First experiments with ChatGPT

 

If you use social media, or in fact if you have been looking at any kind of media recently, you won't have failed to notice all the talk about AI - Artifical Intelligence.   ChatGPT in particular has captured the imaginations of education professionals, who have been experimenting with its use in their work.

Over the past few months I have been keeping an eye on the various social media and blogposts about it, but, during what has been a very busy school year for me, I haven't had time to have a closer look at it.  I decided that it would be one of the things that I would have a play with during the school summer holidays.  In other words, now!

So I'm here to report on what I have been doing with it so far.  

I started off by thinking about the kinds of resources that I make often both for my own use in the classroom and for Light Bulb Languages more generally.  I often make worksheets for drilling vocabulary and structures, practising a specific language sets in various different ways.  With this in mind, I had a look at the Key Stage 2 units that I will be teaching new Year 4 and new Year 5 in September.  The examples that I'm going to show you here focus on the unit Les fruits and also Quel temps fait-il ?  

I quickly learned that it takes a fair bit of practice to get the instructions for ChatGPT right, so that it will actually give you what you are thinking of.

After a few false starts, I began with:

Write 16 simple sentences in French using the opinion phrases j'adore, j'aime, je n'aime pas and je déteste as well as the fruits les abricots, les kiwis, les bananes, les cerises, les fraises, les oranges, les pêches, les, poires, les pommes, les prunes. You can also use the conjunctions et and mais. The sentences need to be understood by 8 year old beginner learners of French. Don't include any other words in the sentences.

Here are the sentences it generated:

1.    J'adore les fraises et les cerises.

2.    J'aime les bananes et les pommes.

3.    Je n'aime pas les kiwis, mais j'aime les poires.

4.    Je déteste les prunes, mais j'aime les abricots.

5.    J'adore les oranges et les pêches.

6.    J'aime les fraises, mais je n'aime pas les cerises.

7.    Je n'aime pas les pommes, mais j'aime les bananes.

8.    Je déteste les kiwis et les poires.

9.    J'aime les abricots et les oranges.

10.    Je n'aime pas les pêches, mais j'aime les fraises.

11.    J'adore les cerises et les prunes.

12.    J'aime les bananes, mais je n'aime pas les kiwis.

13.    Je déteste les pommes et les poires.

14.    J'aime les abricots, mais je n'aime pas les oranges.

15.    Je n'aime pas les fraises, mais j'aime les cerises.

16.    J'adore les pêches et les prunes.

Normally it would take me quite a long time to come up with these sentences, keeping a tally on a scrap piece of paper to make sure I use all the fruits and all the opinions equally and so on.  It's interesting that it has used j'aime and je n'aime pas together in sentences, but not j'adore or je déteste.  I would more than likely edit some sentences for this reason, or have a go at getting ChatGPT to do it!

Next I decided to try creating a list of simpler sentences using the same vocabulary but not the conjunctions:

Write 20 different simple sentences in French using the verbs j'adore, j'aime, je n'aime pas and je déteste as well as the fruits les abricots, les kiwis, les bananes, les cerises, les fraises, les oranges, les pêches, les, poires, les pommes, les prunes. The sentences need to be understood by 8 year old beginner learners of French. Don't include any other words in the sentences. The sentences must only have an opinion and a fruit.

And here's what I got:

1.    J'adore les fraises.

2.    J'aime les cerises.

3.    Je n'aime pas les kiwis.

4.    Je déteste les prunes.

5.    J'adore les pommes.

6.    J'aime les bananes.

7.    Je n'aime pas les poires.

8.    Je déteste les abricots.

9.    J'adore les oranges.

10.    J'aime les pêches.

11.    Je n'aime pas les fraises.

12.    Je déteste les cerises.

13.    J'adore les kiwis.

14.    J'aime les poires.

15.    Je n'aime pas les pommes.

16.    Je déteste les bananes.

17.    J'adore les pêches.

18.    J'aime les abricots.

19.    Je n'aime pas les oranges.

20.    Je déteste les fraises.

The first attempt contained some identical sentences, so I had to ask it to make sure all the sentences were different.

