Using Deepseek to create a blank filling ex/quiz on 'a, an, the'

 PROMPT 1

Please create a passage of about 150 words, to be read by lower primary students. The passage is a story titled 'The sun and the old man'. This story is to be told in the simple present tense only. The passage is used to illustrate the use of the indefinite articles ('a', 'an') and the definite article ('the'). Include a couple of instances where 'the' is used to refer to a unique case (e.g., the sun, the moon).

Result 1

the Sun and the Old Man

An old man lives in a small village. He sits under a big tree every day. The sun shines brightly in the sky. The old man looks up at the sun and smiles.

One day, a cloud covers the sun. The old man frowns. "Where is the sun?" he asks. A bird flies by and says, "The sun is hiding!"

The old man waits. Soon, the cloud moves away. The sun appears again! The old man claps his hands. "The sun is back!" he says.

A child walks by and gives the old man an apple. "Thank you," says the old man. He looks at the sky once more. The sun smiles down on him.

The old man is happy. He knows the sun will always return. The moon will come later, but for now, he enjoys the warm light of the sun.

(The story includes 'a' and 'an' for general things and 'the' for unique things like the sun and the moon.)

PROMPT 2

Please turn the above passage into a blank-filling exercise, with all the definite and indefinite articles taken out.

Result 2

The Sun and the Old Man (Fill in the articles: a, an, the)

___ old man lives in ___ small village. He sits under ___ big tree every day. ___ sun shines brightly in ___ sky. ___ old man looks up at ___ sun and smiles.

One day, ___ cloud covers ___ sun. ___ old man frowns. "Where is ___ sun?" he asks. ___ bird flies by and says, "___ sun is hiding!"

___ old man waits. Soon, ___ cloud moves away. ___ sun appears again! ___ old man claps his hands. "___ sun is back!" he says.

___ child walks by and gives ___ old man ___ apple. "Thank you," says ___ old man. He looks at ___ sky once more. ___ sun smiles down on him.

___ old man is happy. He knows ___ sun will always return. ___ moon will come later, but for now, he enjoys ___ warm light of ___ sun.

---

Answer Key:

1. An, a, a
2. The, the, The, the
3. a, the, The, the, A, The
4. The, the, The, The
5. A, the, an, the, the, The
6. The, the, The, the, the

Using Deepseek to generate a dialogue for practising/testing Asking Questions and Negative Sentences in Simple Present

 PROMPT 1: 

Please create a 12-line dialogue between Miss Lee, a teacher, and Colin, Miss Lee's Primary 1 student. In this dialogue, Miss Lee ask Colin about his classmates, Andrew and Nathan. This dialogue is for illustrating to lower primary students how to ask yes/no questions in Simple Present tense. Some of Miss Lee's questions begin with 'Does' (asking about Andrew or Nathan), and the others begin with 'Do' (asking about both Andrew and Nathan). The verbs to use in the questions consist of 'like', 'play', 'go', and 'eat'. In the dialogue, Colin answers Miss Lee's questions with 'Yes, he does', or 'Yes, they do', or 'No, he doesn't', or 'No, they don't'.

Result 1: 

Miss Lee: Colin, does Andrew like apples?
Colin: Yes, he does.

Miss Lee: Do Andrew and Nathan play football?
Colin: No, they don’t.

Miss Lee: Does Nathan go to the library after school?
Colin: No, he doesn’t.

Miss Lee: Do they eat sandwiches for lunch?
Colin: Yes, they do.

Miss Lee: Does Andrew like bananas?
Colin: No, he doesn’t.

Miss Lee: Do they go to the park on weekends?
Colin: Yes, they do.

---

This dialogue clearly demonstrates yes/no questions in Simple Present tense, alternating between "Does" (singular) and "Do" (plural) while using the verbs like, play, go, and eat. The answers also follow the required short responses. Hope this helps! 😊

PROMPT 2

Please expand the above dialogue with two more exchanges between Miss Lee and Colin, using other verbs.

Result 2

Miss Lee: Colin, does Andrew like apples?
Colin: Yes, he does.

Miss Lee: Do Andrew and Nathan play football?
Colin: No, they don’t.

Miss Lee: Does Nathan go to the library after school?
Colin: No, he doesn’t.

Miss Lee: Do they eat sandwiches for lunch?
Colin: Yes, they do.

Miss Lee: Does Andrew like bananas?
Colin: No, he doesn’t.

Miss Lee: Do they go to the park on weekends?
Colin: Yes, they do.

Miss Lee: Does Nathan help his parents at home?
Colin: Yes, he does.

