It's 6 AM on a Monday morning. Ms. Lopez wakes up early to prepare for the day ahead. She spends the morning reviewing lesson plans, making sure everything is ready for her students. By lunchtime, she is preparing for the afternoon, grabbing a quick bite between classes... but it doesn’t stop there. The school day finishes but Ms. Lopez stays late marking assignments. Finally, on Sunday night, she sits at her kitchen table, surrounded by papers, course books and lesson plans.
Does this sound familiar? You are not alone.
In 2024, app research found that76% of teachers spend at least one hour of their personal time on lesson planning each week, with 43% spending more than three hours. This is a lot of time that could be spent on other important tasks. Teachers need a solution that helps them plan lessons fast, is connected to their course books and is built by learning experts.
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Smart Lesson Generator is an AI tool that cuts the time that teachers spend on lesson planning.It uses AI to create activities in seconds based on the learning objectives, topics and vocabulary you plan to use.
Whether you're using app courseware or designing your own lessons, this tool ensures that the materials match your curriculum and your students' skill levels.
There are key steps to generate activities with Smart Lesson Generator:
1. Selection: Teachers choose the type of activity they want to generate, such as a Lesson Hook, Vocabulary, Grammar, Conversation Starter, Reading Comprehension, or Exit Ticket. They then specify whether they are using app courseware or a custom lesson plan. This flexibility allows teachers to tailor their approach to suit their unique classroom dynamics.
2. Generation: AI generates activities using a Large Language Model (LLM) based on the teacher's input. The content is then filtered through GSE checks to ensure it is at the appropriate level. This step is crucial as it ensures that the generated material is not only relevant but also pedagogically sound.
Smart Lesson Generator is aligned to the Global Scale of English (GSE). This powerful scale, ranging from 10 to 90, is aligned with the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) and provides detailed learning objectives for each proficiency level. The GSE ensures that the content generated by the Smart Lesson Generator is appropriately levelled.
Think of the GSE as a precise filter. It meticulously checks every piece of content to ensure it meets high standards. This means that the activities created are challenging yet achievable for students. With the GSE powering the Smart Lesson Generator, teachers can confidently deliver lessons that match their students' skill levels and help them progress.
The Smart Lesson Generator helps teachers create high-quality activities quickly, which allows them to spend more time focusing on their students. The tool also helps teachers develop personalized learning paths that enhance student progress and engagement, and is continually updated with input from app's experts and teachers worldwide. All this means that you can confidently plan lessons, knowing that the Smart Lesson Generator is your reliable partner in your quest to nurture the minds of tomorrow.
Read the posts 'Maximise teaching time with Smart Lesson Generator'and 'Reasons to use Smart Lesson Generator'.
Around 20%of the , making it an integral component in global business operations. But the question remains for business leaders and HR professionals: how can language learning, specifically, business English courses, drive your organization forward?Here are 8 ways language training can impact your business.
Stories can make us laugh, cry or tremble with fear. They can teach us valuable life lessons and transport us to other worlds. They've been around since the beginning of language itself, but can they actually help us learn a language?
Stories are one of the most useful toolswhen teaching childrenEnglish. Not only do they help with listening and reading skills, but they can also support speaking and writing skills by providing context, language and structure.
Very young learners may already be familiar with stories – they may hear them in daycare, school or at home with their parents. Therefore, incorporating these into their language classes may help them to feel more comfortable in their surroundings. And if children feel comfortable, they are more likely to be receptive to learning.
Storytelling usually happens as part of a group in the classroom. This means that it becomes a bonding activity for children where they can communicate and subconsciously pick up the key language. While having fun listening and interacting with the story, theysoak up information without even realizing they’re learning.
So, what storytelling activities can we use with younglearners? Let’s find out.
Often, we think of storytelling simply as reading a book aloud to children. Yet, there are other activities you can do. These include:
To get young children interacting with the story, first read out a sentence alone. Then, have the children repeat the line with you as a group. Repeat as many times as necessary, until the children feel confident with the language.
If your learners are happy to, ask them individually to repeat the sentence after you. Make sure each one has a turn and praise them for being brave and trying to use the language.
An activity that works well with children is to act out the story’s characters. For example, there may be animals, fairies, monsters or other exciting characters that they can each act.
Ask them to make the noises of the animals, the wind, or the scenery to create an atmosphere while you read. This gets them interacting with the story and the rest of the group, which will help their communication and listening comprehension skills.
Young learners react particularly well to visual aids and realia. Why not use puppets or dolls to act out the characters, or even ask students to have a go with them? They will engage more with the story and the language.
Children’s story books are usually quite visual with illustrations and pictures. Make the most of these while telling the story. Try asking students questions about the images to get them using the vocabulary.
You could ask them, “what can you see?”, “what’s he wearing?” or “can you find an apple?”. This is another great way to reinforce the vocabulary they’re learning in class.
Use these activities individually orincorporate a mix into your lessons. Either way, storytelling will help your learners with more than just developing their English language skills.
While we often think of storytelling as a pastime for children, it can also be a useful language learning activity for adults.
Stories are part of our daily lives, from news to social media to books and movies. Therefore, they can be extremely beneficial tools for English language learning.
Yet, the way we approach storytelling as a class activity for adults differs to that of young learners. While we typically read fairy tales to young children, we can bring in a much wider range of content for adults, such as:
Storytelling can be a wonderful language learning tool for both children and adults. If you’re looking for a new way to engage, inspire and motivate your learners, why not try it in your next class?
Language learning is more than just something you study—it's a strategic move that integrates into every aspect of your life—socially, professionally and mentally. With English often being the common ground for global business, communicating effectively in this language has never been more important.
In this post, we uncover the benefits of language proficiency, particularly in English, backed by relevant statistics and insights from app's recentground-breaking new research.