Next I wanted it to generate a list of these sentences with the vowels missing, so that children would have to rewrite the sentences, filling in the missing letters and focussing on the spelling.  I found out that if you ask ChatGPT to create a didactic activity, it will give you a mini lesson plan, something which might be useful for teachers looking for ideas for classroom activities.

Create a didactic activity using these 16 French sentences. Rewrite the sentences with the vowels missing and put a _ in their place. J'adore les fraises. J'aime les cerises. Je n'aime pas les kiwis. Je déteste les prunes. J'adore les pommes. J'aime les bananes. Je n'aime pas les poires. Je déteste les abricots. J'adore les oranges. J'aime les pêches. Je n'aime pas les fraises. Je déteste les cerises. J'adore les kiwis. J'aime les poires. Je n'aime pas les pommes. Je déteste les bananes. J'adore les pêches. J'aime les abricots. Je n'aime pas les oranges. Je déteste les fraises.

Title: French Fruit Sentences Missing Vowels Activity

Objective: Practice reading and comprehension of French fruit-related sentences by filling in missing vowels.

Materials:

• Printed activity sheets with the 16 sentences (original sentences with missing vowels)
• Pencils or pens

·    Instructions:

1.     1.  Distribute the activity sheets to the participants.

2.     2.  Explain the purpose of the activity: to practice reading and comprehension of fruit-related sentences in French.

3.    3.   Instruct the participants to read each sentence carefully and fill in the missing vowels by writing the correct vowel in the place of the "_".

4.     4.  Encourage participants to take their time and try to sound out the words to determine which vowel is missing in each sentence.

5.   5.    Walk around the room to provide assistance and answer any questions.

6.   6.    Once participants have completed the activity, review the correct answers together as a group.

Activity Sheet: French Fruit Sentences Missing Vowels

1        J'd_r l_s fr__s_s.

2.       J'm l_s c_r_s_s.

3.       J_ n'm p_s l_s k_w_s.

4.       J_ d_t_st_ l_s pr_n_s.

5.       J'd_r l_s p_mm_s.

6.       J'm l_s b_n_n_s.

7.       J_ n'm p_s l_s p__r_s.

8.       J_ d_t_st_ l_s _br_c_ts.

9.       J'd_r l_s _r_ng_s.

10.   J'm l_s p_ ch_s.

11.   J_ n'm p_s l_s fr__s_s.

12.   J_ d_t_st_ l_s c_r_s_s.

13.   J'd_r l_s k_w_s.

14.   J'm l_s p__r_s.

15.   J_ n'm p_s l_s p_mm_s.

16.   J_ d_t_st_ l_s b_n_n_s.

17.   J'd_r l_s p_ ch_s.

18.   J'm l_s _br_c_ts.

19.   J_ n'm p_s l_s _r_ng_s.

20.   J_ d_t_st_ l_s fr__s_s.

Discussion and Review:

•  Go through the sentences one by one, inviting participants to share their completed sentences.
•  Discuss the correct vowels for each sentence, helping participants correct any mistakes they made.
•  Encourage participants to ask questions about sentence structures or vocabulary if they have any.
• Emphasize the importance of practicing pronunciation while reading.

Extension: For an extra challenge, you can ask participants to create their own sentences about their favorite fruits or other foods, leaving out vowels for their peers to fill in. This can encourage creativity and reinforce vocabulary.

I also asked it to take away all the vowels, this time not replacing them with a dash:

Rewrite these French sentences with no vowels. J'adore les fraises. J'aime les cerises. Je n'aime pas les kiwis. Je déteste les prunes. J'adore les pommes. J'aime les bananes. Je n'aime pas les poires. Je déteste les abricots. J'adore les oranges. J'aime les pêches. Je n'aime pas les fraises. Je déteste les cerises. J'adore les kiwis. J'aime les poires. Je n'aime pas les pommes. Je déteste les bananes. J'adore les pêches. J'aime les abricots. Je n'aime pas les oranges. Je déteste les fraises.

J'dr ls frss.

J'm ls crss.

J n'm ps ls kw s.

J dtst ls prns.

J'dr ls pmm s.

J'm ls bnn s.

J n'm ps ls prs.

J dtst ls brcts.

J'dr ls rngs.

J'm ls pchs.

J n'm ps ls frss.

