How to Create Quality English Materials for Teaching Online Using Generative AI

Which AI tools are best for generating English teaching materials? That's what I wanted to find out in preparation for my online classes volunteer teaching young Ukrainians displaced by the war on behalf of Svitlo School. In this article, I'll share the prompts, responses and recommendations I gathered through this experiment with ChatGPT, Claude, and Bing.

Credit MidJourney with prompt: naive illustration depicting a female Teacher writing lesson plan on a table alone in an educational classroom with two different AI robots trying to convince her what to write, kid-friendly, bright lights, subtle blue and orange accents --ar 2:1 

I wanted to create a lesson plan for my second language lesson using generative AI. I wanted to test the results from both ChatGPT 4, ChatGPT 3.5, Claude v 2, Bing and Bard to see which delivered the best results.

Note: It's very important to be very specific in your prompt of what you want. You will get quite a different result if you ask an AI for a "virtual class" vs a "class" more generally.

I included my comments below in bold and italic

My first prompt was the following:

Prompt 1: As an expert English teacher, create a lesson plan for the following 45-minute online English class in a LearnCube virtual classroom: group of 8 - 10 teenagers aged 10 - 13  from Ukraine with B1 to B2 level of English and wanting to practice conversation. The key theme of the class is to learn about New Zealand, its cities, geography, culture and colloquial vocabulary.

My second prompt was the following: 

Prompt 2: As an expert English language teacher, tell me about how would you evaluate lesson content and curriculum

Based on these criteria, create a detailed lesson plan that a private tutor and young teenage student of 10 - 13 years old of an A1 level. The lesson plan should be possible to complete within 120 minutes or 2 x 60-minute sessions.  It should be made for the LearnCube virtual classroom and whiteboard. The learning objective is to introduce oneself. The lesson plan should be made up of 6 sections. It should include the basic English grammar rules and the verb "to be". It should have a fill-in-the-blanks exercise in the middle that uses practical, popular phrases. It should include one reading comprehension exercise that's fun and aimed at young teenagers. 

CHATGPT-4 

Result from ChatGPT-4.0

Lesson Plan for Online Class: Discovering New Zealand: Geography, Culture, and Colloquial English

Objective: By the end of the online lesson, students will have a broader understanding of New Zealand's geography, cities, culture, and will be able to use some colloquial vocabulary in conversation.

> I liked how GPT-4 outlined the objectives of the lesson.

Target Group: Teenagers aged 10-13 from Ukraine with English proficiency levels B1-B2.

Resources: LearnCube Virtual Classroom, Pre-prepared Slideshow Presentation about New Zealand, Interactive Quiz on Kahoot!, New Zealand Map, Short video clips showcasing New Zealand culture and places, Word document with colloquial vocabulary.

> Notice the difference when I explicitly put in "virtual classroom" vs class in the prompt (see Resources above and Materials Required below) 

Materials Required:

PowerPoint presentation with images and maps of New Zealand
Video clips showcasing New Zealand's culture, cities, and landscapes
Handouts with New Zealand colloquial vocabulary
Group activity materials (pens, paper, markers, etc.)

1. Introduction (5 minutes)

• Greet students, quick check-in with everyone, explain the theme of the day's class.
• Engage students with a brief question: "What do you already know about New Zealand?"
• Show a map of New Zealand and its major cities, brief introduction.
  
  

2. Warm-Up Activity (5 minutes)

"Two Truths and a Lie" Game: Present three statements about New Zealand, two true, one false. Students guess which one is false. This will stir their curiosity and start some discussion about New Zealand.

> This is a fun, creative idea for an online class by GPT-4 and note, I included a screen shot of how I applied this directly below.

3. Interactive Slideshow Presentation (10 minutes)

• Slide 1: Geography - Major cities, significant landscapes (e.g., mountains, beaches, forests).
• Slide 2: Culture - Indigenous Maori culture, customs, significant festivals, New Zealand's relationship with Rugby.
• Slide 3: Unique Wildlife - Briefly introduce unique animals and plants in New Zealand (e.g., Kiwi bird, Silver Fern).

During the presentation, ask students to jot down any questions or interesting points they notice.

> All accurate, also when I asked ChatGPT "come up with the best image prompts for the slides in point 3 above." See how applied in the image directly below.

4. Video Clips and Discussion (10 minutes)

• Show 2-3 short video clips that showcase New Zealand's culture and places. After each clip, have a quick discussion. Ask students to share what they observed, found surprising, or would like to know more about.

> I asked ChatGPT to suggest YouTube videos for me to embed in the LearnCube Whiteboard for my online lesson and it wasn't bad.  See how applied in the image directly below.

