How to use AI to create audiobooks and classroom resources

You may be thinking now, “Great, another thing to learn and implement.” I understand that. I myself have felt this burden many times. However, let me show you why this particular change is not an additional obligation, but an investment that pays off in no time.

1. Argument 1: You are leveling the playing field without additional work. In each class, you have students with different learning styles and different needs. For a student with dyslexia, an audiobook from reading is not a whim, it is the only chance to get to know the content comfortably. For an auditory learner, a lecture to listen to on the way to school is much more effective than reading notes. With AI, you create content that is inclusive and accessible to everyone, doing almost the same work as writing a regular note.
2. Argument 2: You engage where the text loses. We live in a culture of podcasts, reels, and streaming. Students are used to consuming content in the form of audio and video. When a “voice from the past” talks about the Battle of Grunwald or a professional-sounding voice-over explains the process of photosynthesis, you break through the information noise. Sound builds emotion and tension in a way that text alone often cannot. This translates into fewer discipline problems and greater focus on the lesson.
3. Argument 3: You are reclaiming your most valuable resource – time. Instead of recording and editing the footage yourself, which takes hours, you outsource it to artificial intelligence, which does it in minutes. The time you have spent so far creating teaching aids can be spent talking to the student, refining the lesson scenario or… just to rest.

What are you risking by ignoring this topic? In the long run, the deepening apathy of students who feel that the school does not speak their language. You also risk your own burnout by trying to create materials by hand and after hours that technology can generate for you during your coffee break.

Workshop: How to do it step by step?

Let’s get to the specifics. Here’s a simple, 5-step process that will allow you to create your first audio material today.

Choose a material and define a goal

Don’t jump into the entire core curriculum right away. Start with a small but problematic passage. It can be:

• Norwid’s poem is difficult to understand.
• A key passage of a biology textbook describing the cell cycle.
• A project manual that no one ever reads.
• Definitions to remember before the WOS test.

Before you begin, ask yourself one question: What does a student want to do or know AFTER listening to this material? Your goal must be simple. For example, “The student can name the three stages of mitosis” or “The student knows what our discussion will be about in class“.

Prepare text for AI

Artificial intelligence is powerful, but it is not clairvoyant. To get a good effect, you need to give it a “clean” material.

• Copy the text into a simple editor (e.g., Notepad, Word, Google Docs).
• Clean it: remove page numbers, headers, footers, strange formatting.
• Add simple hints (optional): In more advanced tools, you can add intonation suggestions in square brackets. For example, “[mówiąc z powagą] the fate of the Republic of Poland hung by a thread” or “[zrób krótką pauzę]”.

Pro-Tip from Practitioner: Start with one, proven class. Test the first audio material on them and openly ask for feedback. Ask, “Does this form help you? What can we improve in it?” Students will give you the best tips and feel like they are co-creators of the lesson. Only after you have refined the format, implement it in other groups.

Choose a tool and generate audio

You don’t need a professional studio. All you need is one of these free (or having a generous free plan) app:

1. Prepare the text according to the template below.
2. Go to the website of one of the recommended tools (list in section 5).
3. Paste your text into the appropriate field.
4. Select a voice (Polish, male/female voice).
5. Click “Generate” and after a while, download the finished MP3 file. It’s really that simple.

Text Preparation Template for Audio Generation

• Material title: [np. Fragment „Pana Tadeusza” – Grzybobranie]
• Didactic objective (what the student should be able to do after listening): [np. Zrozumienie
• descriptions of nature in the epic, capturing key metaphors]
  Text to paste (after cleaning):
  – [Wklej tutaj czysty tekst z podręcznika/książki. Upewnij się, że nie ma numerów stron ani nagłówków.]
  – Instructions for AI (optional)
  – [Początek: głos narratora, spokojny, męski, lekko zamyślony.]
  – [Fragment opisujący grzyby: czytaj z ciekawością, nieco wolniej,podkreślając kolory.]
  – [Zakończenie: podsumuj tonem refleksyjnym.]
  – Task for the student to complete AFTER listening
  – [np. Wypisz trzy porównania, których użył autor. Bądź gotów/gotowa opowiedzieć o nich na lekcji.]

Enrich and share your content

An MP3 file sent by email alone is not enough. Wrap it in a way that is attractive

• Create a simple graphic: Use Canva to create a board with a title, cover photo, and a QR code or link to an audio file.
• Add context: Upload the material to Padlet, Google Classroom , or Teams. In the description, add one or two questions that you want students to pay attention to as they listen.
• Share: Share with students with a clear message: “This is your 5-minute preparation for tomorrow’s lesson. Please listen to him at any time.”

Plan an activity in class (MOST IMPORTANT STEP!)

