Using Gemini Storybooks

Gemini Story books are simple picture books you can create online. You prompt Gemini to create a story based on your prompt. In the prompt, specify the level you would like and the basic scenario. To start a storybook go here. Once your book is made in just a moment or two, you can view and listen to it, revise your prompt if you wish, then keep the link for class or student use. Easy! Here are some scenarios ChatGPT came up with for stories:

The missed train – a teenager misses a train and has to work out how to get home.

A surprise birthday – friends organise a party without the birthday person finding out.

The new student – a new pupil arrives from another country and experiences their first day.

A weekend in the mountains – walking, weather, food and an unexpected event.

The lost phone – someone retraces their day trying to find their phone.

My first day at work – a teenager has a Saturday job in a café or shop.

The school trip – a class visits another city and something goes slightly wrong.

An exchange student in France – an English-speaking teenager stays with a French family.

The mystery suitcase – someone picks up the wrong suitcase at the station.

A day without my phone – a teenager has to manage 24 hours without it.

The perfect holiday? – a family holiday where several small things go wrong.

An evening at the match – travelling to the stadium, buying food, watching the game.

The new neighbour – someone interesting moves in next door.

Lost in Paris – two friends take the wrong Métro and have to find their way back.

The summer job – working at a campsite, beach café or tourist attraction.

A strange day at school – everything seems to be happening in the wrong order.

The class competition – pupils have to complete a series of challenges.

Dinner disaster – someone cooks a meal for friends but things don't go according to plan.

A day in 2050 – school, transport, homes and leisure in the future.

The unexpected visitor – somebody turns up at the door whom the main character wasn't expecting.

It's the last one I chose for my latest storybook. Here is the link to it: https://share.gemini.google/jxEZvy2JL4X7 It's a tad lame, but okay. It ought to provoke a reaction.

The question then is: what do you do with the story?

This is what I might do — keeping in mind scaffolding and the advantages of getting pupils to process the language multiple times.

1. Display and play the story from the class screen. (The picture is on the left of the screen and the the simple text is on the right.) Play the story a second time.
2. Then during the third play, I would do some true/false questioning for each page. This gets students processing the language carefully. Alternatively you could give false sentences to correct - this requires students to say more in response so is a little more challenging. Alternatively, with stronger classes just ask questions in French. Have a look at the story to see what might work best for your class.
3. You could then review the pages and do a "Find the French task" or check with students what they didn't understand.
4. You could then give a handout so that students process the language again. Below is the example I made for this storybook.

Complétez les phrases

1.     Marc est un homme …………

2.     Il habite une maison près ……………….

3.     Aujourd’hui il ………..

4.     Il boit ………………………….

5.     Soudain il entend ……………….

6.     Il pense que c’est …………… parce qu’il n’attend …………….

7.     Son visiteur est ……………

8.     Il porte un ……………………….. à la tête et ……………….. à la main.

9.     Barnabé a l’air ………….

10. Il cherche ……………………………

11. Son problème est qu’il est ……………………………….

12. Marc est très ……………. mais …………………… aussi.

13. Il invite Barnabé …………………….

14. Barnabé entre dans …………………..

15. La chaise est trop ………… et elle fait ………… (noise) inquiétant (worrying).

16. Marc offre des ……………………………..  à son nouvel ami.

17. Barnabé adore ……………….

18. Barnabé va rendre visite à ……………… qui ……………………………………

19. Marc et Barnabé …………………. une carte.

20. Barnabé dit …………. pour les biscuits et ……………….

21. Les amis …………………… la main.

22. Sur la table Marc trouve ………………………..

5. After correcting the worksheet you can then ask pairs to play sort of ping pong game, where each partner has to recall a sentence from the story. The first person who cannot speak is the loser.

6. With a really fast class you could then ask them to write their own story based on the same idea. Encourage them to be as weird as possible!

Finally, you could use a Gemini Story book for individual listening work at home or in a lab. It would be fairly AI-proof, I think.

I have three other Gemini Storybooks on my site and will add more. Give it a try!