5. Introduction of Colloquial Vocabulary (5 minutes)

• Share a pre-prepared word document with a list of New Zealand colloquial terms (Kiwi slang) such as "Kiwi", "Tiki tour", "Sweet as", "Wop-wops", etc., including their meanings and example sentences.
• Read out each term, its meaning, and use it in a sentence. Ask students to repeat after you for pronunciation practice.

> I'm going to ask it to suggest this list next with the following prompt: "Provide a list of 15 Colloquial New Zealander words". I only needed 10 but it's best to ask for more and cull the ones the teacher does not want for their online classroom. The words were actually very well chosen. See how applied in the image directly below.

6. Role-Play Activity (10 minutes)

• Split students into pairs in breakout rooms. Each pair gets a role-play situation where they need to use the newly learned colloquial vocabulary (e.g., a conversation between two friends planning a 'Tiki tour' around New Zealand).
• Allow students 5 minutes to practice their dialogues, then bring everyone back to the main room. Each pair will perform their role-play to the rest of the class.

> I'd like how it suggest breakout rooms. These require some confidence by the online teacher in an online class but I like how it suggest it. It shows again the importance of specifying the fact it is an online class (vs in-person language class) and the technology (LearnCube Virtual Classroom).

7. Review and Interactive Quiz (5 minutes)

• Quick review of the class: "What did we learn about New Zealand today?"
• Finish with an interactive quiz using Kahoot! to test students' understanding of New Zealand and the vocabulary learned during the class.

8. Closing (5 minutes)

• Briefly discuss the students' performance in the quiz. Answer any remaining questions.
• Encourage students to explore more about New Zealand in their own time, using English resources.
• Announce the theme for the next class and encourage students to prepare beforehand.
• Bid farewell until the next class.

> Overall I like this. Probably a little too much to fit into a single class but I'm very impressed by the response of ChatGPT (using GPT-4).

CHATGPT-3.5 

Result from ChatGPT-3.5:

Lesson Plan: Introducing Myself (A1 Level, Ages 10-13)

Learning Objective: By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to introduce themselves in English using the verb "to be," comprehend simple sentences, and use basic English grammar rules.

Total Duration: 120 minutes (2 x 60 minutes)

Materials:

• LearnCube virtual classroom and whiteboard
• Slides or presentation with visuals and interactive elements
• Worksheet for fill-in-the-blanks exercise
• Reading comprehension passage (fun and age-appropriate, about Brazil)

Section 1: Warm-up (10 minutes)

1. Greeting and Introduction: Greet the student warmly and engage in a friendly conversation about their day.
2. Icebreaker Activity: Play a quick "Guess Who" game where the student has to describe someone in their family or a friend using the verb "to be." For example, "My sister is tall and funny."

Section 2: Introducing "To Be" (20 minutes)

1. Presentation: Use slides or visuals to introduce the verb "to be" in its affirmative form (am, is, are). Explain how it is used to talk about oneself, others, and things.
2. Practice: Ask the student to complete sentences with the correct form of "to be." For example, "I ___ a student," "You ___ from Brazil," "He ___ my brother," etc. Correct any errors and provide feedback.

Section 3: Fill-in-the-Blanks Exercise (15 minutes)

1. Presentation: Present a series of popular and practical phrases for introducing oneself. For example, "Hi, my name ___," "I ___ 12 years old," "My favorite hobby ___," etc.
2. Fill-in-the-Blanks: Share a worksheet in the virtual classroom or whiteboard with the sentences missing key information. Ask the student to complete the sentences with the appropriate words. Review the answers together.

Section 4: Reading Comprehension (20 minutes)

1. Introduction: Introduce a short and fun reading passage about a young teenager from Brazil, describing their favorite activities and interests.
2. Reading: Share the passage with the student, and let them read it silently or aloud. Encourage them to underline unfamiliar words for discussion later.
3. Comprehension Questions: Ask comprehension questions related to the passage, making sure they are straightforward and age-appropriate. For example, "What's the name of the teenager in the story?" "What is their favorite sport?" etc.

Section 5: Interactive Activity (15 minutes)

1. Role Play: Engage in a role-playing activity where the student practices introducing themselves using the verb "to be." Take turns being the student and the tutor in the role-play scenario.

Section 6: Wrap-up (10 minutes)

1. Recap: Summarize the key points covered in the lesson, emphasizing the use of "to be" and introducing oneself.
2. Homework: Assign a short writing task for the student to introduce themselves in a paragraph using the new vocabulary and grammar learned.
3. Q&A and Feedback: Allow the student to ask any questions they may have about the lesson. Provide positive feedback and encouragement.

