Custom-Made Mind-Blowing Chatbots for Spoken Interactions

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It’s mind-blowing! Believe me!!! Artificial Intelligence, particularly talking chatbots, are reaching levels of excellence that are simply unbelievable. Have you ever imagined having a smooth, natural conversation with a robot? Think about all the help it can offer students when practising for speaking exams.  Play.ai, is an AI tool that lets you have smooth, natural conversations with a virtual voice assistant. They are super easy to use, they are fun,  students don’t even have to register, and they can download or share the conversation with their teachers.

More? More! Teachers can also create their own talking chatbots with or without cloning their voice..

The app

Just by chance, I bumped into this new tool that is just mind-blowing and scary at the same time. Play.ai uses advanced natural language processing and machine learning algorithms to interact with users. They understand what you say and respond in a way that feels friendly and engaging. And honestly, it is mind-blowing how natural they now sound and interact. It’s like having a super-smart chat buddy. Play.ai calls them AGENTS.

 How it works

Think of it like this: you ask your friend “What’s the capital of France?” and they say “Paris!” Play.ai works in a similar way, but it has access to a TON of information, so it can answer pretty much anything you throw at it. Plus, it can adjust its responses based on what you say, making the conversation feel more like you’re talking to a real person. For learning purposes, instead of asking about capitals, you can ask it to have a conversation about…climate change , extreme sports, education or maybe stereotypes. Take your pick!

Students: no registration needed

1. Interacting with a talking chatbot (agent) Easy! When you first come to their page, just click the icon and start talking. You will be amazed at how natural it sounds and how smoothly and naturally the conversation develops.

 

  • If you want to talk to another, more specialized “agent”, click on shuffle and choose the one you like best.
  • If you want to save a conversation, or you are a student and want to share it with your teacher, you click on the Share Recording button, and you’ll get a link to share. You can also download the conversation.
  • Give it a try now and tell me what you think. Here
Teachers: registration required to create your own chatbot

2. Creating your own agent to share with your students.

That’s where the fun is. How do you create your own agent?

  • Click on Create Agent and pick a voice, or clone your own voice; they just need 30 seconds of your voice. You can either record your own voice directly on the website or upload an MP3 file. In my case, I have cloned my own voice.
  • Give the agent a name and upload a picture or avatar.
  • You can choose the Agent behaviour (I’ll go for Super Chatty, but you can select professional or neutral)
  • And then, you need to customize your Agent with some relevant information and instructions. You can also upload a document with the knowledge you want the Agent to have. In my case, I have decided to give it these instructions

In bold, the information the chatbot requires and then, you will find my own instructions to create my chatbot.

You are a friendly neighbourhood English teacher, specializing in grammar, vocabulary, and all things English language related. You are programmed to interact with students in a supportive and engaging way.
GREETING MESSAGE: Hey there! Looking to chat and practice your English conversation skills, or do you have some grammar or vocabulary questions?

ADD CUSTOM KNOWLEDGE My AI assistant will have access to a vast database of English language knowledge, including:

  • Grammar rules: From verb conjugation to sentence structure, we’ll tackle those tricky grammar points together. Think of me as your personal grammar genie!
  • Vocabulary expansion: Want to spice up your word choice? We’ll explore synonyms, antonyms, and even idioms to make your English shine.
  • Cultural context: Language is more than just words. My AI will provide insights into English-speaking cultures, helping you understand everyday expressions and nuances.
  • Real-world examples: I won’t just throw grammar rules at you. We’ll use examples from movies, music, and everyday life to make learning fun and relevant.
  • Once it is ready, share it with your students. Ask students to interact with the chatbot and send you the link to give them feedback on their conversations.

NEGATIVE POINTS:

  • In the free version, students can interact with your custom chatbots for a maximum of 30 minutes per month.
  • At the moment, chatbots can only speak English.
Try my Own Custom-made Chatbots Cloning my Voice

I am sharing two links for two custom-made chatbots. Remember, it might not work if I have exceeded my 30 minutes/month. If so, try again next month, please.

  • with my cloned voice here
  • With a voice from their library here

AI App Smashing for a Farewell Message for my Students and my new Workshops on AI

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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.

https://ccd.my.canva.site/iacabal

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?

Get Out of Your Seat! Engaging Peer Correction Activity for the Classroom

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This activity is simple but oh! so good! Here’s a neat idea for improving students’ writing skills with zero prep and a bit of movement. Let’s have students proofread each other’s work! They’ll learn heaps by giving and getting feedback!   And yes, you also have to do something! After all, you are the teacher. 

