Here it is – part 4 in a series of blog posts. The nitty gritty of suggestions of how to get students to stop using ChatGPT, AI, or Google Translate in your World Language classrooms. Pick and choose what resonates with you, what speaks to you, and chew a little on the ones that don’t.
In parts 1, 2, and 3, the blog focus was on taking a bigger look at what is happening in your classroom and with your students as they opt to use artificial intelligence (or older brothers and sisters) to help them write French sentences, paragraphs, and maybe even essays. I can give speeches all day long on the (lack of) morality or accuracy in ChatGPT and Google and in the end, all I can do is change how I approach French writing assignments. I work hard at being proactive to tackle this issue instead of being reactive.
The change doesn’t happen instantly but rather it evolves with you, your core practices, and beliefs. Trial and error is fun! Self-reflection is cool and challenging! It keeps our coconuts ticking and makes the job more interesting.
This blog post is about setting students up for success at all moments of a unit – not just for the final writing or speaking summative. I invite you to take a stroll through some of these tips for improved writing in the World Language classroom.
Tip #1 – Plan more spontaneous writing
My definition of writing is not fill-in-the-blank French worksheets. It is not a “change a sentence from the present tense to the past tense” French worksheet. Those worksheets have their place and moments in my French classroom but I don’t consider them writing opportunities.
For example, if your Monday routine is to talk about the weekend, then every third Monday after the speaking activity, students write down 2-3 sentences about what they did. Or, after speaking with 3-4 different classmates on Monday, students write a few sentences about what other people said. If that is every third Monday, then make every third Friday a quick writing activity about what they are going to do this weekend. To keep it from getting boring, maybe you create notecards to hand out about what each student is going to do (aller à la bibliothèque avec ma grand-mère / go to the library with my grandma) or what they did. Maybe you give them a location (Disneyland), a few new verbs (to vomit, to throw), and a couple of nouns (Mickey Mouse, cotton candy) and see what they come up with in 2-3 sentences.
The same idea can be done for French 1 when studying the family unit. After students can talk about their family members (name or age or birthday), let students interact with various classmates to talk about their families. Students who are listening take choppy notes IN FRENCH as they listen to classmates’ family descriptions (“David – frère – 7 ans – mars”). After 5-6 minutes of interaction, students return to their seats to write 4-5 sentences about what they heard from others. Let them use their notes to write any type of sentences (all birthdays, all ages, all names, or a little of each – it’s their choice).
Don’t worry that any of those words are misspelled (David – frer- 7 – Marsch) – just get students in the habit of jotting down quickly in the target language what they hear. Take notes one day during a speaking activity and change them into refined sentences the next day. Notes are, by nature, messy and sometimes misspelled. The habit of taking notes quickly in French during a conversation is an important skill to practice. We do this all the time in English!
Tip #2 – Don’t grade every item
Once students rewrite their (messy and misspelled) notes into a few sentences, collect them. How many notes they rewrite into sentences might depend on their level.
You look at the more polished sentences to inform your future lessons. Give them 5 simple completion points – or not. Collect the sentence(s) as an exit ticket – or not. Walk around and observe over their shoulders as they write – or not. Take what you see and plan a mini-lesson to steer them back in a different direction, if needed.
Tip #3 – Make writing a regular routine
A regular routine of writing in French is to give students a topic, a picture, or a question (depending on their level of proficiency) and allow them multiple ways to express their answer.
The routine can take many forms:
- 15 minutes once or twice a week or 5-6 times per month?
- Use a standard journal – or not. Loose leaf paper works GREAT.
- Use writing to follow 3-4 days of different speaking activities on a particular topic.
- French 1 is a novice level class – writing lists of words or phrases
- Keep their lists and phrases. After you’ve taught them a sentence structure or grammar point, have them re-write the lists into sentences. Have them re-write the lists to categorize: masculine/feminine or likes/dislikes or words with more than/less than 5 letters.
- French 2 and 3 are novice-high thru intermediate-mid (or higher) level proficiency classes – writing simple sentences and strings of simple sentences
- Watch a cute cat video with no sound and then give them 10 minutes to write about cats.
- French 4, 5, and immersion can be content-driven (summarize the chapter, predict the ending, tell me what happened in lunch today) OR let them write about the cute cat video!
The writing can be random (cats) or content-driven (describing someone else’s family). It’s your classroom. It’s your choice.
Tip #4 – Partner or small group writing
This is a way to re-introduce French or Spanish writing into your classroom if it’s been absent for a while. I don’t like groups larger than 3 students – it’s too easy for a student to melt into the background with 4 or more in a group. I pre-select the groups to reflect their levels of writing. I don’t want one student to write everything. One piece of paper for both partners or for the small group.
Each student is required to write a sentence. Pass-the-paragraph around the group of 3. I need to see different types of handwriting on the paper.
If the topic or grammar point is tough, I start with partner writing even if they’re used to regular writing. I use the two weeks of partner writing to make sure they know how to peer-edit, encourage, and exchange ideas.
Tip #5 – Speak first, Write later
I can’t say this enough. I am a broken record on this point. Can your French students speak spontaneously about the topic? Change the writing prompts into speaking activities and do those for 3-4 days before writing about the topic. If the students can’t spontaneously say it, they are more likely to use AI to find it in French (or your target language). More French or Spanish speaking activities before writing activities.
These 5 tips / ideas to avoid ChatGPT or Google Translate are meant to be tried, tested, and adapted to fit your students and your classroom. None of them are perfect or magical solutions to the use of artificial intelligence to write in French. Keep reading the next blog post in this series for more specific ideas around setting students up for success so that they avoid using AI in your French, Spanish, or World Language classroom.
My name is Lisa and it is a treat to be your new French colleague. How can I help you tomorrow?
- How to Deal with AI, ChatGPT, and Google Translate in the World Language Classroom? – Part 1
- How to Deal with AI, ChatGPT, and Google Translate in the World Language Classroom? – Part 2
- How to Deal with AI, ChatGPT, and Google Translate in the World Language Classroom? – Part 3
- How to Deal with AI, ChatGPT, and Google Translate in the World Language Classroom? – Part 5
- How to Deal with AI, ChatGPT, and Google Translate in the World Language Classroom? – Part 6