End of Lesson: Thank the student for their participation and effort.

Note: Throughout the lesson, ensure to maintain a positive and encouraging atmosphere to keep the young teenage student engaged and motivated. Use a variety of interactive tools available in the LearnCube virtual classroom to enhance the learning experience.By following this unit plan, the private tutor and A1 learner can effectively work together to achieve the learning objective of introducing oneself in English in a fun and interactive manner within the 90-minute timeframe.

Comments on ChatGPT-3.5:

Many of the aspects were the same as the response using GPT-4 including the objective, resources needed and slides.

However, it was not clear that ChatGPT-3.5 understood this was an online class as described in the prompt.

In the resources, it included similar items like the LearnCube VirtualClassroom, presentation, whiteboard but it also suggested "pen and paper (for note-taking)."

ChatGPT-3.5 was very vague about what to do, for example, with the introduction. It suggested "Greet the students and take attendance to ensure all students are present. Begin with a short warm-up activity to get the students engaged..." 

ChatGPT-3.5 was shorter and less creative with its response. It offered not game to start and the presentation was more generic, even though it  suggested examples. It did suggest a small homework exercise though. 

When I asked ChatGPT-3.5 about for best image prompts for the slides, it was generic but not terrible. It did not quite "remember" the focus on kids in the group so I thought .

CLAUDE 2.0

I tried the same prompt with Anthropic's solution, Claude.

Overall, I found Claude to be similar to GPT 3.5. It provided a fairly generic lesson the overall structure was basically the same. It wasn't clear that it understood the nature of a quite class as well as ChatGPT (for example, there was no express objective provided) and it provided fewer examples.

See Claude's response below.

Here is a 45-minute online English lesson plan for 8-10 Ukrainian teenagers with B1-B2 level English skills, focused on learning about New Zealand's geography, culture, and colloquial vocabulary:

Introduction (5 mins)

• Greet students and do a quick intro about yourself
• Have students introduce themselves, share where they are from in Ukraine, and one interesting fact about themselves
• Explain the goal of today's lesson is to learn about New Zealand's geography, culture, cities, and fun vocabulary

Credit MidJourney with prompt: color photo A picture of hikers on a trail in the Southern Alps of New Zealand with snow-capped mountains in the background, photorealistic --ar 2:1

New Zealand Geography (10 mins)

• Share key facts about NZ using slides or visuals: location, capital city, major cities, key geographic features, climate, etc.
• Have students complete a short quiz matching cities, landmarks, and facts about NZ

Cultural Lesson (10 mins)

• Explain basics of Maori culture and traditions using videos/photos
• Teach some common Maori greetings and practice saying them
• Show video of haka dance and discuss significance

Conversation Practice (10 mins)

• Split class into small groups of 3-4 students
• Give conversation prompts about NZ; ex. imagine you're visiting NZ - what cities and places would you visit and why? Discuss Kiwi slang words you learned.
• Have groups share back some highlights from their discussion

Wrap Up (5 mins)

• Quick quiz reviewing facts about NZ, vocabulary, etc.
• Ask students to share one thing they learned and found interesting about NZ
• Thank students and let them know topics for next class

MICROSOFT BING 

Lesson Plan: New Zealand

Learning Objectives

• To learn about New Zealand, its cities, geography, culture and colloquial vocabulary.

• To practice speaking, listening, reading and writing skills in English.

• To use the present simple and present continuous tenses to talk about facts and habits.

Materials

• A LearnCube virtual classroom with video, audio, chat, whiteboard and screen sharing features.

• A PowerPoint presentation with slides about New Zealand (see below).

• A worksheet with a map of New Zealand and some questions (see below).

• A quiz with multiple choice questions about New Zealand (see below).

• A word search puzzle with New Zealand-related words (see below).

