AI may be a controversial topic, however, it is definitely here to stay. With that in mind, it can be used to help your students achieve their language goals.

For this exercise, you’ll need access to an image generator. There are some free options, for example, Leonardo AI and Chat GPT offer a few free tokens everyday. If you do not have an account with more tokens available, this exercise is probably best for individual classes OR skip the AI version and move to the analogue alternative ;).

Instructions (with the use of AI)

• Ask your student to pick a picture from their phone gallery (one they want to show you or other students) and ask them to write the prompts and try to recreate the photo using the AI. Ask them to be as thorough as possible.
• Once done, compare the original and the AI version. Comment on the differences. Try to find 5-7 differences between the photos.
• They can try to recreate the photo once again, reusing the prompts and changing whatever necessary.

The prompts I used:

A bengal cat sitting and staring right into the camera, the cat is on the right side of the picture, behind the cat there is a Christmas tree with white light and colourful christmas decorations. the floor is wooden in the light shade of wood.

You can then comment the results with the student(s). Example: “Well my cat would definitely not wear a collar.”

They can also try to recreate the photo.

The analogue version

For this version, you will need a piece of paper and a pen or a pencil :).

• Work in pairs. One of the students has a piece of paper and a pencil, the other picks a photo from their phone gallery.
• The person with the photo does not show the photo but gives the other person instructions on how to draw the photo.
• Once done, they see the picture and comment on the differences. You can ask them to find 5-7 differences.

This exercise can be done in a classroom environment but the good thing is, anyone can do it! If you’re a student learning a foreign language, you can practice writing this way. You can check the correctness of your writing using Grammarly or Chat GPT.

Let me know what you think!

Happy learning and teaching!

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