The audio material is only a preliminary task. The real magic happens in the lesson, which thanks to it becomes a workshop, not a lecture. What can you do?

• Quick Warm-Up: Start with a 3-question quiz on Kahoot! or Mentimeter based on audio material.
• Work in groups: Divide the class into teams and ask them to create a mind map, poster, or list of arguments based on what they heard.
• The “one sentence” method: Ask each student to write down the most important information from the recording in one sentence on a piece of paper. Collect them and discuss the most common answers.

You have regained class time that would normally be taken by a lecture or reading together. Now you can dedicate it to real interaction.

Scenarios from school life: Case studies and typical pitfalls

The theory sounds good, but what does it look like in practice?

Scenario 1: Mrs. Kasia and the “disliked” reading in class 5c

• Problem: Kasia’s students did not want to read “The Boys from Broni Square“. They complained that the book was boring and the descriptions were long. The class was diverse, with several students with a dyslexia certificate.
• Application of the method: Kasia used an AI tool to record three key parts of the novel in the voice of a young, energetic boy: the moment of the election of the chairman, the scene of the fight for the square and the touching scene of Nemeczek’s death. She shared the recordings with the class the day before the discussion, asking them to listen and choose the passage that made the greatest impression on them.
• Result: The discussion was livelier than ever in class. Even students who did not read the whole thing knew the key scenes and were able to take part in the conversation. For the first time, students with dyslexia actively volunteered to respond. The attendance of reading the book increased with the next item, because the “audio-teasers” intrigued the students.

Scenario 2: Mr. Tomasz and complicated processes in high school

• Problem: Mr. Tomasz, a chemistry teacher in high school, had difficulty explaining the abstract polymerization process. The drawings on the blackboard and the diagrams in the textbook did not reach everyone.
• Application of the method: Tomasz prepared a 3-minute script in which he described in the form of storytelling “the journey of a monomer that looks for friends to create a large polymer molecule“. He recorded the text with the help of AI and added some schematic drawings in a simple video editor (Clipchamp). He made the video available to the students as revision material before the test.
• Result: The students rated the material as “the most understandable explanation of chemistry they had“. The results from the test in this section were 15% higher than the average from previous years.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them:

• The Perfectionism Trap: You worry that a synthetic voice sounds a little artificial.
  – Solution: Accept that it won’t be perfect at first. Your goal is to pass on knowledge and increase accessibility, not to win a voice-over competition. Good quality free tools are already really great!
• Tech trap: You try to learn five different tools at once.
  – Solution: Choose ONE speech generation tool and ONE graphic creation tool (e.g., ElevenLabs + Canva). Master them to perfection. That’s all you need to get started.
• Audio lecture trap: You create a recording, but you don’t refer to it in class.
  – Solution: Always remember step 5. Audio material without a scheduled activity in the lesson is just another file on the Internet. What you do with it in the classroom is the key to success.

Teacher’s Essentials: Tools and Resources

You don’t have to look for anything. I’ve put together a list of proven, free tools for you that are perfect for you to get started.

Tools for Audio Creation (Text-to-Speech):

1. ElevenLabs (https://elevenlabs.io/) – The absolute leader when it comes to the quality and naturalness of voices in Polish. The free plan allows you to generate 10,000 characters per month, which is more than enough to prepare a few materials.
2. Microsoft Clipchamp (https://clipchamp.com/pl/features/text-to-speech-generator/) – Built-in Windows and available online free video editor. It has a great text-to-speech feature. Perfect if you want to combine audio with image or text boards right away.
3. Natural Readers (https://www.naturalreaders.com/) – A simple, web-based tool that allows you to quickly paste text and listen to it. The quality is slightly lower, but for quickly creating instructions or definitions, it is ideal.

Visuals and sharing tools:

1. Canva (https://www.canva.com/pl_pl/) – An indispensable tool for every teacher. In 5 minutes, you can create an aesthetic graphic for your podcast, a worksheet with a QR code to record or a simple video presentation.
2. Padlet (https://padlet.com/) – A virtual cork board where you can easily place an audio file along with a picture, a link and questions for students. Great for asynchronous work.

Summary: Your personal checklist

I hope you already feel that this tool is within your reach. To turn inspiration into action, let’s summarize the three most important thoughts:

AI is your personal assistant, not a deputy. Delegate tedious, technical work to them, and you focus on what’s most important – the relationship with students and the planning of engaging experiences.

1. The sound reaches where the text meets the wall. You level the playing field and make your lessons more accessible and inclusive for every student.
2. The most important thing is what happens AFTER the hearing. The real value of this method lies in the time you regained in the lesson, which you can spend on discussion, analysis and practical exercises.

