Set-ups

It offers a web-based version requiring no installation. The tool is accessible in Mainland China.

Procedure

Step 1: 

Go to formative.com and click “Sign Up”. (Image 1)

Step 2: 

After signing up for an account, type in your email and password in the designated fields. Then click the blue “Log In” button. (Image 2)

Step 3: 

Click “Create” on the top right of the main page and choose “Formative”. (Image 3)

Step 4: 

Click “Add a question or content” to start creating reading comprehension tasks. (Image 4)

Step 5: 

Select “text” and “multiple choices”. (Image 5) Copy and paste reading content to the text space (Image 6) and add multiple choices. (Image 7)

AI creation tab can also be used to generate multiple choice questions. (Image 8) Luna can quickly produce question sets tailored to different difficulty levels or topics. Additionally, it can create answer explanations, helping learners understand why each option is correct or incorrect. (Image 9)

Step 6: 

Click “assign” and distribute the task. (Image 10)

Teachers can create a class for this and students need to log in with their real names in order for teachers to track progress. Alternatively, teachers can copy the link and send it to students. (Image 11)

Step 7: 

Click “Response” to view students’ responses in real time. (Image 12)

Step 8 (Optional) : 

Click on a specific question number and it will show the question and answer. Teachers can type in feedback for that specific question to students if necessary. (Image 13)

Caveats and Alternatives

Formative also allows students to track their reading comprehension progress over time, which is a powerful tool for long-term skill development. Each completed assignment is recorded, enabling students to review past responses and see patterns in their strengths and weaknesses. By analyzing trends, such as recurring mistakes in identifying main ideas, interpreting context, or understanding vocabulary, students gain insight into specific areas that need improvement. This continuous record promotes metacognition, encouraging learners to reflect on their strategies and adjust their approach to reading tasks. Over weeks and months, students can measure tangible growth, set personal learning goals, and develop more effective reading habits, turning assessment data into actionable steps for improving comprehension and critical thinking skills.

Here is one example of how students can use it.

Step 1: 

After logging in, click “Submitted” to review previous reading tasks. (Image 14)

Step 2: 

Click in to review previous questions with wrong answers and reflect on the question types and error reasons. (Image 15)

Step 3: 

Click “Practice Sets” on the main page (Image 16) to do AI generated tasks related to the reading article. Choose a practice mode (Image 17) and start to practice (Images 18 & 19 are examples).

Additional Information

The basic plan is free to use, while premium subscriptions provide advanced features such as additional question types, enhanced feedback options, and collaboration tools for schools and districts.

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 

Set-ups

Step 1: Step 1 Create the account

Go to Gimkit and register an account with your email address. Log in with your account.

Step 2 Create the quiz

2.1 Click “New Kit” to create a quiz. (Image 1)

2.2 Click “Add Question” to edit questions. (Image 2)

2.3 Edit the questions and answers (Image 3). MCQ questions are recommended for this game, such as gap-filling questions with four options.

For example:
“To solve the environmental crisis, it is important to raise public ______ about the consequences of climate change.
a) awareness
b) initiative
c) sustainability
d) flexibility”

2.4 Repeat 2.2 and 2.3 to add as many questions as you can. Click “All Done” when all the questions are created. (Image 4)

Procedure

Step 1. Create the game

1.1:  Click “play live” to set the game. (Image 5) 

1.2: Choose the game “SNOWBRAWL” (Image 6) and click continue (Image 7). This game enables students to throw snow balls at each other, making the learning process more interesting. Teachers can also choose other game modes.  

1.3 Set the game duration and snow ball numbers per question, then click “continue”. (Image 8)

Step 2. Join the game

Students participate in the game by scanning the QR code or typing the entry code. (Image 9)

Step 3. Play the game

3.1 Students throw snow balls at each other. (Image 10)

3.2 Click “answer questions” to gain more snow balls. (Image 11)

3.3 Choose the correct answer for the question to gain more snow balls. (Image 12)

Step 4. Reflect

When the game is over, the teacher clicks “Report” to view students’ performance. (Image 13)

• “Question breakdown” shows students’ accuracy for each question (Image 14). The teacher can use this data to analyze students’ performance. For example, I will highlight the words with low accuracy rate as this indicates that students may have problems with these words.

• “Student overview” shows individual performance (Image 15). This data can be used to understand individual student’s participation. For example, those who had a low accuracy rate may need some help from the teacher. Students with low attempt number have not participated much in this activity.

However, only the teacher can access these data. Therefore, it would be better if the teacher can show the data after each practice so that students can know their overall performance.  The “student overview” can also serve as a strong motivation as it can be displayed as a leaderboard. Students who rank top can be rewarded. This can motivate students’ participation. 

Image 15

Caveats and Alternatives

1. This tool can also be utilized for various other activities, such as creating quizzes to assess students’ understanding of specific materials.
2. Various games can be selected for each question set.
3. This tool can also be used to assign homework. (Image 16). However, the assignment function is limited to Gimkit Pro.
4. The free account has limited access to the game modes.

Image 16

Additional Information

An example of a Gimkit set can be found here

Set-ups

Step 1:

Teachers can register for an account at Baamboozle here with an email address. A free account is sufficient for this activity.

Step 2:

Click “+game” button (Image 1) and create questions. The language setting will usually be auto-filled based on the language in the game title and description. This platform supports all languages.

Note: With a free account, you can only add single-answer question types, as demonstrated in the screenshot.

Step 3:

Teachers can set different points for each question (Image 2).

Step 4:

Once the questions are created, teachers can find the activity under “my games” under the section “my library”.

Note: An example of a baamboozle activity can be found here.

 Procedure

Step 1: 

The teacher divides the class into three groups and introduces the rule: each group takes turns to pick a number on the screen and answer the questions accordingly (Image 3).

Step 2:

Only the classic mode is available for free accounts, but it’s sufficient for basic use.

The teacher can set the “Power-ups” and “themes”. In the “Power-ups” section, you can find bonuses such as “move to first place” or “double points,” as well as surprising ones like “no points” or “lose 50 points.” The options selected by the teacher here will be partially assigned to the squares of the grid during the following competition. 

The “themes” section (Image 3) determines the displayed images within the squares. If you don’t touch anything here, the default setting will display numbers. For example, if you select “sports,” the screen will show sports in the squares, as shown in the screenshot (Image 4). This feature can also be a vocabulary review tool, as teachers can choose specific themes if needed.

Click “Classic” at the bottom (Image 5) to start the game.

Note: The three modes are all available, but I would recommend the “Classic” mode. This mode offers more “Power-up” options, which can make the game more engaging and interesting.

Step 3:

Each group takes turns to pick a number and answer the questions.

The most exciting part is that students never know what they will find behind each square. They might receive “swap points” or “win more points” (Image 6). The game is full of uncertainties, and no one knows the winner until the end.

Students are always thrilled when the surprising “Power-up” image appears.

Step 4: 

The teacher announces the winning team (Image 7).

Caveats and Alternatives

Baamboozle activity can also be used during speaking practice. Students will be given a certain question/image by Baamboozle and are required to answer the question/describe the picture within a set time limit. The key feature is facilitating competition among groups, so teachers can adapt it to their own needs.

Additional Information

Just like other interesting and interactive gamified tools, Baamboozle requires a stable internet connection as well. However, it is more controllable since it doesn’t require students to use their own devices.

Additionally, it is suitable for warmer or cooler activities at the beginning or end of class. From personal experience, it doesn’t take up too much time and easily engages students.

ReadytoTELL has published another activity about using Baamboozle in the 2022 Collection. The activity can be found here.