Miss Lee: Do they watch cartoons in the evening?
Colin: No, they don’t.

PROMPT 3

Please turn the above 14-line dialogue into a blank-filling exercise, blanking out the first word of each of Miss Lee's questions, and the last word in each each of Colin's answers.

Result 3

Miss Lee: ______ Andrew like apples?
Colin: Yes, he ______.

Miss Lee: ______ Andrew and Nathan play football?
Colin: No, they ______.

Miss Lee: ______ Nathan go to the library after school?
Colin: No, he ______.

Miss Lee: ______ they eat sandwiches for lunch?
Colin: Yes, they ______.

Miss Lee: ______ Andrew like bananas?
Colin: No, he ______.

Miss Lee: ______ they go to the park on weekends?
Colin: Yes, they ______.

Miss Lee: ______ Nathan help his parents at home?
Colin: Yes, he ______.

Miss Lee: ______ they watch cartoons in the evening?
Colin: No, they ______.

Answer Key:

(Miss Lee’s blanks: Does, Do, Does, Do, Does, Do, Does, Do)
(Colin’s blanks: does, don’t, doesn’t, do, doesn’t, do, does, don’t)

This exercise reinforces:
✔️ Starting yes/no questions with "Do" or "Does"
✔️ Completing short answers with the correct auxiliary verb
Great for grammar practice in lower primary! 😊

Using Deepseek to create a blank-filling quiz/exercise: 5 ROUNDS OF PROMPTING

 PROMPT: 

Please create a passage of not more than 80 words to be read by Primary 1 students. The title of the passage is 'My Best Friends'. There are three paragraphs in the passage. The first passage is about Andrew. The second passage is about Nathan. The third passage is about Andrew and Nathan. The entire passage is in the Simple Present tense. The purpose of the passage is for Primary 1 students to recognise which are verbs-to-be, and which are lexical verbs. Therefore, some of the verbs should be verbs-to-be, while others should be lexical verbs. Some of the main verbs of the sentences, whether verb-to-be or lexical verb, should be in negative form.

RESULT: 

My Best Friends

Andrew is my best friend. He likes to play football. He is not tall, but he runs very fast.

Nathan is also my best friend. He loves to draw. He is not loud, but he talks a lot with me.

Andrew and Nathan are kind. They help me with my work. They are not selfish, and we laugh together every day.

(80 words)

Verbs-to-be: is, are (including negatives)
Lexical verbs: likes, runs, loves, talks, help, laugh

PROMPT 2: 

Please lengthen the passage with 30 more words. Also, please put some lexical verbs in the negative.

RESULT 2: 

My Best Friends

Andrew is my best friend. He likes to play football. He is not tall, but he runs very fast. He does not like vegetables, but he eats fruits every day.

Nathan is also my best friend. He loves to draw. He is not loud, but he talks a lot with me. He does not run fast, but he draws beautiful pictures.

Andrew and Nathan are kind. They help me with my work. They are not selfish, and we laugh together every day. We do not fight, and we always share our toys.

(110 words)

Verbs-to-be: is, are (including negatives)
Lexical verbs: likes, runs, does not like, eats, loves, talks, does not run, draws, help, laugh, do not fight, share

PROMPT 3

Please now turn the passage into a blank-filling exercise. Put the base form of the verb in bracket. If it is in the negative form, put 'not' before the base form of the verb.

RESULT 3: 

My Best Friends (Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verbs in brackets.)

Andrew ___(be) my best friend. He ___(like) to play football. He ___(be not) tall, but he ___(run) very fast. He ___(not like) vegetables, but he ___(eat) fruits every day.

Nathan ___(be) also my best friend. He ___(love) to draw. He ___(be not) loud, but he ___(talk) a lot with me. He ___(not run) fast, but he ___(draw) beautiful pictures.

Andrew and Nathan ___(be) kind. They ___(help) me with my work. They ___(be not) selfish, and we ___(laugh) together every day. We ___(not fight), and we always ___(share) our toys.

Answer Key:

1. is
2. likes
3. is not
4. runs
5. does not like
6. eats
7. is
8. loves
9. is not
10. talks
11. does not run
12. draws
13. are
14. help
15. are not
16. laugh
17. do not fight
18. share

PROMPT 4

Create a similar exercise. This time, the title is 'My two cousins'. One of them is called Fay Fay. The other cousin is called Long Long.

RESULT 4

My Two Cousins (Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verbs in brackets.)

Fay Fay ___(be) my cousin. She ___(be) eight years old. She ___(love) to sing but she ___(not dance) well. Every day, she ___(practise) her songs. She ___(be not) shy on stage.

