A Look Back: These “Sentence Navigators” Are Gifts To You, Courtesy Of A Peer Tutor

(I’m republishing my best posts from the second half of 2024. You can see the entire list of them here)

I’ve posted many times about peer tutors in my ELL classes.

They do a great job assisting the ELL Newcomers acquire English.

Sometimes, not all of them are actually working with students – there are absences, or maybe several have been moved to a more advanced class and we’re waiting for new students to arrive (as they always do).

In those cases, peer tutors use this “down” time to create engaging materials to use with the Newcomers.

I’ve previously posted about the walkthroughs for video games that they create (see My Gift (Or, Really, My Peer Tutors’ Gift) To ELL Teachers).

Speaking of “gifts,” you might remember that former ELL teacher Jason Renshaw shared many cool resources he named Sentence Navigators (see “Sentence Navigator” Is Jason Renshaw’s Gift To ESL/EFL/ELL Teachers Everywhere!).

They are basically engaging puzzles for students to solve.  You can many of them at that post, along with blanks you can use to create your own.

One of our peer tutors, Lauren-Renee Tate, has taken it upon herself this year to create more of these Sentence Navigators connected to the “themes” we’re studying at the time. She and her parents have given me permission to share them here.

Here are four excellent ones she’s made on school and on size. I’ll share more as she makes them.

Sentence Navigator – School

Sentence Navigator Size One

Sentence Navigator Size Two

Sentence Navigator Time

Thanks, Lauren!

I have been working hard at seeing if I can get Artificial Intelligence to help create these Navigators, though I haven’t hit on quite the right prompt, yet.

I haven’t been able to get ChatGPT to create supporting images, and it’s coming close (but no cigar!) on the sentences with this prompt:

“Please create a sentence navigator with four columns where there is only one valid, realistic sentence. Make sure there is no more than one adjective or color in each column. Use nonsensical words to prevent any other valid sentences, but ensure the valid sentence is obvious and realistic. Scramble the valid sentence across the columns.”

I’ll let you know if – and when – I find the magic words that work!