What you will learn

Ever wondered how AI can assist you in supporting multimodal storytelling in your classroom? AI is opening up new possibilities for storytelling and story-based activities, helping us achieve things that were previously either impossible or technically challenging. It allows us to move beyond traditional text-based lessons, blending text, images, sound, and animations into stories to create richer learning experiences.

But here’s the thing—generative AI isn’t a quick fix or a one-size-fits-all solution. It’s just one of many tools in our toolkit, built on pedagogy and teachers’ expertise. How we use it depends on our learners, their needs, and what we want to achieve. In this session, we’ll explore generative AI tools and how they can support multimodal storytelling to enhance learning. It’s not about using every tool or cramming as many modes as possible into a lesson. It’s about finding the right mix that enhances the learning experience without overwhelming learners.

We’ll look at AI tools that can generate everything from images and animations to voiceovers and music. But our focus isn’t on showcasing cool tech or specific platforms or apps—we’ll discuss how to use these tools thoughtfully. Too much can be distracting, so we’ll aim to strike a balance between engagement and relevance, ensuring that the learning process remains effective and focused on achieving learning objectives. You’ll also receive a practical workflow for creating new multimodal storytelling resources, along with strategies to enhance and complement your existing story-based activities.

By the end of the session, you’ll leave with fresh ideas and practical strategies for using AI to create learning experiences that resonate with your learners while keeping things simple and meaningful.

About the trainer

Svetlana Kandybovich – Education Consultant, Teacher Trainer & Learning Designer

Svetlana Kandybovich is a highly experienced educator with over 20 years of dedicated service in the education sector. Svetlana’s expertise extends beyond the classroom as she serves as an esteemed education consultant, teacher trainer, and sought-after speaker at national and international conferences. Passionate about sharing her knowledge, Svetlana created the award-winning blog, Eltcation, and the resourceful website, My English Domain, which cater to both educators and self-study learners.

Workshop Summary

Introduction to Multimodal Storytelling with AI

In this TEFL Masterclass, Lana introduces the concept of using AI to enhance multimodal storytelling in the classroom. Storytelling, a fundamental teaching method, can now be enriched with a variety of media such as images, sounds, and video to create more engaging and meaningful learning experiences. As our world becomes increasingly digital, integrating these modes into language teaching can improve student engagement and language retention. AI tools offer new opportunities to support multimodal storytelling, allowing teachers to blend different media and create more dynamic learning experiences for their students.

The Power of Multimodality in Learning

Multimodal input involves using various forms of communication, including linguistic (text and speech), visual (images and video), aural (music and sounds), gestural (body language), and spatial (the arrangement of elements). Each mode offers a unique way to convey meaning, and when combined thoughtfully, they can enhance students’ language learning. Research shows that blending these modes, such as reading while listening to a story, can significantly improve language acquisition. However, Lana emphasises that multimodality should be used intentionally, with careful consideration of which modes best support the lesson’s objectives without overwhelming students.

Choosing and Adapting Stories for Multimodal Use

Lana explains the importance of selecting stories that match the learners’ language level, interests, and learning objectives. A well-chosen story should be neither too simple nor too complex and should be relevant to the students’ needs. While AI can be used to adapt and enhance stories, it’s crucial to ensure that the multimodal elements being added are truly beneficial to the learning experience. Lana advises teachers to consider the complexity, length, and cultural appropriateness of the stories they choose, making sure they align with the language goals and engagement levels of the students.

Enhancing Resources with AI

Rather than replacing existing resources, AI can be used to enhance and modernise materials teachers already find effective. Lana demonstrates how AI can add new dimensions to familiar story-based activities, making them more engaging without losing their original value. For example, automatic captioning tools powered by AI can help students better understand and retain key phrases. In one example, Lana uses AI-generated images, animations, and captions to teach the idiom “skeleton in the closet.” By showing the video with captions multiple times, students are able to absorb the content more effectively.

Making Complex Materials Accessible

Lana introduces the concept of “modified elaborated input,” where AI helps make advanced or challenging materials more accessible to learners. Instead of simplifying content, which can limit learning opportunities, teachers can use AI to add explanations, synonyms, and paraphrasing that make the material more comprehensible while maintaining its original complexity. This approach helps learners engage with authentic language resources, such as videos or audio clips, without diluting the content. AI tools allow teachers to modify challenging materials without sacrificing valuable language exposure.

Utilising Text-to-Speech and Sound Effects

AI-powered text-to-speech and speech-to-speech models offer new ways to bring stories to life with synthetic voices. While early AI-generated voices lacked emotion, these tools have advanced significantly and can now produce voices that sound more human and natural. Lana explains that these models can be used to add voiceovers to text-based stories, helping students engage with the material more deeply. Additionally, sound effects can play a powerful role in storytelling, offering real-world context and making lessons more interactive. AI can now generate a variety of sound effects, allowing teachers to create soundboards that enhance classroom activities.

Interactive Chatbots in Storytelling

Lana introduces the concept of chatbots as characters in interactive stories. These AI-driven bots allow students to engage in conversations, making the storytelling process more dynamic and immersive. She shares an example from a lesson where students interact with Alex, a chatbot character dealing with an invasion of tumbleweeds. This interactive approach enables students to practise their language skills by asking questions and gathering information, bringing a fresh level of engagement to the classroom. While still in development, chatbot storytelling has great potential for future language teaching.

Key Considerations for Using AI in the Classroom

To conclude, Lana offers practical advice for incorporating AI and multimodal elements into language teaching. Teachers should always focus on how these tools can enhance learning and engage students, rather than simply using AI for novelty. AI should be used thoughtfully, with careful consideration of its limitations and potential challenges, such as cognitive overload. Lana encourages teachers to experiment with AI, starting small and building on what works best for their students. Ultimately, the goal is to create meaningful, effective learning experiences that prioritise student engagement and language acquisition.

This masterclass shows how AI and multimodal storytelling can revolutionise language teaching by making lessons more interactive, engaging, and accessible. By carefully integrating these tools, teachers can create dynamic and personalised learning experiences that support their students’ development.

Reflective Questions

Have a quick think about the reflective questions below in order to get the most out of the workshop:

1. In what ways do you think AI can support storytelling in the classroom?
2. What concerns or reservations do you have about using AI in your teaching practice, and how might you address them?
3. What are your goals for attending this session, and how do you hope to apply what you learn?

Recommended Further Reading

• Kessler, M. (2022). Multimodality. ELT Journal, 76(4), 551–554. https://academic.oup.com/eltj/article/76/4/551/6645875
• Long, M. H. (2020). Optimal input for language learning: Genuine, simplified, elaborated, or modified elaborated? Language Teaching, 53(2), 169–182.
• Should you bring AI into your language class? A teacher’s decision tree. (2024, January 30). ELTcation. https://eltcation.com/2024/01/30/should-you-bring-ai-into-your-language-class-decision-tree/