ESL activities

Using AI to Adapt English Speaking Tasks for Mixed-Ability ESL Classrooms

What is a mixed ability class? The simplest definition is “a class with more than one student.” Unless you’re teaching one-to-one, you teach mixed abilities. Having students at different levels in the same class makes it difficult for everyone to take part. Students who find a class too hard will give up and do something else. Higher level… ESL activities, How to..., Teaching skills

Reading Skills and Strategies with AI

Reading is still one of the most important skills, not just in language classrooms, but in life. Reading is how students access information, learn new ideas, and connect with the world. And with AI now part of how we teach, work, and live, reading matters more than ever. Students need to be able to read confidently, think critically, and use… Teaching skills, How to..., ESL activities

Assessment for Learning with AI Text Generators

Most of the time, when we think about assessment, we think about grades, tests, and final scores. But what if assessment wasn’t just about measuring learning, but actually improving it? That’s the idea behind Assessment for Learning, or ‘AfL’ for short. In AfL, teachers use assessments to guide students and help them improve. Students are… Teaching skills, ESL activities

Adapting ESL Reading Activities with AI

Someone, somewhere, wrote your coursebook. They don’t know you, they’ve never met your students, and they might not even be familiar with your country. This means the content of your coursebook wasn’t made specifically for your class. It's more like a store-bought suit - close enough, but not a perfect fit. It probably needs a few tweaks. In this… ESL activities, Five ways to, Teaching skills

Teaching Pronunciation with AI

Pronunciation sometimes gets called “the Cinderella of language teaching” (Kelly, 1969:87). It’s overlooked and undervalued compared to its siblings, grammar and vocabulary. Teacher training programs rarely address it in depth, and coursebooks either avoid it or present activities that don’t match your students’ needs. After all, coursebook… Teaching skills, ESL activities, Five ways to

Using AI for English Roleplay Activities

Roleplay is one of the most common ways to practice speaking, especially at higher levels. Roleplays can bridge the gap between the classroom and real-world communication. By encouraging students to be someone else, roleplays can allow students to be themselves - solving problems, driving a hard bargain or simply having fun. All this builds… Teaching skills, ESL activities, Five ways to, Theme based learning

Creating Reading Comprehension Activities with AI

Few things in teaching polarise opinions as much as reading activities. Some educators argue that reading comprehension questions are inauthentic. They detract from the joy of reading. Instead of inspiring students to read, reading comprehension questions train students to find correct answers. Reading comprehension questions aren’t popular… Teaching skills, ESL activities

Create Mock English Language Tests with AI

Test prep can be daunting. Students come to us with minimal time and maximum expectations. They might want to focus on the test, even when they really need to focus on improving their English. Teachers are supposed to know everything about question types, strategies, and grading criteria, all while keeping students engaged and motivated. It’s an… Teaching skills, How to..., Five ways to, ESL activities

Creating Worksheets with AI

Creating engaging and effective worksheets is a time-consuming process. Even if you download worksheets from a website, the process of searching for something suitable can be as onerous as making your own. In this blog post, we'll look at a different solution: using AI to generate worksheets. As well as saving you time, AI can add interesting… How to..., Teaching skills, ESL activities, Theme based learning

Using AI in ESL Classrooms

In the summer of 2023, I ran a one-day workshop for recent graduates on writing effective emails (in English). Near the end of the day, I asked the participants to summarise what they had learned in an email. I walked around the training room, looking at what the students were typing and noticed one participant carefully copying and pasting from… Teaching skills, ESL activities, Five ways to

Creating flashcards and teaching materials with AI Image generators

I can’t imagine my life without AI. I use Gemini, ChatGPT, and Claude every day. AI text generators let me write better and faster than I could before. But AI image generators are even more amazing. They let me create things which I could previously never have made myself. Now, all of us can be artists, cartoonists and graphic designers. But if… ESL activities, Teaching skills, Five ways to, How to...

Using AI for Assignments & Homework: Strategies for Students and Teachers

“How can I stop my students using AI or ChatGPT for homework?” That was the one question I was bombarded with in 2023. It’s understandable that teachers are, or were, worried about AI. Every time a disruptive new technology comes along, there is a fear that some students will use it to gain an unfair advantage. Over time, things change. No one… Teaching skills, Five ways to, ESL activities, How to...