Long Long ___(be) my other cousin. He ___(be) seven years old. He ___(enjoy) swimming but he ___(not like) running. He ___(go) to the pool every weekend. He ___(be not) afraid of water.

Fay Fay and Long Long ___(be) funny. They ___(make) me laugh. They ___(not argue) often. We always ___(play) together during holidays.

Answer Key:

1. is
2. is
3. loves
4. does not dance
5. practises
6. is not
7. is
8. is
9. enjoys
10. does not like
11. goes
12. is not
13. are
14. make
15. do not argue
16. play

PROMPT 5:

Please re-write the above passage, changing the gender of Fay Fay to Male.

RESULT 5

My Two Cousins (Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verbs in brackets.)

Fay Fay ___(be) my cousin. He ___(be) eight years old. He ___(love) to sing but he ___(not dance) well. Every day, he ___(practise) his songs. He ___(be not) shy on stage.

Long Long ___(be) my other cousin. He ___(be) seven years old. He ___(enjoy) swimming but he ___(not like) running. He ___(go) to the pool every weekend. He ___(be not) afraid of water.

Fay Fay and Long Long ___(be) funny. They ___(make) me laugh. They ___(not argue) often. We always ___(play) together during holidays.

Answer Key:

1. is
2. is
3. loves
4. does not dance
5. practises
6. is not
7. is
8. is
9. enjoys
10. does not like
11. goes
12. is not
13. are
14. make
15. do not argue
16. play

Printing out a PDF worksheet from an interactive game: Bookwidgets vs Quizizz vs Kahoot

 Sometimes, it may be helpful to print out a PDF worksheet from an interactive game created, e.g., as follow-up homework (eg, Blank- filling; Short answers)

Quizizz has that built-in download (as PDF) function. 

Bookwidgets and Kahoot do not have that built-in function, but when right-clicked to PRINT, they can also produce a PDF printable version. 

All 3 apps are doing a good job in terms of enabling an interactive game to be printed as PDF (unlike Blackboard which does not allow for that.)

Google's AI overview function: Disappointing

 6天前，發現Chrome 的browser 加入了AI overview功能，為Google 高興，因只須在address bar打入問題，便立刻得到答案，連POE 也不用開啟。

但幾天下來，卻頗失望，因為答案的質素太令人不滿意了。

A good image splitter app - Imagy.app

 I've tried a few such apps. So far this turns out to be the best 

IMAGY.APP

https://imagy.app/split-image/

Elmo Chat can work with Youtube videos with Chinese voiceovers

 有用的video,會先用AI app summarise 內容，看看是否真的有用，或那一段有用。我最常用的是Elmo Chat，喜歡它的summary包括overall summary， 逐段的summary，還附有summary的mindmap。

那天忽然想到，如果video的旁述是中文，Elmo Chat 能否照樣summarise ，於是我用夏Sir的Youtube video "POE 全方位課堂設計及執行 - AI 如何 redefine 教學關鍵"試試，竟然照樣完成任務，雖然結果仍然是英文。今天的AI app 真厲害，往往語言隔閡也難不到它們。

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdVOn1sOxUM

Using Deepseek to generate a poem which consists of couplets

 MY PROMPT: 

Please write a poem to be read by lower primary students. The theme of the poem is about animals. The poem has 3 stanzas. Each stanza has 4 lines. The first 2 lines, and then the next 2 lines, of each stanza, form a couplet. Please provide a title, and the name of the poet, for the poem. 

RESULT: 

Title: "Funny Little Friends"
By: L. M. Bright

Stanza 1:
A fluffy cat with eyes so bright,
Purrs all day and sleeps at night.
A hopping frog goes splash, splash, splash,
In the pond with one big dash!

Stanza 2:
A tiny ant works hard all day,
Carrying crumbs along the way.
A playful pup with wagging tail,
Chases leaves without a fail!

Stanza 3:
A spotted cow says moo, moo, moo,
Giving milk so fresh and new.
A buzzing bee flies round the tree,
Dancing soft as summer’s breeze!

+++

I then went to EDUADIDE, and used the 'Practice > Word Recognition Worksheet' function to generate a blank-filling exercise, but the result is not good. 

++++++++

I then went back to Deepseek, and asked it to turn the poem into a blank filling exercise: 

MY PROMPT: 

Please turn the above poem into a blank filling exercise for students to practise recognising the rhyming words in a couplet. Blank out the last word in every other line. Put all the blanked-out words in a word bank.