Procedure

1. Warm-up (5 minutes)

   • Greet the students and introduce yourself as the teacher. Ask them to introduce themselves by saying their name, age and where they are from.
   • Write the word “New Zealand” on the whiteboard and ask the students what they know about this country. Elicit some facts or opinions from them and write them on the board.
   • Tell the students that today they are going to learn more about New Zealand, its cities, geography, culture and colloquial vocabulary.
2. Presentation (15 minutes)
   • Share your screen and show the PowerPoint presentation with slides about New Zealand. The slides should include some pictures and information about the following topics:
     • The location, size and population of New Zealand.
     • The capital city Wellington and the largest city Auckland.
     • The Maori people and their culture and language.
     • The national symbols: the flag, the anthem, the kiwi bird and the silver fern.
     • The natural attractions: the mountains, the glaciers, the lakes, the geysers and the wildlife.
     • The sports and hobbies: rugby, cricket, hiking, skiing and bungee jumping.
     • The colloquial vocabulary: some common words and phrases used by New Zealanders, such as “Kia ora”, “Kiwi”, “Jandals”, “Sweet as” and “Chur”.
   • As you show each slide, explain the information in simple English and ask some questions to check the students’ understanding. For example:
     • Where is New Zealand located? How far is it from Australia?
     • What is the name of the capital city of New Zealand? What is special about it?
     • Who are the Maori people? What is their native language?
     • What is the name of the national bird of New Zealand? What does it look like?
     • What is the highest mountain in New Zealand? How high is it?
     • What is the most popular sport in New Zealand? What is the name of their national team?
     • What does “Kia ora” mean in Maori? How do you say “hello” in your language?
   • Encourage the students to participate by answering your questions or asking their own questions. Use the chat feature to write down any new words or phrases that they may not know. Correct any errors in pronunciation or grammar that you may hear.
3. Practice (10 minutes)
   • Stop sharing your screen and give each student a worksheet with a map of New Zealand and some questions. You can use this link to download a printable worksheet: https://www.kids-world-travel-guide.com/support-files/newzealand-worksheet.pdf
   • Ask the students to look at the map and answer the questions using the information from the presentation. They can work individually or in pairs. The questions are:
     • How many islands make up New Zealand?
     • What is the name of the strait that separates the two main islands?
     • What are the names of the two main islands?
     • Which island is bigger: North Island or South Island?
     • Which island has more volcanoes: North Island or South Island?
     • Which island has more glaciers: North Island or South Island?
     • Which island has more lakes: North Island or South Island?
     • Which island has more cities: North Island or South Island?
     • Which city is located on both islands: Wellington or Auckland?
     • Which city is closer to Australia: Wellington or Auckland?
   • Monitor the students’ work and help them if they have any difficulties. Check their answers as a class and give feedback.
4. Production (10 minutes)
   • Divide the students into two groups: Group A and Group B. Assign each group a different topic related to New Zealand: Group A will talk about sports and hobbies; Group B will talk about natural attractions.
   • Ask each group to prepare a short presentation (2-3 minutes) about their topic using the present simple and present continuous tenses. They should include some facts, opinions and examples. They can use the PowerPoint slides, the worksheet or the internet as sources of information.
   • Give each group some time to prepare their presentation and practice it. Monitor their work and help them if they have any difficulties. Correct any errors in pronunciation or grammar that you may hear.
   • Ask each group to present their topic to the rest of the class using the video and audio features. Encourage the other group to listen carefully and ask questions at the end of each presentation.
   • Give feedback on each presentation and praise the students for their efforts.
5. Wrap-up (5 minutes)
   • Give each student a quiz with multiple choice questions about New Zealand. You can use this link to download a printable quiz: https://www.kids-world-travel-guide.com/support-files/newzealand-quiz.pdf
   • Ask the students to complete the quiz individually and check their answers as a class. The questions are:
     • What is the name of the native people of New Zealand?
       • A) Aborigines
       • B) Maori
       • C) Polynesians
       • D) Hawaiians
     • What is the name of the national bird of New Zealand?
       • A) Kiwi
       • B) Emu
       • C) Penguin
       • D) Ostrich
     • What is the name of the national anthem of New Zealand?
       • A) God Save the Queen
       • B) God Defend New Zealand
       • C) Advance Australia Fair
       • D) O Canada
     • What is the name of the highest mountain in New Zealand?
       • A) Mount Everest
       • B) Mount Cook
       • C) Mount Fuji
       • D) Mount Kilimanjaro
     • What is the name of the most popular sport in New Zealand?
       • A) Soccer
       • B) Rugby
       • C) Cricket
       • D) Basketball
   • Give feedback on the quiz and congratulate the students for their performance.
   • Give each student a word search puzzle with New Zealand-related words. You can use this link to download a printable puzzle: https://www.kids-world-travel-guide.com/support-files/newzealand-wordsearch.pdf
   • Ask the students to find and circle the words in the puzzle. They can work individually or in pairs. The words are Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington, Maori, Kiwi, Rugby, Cricket, Hiking, Skiing, Bungee jumping, Kia ora, Jandals, Sweet as, Chur, Flag, Anthem, Silver fern, Mountains, Glaciers, Lakes, Geysers, Wildlife.
   • Monitor the students’ work and help them if they have any difficulties. Check their answers as a class and give feedback.
   • Thank the students for their participation and say goodbye.

