By Zachary Yuan ’27
Chinese 641, 642, and 643 is a year-long sequence that focuses on combining the art of storytelling with innovative AI technologies. Taught by Ms. Amy Guo, this course takes students beyond traditional learning, offering them an opportunity to experiment with AI as a creative assistant in various projects.
The course emphasizes that while AI is a powerful tool, it does not replace the creativity and engagement required to learn a language and create original content. AI is designed to assist students in the creative process, not to replace their thinking. One of the main goals of the course is to learn to incorporate AI technologies to support our education while navigating the ethical dilemmas associated with it.
Ms. Guo shared many insightful ideas about the benefits of the course. “First I will clarify with students that right now, generative AI is a new technology, even though it is a lot better than older models. AI uses information from the internet to predict and generate responses based on the questions asked. We still want students to focus on learning the language and broadening their view about Chinese culture.”
The Chinese 640 sequence extends far beyond language drills. Students read many expert opinions, discuss AI’s applications in society, and experiment with the newest technology. Students also explore different uses of AI, including those by the US and China to create innovative products. Through these experiences, students gain a broader global perspective on the power and limitations of AI.
“When I plan a lesson, reading news related to AI with students will be fun. It helps them to improve their language skills as they take in new information. Also, it is very interesting how companies within the US and China spend large amounts of time and money on new AI technologies. In the United States, we have Google, Microsoft, Meta and other products. But in China, big companies like Baidu, Alibaba, and Huawei also have their own products. Due to this it would be great for students to compare the AI applications in the economy, in social media, and in many other different ways.”
The Chinese 643 course culminates in the creation of a movie, where AI plays a central role in the production process. Students enhance the final film with AI technologies, including generating dialogue, designing posters, and even using AI for voice editing. The use of AI to create dialogue from keywords, for instance, inspires students when drafting scripts. Students also used AI to generate dialogue, which might offer better pronunciation than human actors.
“Last year, when I first initiated movie scenes for the students, I was quite impressed by the students. We used a lot of the resources on campus, like the PRC. We talked with our video teacher Junko Pinkowski, who also helped us during the process. When we create Chinese movie scenes, students can type in keywords, which prompts AI to craft a dialogue used within the movies. However, students acknowledged that the ideas generated by AI were confusing. This made it harder for when they were shooting the movie, as they still had to finalize many ideas and details by themselves. When using voice editing, AI can read through and generate dialogue and the quality of the voice might even be better than if you record your own voice while making the movie scenes.”
As much as AI offers possibilities, it also raises ethical questions, a theme constantly addressed throughout the course. Ms. Guo encourages students to think critically about the ethical implications of using AI, especially regarding ownership and originality in their work.
“The most important thing is AI ethics. This explores how you acknowledge your usage of AI, and how we have to understand that AI doesn’t help you to get perfect results, but is more of a learning process… We know so little so far, we don’t know if AI would help or be toxic for the learning process? I don’t want students to use AI to get perfect results. I want them to use AI in the process of learning. What is their real learning goal? And from that, what kind of developing technology or tools might help them reach their goals?”
Perfection is a concept Ms. Guo constantly emphasizes in class. To her, seeing a student’s learning process and improvement is most important. She doesn’t expect her students to get things perfect. That is why she constantly encourages students to experiment with new technology.
For Ms. Guo, AI is useful in helping plan her lessons. Guo uses AI to generate practice problems and find authentic teaching materials online for her lower-level students.
“AI affects my teaching experience in different ways, not just for my upper classes, like 640, but also for my lower classes. The practice questions that I give students can be AI-generated, including both dialogue and interactive questions. Sometimes, the pronunciation of AI could be better, and if students can listen to different dialogues, it would help their language skills… It’s definitely been easier for me to design tailored and personalized experiences for lower-level students.”
Moving forward, Ms. Guo sees AI playing an even more prominent role in education. Teachers should aim to help students adapt to these technologies while maintaining their own critical thinking skills.
“AI is definitely the future. I don’t want my students to be limited to their knowledge, and not be able to use these powerful tools as they already exist… discussing with students about how to use AI is very important. I really like one of the quotes by Jack Dixon: If you focus on the result, you’ll never change. But if you focus on the change, you’ll get results. AI is definitely a change. AI makes so many things possible, and if we can use it well, we will see better results in the future.”
In the future, AI will shape language learning and general creativity, problem-solving, and communication skills. Ms. Guo’s course emphasizes that understanding and adapting to these changes will better prepare students for a future where AI is central. By fostering critical thinking alongside technical skills, the course equips students to navigate and contribute to a world where human creativity and ethical responsibility will be inseparable from AI.
Read more articles like this in our Fall 2024 Issue!