RESULT: 

tanza 1:
A fluffy cat with eyes so ____,
Purrs all day and sleeps at ____.
A hopping frog goes splash, splash, ____,
In the pond with one big ____!

Stanza 2:
A tiny ant works hard all ____,
Carrying crumbs along the ____.
A playful pup with wagging ____,
Chases leaves without a ____!

Stanza 3:
A spotted cow says moo, moo, ____,
Giving milk so fresh and ____.
A buzzing bee flies round the ____,
Dancing soft as summer’s ____!

WORD BANK: the 12 words

++++++++

This does not exactly serve the purpose of recognising the rhyming word in a couplet, and is too difficult for P1 students. I then asked Deepseek to revise as follows: 

PROMPT: 

Please revise the above exercise by showing the first line of each couplet in full, i.e., do not blank out the last word of each first line in a couplet.

RESULT

Title: "Funny Little Friends" – Rhyming Words Exercise
By: L. M. Bright

Word Bank:
night, dash, way, fail, new, breeze

---

Stanza 1:
A fluffy cat with eyes so bright,
Purrs all day and sleeps at ____.
A hopping frog goes splash, splash, splash,
In the pond with one big ____!

Stanza 2:
A tiny ant works hard all day,
Carrying crumbs along the ____.
A playful pup with wagging tail,
Chases leaves without a ____!

Stanza 3:
A spotted cow says moo, moo, moo,
Giving milk so fresh and ____.
A buzzing bee flies round the tree,
Dancing soft as summer’s ____!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

WHICH IS WHAT I NEED! BRAVO. 

Using Eduaide's PRACTICE > WORD RECOGNITION WORKSHEET function to create a Blank-filling exercise

 Under the above function tab, I chose 'Document', and then uploaded a WORD file which contained the following text: 

The Football Game

By Alex Joy

The boys run fast across the grass,

Their kicking feet go zoom and swoosh!

The ball flies high—oh, what a crash!

They cheer and shout, "Come on, let’s push!"

 

One boy dribbles, quick and neat,

His shoes go tap-tap down the lane.

A teammate passes—what a feat!

They try so hard to score again.

 

The final whistle blows—tweet-tweet!

Their faces glow with happy grins.

Though tired and out of breath and beat,

They laugh and say, "Let’s play again!"

Then I clicked 'Generate'

RESULT: 

Fill in the Blank Worksheet: The Football Game

Instructions: Read the poem below and fill in the blanks with the correct words.

---

The boys run fast across the ______,
Their kicking feet go ______ and swoosh!
The ball flies high—oh, what a ______!
They cheer and shout, "Come on, let’s ______!"

One boy dribbles, quick and ______,
His shoes go ______-tap down the lane.
A teammate ______—what a feat!
They try so hard to score ______.

The final whistle blows—-!
Their faces glow with happy ______.
Though tired and out of breath and ______,
They laugh and say, "Let’s play ______!"

---

Word Bank:

• grass
• zoom
• crash
• push
• neat
• tap
• passes
• again
• tweet
• grins
• beat
• again

Using Deepseek to generate a poem from a given topic

 MY PROMPT: 

Please write a three-stanza poem about some boys playing football in the playground. Include the poet's name. The poem is to be read by junior primary children. 

RESULT: 

The Football Game
By Alex Joy

The boys run fast across the grass,
Their kicking feet go zoom and swoosh!
The ball flies high—oh, what a crash!
They cheer and shout, "Come on, let’s push!"

One boy dribbles, quick and neat,
His shoes go tap-tap down the lane.
A teammate passes—what a feat!
They try so hard to score again.

The final whistle blows—tweet-tweet!
Their faces glow with happy grins.
Though tired and out of breath and beat,
They laugh and say, "Let’s play again!"

Using Deepseek to generate a poem with homophones

 MY PROMPT:

Please write a two-stanza poem for Junior Primary students to practise choosing the correct homophone. Each stanza should have 6 lines. Each line consists of one part which asks students to choose the correct homophone. Here is one example sentence: 'I do not (no/know)'. 

RESULT: 

Homophone Fun!

I do not (no/know) the way,
But (here/hear) is what I say:
Please (write/right) your name so neat,
And (wear/where) shoes on your feet!
The (sun/son) shines bright and hot,
Can you (see/sea) the boat a lot?

The (blue/blew) kite’s in the sky,
(Their/There) it goes, oh so high!
Don’t (break/brake) the toy with care,
Just (pair/pear) them right there!
The (flower/flour) smells so sweet,
Now you’ve (one/won) this homophone feat!