FOR IMAGE GENERATION

Comparing Claude vs ChatGPT 3.5

When I asked Claude about for best image prompts for the slides, it was generic but not terrible. It did not quite "remember" the focus on kids in the group so I thought the images suggested were more adult-focused.

Claude provides much more concise answers than ChatGPT, for example, Claude suggested "Traditional Maori warriors doing haka dance" vs ChatGPT "Slide 7: New Zealand's Culture: An image of a traditional Maori Haka performance, representing the rich Maori culture and heritage.
Photos of traditional Maori artwork, such as carvings and woven flax items."

When I asked ChatGPT-3.5 and Claudeto to "suggest YouTube videos for me to embed in the LearnCube Whiteboard for my online lesson" , neither were as good as ChatGPT-4. ChatGPT 3.5 offered more good examples but many of the links did not work or were broken. Claude seemed unable to access YouTube and made suggestions of videos with no links and the descriptions did not appear in the search e.g. "All Blacks Rugby Haka Compilation" - 4 min compilation of rugby haka" (I think this is just made up).

When I asked the two systems to provide a list of 15 Colloquial New Zealander words, I felt ChatGPT-3.5 was just as good at this as ChatGPT-4 and included my favourite kiwi word "Togs - Swimsuit or swimwear, used for going to the beach or swimming." Claude was ok but I was slightly shocked to see it suggest "P - Methamphetamine" in its list of words to share with young students!

I could forgive this if I thought this was an anomaly but when I asked for a further list (knowing I'd been clear in my initial prompt that this was for teenagers), ChatGPT-3.5 stayed with words that were appropriate for young people. Claude... not so much.

My curiosity was piqued so I quickly asked 'Google Bard' and Microsoft Bing Chat.

BARD' v BING

Google Bard was similarly generic with its initial response, probably the same as ChatGPT 3.5 but I liked two further headlines that covered "Differentiation: For students who are struggling..." and "Extension" exercises. 

Microsoft Bing was as good as ChatGPT-4 (see the full response at the bottom of this article). It was clear on objectives, the examples were even more specific that ChatGPT-4 (even though I think Bing runs ChatGPT-4). I quite liked how it suggested that "As you show each slide, explain the information in simple English and ask some questions to check the students’ understanding" and it provided a useful quiz.

I was initially very encouraged by Bing's suggestions of very specific images, "For example, this one: https://www.pexels.com/photo/new-zealand-map-illustration-1089569/" but disappointingly, none of the links went to the appropriate image.

Google Bard didn't necessarily answer my question "come up with the best image prompts for the slides" but provided a useful solution. It had a nice way of providing the actual image you want in the response which meant I could easily download the image.

However, theoretically, there might be an issue with simply using other people's images. Some were images from Wikipedia but others were from commercial websites and seem less likely to be rights-free (note Bing seemed to suffer from the same limitation).

I was surprised that Google Bard wasn't able to "suggest YouTube videos for me to embed in the LearnCube Whiteboard for my online lesson" and said "I'm a language model and don't have the capacity to help with that."

 

Bing was the best by providing the right video for the right point, "For the topic of the Maori people and their culture and language, you could use this video that introduces the Maori culture and shows some of their traditions, such as the haka dance and the hangi feast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_I_TxIZNOYM". Importantly this video was aimed at kids.

 

When asking Google Bard for "15 Colloquial New Zealander words". Overall, the word list wasn't bad but Bard tried to provide images too, which just got weird. Not only did it think Munter was a useful word for kids but suggested "fush and chups" was our slang word for fish and chips. No hard done with mimicking our accent, but it's not slang.

 

 

 Bing was much better and included some of my favourites, "no worries", "Right as rain" and "She’ll be right". 

 

Note I did try the same prompt another few times on Bing and did get "Slutted: greatly annoyed, "Scull: to drink something quickly or in one go." but made up for it again by an old favourite: "Yeah nah: this means no, but in a more vague way."

 

 

WHICH WAS THE WINNER? 

This was a fascinating experiment comparing each generative AI tool. If I were to rank them, this would be how I would assign the medals.

 

1. Bing Chat (it's as good as ChatGPT-4, free, and you can edit the history to keep chat history organised somewhat).
2. ChatGPT Pro (GPT-4 was the best, I prefer the privacy element of turning off chat history)
3. ChatGPT 3.5 
4. Google Bard
5. Claude (While it suggests that it has the largest memory compared to its biggest competitors, with a 75,000 word context, as an AI teacher  assistant, I don't think it's quite all there.)

If you're curious to learn more about AI and language education, you might like my article on the LearnCube blog: Why Should Language Businesses Care About ChatGPT?