how to create our own AI bot. It was a great project in which we learned a lot about how the chatbots work. We can create our own chatbot on the platforms of Cody or Poe. To create them, you have to go through a long process. You have to click on “Start a new bot”. You have to give general information to the bot, such as its name, its description, and the model you want to use. And then, it is a lot of advanced options and customizations. For your own you have to upload PDF files in your bot, the bot will learn everything about those files. It is great if you want to have a personalized chatbot for your classes by introducing all the topics of your class.   

 

Conclusion and Key Learnings:  

In this module, I have used so many apps and AIs, all of which are great and have good use in teaching. AI that has not been made for teaching, can be used for that purpose if we have the creativity and the intelligence to achieve that objective. In our area of work, in this case, education, we have to reflect on the use of new technologies, and we have to question how these technologies will impact our methodology to teach, but also, how these technologies will impact our students, that is the most important.  

 

So, as educators, can we depend on AI? That is a question that deserves our analysis. AI has become a great tool for teachers, but also for students (we have to take that into account). AI can help us to make our work shorter or to facilitate our job; with AI we can make our lesson plans, we all know that planning our lessons is extra work that we do in our free time to have our classes ready for the next day or even for the next week or month. In AI we have found the solution of being hours thinking about the lesson of the next class because you can ask the AI to create the lesson plan for you. But here is the problem, can we trust in AI? Can we depend on it, in the information (lesson plans, activities, etc.) that it gives us? In my opinion is a yes but a no at the same time; if you give the AI a good prompt, if you use prompt design to get the result you want, maybe you can trust in AI; but, remember that you are the expert on the topic; and here is the “no” part, don’t trust in completely in AI, check the information that it gives you; you are the expert, so, check if the information is correct, also ask for reliable sources and check if that sources are correct. AI can hallucinate, and give you unreal or mistaken information, so always check the result you get from it. Finally, it becomes the decision of each person if they depend on AI or not, but not always is good to depend on something that makes work for you, In the end, you can be replaced by a tool, and the culprit will be only you. In my opinion, we can use AI to facilitate our job, but don’t depend entirely on it; we know what we do, and for that reason we prepare ourselves. My recommendation: use AI as a co-worker not as a machine in which you can trust your work.  

 

This module was full of learning, and I’m very excited about the future. I’m sure I will use all this AI in my classes, this will help me to improve my classes and convert them into something more; more interactive, funnier, more enjoyable for students, and more personalized. We, as teachers, have to be in constant change; we have to adapt to the new technologies and use them in our favor, not only for our benefit but also for the student’s benefit.   

Content Created With AI:

My own Bots:

https://poe.com/Story_telr

https://share.cody.bot/9bef3ee4-a290-47f4-a2a1-f4434884a290

Bot created with a team:

https://share.cody.bot/9c0d450d-d4a9-4894-9a1d-0eeb93aa554a?authuser=0

Songs created with AI:

https://suno.com/song/fd1340b0-6ba6-4e49-bd0b-8ba5de1cd29a

https://suno.com/song/4df48b0c-bcd0-4e64-88a1-e89b331cb16d

https://suno.com/song/660a708c-81ec-4cfb-a19d-86d1f6766f35

Videos created with AI:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vumtFKHbwZvzKxOVR-A3XOVQoq2AVnIO?usp=sharing