Trying Eduaide to create a quiz on homophones

TOPIC I input: 

homophones

Word pairs used: son vs sun; meat vs meet; ant vs aunt; pair vs pear; flour vs flower; ate vs eight; mail vs mail; hare vs hair

ENHANCED VERSION BY THE APP: 

Students will explore and identify homophones by matching word pairs such as son vs sun, meat vs meet, ant vs aunt, pair vs pear, flour vs flower, ate vs eight, and hare vs hair, while understanding their meanings through engaging activities.

RESULT

Word Pairs

• son / sun
• meat / meet
• ant / aunt
• pair / pear
• flour / flower
• ate / eight
• hare / hair

---

1. The little boy wanted to play with his ______ (son/sun) in the park.

2. I will ______ (meat/meet) my friend at the playground.

3. The ______ (ant/aunt) brought cookies for everyone.

4. I have a ______ (pair/pear) of shoes to wear to the party.

5. I need ______ (flour/flower) to bake a cake.

6. I ______ (ate/eight) my lunch before going outside.

7. The ______ (hare/hair) jumped quickly across the field.

PROBLEM

It doesn't provide the answer key. 

An overview of Eduaide.ai for generating teaching resources

 Just revisited Eduaide.ai, and created the following Explainer Page to show its organisation. 

https://workflowy.com/s/introduction-to-edua/XRXTD0Gfu4nQIWCV

Overall, it can create over 100 kinds of teaching resources. It will take a while to test-drive these functions to see how useful they are. 

On the surface, its strength lies in its large variety of resources that can be created. In this regard, Diffit's functionality is limited. 

Meanwhile, one defect is that if you wish to generate a quiz containing blank-filling questions, it always gives you 3 questions only. You cannot ask for more. 

Using Deepseek to generate a P1 blank filling quiz on Prepositions of time

 PROMPT: 

please create a 20-item quiz to assess grade 1 students' ability to use the three prepositions of time: in, on, at. The 20 questions should be blank-filling questions. The aim is to see whether students can use the correct preposition before a certain time phrase. These time phrases include: 

in a certain year

on a certain day of the WEEK

on a certain date

at NIGHT

at NOON

in THE AFTERNOON

in the MORNING

in THE EVENING

in a certain MONTH

in a certain season

==========================================

RESULT: 

Fill in the blank with the correct preposition (in, on, or at).

1. I was born ___ 2020.
2. We have school ___ Monday.
3. My birthday is ___ October.
4. We eat lunch ___ noon.
5. The stars shine ___ night.
6. We play outside ___ the afternoon.
7. Christmas is ___ December 25.
8. We sleep ___ night.
9. School starts ___ the morning.
10. We go to the park ___ Sunday.
11. It snows ___ winter.
12. I wake up ___ 7:00 AM.
13. We have a picnic ___ Saturday.
14. Flowers bloom ___ spring.
15. I brush my teeth ___ the evening.
16. The sun is bright ___ noon.
17. My vacation is ___ July.
18. We watch TV ___ the evening.
19. Halloween is ___ October 31.
20. We eat breakfast ___ the morning.

---

Answer Key:

1. in
2. on
3. in
4. at
5. at
6. in
7. on
8. at
9. in
10. on
11. in
12. at
13. on
14. in
15. in
16. at
17. in
18. in
19. on
20. in

Another try in using a Chatbot to generate blank-filling questions

 Chatbot used: Deepseek

Prompt: 

please create a 15-item quiz to assess grade 1 students' ability to use the possessive apostrophe correctly. The 15 questions should be blank-filling questions. The aim is to see whether students can distinguish between apostrophe-s, such as the boy's, and the girl's, and s-apostrophe, such as the boys', the girls'. The nouns used should contain some irregular plural forms such as child-children, and person-people. The nouns used for the questions should also contain some y-ending nouns which will become -ies in the plural form. 

Result: 

Directions: Fill in the blanks with the correct possessive form (’s or s’).

1. The _____ (boy) hat is blue.
2. The _____ (girl) doll is pretty.
3. The _____ (children) toys are on the floor.
4. The _____ (teacher) book is on the desk.
5. The _____ (baby) bottle is full.
6. The _____ (dogs) leashes are in the car.
7. The _____ (lady) purse is black.
8. The _____ (people) voices are loud.
9. The _____ (cat) tail is fluffy.
10. The _____ (puppies) bowls are empty.
11. The _____ (bird) nest is in the tree.
12. The _____ (men) shoes are by the door.
13. The _____ (lady) keys are missing.
14. The _____ (fox) den is hidden.
15. The _____ (bunnies) ears are long.

