Using AI in the language classroom

Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing business, medicine and healthcare, but what can it do for your language classroom?

There are many benefits to using artificial intelligence in an ancient language classroom. While it is easy to get carried away with the hype and think of all the cool things we can do with AI, some significant pedagogical benefits need to be considered first.

Don’t forget to read til the end for a freebie 🙂

Low-risk, high-reward assignments

As a Latin teacher, one of the most rewarding experiences was watching my students grow as thinkers. Over a semester, I saw students start out feeling unsure of themselves, but by the end, they were confident and proud of their work.

My students grew as language learners by working on Latin creative composition projects. These projects allowed students to practice their writing skills in a low-stakes, fun environment.

Students could experiment with different genres and styles and receive feedback from me before they turn in their final drafts. I have found that Latin composition projects are an excellent way to help students develop as writers. If you are looking for a way to help your students improve their reasoning and grammar skills, I highly recommend giving them a try.

Backward design framework

For all of my lesson planning, I used backward design as a framework. Backward design is a type of goal-oriented curriculum design that says that when you identify the learning goals, or desired results first, it’s way easier to create activities and assessments that reach those goals.

When you know the instructional goals, it is easier to develop activities and assessments.

I implemented this design process by questioning my desired goals: is this information worth being familiar with, is it important to know and do, and will it have an enduring understanding?

Creative Translations

In the best Classics courses I took in undergrad, there was a creative translation project. They ranged in structure from giving a specific passage to translate, to complete free-rein, ‘whatever you want – go crazy kid.’

While the free-rein might work for advanced language students, giving some more structure to the project can significantly improve the confidence level of introductory or intermediate students.

So what are the goals that warranted assigning a creative translation?

Setting up goals for translation, and having a clear creative vision
Using grammar, vocabulary, and diction to achieve their translation goals
Encourage students to take risks they normally wouldn’t
Develop skill in defending why they took those risks
Continue to develop an engaging classroom community and nurture relationships with my students

Translation, ultimately, (and whether you agree with it as a pedagogical practice or not,) holds a large space in the ancient language classroom.

And while many high-school curricula ignore teaching translation as a skill entirely, I believe that there should be focus in studying it rigorously as a skill you can develop, and not just as an assessment tool.

A translator’s role is not just to translate words but also to provide new insights into their meaning and cultural context. A good translator will be able to see connections between two texts that go beyond the mere identities of words or phrases; they will be able to see how these texts interact, how they relate to each other and how one text informs another one in some way or another.

Okay, cool, so creative translation is great for students – what does that have to do with AI?

Chill out, I’m getting to it!

The past couple of weeks, I have been using AI for a variety of purposes. It has forced me to think deeply, and engage critically with past scholarship.

For example, in the first iteration of the series, I wrote about using AI to simulate the process of oral composition. I had to engage with Homeric scholarship in order to explain why I made the choice to use AI in the first place. I even had to talk to scholars outside of the field, to receive guidance on the project. Effectively, I defended my translation choices.

I defended my rationale for using AI as a translation medium, but educators can specify AI as the medium, and ask students to defend some other aspect of their translation choices.

For example, even though I explained my choice of using AI for the Iliad, or to repair Sappho fragments, I didn’t explain why I chose Phoebe Bridgers for the Iliad, or Lizzo for Sappho.

Google translate

Popular exercises for introductory ancient language students is to provide them with a Google Translate text, then ask them to point out where Google Translate got it wrong, and how they might improve it.

Breaking down the creative translation assignment by skill level

Subscribe to the newsletter to receive a FREE sample AI project-based learning design.

Introductory

since intro students are less experienced with language syntax, you’ll want to provide more structure for the assignment
assign them a set text to work on. This could be from a textbook or anywhere else, as long as it matches their grammar skill level and vocabulary
for intro students, you can use this more as a community-building, ice-breaker, or relationship-building activity
have them use the AI to write a specific text in the style of something else.
these students might not be skilled enough to go from [ancient language] to English to [AI target style in English], so you can provide them with a pre-translated text or have them work on translating in groups, as a class, etc.
assign a reflection portion, asking students to defend their translation. They can explain stylistic features of [target style] and how their end product showcases those stylistic features

Intermediate

intermediate students have some experience with syntax, a more extensive vocabulary, and (hopefully) some more cultural context than intro students.
if your students have already begun reading canonical texts (i.e., not from a textbook,) you can give a set of options to use in the AI interface
this assignment is building off of the skills of the intro version. So if your students’ grasp of syntax is more advanced, you ask them to go from [ancient language] to [English] to [AI target style]
intermediate is the perfect place to start cross-collaborating with other classes/disciplines. You can ask them to translate in the style of something they are reading in their English classes (if they’re at the secondary school level) or any other central text that you know that students have been exposed to.
assign a reflection portion asking students to evaluate how the AI translation differed from their initial translation. Other reflection questions might include talking about different literary devices that the translation and [target style] both use

Advanced

have advanced students choose their own text to work with. If you’re teaching a college-level or AP course, you can ask them to work within the corpus of a specific author (i.e., Vergil,) a specific text (i.e., the Aeneid,) or even a specific genre (i.e., Roman epic poetry.)
students should have the language experience to start at [ancient language] and translate to English then [AI target style in English]
students should also have the comprehension and analytic skills to choose their own target style.
having students choose their target style, whether it is a music artist, a work of literature, or even an art style, can serve as a relationship-building exercise
the reflection piece for advanced students can combine all the above skills and add one more. advanced students should be able to defend their choice of [target style] and text. were there noticeable similarities in subject matter, or in diction between the two? or were the two so different that it would be challenging to achieve some sort of synchronicity between the two?

How to use OpenAI

Insert

For an example of using the insert function, check out my Sappho article.

On the right side of the website, change the mode to ‘Insert (beta)’
Give the interface some text to work with. If you want to work with a specific translation, copy and paste it into the box. Remember that you can only use one [insert] variable at a time.
Press submit and share what the bot comes up with!

Complete

For an example of using the complete function, check out my Iliad article.

Write an instruction for the bot to follow. You’ll have to mess around with the phrasing, and a lot like translation, this will take interpretation on your end.
Give the interface some text to work with. If you want to work with a specific translation, copy and paste it into the box.
Press submit and share what the bot comes up with!

If you liked this post, check out my other posts, and subscribe to my newsletter! I’ve created a sample assignment for you, completely free!