This is an activity you can do with any level. Highly adaptable. What’s not to like, then?

One of the things that worries me the most ,as the end of a course approaches, is the fear of not having dedicated enough time to a specific language skill and having favoured others. I don’t know if you feel the same way.

It’s true that I try to incorporate activities that integrate multiple language skills to ensure a holistic approach to language learning. However, I know that for some skills, it’s not enough. One of these skills is writing. It seems like there’s never enough time in class to stop and write. That’s why, many times, I assign my students the task of answering one of the questions we discuss orally in writing, usually as homework.  It helps them reinforce vocabulary and, of course, ideas. And that’s only half of it. In this activity, I’ve included peer correction to encourage students to reflect not only on their own mistakes, but also their peers’.

Homework Assignment
  •  After discussing a set of conversation questions in class, ask students to choose one or two and, at home, write a paragraph answering the question(s). Encourage the use of a wide range of vocabulary and structures.  Ask students to write on separate sheets of paper using their best handwriting.
In Class
Round 1
  • Collect students’ assignments and put them up on the walls of the class (gallery style).
  • Assign each pair of students, a piece of writing, ensuring it is not their own. ask them to grab a pencil.
  • Students should now stand up, read their assigned piece of writing, and spot any spelling or grammar mistakes in the text. Encourage discussion about why each identified mistake is incorrect and how it could be fixed, but students cannot attempt to correct the mistake on the piece of paper, just underline it using a pencil.

Round  2.
  • Give the students something to work on, like textbook exercises or an oral expression task. And now, teacher, it’s your turn to work. Correct the written exercises on the wall in this manner.
  • Take a coloured pen (red, green, pink… etc )
  •      if students have correctly identified the mistake, put a tick.
  •      if students have underlined something  thinking it was a mistake but it is correct,          write ” it’s OK”.
  •     If you spot any other mistakes, correct them.
Round  3
  • Students, again, stand up in their pairs and analyse the written expression that they have corrected, paying attention to the annotations made by the teacher.  This will allow them to see where they have identified the error correctly, where they have made mistakes, and they will also be able to see the errors corrected by the teacher that they did not identify.
Round 4
  • This is the final step. Students take the piece of writing they have corrected from the wall and find the student who has written the text, explaining the corrections made.

Let’s hope that by making them reflect on common errors, they will be able to get rid of them

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Stop Typing: Transcribe your Audio and Video Files for Free

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Freemium but with a robust free version, transcribing audio or video, downloadable in different formats and much more.  This little, easy-to-use speech-to-text AI tool is making my life way easier!!

Picture this: in one of your folders in your computer desktop or Google Drive, you find the perfect audio/ video that fits like a glove in the lesson you are teaching, but…. no transcript available. It sucks, huh??

No sweat! I got you covered! TurbosScribe.ai is just what you need!!!

Important:  Although it might look like a paid ad, it is not. None of my posts are sponsored. I just write about what works for me.

Why I like it
  • Freemium, but with a robust free version: 3 transcriptions/day
  • It transcribes and translates with amazing accuracy 98 languages
  • You can upload video or audio files from your device or paste the URL from YouTube and other platforms
  • Transcripts can be downloaded in various formats: PDF, DOCX, TXT, and even subtitle formats (SRT).
  • You can enable and disable timestamps in the transcript view. This will hide or show the timestamps in the transcript document.

Watch the video tutorial below if you feel like you need some extra help getting started.

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The Animal Kingdom: A Multi-Skill Lesson Plan for C1 Students

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Packed with engaging activities, this lesson plan about the animal kingdom is going to become your favourite. Trust me!!!

Have you noticed that it seems like everyone’s got a furry friend these days, and not so many babies? Parks are full of dog walkers, not strollers, you know what I mean? This is one of the things we’ll talk about in this lesson.

I was actually planning to publish this when I was not so busy with classes and teacher’s sessions, but I could not wait to get this into your hands because it is a lesson that worked really well. So before I forget, here it is! A lesson plan for C1 students about the animal kingdom and endangered species.

