# Campfire Session — World Languages Fall '25 Learn how Flint creates speaking-only activities, differentiation by CEFR, and other world language features. Lulu Gao, Head of Teacher Experience at Flint \| [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/lulugaodesign/) This session explored how Flint supports authentic speaking, listening, and writing practice across world languages—while keeping teachers in control. We opened with a quick look at the “Alpha School” model and its critiques (metric-driven stress, uneven support for students who need more scaffolding), underscoring why teacher relationships and thoughtful AI integration still matter. From there, Lulu demonstrated how Flint differentiates by role: teachers get a true assistant for planning and translations, while students are guided toward learning (structure, vocab, explanations) instead of getting direct answers. Attendees saw how to build speaking-only activities, set CEFR levels, attach custom materials, and preview/simulate sessions. We also covered recent upgrades—Needs-Attention highlights, group learning goals/background, saved builder chats, memory, and Drive integrations—to streamline classroom workflows and interventions. Two French teachers from The Harker School shared practical use cases: - **Personalized test corrections** powered by teacher comments copied into Flint, which then delivers tiered remediation exercises (“Petit Prof”). - **AP practice & image-based prompts** to reinforce vocabulary and prepositions—plus a memorable spelling mix-up that sparked durable learning. **Key takeaways** - **Teacher & student experiences are purpose-built.** Teachers can plan quickly; students practice authentically with appropriate guardrails. - **Activities in minutes.** Start in chat to brainstorm (e.g., picture prompts by CEFR level), then convert to an activity with greetings, roles, rubrics, and interaction modes (e.g., speaking-only). - **Actionable oversight.** Needs-Attention flags struggling or disengaged learners; session pages include auto-transcribed audio, AI feedback, and space for teacher comments. - **Reusable templates & inspiration.** Duplicate and adapt world-language activities from the public Flint Library. - **What’s new.** Stronger base model, memory, group context, Drive integrations, and saved builder chats for shareable, repeatable setups. **Common Q&A** - **LMS grade passback:** Not yet, but a priority. - **Long-term growth evidence:** Use recurring activities with checkpoints (chat lengths are finite). - **Audio & vocab:** Flint can pronounce terms; direct audio downloads and timed pauses aren’t available yet (feature request noted). - **Level/voice control:** Set grade/CEFR, response concision, register (tu/vous), and language mix; verify in manual settings if behavior drifts. - **IB support:** IBPYP/MYP/DP terminology is understood. **Next steps & resources** - Join office hours (Tues/Wed) for hands-on help. - Browse the **Flint Library** for world-language exemplars and duplicate what works. - Continue the conversation and share ideas in the **Flint Community**. - Watch the **Lower School** session and **Flint How-To** playlist for quick feature walkthroughs. - Session recording and slides will be emailed to all registrants. Slides from the presentation can be found [here](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Ggo07Zb5ynTyqbTwycgkKZgfMC5uIMOYflWct6OA1WU/edit?usp=sharing&referrer=luma). Got more questions, comments, or feedback for this topic? Feel free to raise them within the [Flint Community](https://community.flintk12.com/c/campfire-sessions). ### Join our next Campfire Session 🏕️ Subscribe to our events calendar to be notified when upcoming Campfire Sessions and other Flint events get scheduled. [See Events Calendar](https://lu.ma/flint-teachers) **Introduction • 00:00** - Lulu introduces the session and agenda. **Ice-breaking news • 1:44** - A discussion of Alpha School's concept where students learn with AI for two hours daily, followed by practice, sparking debate on personalization versus emotional and social support needs. - Concerns are raised about the model's adequacy for students needing more comprehensive support, including emotional and learning-related needs, and the important ongoing role of teachers in relationships and engagement. - Reflective note on mixed evidence from media coverage, highlighting stress from metrics and potential withdrawals from a campus, suggesting cautious adoption of AI-led independent learning. **Features for World Languages • 5:41** - Flint highlights how it differentiates teaching and student use, showing a Mandarin paragraph example with translation for teachers, then guides student behavior instead of writing the paragraph directly. - Flint demonstrates role-aware responses: in a teacher account it assists with writing; in a student account it avoids direct copying and focuses on structure, vocabulary, and concept explanations. - The tool supports content customization and assessment features, including uploading content, citing web sources, tailoring activity explanations, and adjusting response length and verbosity. - New capabilities are introduced: extensive language support (over 200 dialects), image generation, speaking speed adjustments, and memory for user context to personalize interactions. **Flint chats and activities • 16:17** - Lulu outlines the difference between chats and activities, showing how to start from a chat, generate prompts, create German A1 and B2 level versions, and convert chats into Flint activities. - Lulu Gao demonstrates creating a custom activity, attaching files, and previewing changes within Flint's Activity Builder. - A detailed walkthrough of an oral practice exam interface is provided, highlighting analytics, session lists, and how feedback appears for both a single student and the entire class. **Shareout and feedback • 40:57** - Agnes Pommier explains Flint acts as an instructional assistant, enabling remediation by transferring comments from Google Docs into Flint sessions for targeted grammar practice. - Agnes Pommier explains how she handles test corrections using Flint by feeding a Google Doc growth note into Flint and generating two remediation exercises for each grammar point, guided by Sparky with prompts about the unit vocabulary. - Lulu Gao reflects positively on the Sparky-driven remediation approach, noting its potential for personalization and teaching students to request targeted help from Sparky; Mariah Buckley Fernández contributes a thought confirming the shift from traditional test corrections to concept-focused practice. **Conclusion • 52:39** - Lulu outlines future Flint engagement opportunities. The platform continues to expand its educational support ecosystem. - Lulu also shares QR codes for people to check out the [Campfire Calendar](https://luma.com/flint-teachers?k=c), [Flint's Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/flintk12/) (which has a bunch of teacher-facing content), and the [Flint Community](https://community.flintk12.com/).