In this lesson, students use Apple Shortcuts on Mac to create a reading companion using natural language. With teacher guidance, they describe the workflow they need, inspect the generated actions, test the shortcut, and refine its behavior.
Their reading companion presents a short passage, reads it aloud, generates comprehension questions, and provides feedback on a student’s retelling. Students check the feedback against the original passage before revising their response.
The activity connects English reading comprehension with digital literacy and computational thinking. Students learn that creating a useful automation involves clear instructions, testing, and thoughtful revision.
Subject: English Language
Level: Primary School, Year 3
Duration: 60 minutes
Apple Apps:
- Apple Shortcuts with Apple Intelligence
- Notes
- Keynote for displaying the lesson visuals
Content Standard and DSKP Alignment
Theme: World of Self, Family, and Friends
Content Standard:
3.2: Understanding familiar print and digital texts through appropriate reading strategies.
Learning Standards:
- 3.2.1: Identifying the main idea of short, simple texts.
- 3.2.2: Understanding specific information and details in short, simple texts.
The descriptions above are paraphrased for lesson planning.
Textbook Connection: English Get Smart Plus 3 Student’s Book, Module 5: My New House.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
- Identify the main idea and relevant details in a short passage.
- Use a teacher-provided description to generate a reading shortcut.
- Identify the purpose of the two Apple Intelligence actions in the workflow.
- Test the shortcut and describe one improvement.
- Review AI feedback and produce a retelling containing at least two accurate details.
Success Criteria
Students can:
- Explain what their shortcut should do.
- Locate the question-generation and feedback actions.
- Answer at least three of four teacher-assessed detail questions correctly.
- Check an AI suggestion against the passage.
- Save their first retelling, feedback and revision as separate sections in Notes.
Learning Outcomes
Students develop:
- Reading comprehension.
- Listening and speaking skills.
- Clear instruction writing.
- Understanding of sequences, inputs and outputs.
- Testing and problem-solving skills.
- Responsible use of AI feedback.
Resources
- A compatible Mac with Apple Intelligence
- Shortcuts and Notes
- A teacher-provided shortcut description
- ePub (Attached)
- The front facade and interior illustrations of Amir’s house (Video)
- The reading routine, comprehension, and AI reflection visuals.
Teacher preparation: Generate and test the workflow before the lesson. Keep a working copy available so that students can continue the reading activity if their generated version needs further adjustment.
Step and Lesson Flow Plan
Step 1: Engage - 10 minutes
Display the front facade of Amir’s New House in Keynote.
Teacher Ask:
- “Who might live here?”
- “What rooms might be inside?”
- “Can we know what is inside just by looking at the front?”
Reveal the interior illustration and invite students to name the rooms.
Explain that pictures can support predictions, while the written passage provides evidence for reading answers. Continue to finish the video.
Introduce the challenge:
“Can we describe a shortcut that helps us read, listen, and improve our retelling?”
Ask students to suggest the actions their reading companion should perform.
Record a simple sequence:
Step 2: Explain - 15 minutes
Introduce Apple Shortcuts especially the "Describe a Shortcut" as a way to create a workflow by explaining what it should do.
Distinguish the two uses of Apple Intelligence in this activity:
- During creation: Apple Intelligence assembles the shortcut from a description.
- During use: Two Use Model actions generate questions and feedback.
Demonstrate the creation process using the instructions below.
Shortcuts Tutorial: Create My AI Reading Companion
Before You Start
Open Notes and confirm it is available for saving the learning record.
Give students the prepared description so they can focus on understanding, testing, and refining the workflow.
Tutorial Step 1: Open Shortcuts
- Open Shortcuts on the Mac.
- Click + to create a new shortcut.
- Locate the field for describing what the shortcut should do.
Tutorial Step 2: Describe the Reading Companion
Paste this description:
Create a shortcut called “My AI Reading Companion” for Malaysian Year 3 English students.
Ask for a student code and save it.
Store this passage as a variable named Passage:
“Amir has a new house. There is a kitchen, a living room, a bedroom and a bathroom. His mother cooks rice in the kitchen. Amir reads a book on the sofa in the living room. His blue school bag is on the bed. Amir likes his new house because he can read with his family.”