What you will find in this post is:

  • 2 Warm-up Activities
  • Revising and introducing the name of some animals
  • Vocabulary to talk about endangered species
  • Personalized Listening Comprehension
  • Grammar Game: Impersonal Passive
  • Out of their Seats: Controversial statements + some help
Warm-Up One: Sparking Discussion

If you have been reading me for some time, you know how much I like to play with IA, so to engage my students and spark discussion I have generated this image using Microsoft Designer.

In my experience, displaying the image is enough to create debate, but in case you need it, here is some help.

Question: It’s interesting to note the trend of more people opting for pets over having children. What do you think are some of the factors driving this shift in lifestyle choices?

Follow-up Questions: Have you observed this trend in your own social circles or community? How prevalent do you think it is? What do you believe are some of the advantages and disadvantages of having pets instead of children?

Warm-Up Two: Revising Animal Names Students already Know

Building upon prior knowledge is essential for effective learning, wouldn’t you agree?

In this spirit, I have asked my  C1 students to write a list of 10 wild animals excluding the usual : tiger, elephant, lion, zebra…. OK, you get it! I have given them one minute, and we have written the most interesting ones on the board, practising pronunciation.

Ready to revise and introduce some new ones?

Introducing New Vocabulary + Pronunciation
  • Endangered species
  • Threatened ,
  • On the verge of extinction
  • To become extinct
  • Deforestation
  • Habitat
  • Carnivore, herbivore, omnivore
  • Predator
  • food chain,
  • environmentalist,
  • ecosystem,
  • conservation effort,
  • global warming, recover,
  • vulnerable,
  • reforestation,
  • poach,
  • wildlife
  • to decline,
  • overhunt, overharvest, overfish,
  • To breed in captivity,
Helping Students pronounce better:

A word of warning: I forgot to insert some pauses in-between words, so you might need to stop the audio after each word. Sorry, but I realized once I was playing it for my students and I didn’t feel like doing it all over again.

ANIMALS VOCABULARY by cristina.cabal

Personalized Listening Comprehension
PDF here

Animals Listening comprehension by cristina.cabal

If you are wondering why I like using AI so much, I think this lesson is a good example. Most of the time, I am pressed for time and I don’t feel like trawling the internet or the hundred books on the shelves of the English department looking for the right listening comprehension, so now, I just create my own listening comprehension activities with the vocabulary that is relevant for my students. In this case, I have asked ChatGPT to create the text and then used Eleven Labs to read it. Easy-peasy!!

Grammar: Animals: Fact or Myth? Working with Impersonal Passive
Grammar and exercises here

That was fun.

  • I divided the class into teams and asked Team 1 to choose an animal. A representative read the sentence aloud and all teams – and this is really important-have to work  on their notebooks writing two impersonal passive sentences for each statement. Give them about  2 minutes to write both sentences. For example:

People believe that opossums are hanging by their tails.

  • It is believed that opossums are hanging by their tails
  • Opossums are believed to be hanging by their tails
  • When time’s up, ask the representative for Team 1 to read both sentences. If both are correct, Surprise!!!!! they’ll  get 1 point. If they are wrong or one of them is wrong, shout “NO” and the first team to raise their hand have the chance to say the correct sentence and get 1 point. Click on the PASSIVE button in the infographic to check it.
  • Now, back to Team 1. Ask, do you think the statement is a fact or a myth? Hover over the picture to read the answer.

 

 

Speaking: The Three Corners.
Material: Posters
Cards: here and here
  • Take 3 pieces of paper and write the following words on each: “I AGREE”, “I DISAGREE”, and if you have many students, “I AM UNSURE”. Place these papers in different corners of your classroom.
  • Explain they will see a poster with a debatable statement about animals and they will need to choose the corner that best represents how they feel about the statement.
  •  Explain that in their corners, they will need to talk about the reasons for their choice and develop strong arguments to support their opinion, as they will be challenged by students with opposing views. Encourage the use of vocabulary.
  • Give them enough time to come up with their own arguments to justify their position.
  • After a 10-minute discussion, ask students from both corners to face each other.
  •  Battle: This is the part I like best. Ask students to choose someone from the opposing corner. Pair them up and tell them they have 5 minutes to try to convince each other, using strong arguments,  to switch corners. For drama, ask them to use the phrase: “I challenge X”.

Note: Again, using AI, I have helped my students with some ideas to support their opinion. Of course, this is entirely optional, but I felt my class needed some modelling to get started. Here you’ll find the cards for two of the statements. Animal testing here and Animals in circuses here

I know writing is missing from this lesson plan. Keep posted! It’s coming!

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