Combat AI Overuse with Wordwall: Quick and Engaging Warm-Up Activities

Set-ups

Step 1: 

Go to the website: Wordwall.net. Click on “Sign up to start creating” to create an account. (Image 1)

Step 2: 

Step 2: Once logged in, click “Create Activity” in the top navigation bar. (Image 2)

Step 3: 

Pick a template for your activity from the list, or you may type in the search box above to search for the template you want. (Image 3)

Procedure

As I have created a variety of warm-up activities using Wordwall, I’m going to share two activities that worked well in class below, most of which are group work or require the attention of the whole class, so students do not have time to use AI to look for answers.

 Activity 1: Warm-up activity for biodiversity: Guess the animal (Image 4)

1. Create the activity using “image quiz” template.
2. Search for the images of animals you want students to guess. The website will provide you with different images for you to choose from, so you don’t need to search and download from other websites. Make sure the animals in the quiz are related to the upcoming listening or reading materials to help review or pre-teach the vocabulary.
3. Separate students into different groups. Give each group a bell for answering the questions.
4. Display the game on the projector and start the game with the whole class. (Image 4)
5. The image will be revealed slowly. Each group needs to ring the bell when they have the answer. (Image 5)
6. When one group rings the bell, teacher should stop the flashing red light on the screen and require students to shout out the answer immediately within 5 seconds (for advanced students). If the answer is correct, the group will get 1 point. If the answer is wrong, 0 points. However, the template provides two pre-set options after the red light is stopped. So for lower-level students, teachers can simply wait for the options to show up and ask students to choose a correct answer from the pair. (Image 6)

Reflection on Activity 1

Students were really excited about this image quiz. Everyone was fully engaged and eager to guess the animal. Because I taught advanced students, I did not give them time to think after ringing the bell, leaving them no time to check their phone and look for answers. All they could rely on was their memory and vocabulary range.

Activity 2: Warm-up activity for Entrepreneurs: Guess who? (Image 7)

1. Create the activity using “open the box” template.
2. Search for the images of entrepreneurs both at home and abroad.
3. Ask students to work in pairs. Assign different roles in a pair, explainer and guesser. The explainer can see the slide, while the guesser needs to cover his/her eyes or face the wall. After 5 boxes, swap their roles.
4. Display the game on the projector and start the game with the whole class.
5. Tap one box to reveal the first entrepreneur. The explainers need to try their best to introduce this person without mentioning their name. You may upgrade the difficulty level with advanced students by requiring them to give 3-5 clues from general to specific. For example, for Jun Lei, the explanation could be: “1. He is a Chinese businessman. 2. His company produces a wide range of products. 3. His video went viral online.”
6. Give students around 2 minutes for each guessing. Monitor for early finishers and nominate them for giving the clues to the whole class. It can be a great opportunity to lighten the atmosphere as students are really creative.

Reflection on Activity 2

Making sure most students know all the entrepreneurs is important. You might want to do a little survey by asking your former students. During the game, they probably will use AI to read the profile, however, as the time is limited, reading AI’s answer often leads to failure for the length of text and complexity of vocabulary. Students may have to rely on their own knowledge and expressions eventually to play the game.

Summary

To combat students’ overuse of AI in class, the warm-up activities may have the following features:

• Time pressure
• Collaboration (peer pressure)
• Open-ended creativity

Caveats and Alternatives

1. Slow internet connection: It could take several minutes to load the pages.
Solution: Open the activity page before class begins.

2. Difficulty in monitoring: Students may work at a different pace. Some students may finish the task earlier (like the “guess who” activity)
Solution: Teachers should monitor closely and give extra tasks to early finishers or offer help to struggling students.

Additional Information

Links to the two activities above:

Guess the animal: https://wordwall.net/resource/89416108

Guess who: https://wordwall.net/resource/89782848