Answer Key:

1. boy’s
2. girl’s
3. children’s
4. teacher’s
5. baby’s
6. dogs’
7. lady’s
8. people’s
9. cat’s
10. puppies’
11. bird’s
12. men’s
13. lady’s
14. fox’s
15. bunnies’

This quiz covers a mix of regular, irregular, and y-ending nouns to assess students' understanding of possessive apostrophes. Let me know if you'd like any modifications!

https://poe.com/s/Mfsw3jqSAasVyCEfyTmr

The 3 follow-up questions provided: 

Teaching Performance vs The Banding of the School

 昨天在一所低banding 中學觀課，又一次看見PGDE學員（在職教師)超卓的表現。

從我多年觀課的經驗(到今天我觀過的英文課已超過2000堂)，這些出色的表現反而在banding 高的學校觀課時不常看到；當然前提時學校雖然banding 不高，但老師有心，學生teachable 。

One formatting problem with AppFlowy when doing copy and paste

 As a totally free app which resembles Notion, AppFlowy is commendable. But it has one drawback: 

When a text extract written in different levels (indentations; numbering; etc.) is copied and pasted into a WORD document, the formatting will be lost. You only get one long bulletpoints of the same level. 

Notion, and in fact also Workflowy, does not have this defect. 

其實我可以詐聽不到

 今天到這所banding 不高的中學觀課，抵達時正值學生lunch hour完畢回到學校；我進入校門時旁邊約中三的學生不停用粗口和他的同學交談；我拍拍他的手臂，請他不要在校內講粗口，他轉身看見我的衣著和年紀，立即說sorry。

作為visitor, 其實我可以詐聽不到，但我亦希望借此機會警醒他，要講粗口也要留意環境。例如如果他以後在學校附近的食肆午膳時，不再肆無忌憚的講粗口，那麼我先前的警醒也沒有白癈。

https://tools.pdf24.org/zh/ still the best app for working with PDF files

 But having tried several apps today, I think https://tools.pdf24.org/zh/ is still the best choice for occasional dealings with PDF files. 

It's absolutely free. (Many other apps are free only to a certain extent.)

Plus, there is also a desktop app. 

Excellent for occasional use. 

Use https://www.onlineocr.net/ for converting PDF to DOCX

 https://www.onlineocr.net/

When it comes to converting a PDF file to a WORD file, all the apps I have tried require joining the paid plan. 

This one is totally free, and the result is good. NOTE THOUGH, THAT YOU CAN ONLY CONVERT 5 PDFs within the same one hour. And there is a limit to the length of the PDF file that you can convert. 

Brisk Teaching vs Co-grader for giving feedback on students' essays

 Brisk Teaching: https://www.briskteaching.com/zh

Co-grader: https://cograder.com/ai-essay-grader

Tried the above 2 AI tools for responding to students' essays. 

SAME FEATURES: 

- Both allow for uploading a rubric which will be used for providing feedback. 

- Both provide feedback on students' essays. 

DIFFERENCES

- Brisk works as a Chrome extension. Hence, it only works with essays which are opened in the Chrome browser as Google docs. 

- Co-grader is a website. You have to upload students' essays (in WORD) to the website first for it to work on. 

- Brisk is actually a comprehension platform which can do a few other things. 

- Co-grader focuses on Grading Essays. 

- Besides providing feedback, Co-grader can also give a score for each criterion in the rubric uploaded. 

MY EXPERIENCE WITH CO-GRADER SO FAR. 

- Co-grader allows users to set a few parameters (eg, lenient vs strict in scoring). 

- The feedback comments that correspond to each criterion in the rubric uploaded are not bad in quality. 

- As for the scoring, it always sits on the fence with grades, e.g., A-/B+. It also gives a numerical overall score, but the scores for the essays are the same few scores, i.e., they don't accurately distinguish between different essays in numerical scores. 

- The greates problem is that, to me, the scores are not reliable enough, so that during my trial, I had to resort to my own decisions all the time. 