Your roadmap for implementation – Checklist to get started:

• Choose ONE short (max. 500 words) piece of text for your first experiment.
• Clear the text from the formatting and paste it into Notepad.
• Go to ElevenLabs, paste the text and generate an MP3 file.
• Create a simple graphic in Canva, add a link/QR code , and share with one class.
• Schedule a 5-minute activity at the beginning of the lesson (e.g., “What surprised you the most about this recording?“).

That’s all. Start small and you will see how much of a difference they can bring.

For immediate use

Want to get started now? Here are 3 micro-tasks you can complete in the next 24 hours:

• Tomorrow on break: Take a paragraph from the manual you’ll be discussing, go to the ElevenLabs website, and just paste it to hear how it sounds. You don’t need to save anything. It only takes 2 minutes to get used to the tool.
• This week: Record a 2-minute audiobook with a snippet of a definition or trivia related to your subject. Send it to one class and ask, “What do you think? Better than text?”. Collect feedback.
• Before the next test: Create a 5-minute audio summary of the most important concepts for review. Share it as a supplemental material and see if students will benefit from it.

Appendix: Extended Modern Teacher Essentials

You already know the absolute basics. The following tools will take you one step further – from a simple audio file to fully interactive materials that will delight your students. Remember the golden rule: choose one tool from a given category and master it well, instead of jumping from flower to flower.

Category 1: Alternative and more advanced speech generators (TTS)

If the votes from the basic tools are not enough for you or you are looking for additional features.

Speechify (https://speechify.com/)

Why is it worth it? It’s a listening combine. Not only does it generate speech, but it also has great browser plugins and mobile apps. Your students can use it to listen to any article on the internet. The Polish voices are very natural, and the interface is friendly. Perfect for teaching independence.

VoiceOverMaker (https://voiceovermaker.io/)

Why is it worth it? Often compared to ElevenLabs, it offers a slightly different set of voices and an advanced editor where you can fine-tune pauses and accents in your text. A great tool if you want more control over the final sound of the recording.

Cohesive (https://cohesive.so/)

Why is it worth it? It’s an all-in-one platform. In addition to the voice generator (which supports Polish), you’ll find an AI-powered text editor (it will help you write a script) and even an image generator. A good choice if you want to have a lot of features in one place, without switching tabs in your browser.

Category 2: Simple audio and video editors (when you want to cut or merge something)

Sometimes the AI will generate a second of silence too much, or you want to add a quiet background music to the recording. These tools will help you with that.

Audacity (https://www.audacityteam.org/)

Why is it worth it? It’s a legend. Absolutely free, professional audio editing program. It may seem complicated at first, but you only need to learn the two functions: “Cut” and “Insert Silence” to increase the quality of your recordings. Perfect for cutting out a mistake or adding an intro recorded in your own voice.

Online MP3 Cutter (e.g. https://mp3cut.net/pl/)

Why is it worth it? Simplicity above all. You enter the website, upload the audio file, move the sliders to select the fragment to be cut, and download the finished file. No installation, no login. It solves 90% of editing problems in less than a minute.

Canva Video Editor (https://www.canva.com/pl_pl/wideo/)

Why is it worth it? Yes, Canva again! Its video editor is trivially simple. You can upload your audio recording as an audio track, add some slides with key passwords or images to it, and export the whole thing as an MP4 file. This way, you create a simple “educational music video” in 5 minutes.

Category 3: Platforms for creating interactive content (where audio is part of a larger whole)

The audio itself is great, but placed in an interactive context, it works even stronger.

Genially (https://genial.ly/)

Why is it worth it? It’s real magic. It allows you to create interactive images, presentations, and infographics. Imagine a map of Europe, where when you click on Poland, you play a recording about its history, and when you click on Italy, you play a recording about the Roman Empire. Your audio content becomes part of a compelling, visual adventure.

ThingLink (https://www.thinglink.com/)

Why is it worth it? Similar to Genially. It specializes in adding “hotspots” to photos and videos. You can upload a photo of Jan Matejko’s painting, and then place markers at different points of the work – after clicking on one, the student will hear the story of a given character, and after clicking on the other, the analysis of the symbol.

Edpuzzle (https://edpuzzle.com/)

Why is it worth it? It’s a tool made to work with video (including those created in Canva or Clipchamp). You can upload your material and then insert open-ended or closed-ended questions at key moments. The student watches and listens, and the video stops, forcing them to think actively and answer the question before moving on.

Pro-Tip from a practitioner: Don’t try to use all of these tools at once. Think about what your goal is.

• Just want to record a quick read? Stay with ElevenLabs.
• Want to make a video out of it with captions? Add Canva.
• Do you want students to answer questions while listening? Try Edpuzzle.

Gradually expand your workshop and technology will become your true ally. Good luck