From Text to Test: Crafting Listening Passages with AI

For many teachers in Tunisia, finding appropriate listening passages for their tests is a real challenge. Online materials often don’t match students’ language levels or align with the themes in the curriculum. As a result, teachers spend too much time searching for listening passages that are both authentic and tailored to their lesson goals. If you are one of those struggling teachers, here is an effective solution to create your own listening passages with AI. This method allows you to customize dialogues, voices, and themes to match your curriculum needs , while saving you hours of searching. Here’s how: 

Solution: Using AI to Create a Listening Passage 

With AI tools, you can design a listening passage specifically suited for your class. This process combines text, voice, and video (optional), making it simple and efficient. Here’s a step-by-step guide: 

 Step 1: Creating a natural-sounding conversation in text form. 

I prompted ChatGPT, an AI text generator, to develop a dialogue that would be relevant and interesting for my students. Here is the prompt: 

"Generate a listening passage with a script of about 1:30 mn of B2 English level about a custmer complaining to the travel agent about his ruined holiday includind a section where the customer asks for a refund " 

I was  almost satisfied with the generated answer and I asked the AI to: 

"propose a concrete refund offer in the last utterance of the travel agent" 

 

This initial AI assistance helped ensure the conversation had authentic language features, like realistic phrasings and expressions, making it suitable for listening practice.

 Step 2: Bringing Characters to Life with ElevenLabs 

With the text ready, it was time to add voices to each character. I turned to ElevenLabs, an advanced free AI voice synthesis tool, to generate natural-sounding and expressive voices. ElevenLabs allowed me to select different voices and tones, ensuring that each character in the dialogue had a distinct personality and tone. This step was crucial for making the listening activity engaging and ensuring students could follow the conversation flow more easily. 

Outcome: You get lifelike,  downloadable audio files creating an authentic listening experience.

Step 3: Seamlessly Combine Audio Clips with Adobe Podcast 

Once I had the individual audio clips for each character, the next step was to combine them smoothly into a single, cohesive listening track. I used Adobe Podcast, an AI-powered tool that allowed me to upload and merge the audio clips effortlessly. Adobe Podcast helped me to ensure that the audio flowed naturally, with consistent volume levels and clear sound quality. The tool also enabled me to adjust the pacing of the conversation, ensuring that the dialogue didn’t feel rushed or too slow. This step was essential for making the listening experience seamless and professional, so students could focus on the content without being distracted by technical issues.

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Outcome: A polished, downloadable , continuous audio track ready for video integration.

 Step 4: Take it a Step Further: Transforming the Conversation into a Video 

After creating audio files for each character and merging them into a single file, I needed to create a visual component to keep my students engaged during the test correction process. I used HeyGen, an AI-powered video creation tool, to turn the conversation into a video.  That's how I proceeded:

• I created a New project, 
• I created a video; Avatar Video
• I chose two of the public avatars, 
• I added them to the scene 
• I uploaded the audio file
• I synced the audio with the video of  characters
• I submitted the project & waited for it to proceed to be ready for download. 

Here is the output :

 

Step 5: Generating Comprehension and Language Questions with AI

For the Listening comprehension questions, I used Brisk Chrome extension to  generate the questions based on the script . I had to add a few teaks on the questions to fit the evaluation criteria, but overall, it is a time saver. 

For the Language questions, I used ChatGPT to generate language exercises in context. Here is one of the prompts to the AI:

Here is a sample  language exercise generated by the AI: 

The AI help was really inestimable and saved me hours of the exams preperation time. To be honest, I didn't believe that I could have that result. At every step I mentioned above, I was experimenting pushing my imagination further on the extent to which I could use these tools to be more efficient. And everytime , I was awestruck by the potential and the possibilities it offers to create tailored resources in no time_ that means a lot for busy teachers! 

Nevertheless, AI tools are not always accurate, and sometimes their responses contain errors or lack context. In the language sample exercise above, the first item in the list is "their" and not "the" . Needless to say that in order to ensure high-quality resources, it's essential to review and verify AI-generated content before using it. Cross-referencing AI responses with trusted sources, using multiple tools to confirm information, and keeping a critical eye on details can help minimize errors. While AI can streamline tasks, combining its output with human judgment ensures the most reliable results. 

I’d love to hear how you’re using AI in your own teaching! Have you tried creating listening passages with AI tools? What challenges have you faced, and what tips can you share with other educators? 

Leave a comment below and let’s start a conversation. If you found this article helpful, don’t forget to share it with fellow teachers who might benefit from these AI tools!