If students live with encouragement

 觀課開始，我坐在課室後排，兩分鐘後，有一女生敲門進入，這本來也很常見，但這女生步入班房後，卻直走到我身邊，用英語向我說話，我沒心理準備，但聽得出她大概的意思是道歉遲回課室(她知道會有大學導師觀課)，因先前見學校社工而遲回，以這間banding 不高的學校，這中三學生的英文已經說得很不錯了，但我因沒有心理準備，所以她道歉後我沒有特別表示。

下課離開課室時，我走到她的身邊，向她說：Your spoken English is quite good, 她聽後表情很詫異，隨即說：Really? 我加一句：Yes, your spoken English is quite fluent, 她露出半絲微笑，但看上去仍好像不相信。

離開學校後，我一直想，為何我稱讚她時她那麼詫異，這是一所banding不高的學校，莫非長久以來都沒有人肯定過她的spoken English? 今天我的一句稱讚，會否重建了她學英文的信心，重此加倍努力，成為出色的English speaker？ 又或者她因此覺得自己是一個有潛質的學生，發憤讀書，以致我今天的一句肯定成為她學習生涯的轉捩點？......

但，亦有可能，是我想多了。

AI-Generating Songs for English Language Teaching

 知道AI 可以生成歌曲，但直至大前天觀課，才親眼目睹它在英語教室內的效用。

這是中二班，學員教的是question tag, 對中二学生來說這不是全新的grammar item, 學員預先用tag question 寫了幾句和該班有關的句子作為歌詞，輸入Mureka，生成一首兩分鐘的歌曲。

上課初段，學員播放這首歌去revisit tag question，效果很好，有音樂，歌詞和該班有關，又可lead in to該課的target grammar item。

我突然想起這AI 技術在英語課有很大的使用空間啊；聽歌學英文，本來就是英文教學的策略之一，只是以前要找到歌詞配合教學目的之歌曲，並不容易。

回家後，我用學員推介的另一個AI app Suno, 輸入Dorothy L. Nolte 所作 的詩歌Children Learn What They Live的頭8句作為歌詞，不用半分鐘Suno 便產出兩首歌的版本，長度不同，旋律亦有分別，以下是其中短的版本。

https://suno.com/s/QwMuD6XzkSbdwKn8 

旋律當然不會很優美，但勝在可以根據自己的需要輸入歌詞。(當然也可以用prompt 。)

隨後學員傳給我她其中兩位學生的製作，学生用tag question 寫出和該班有關的句子，然後用Suno generate歌曲；對學生來說這是很有趣和很有意思的grammar exercise 喔！

Cograder AI for grading essays: It gives you scores and comments

 Just tried Free AI Essay Grader for Teachers. Results look promising. 

https://cograder.com/ai-essay-grader

You can: 

1. input your assignment instructions; 

2. upload your own scoring rubric, which will be converted to the system's rubric that it will use for scoring and giving feedback; 

3. upload a student's essay (docx; pdf); 

4. adjust the scoring parameters (eg, lenient vs strict)

5. adjust the length of the feedback (concise vs detailed)

6. adjust the students' level (elementary school - college)

It will then give you: 

a. A total score.

b. the Score for each criterion in the rubric.

c. Comments that correspond with the rubric criteria. 

Tutorial Video: https://youtu.be/zxF4WOThOwY

++++++++++++

Essay Grader: https://www.essaygrader.ai/

seems to be able to do something similar, but its free plan doesn't allow you to grade an essay of over 1000 words. 

Perplexity: Finding answers to previous searches

 To dig out a previous search in Perplexity: 

1. Open 'Home' on the left-hand pane. 

2. Click on 'History'. All the previous enquiries can be found there. (assuming previous searches done after log-in)

Another example that highlights the importance of teacher language awareness

 Which question tag is 'correct'? 

(A) He has a lot of friends, hasn't he? 

(B) He has a lot of friends, doesn't he? 

Being an old-fashioned guy, I've been saying (A) for years. But in a recent lesson observation, the teacher said (A) was wrong. Have I been saying it wrong all these years? 

So after the visit, I looked up the issue on the Internet. In the language discussion forums, as usual, there are self-professed authorities who cite grammar rules to prove why (A) is 'wrong': "'Has' is a lexical verb, not an auxiliary verb, in the sentence; hence the correct verb in the tag is 'doesn't'. 

Luckily, there are also folks who point out that both are fine. 

Then, out of curiosity, I turned to ChatGPT. And, like my previous ChatGPT experience, it gave me a traditional, didactic, answer, like the one meted out by the language experts in the online discussion forums. 

Hence, my two cents for language teachers: 

1. When it comes to investigating the 'correctness' of a grammar item, don't trust ChatGPT. 

2. There are many instances of real-life language use which do not abide by grammar rules. Think of grammar rules as attempts to deduce general patterns about the language only, as there WILL be many instances which do not comply with the 'rules'. Hence, teacher language awareness is important. 

Finally, if you're about to teach '-ed adjectives' vs '-ing adjectives' ('I feel bored' because 'Paul is boring'), how would you deal with the expression "I feel amazing!"? 