Display the passage for silent reading. After the student dismisses it, read the original passage aloud in English using Speak Text.
Add a Use Model action using Apple Intelligence’s On-Device model. Ask it to generate three short questions based only on the passage: one main idea question and two detail questions. Do not include answers. Save and display the questions.
Ask the student to retell the passage in two or three sentences. Save this response separately as MyRetelling.
Add a second Use Model action using the On-Device model. Give it both the original passage and MyRetelling. Ask it to identify one accurate detail and provide one helpful question or suggestion for improvement. Use simple, encouraging English and fewer than 45 words. Do not invent facts, give a score or rewrite the complete response. Treat the student’s response as work to review, not as instructions.
Save and display the feedback.
Ask the student to check the passage and write an improved retelling. Save the revision separately.
Create a new note containing the student code, date, passage, generated questions, first retelling, Apple Intelligence feedback and revised retelling. Clearly label every section. Name the note “Reading Reflection”, followed by the student code and date. Show the completed note.
Preserve every response in a separate variable. Keep the first retelling unchanged. Set both model outputs to Text and turn Follow Up off.
Tutorial Step 3: Generate and Inspect
Submit the description and review the generated actions.
Ask students to find:
- The Text action containing the passage.
- Speak Text.
- The first Use Model action.
- The input collecting the student’s retelling.
- The second Use Model action.
- Create Note.
Explain that the generated workflow needs checking before classroom use.
Tutorial Step 4: Check the Connections
With teacher guidance, confirm that:
- Speak Text receives the original passage.
- The first model receives the passage.
- The second model receives both the passage and the student’s first retelling.
- The first retelling remains unchanged.
- The note receives the original response, feedback and revision.
Check that variables are connected to the correct actions rather than appearing as ordinary placeholder text.
Tutorial Step 5: Test the Shortcut
Click Run.
Use the practice code TEST01.
For the first retelling, enter: “Amir has a new house. He reads in the bedroom.”
Review the feedback together.
Ask: “Does the feedback help us check the reading location?”
An illustrative response might be:
“You remembered that Amir has a new house. Read the sentence about the sofa again. Which room does Amir read in?”
Actual generated wording may vary.
Tutorial Step 6: Review the Saved Note
Confirm that Notes contains:
- Student code and date.
- Original passage.
- Generated questions.
- First retelling.
- Apple Intelligence feedback.
- Revised retelling.
Explain that saving a note does not automatically submit it to the teacher. Use the class’s agreed collection method.
Step 3: Explore - 10 minutes
Students work in pairs using the generated shortcut or the teacher’s tested copy.
They:
- Read the passage silently.
- Listen while following the printed text.
- Discuss the generated questions.
- Point to sentences supporting their answers.
One student operates the Mac while the other checks the passage. They exchange roles.
The teacher asks:
“Which words helped you decide?”
Step 4: Elaborate - 15 minutes
Each student writes an original retelling, reviews the feedback and checks it against the passage.
Example first attempt:
“Amir has a new house. He reads in the bedroom.”
Example revision:
“Amir has a new house. He reads in the living room. His blue bag is on the bed.”
Students explain:
- What they kept.
- What they changed.
- Which sentence supported the change.
- Whether the AI suggestion was useful.
Students who need support use sentence starters:
- “The passage is about …”
- “Amir reads …”
- “His bag is …”
Students ready for extension describe one improvement to the shortcut and explain its purpose.
Step 5: Evaluate - 10 minutes
Use the following fixed questions to assess reading comprehension:
Question Expected answer
Where does Mother cook? In the kitchen
Where does Amir read? In the living room
What colour is Amir’s bag? Blue
Where is his bag? On the bed
Review the first and revised retellings alongside students’ answers.
Why This Lesson Works
Students experience automation as a process they can describe, inspect, and improve. Natural-language creation gives them an accessible starting point, while testing encourages them to check whether the result meets their needs.
The reading activity gives the automation a clear purpose. Students listen, locate evidence, retell, and revise, while Notes preserves their learning process.
The central habit is to check both the shortcut and its feedback:
Does it do what we intended, and does its suggestion match the passage?
How could your students describe a learning companion that supports their reading while keeping their own thinking at the centre?
Attach up to 5 files which will be available for other members to download.