AI in Dutch class

By Nicole van den Burg | Dutch Teacher at Focusberoepsacademie

As a Dutch teacher in year 4 (and partly year 3) and as a coach for both students and colleagues, she explores daily how AI can contribute to better and more contemporary education.

“It’s bizarre that something you might have spent an entire afternoon on now rolls out in ten minutes. We can’t ignore it anymore.” 

From Curiosity to Classroom Practice

For Nicole, it started with a course on AI. She learned how important it is to formulate a good prompt. The more specific you are in what you ask, the better the result. After that, she started experimenting a lot. This led to concrete use of AI in her classroom.

How Nicole Uses AI in Her Teaching Practice

Nicole doesn’t use AI as a gimmick, but as a full-fledged part of her lesson design. She constantly looks for ways in which AI can make the learning experience richer, more efficient, or more personal, for both her students and herself.

Starting Consciously: AI, Reliability, and Impact

Before students start working with AI tools themselves, Nicole pays attention to the fundamentals: 

• What is AI, actually? 
• How reliable is it? 
• And what impact does it have on the world around us?

In an introductory lesson, students watch a video that raises these questions. Afterwards, they work in small groups with reflection questions. They discuss how AI relates to their own lives, where they already encounter it, and what they think about it.

Watch the video Nicole uses in her lessons here.

Nicole notes that the theme of reliability especially resonates with students. “They want to know what’s accurate and what’s not. The environmental impact affects them less; that remains more abstract. But opening up that conversation is already valuable.”

Students Learn to Prompt Themselves

An important part of Nicole’s approach is learning to collaborate with AI, instead of using it blindly. That’s why she has her students practice writing effective prompts themselves.

For example, they start by writing a fantasy story or a business text, such as a complaint or a cover letter. Not by simply letting ChatGPT do everything, but by discovering how to direct the AI. What you ask strongly determines what you get.

In groups, students discuss:

• What was the result?
• Was that what you expected?
• What worked and what didn’t?
• How can you improve your prompt?
  
  

This way, they learn how language influences technology, and how AI can be a powerful tool if you know how to steer it. The conversation about the quality of output and responsibility for what you create is always central.

“Not just using AI, but learning how to critically adapt to what the technology gives you. That’s the skill they’ll need later.”

Tools in Teaching Practice

1. Videos with Viewing and Listening Questions

Tool:  Diffit

This tool can automatically transcribe YouTube videos (convert to text), create summaries, and generate matching questions (multiple choice, open questions, true/false).

This is how Nicole uses it:

• Students watch a video about, for example, AI or climate change.
  
  
• Diffit generates a transcript, allowing students to read along.
  
  
• Nicole adjusts the generated viewing/listening questions or supplements them with her own in-depth questions.

Ideal for students who are visually oriented or benefit from repetition via text. Nicole also uses this to combine reading and listening skills in a single lesson.

Nicole’s tip

“Use it as a basis, but always check if the questions really match the content. Diffit makes it faster, but you remain the quality guardian.”

2. Improving Writing Assignments with AI

Tool:  ChatGPT

This is how Nicole uses it:

• Students have their report or essay checked for spelling and grammar.
  
  
• Nicole has them improve it themselves first, then they check their text with AI.
  
  
• They compare the differences and discuss what has changed.

In pairs, students discuss the adjustments AI suggests. What do you accept, what not, and why?

Nicole’s tip
“Don’t just have students ‘correct the mistakes’, but also explain why they do or do not agree with the suggestions.”

3. Test Preparation & Flashcards

Tool: Create.xyz

With this tool, you can build your own AI app without programming knowledge. Nicole uses it to generate flashcards, summaries, and practice questions for a test.

Practical Example

With the help of this tool, Nicole creates quiz questions in which students take a knowledge quiz about a formal letter, fill in conventions of the formal letter, and identify mistakes in a formal letter. 

See here the knowledge quiz Nicole created. Formal Letter Quiz App

Nicole’s tip
“Put exactly what you want in your prompt: for example, ‘10 multiple-choice questions about the characteristics of Romanticism in understandable language for a 15-year-old student’.”

4. AI as a Tool in LessonUp and Quizizz

LessonUp

AI automatically generates knowledge questions based on your lesson content. Handy when preparing instructional lessons or learning checks.

Quizizz 

Nicole uses this tool to quickly create formative quizzes. Especially suitable as an energizer or for test preparation.  “Make sure to set the language to Dutch in Quizizz. Otherwise, you’ll get translation errors or English terms.”

Nicole’s Tips for Getting Started

1. Talk to colleagues who are already working with AI. Observe each other’s lessons.
   
   
2. Take an (internal) course with lots of concrete examples.
   
   
3. Start small and experiment. For example, with a single assignment or test format.
   
   
4. Keep the learning process central. AI is not a replacement, but a tool.
   
   

What Are the Benefits?

For the teacher. 

• Nicole notices that AI saves her a lot of time. Where she used to spend an hour creating lesson material, she can now do it in ten minutes. This leaves her more time for guidance and in-depth work in the lesson.
• AI also helps her differentiate more easily. She can adapt assignments to different levels or interests in the class. Think of adapted reading texts, in-depth questions, or customized flashcards.

For the student. 

Students experience more connection to their own world and way of thinking. By experimenting with AI themselves, they learn:

• How to ask a good question (prompting skills),

• what AI can and cannot do well,

• and what their own role is in the learning process.

Nicole doesn’t just let her students use AI, but also reflect: What was the result? What did you miss? What would you ask differently? This creates awareness instead of convenience.

“They learn that AI only really works if you know what you’re asking and why.”

Looking Ahead: Guiding Instead of Prohibiting

Nicole sees how quickly and naturally students use AI—sometimes as a smart aid, but also regularly to quickly finish work. That’s precisely why she finds it essential to keep the conversation going about ownership, integrity, and preparing for assessments without technology:

“What does it mean if you have to take an exam soon without ChatGPT?”

Her outlook on the future is clear. AI will not disappear from the classroom, nor does it need to. But it requires an active attitude from schools and teachers: How do we guide students in learning to use AI wisely and responsibly?

Not just as a tool, but also as a social phenomenon that impacts how we learn, work, and live together.