I had a go at using the free version of ChatGPT to generate some content to form the basis of a TextActivities resource. I was pleasantly surprised by how quick and easy the whole process was. See my prompts + the responses below, as well as a link to the resource at the bottom of the page.
Text prompt:
Write me a text of about 100 words in Spanish, aimed at beginners, in the present tense, talking about what I do at the weekend
Text result:
Los fines de semana, me gusta hacer muchas cosas. El sábado, me levanto temprano y desayuno con mi familia. Luego, voy al parque a caminar y disfrutar del aire libre. A veces, juego al fútbol con mis amigos. Por la tarde, voy al cine o leo un libro en casa. El domingo, me relajo y preparo la comida con mi familia. Después de comer, vemos una película juntos o jugamos a juegos de mesa. Por la noche, descanso y me preparo para la semana que viene. ¡Los fines de semana son muy divertidos y relajantes!
I decided to go with this without making any changes, as it seemed pretty reasonable, and because I didn't have an actual class in mind for my resource. But you could of course edit the prompt to be more specific about what you are looking for in your text, even doing things like listing the vocab / chunks that you'd like it to include or use as the basis for the text.
I copied and pasted the text into the "Text" input box on the "New resource" page on TextActivities:
Translation prompt:
Translate the above text into English
Translation result:
On weekends, I like to do many things. On Saturday, I get up early and have breakfast with my family. Then, I go to the park to walk and enjoy the fresh air. Sometimes, I play soccer with my friends. In the afternoon, I go to the movies or read a book at home. On Sunday, I relax and cook with my family. After eating, we watch a movie together or play board games. At night, I rest and get ready for the coming week. Weekends are very fun and relaxing!
Again I decided to keep it as it was, without regenerating it or modifying the prompt. I could perhaps have specified UK English ("cinema" rather than "movies", for example), or asked it to be more literal in its translations ("prepare the food" / "prepare lunch" rather than "cook").
I copied and pasted the translation text into the "Parallel Text" input box on the "New resource" page on TextActivities. :
Since I knew I was going to be adding vocab / matching to the resource, I also checked the box to make the main L2 text (i.e. the Spanish one above) appear as the parallel text for the vocab / matching activities (see pic above).
Vocab prompt - 1st attempt:
Write me a list of the vocabulary from the above texts, English to Spanish, each item on a separate line, separated by ==
Vocab result - 1st attempt:
weekend == fin de semana
things == cosas
Saturday == sábado
to get up == levantarse
early == temprano
to have breakfast == desayunar
family == familia
then == luego
park == parque
to walk == caminar
to enjoy == disfrutar
fresh air == aire libre
sometimes == a veces
to play == jugar
soccer == fútbol
friends == amigos
afternoon == tarde
movies == cine
book == libro
home == casa
Sunday == domingo
to relax == relajarse
to cook == preparar la comida
to eat == comer
to watch == ver
movie == película
together == juntos
board games == juegos de mesa
night == noche
to rest == descansar
to get ready == prepararse
week == semana
fun == divertido
relaxing == relajante
Now, I'm not a fan of vocab as individual words, so I tried this one again...
Vocab prompt - 2nd attempt
Write me a list of the vocabulary chunks (not individual words) from the above texts -- as they are, NOT as infinitives, unless that's the way they appear in the text -- , English to Spanish, one item per line, separated by ==
Vocab result - 2nd attempt
on weekends == los fines de semana
I like to do == me gusta hacer
many things == muchas cosas
I get up early == me levanto temprano
to have breakfast with my family == desayuno con mi familia
to go to the park == voy al parque
to walk and enjoy == a caminar y disfrutar
the fresh air == del aire libre
sometimes I play soccer == a veces, juego al fútbol
with my friends == con mis amigos
in the afternoon == por la tarde
I go to the movies == voy al cine
to read a book at home == leo un libro en casa
I relax == me relajo
I cook with my family == preparo la comida con mi familia
after eating == después de comer
we watch a movie together == vemos una película juntos
to play board games == jugamos a juegos de mesa
at night == por la noche
I rest == descanso
I get ready for the coming week == me preparo para la semana que viene
weekends are very fun and relaxing == los fines de semana son muy divertidos y relajantes
As you can see, it's done a reasonable job. I had to correct a few of the English translations, because they used the infinitive rather than 1st person (e.g. to go to the park == voy al parque) but other than that I was very happy with the result.
I copied and pasted the list into the "Vocab / Matching" input box on the "New resource" page on TextActivities:
Time taken?
About 5 minutes...
Resulting resource:
This one, shown here in "Resource View":
I've made the resource a sample resource, which you can access via this link:
https://www.textactivities.com/?sample=spanish-4521
If you follow the above link and switch to the "Activity View" tab, you'll see an "Activities" button, which takes you to this activity menu, with too many different automatically generated activities to list here:
I'll definitely be experimenting more with using AI in this way :)
VIDEO BONUS!
This YouTube video takes this blog post as inspiration and goes through the process of creating a fully-functional TextActivities resources, with a Spanish text, an English translation, and matching items. It also shows how easy it is to use ChatGPT to generate these various components (in this case based on a clipped image of a sentence builder from SentenceBuilders.com):