BRISK TEACHING: An AI platform for teachers with many functions

 https://www.briskteaching.com/zh

Just had a quick look at this platform. It can do many things, esp under 'Create', one of the 5 main functions of the platform: 

There are dozens of things under 'Create': 

Tried 'Presentation'. As usual, this function is not very useful: it just gives you a list of bullet points. 

======

It might take a bit of time to learn how the various functions work, and whether they are useful. 

But the 'Give Feedback' function looks interesting: Can it do the job of giving Ss feedback on their assignment? 

============

Two more things to note so far: 

1. Brisk Teaching works as a Chrome extension. 

2. As such, it (only) works with webpages (including Google Docs). 

是我想多了?

 觀課開始，我坐在課室後排，兩分鐘後，有一女生敲門進入，這本來也很常見，但這女生步入班房後，卻直走到我身邊，用英語向我說話，我沒心理準備，但聽得出她大概的意思是道歉遲回課室，因先前見學校社工，以這間banding 不高的學校，這中三學生的英文已經說得很不錯了，但我因沒有心理準備，所以她道歉後我沒有特別表示。

下課離開課室時，我走到她的身邊，向她說：Your spoken English is quite good, 她聽後表情很詫異，隨即說：Really? 我加一句：Yes, your spoken English is quite fluent, 她露出半絲微笑，但看上去仍好像不相信。

離開學校後，我一直想，為何我稱讚她時她那麼詫異，這是一所banding不高的學校，莫非長久以來都沒有人肯定過她的spoken English? 今天我的一句稱讚，會否重建了她學英文的信心，重此加倍努力，成為出色的English speaker？ 又或者她因此覺得自己是一個有潛質的學生，發憤讀書，以致我今天的一句肯定成為她學習生涯的轉捩點？......

但，亦有可能，是我想多了。

My experience with Starquiz so far

Just tried Starquiz, an AI tool for generating reading comprehension question sets from a passage. There are several other similar tools (e.g., Conker.ai; Quillions, Diffit) but this one also functions like a learning management system. You can create a class, then upload a reading passage for it to generate a reading comprehension question set, and then assign it to students using a URL. When students have answered the quiz (they need to sign up as a student first), you can see their scores.

Other features:

- Each question set can contain 3 types of questions.

- The question set can correspond with one level of Bloom's Taxonomy.

- You can even audio-record your (live) lesson and then let it generate a question set from it to use towards the end of the lesson.

The LMS feature reminds me of Formative, but Formative does not have AI functionality yet. (And Formative's free plan is quite mean.)

The best part is that the platform says it will remain forever free for individual teachers.

Will use this in the new semester in September a couple of times to see if the LMS part will also give me the total scores of the students. (Postscript: To me, the university's LMS, namely Blackboard, is so disappointing!)

A uniquely rewarding teaching experience

 

Starquiz for AI-generating reading comprehension questions and as LMS

 Just tried Starquiz for generating a question set from an uploaded text

https://www.starquiz.ai/tr/home

Features: 

1. Can create Class. In this regard, it functions like an LMS as well.

2. Three types of questions to choose from (Can include 1-3 types of questions within one AI-generating.

3. Can specify the target Bloom Taxonomy level. 

4. Each question appears as a new page on Students' Screen. 

4. Resulting question set can be: 

a. exported as PDF

b. admininstered from the website via a Link. (Ss need to sign up as Student first.)

+++

So far, the platform claims that it is forever free for teachers. 

Worth trying. 

Switching from Teacher-Paced to Student-Paced during a Quizizz Lesson

 Just tried that, and this is possible. 

Implications: Can start a Quizizz Lesson teacher-paced, then switch to Student-paced towards end of the Lesson for the Exit Quiz. 

This saves the trouble of assigning Exit Quizzes through Blackboard, which does not provide a student's total score for all quizzes.

TO DO IN SEPT 2025: 

1. Ss create a Student Account. 

2. Create a Class and share the class code with Ss. Ss join the class. 

3. When starting a Q Lsn with one class, ask them to sign in. 

4. Start the Q Lsn. Ss still join in with Lesson Code. 

5. Start in teacher-paced mode. When reaching the last part (exit quiz), switch to Student-paced. 

6. End the lesson in due course. 

Links in PPTs in Google Drive will work in Quizizz Lesson

 Just tried that. The links in a PPT uploaded to Google Drive, when imported into a Quizizz Lesson, will still work. 

But that's not the case if it is the PDF version of the PPT which is being imported into a Quizizz Lesson.