J dtst ls crss.

J'dr ls kw s.

J'm ls prs.

J n'm ps ls pmm s.

J dtst ls bnn s.

J'dr ls pchs.

J'm ls brcts.

J n'm ps ls rngs.

J dtst ls frss.

After that I also asked ChatGPT to change the order of the sentences.  It took a few goes to get the sentences with no vowels at all.

Next I had a go at some weather sentences.

Write 7 short imaginary weather reports in French using only these French words. Don't use any other words. et aussi mais en plus après finalement il pleut il neige il fait beau il fait mauvais il fait froid il fait chaud il y a du soleil il y a du vent il y a un orage lundi mardi mercredi jeudi vendredi samedi dimanche dans le nord le sud le centre l’est l’ouest de la France.

1.    Lundi : Il pleut dans le nord et il fait froid. Mais dans le sud, il y a du soleil.

2.    Mardi : Il neige dans l'est. En plus, il y a du vent. Après, il y a un orage.

3.    Mercredi : Il fait beau dans le centre, mais il fait chaud dans le sud. Finalement, il y a du soleil dans l'ouest.

4.    Jeudi : Il fait mauvais dans le nord. Cependant, il fait froid dans le sud. Dans l'est, il y a du vent.

5.    Vendredi : Il pleut dans le centre et il fait mauvais. En plus, il y a du vent dans l'ouest.

6.    Samedi : Il fait chaud dans le sud et il y a du soleil. Mais dans le nord, il fait froid.

7.    Dimanche : Il y a un orage dans l'est. Après, il fait beau dans le nord. Finalement, il y a du vent dans le sud.

I have kept ChatGPT's layout and formatting here.  I also did a second generation of sentences, this time not using the conjunctions, so that they are simpler.

Write 10 weather sentences in French using only these French words. Don't use any other words. Don't change the tense. et aussi mais en plus après finalement il pleut il neige il fait beau il fait mauvais il fait froid il fait chaud il y a du soleil il y a du vent il y a un orage lundi mardi mercredi jeudi vendredi samedi dimanche dans le nord le sud le centre l’est l’ouest de la France

1. Lundi, il fait chaud dans le sud.
2. Mardi, il pleut dans le nord.
3. Mercredi, il fait froid dans l'est.
4. Jeudi, il neige dans le centre.
5. Vendredi, il y a un orage dans l'ouest.
6. Samedi, il fait mauvais dans le nord.
7. Dimanche, il y a du soleil dans le sud.
8. Lundi, il fait chaud dans le centre.
9. Samedi, en plus, il y a du vent dans l'est.
10. Dimanche, finalement, il pleut dans le nord.

I wondered if it would make me one of the activities where you have to put the words in the right order.  

Rewrite these sentences with the words in each one mixed in a random order. Put " / " between each word. Make sure that all the words including le are in the sentences

Le / sud / dans / fait / chaud / il / lundi.

Dans / nord / il / pleut / mardi / le.

Mercredi / il / fait / l'est / dans / froid / le.

Jeudi / dans / centre / il / neige / le.

Vendredi / il / y / a / l'ouest / un / orage / dans.

Il / nord / samedi / mauvais / le / dans / fait.

Du / dans / sud / il / y / dimanche / soleil / a.

Le / dans / il / chaud / lundi / centre / fait.

Est / samedi / plus / il / y / vent / en / dans / a / du.

Il / nord / dimanche / pleut / en / finalement / le / dans / y.

This will take a bit of fine-tuning, as some words are missing and others are extra, such as the y in the last one.

This is how far I have got with ChatGPT so far.  I have been trying to get it to create a spelling exercise with animal words, where I have asked it to change two of the letters in each word.  I haven't got it to do it so far - it's happy to change one letter but not two.  All suggestions of how to phrase the instructions welcome!

I can see that using ChatGPT in this way to generate sentences from a specified word list will save time for me.  I'm still in the process of fine-tuning the instructions to get the result that I am after quickly.  Watch out for these sentences in Light Bulb Languages resources soon!

If you would like to look in more detail at using ChatGPT in language teaching, then I recommend that you seek out Joe Dale, who is leading the way.

I would love to hear how you have been using AI in your language teaching.