Making an ELA assignment bilingual & classroom-ready
A four-prompt system for scaffolded, bilingual assignments. Run CHECK. This tells you if you need to SCAFFOLD. If yes, run SCAFFOLD; then run TRANSLATE. Finally, run FORMAT HTML to generate a printable, styled PDF layout. Works in Gemini or NotebookLM.
What to do
1
Upload one assignment and its reading.One worksheet per run. Remove any answer key before uploading; CHECK will stop and ask you to if one is still in the file. A packet with several worksheets (a reading, a table, an essay planner, a rubric) is several runs; long files lose their tables. The reading is the poem, story, or article students will use. Upload the original Doc or Word file if you have it; scanned PDFs lose words.
2
Paste the CHECK prompt.It reads what you uploaded and tells you which prompt to run next, what's missing, and whether any quotes in the assignment are actually in the reading.
3
Do what CHECK says.Usually one of these:
Students write or analyze from a textPaste SCAFFOLD. When it finishes, paste TRANSLATE on the result.
Quiz, vocabulary, study guide, class activityPaste TRANSLATE.
4
Paste FORMAT HTML for a styled layout.Paste FORMAT HTML to turn the text into a styled worksheet with callout boxes, bordered question cards, and blank response lines. Save the output code as an
.html file or paste into CodePen, then press Ctrl+P / Cmd+P in Chrome to print/save as PDF. If Gemini gives you a file or opens a side panel instead of replying in the chat, that's still the TRANSLATE result. Paste FORMAT HTML next to get the print-ready version.5
Run the teacher check below, then export or print.In Gemini, use Export to Docs if keeping text, or save as PDF via Chrome. Copy-pasting raw text breaks formatting.
Prompt 1: CHECK run first, on whatever you have
Look at the attached files and answer in exactly this format. Do not rewrite, translate, or scaffold anything yet. 1. WHAT THIS IS One line: the type of assignment and what students must produce. 2. WHICH PROMPT TO RUN Read every question, not just the title. If any question asks students to explain, compare, judge, or write from a text (why, how, which, what does this suggest), even one at the end: "Run SCAFFOLD, then TRANSLATE." If every item is recall or fill-in: "Run TRANSLATE only." A quiz or test is always "Run TRANSLATE only," whatever its questions ask. One line saying which and why. 3. WHAT IS MISSING - Reading present (as a separate file or printed inside the assignment)? Yes / No / Not needed. Choose "Not needed" when the assignment does not depend on a passage (a vocabulary chart, a plot diagram from a book read in class, review questions). If a reading is needed and missing and SCAFFOLD applies: "Attach the reading before running SCAFFOLD." - Scanned or image-only PDF? Yes / No. If Yes: "Upload the original Doc or Word file if you have it; scanned text can lose words." - Answer key (answers to the items students must do) attached or printed anywhere in the file? Yes / No. If Yes, say where. Rubric attached? Yes / No. - More than one assignment in the file (several Name/Date headers or separate worksheets)? Yes / No. If Yes: "This file has [N] assignments. Split it and run one at a time." 4. PROBLEMS IN THE ASSIGNMENT Always report the first item; report the others only if they apply. - Quotations: list each one and say whether it appears word for word in the reading. If none: "No quotations in the assignment." If the reading is missing: "Cannot verify quotations." - A work or author named in the assignment that does not match the reading. - Teacher-facing material on student pages: standards codes, teacher notes, answer keys. - Anything students cannot do from the attached materials (a map, chart, or second text not included). 5. NEXT STEP Reply with exactly one of these lines and nothing else: - "Remove the answer key from the file, upload it again, and paste CHECK again." (Use this line whenever an answer key is attached, before any other.) - "Paste the SCAFFOLD prompt now." - "Paste the TRANSLATE prompt now." - "Attach the reading, then paste the SCAFFOLD prompt." - "Upload the original Doc or Word file, then paste CHECK again." - "Split the file into one assignment per upload, then paste CHECK again on the first one." Do not ask the teacher any questions.
Prompt 2: SCAFFOLD only if CHECK says so; run in English
Rebuild the assignment in this conversation as a scaffolded version for students still developing academic English. Use the assignment and the reading already uploaded here (a separate file or printed inside the assignment); they are the only source for quotes, banks, and examples. Do not ask for them again. Keep the standard; change the route to it.
KEEP
- The task, required items, required vocabulary, required evidence, and any required paragraph or essay structure, exactly as the original demands. Keep headings, section order, rubrics, and point values.
- Every table, with the same rows and columns, frames placed in the empty cells. A graphic organizer or drawing space keeps its shape, orientation, and cell count; nothing is pre-filled. If a table cannot be reproduced, write "[TABLE NOT REPRODUCED: name]" in its place.
CHANGE
1. Directions: numbered steps, one action each, plain English, two lines max. Remove standards codes and teacher notes.
2. Word bank from the reading: 6 to 9 short phrases copied word for word, in quotation marks, chosen to serve the task. Fewer if the reading is short; say so. Leave this section out entirely if the assignment has no passage.
3. Second-source bank: if the task uses a map, chart, image, or second text, list the terms or data the student needs from it, only what the materials provide. If the task needs outside knowledge ("compare to today"), give 3 to 5 plain factual phrases under "Background (not from the reading)" and nothing more.
4. Model example: one complete example in the exact format the student must produce, simpler and shorter than the real task. Built on a real quote when the reading has prose; otherwise built from the task (one item or cell completed correctly from the banks). Replace any model example in the original unless every quoted word is in the reading.
5. Frames. Chart, short response, or paragraph: a sentence frame with blanks for each required sentence or cell. Essay: an outline frame instead, one block per paragraph with a topic-sentence frame and labeled slots for evidence, explanation, and transition, plus one frame for the thesis and one for the closing sentence; do not write the essay. Required transitions, signal verbs, and vocabulary go in the frame text, never in blanks; a quotation the student must choose is a blank ([quote from the bank]), never filled in. The student's interpretation is always a blank: a frame never states or leads toward the answer, and a bracketed hint names only what kind of thing goes there, never a claim ("[how repetition affects the people]" is allowed; "[how routine erases individuality]" is the answer and is not). If the answer key's idea appears in a frame or hint, rewrite it.
6. Glossary: each required academic term with a one-line plain definition; short lists of signal verbs and transition or contrast words if the task needs them.
NEVER
- Quote, paraphrase, or attribute anything not in the reading. If no line supports the model example, write "no supporting line found in the reading" and continue.
- Add commentary, notes, a summary, or citation tags such as [cite: 1]. Return only the student-facing document, in English.
Prompt 3: TRANSLATE run on the scaffolded document, or on any assignment CHECK says needs translation only
Convert the assignment into a bilingual English/Spanish version for multilingual learners. If a scaffolded version appears earlier in this conversation, translate that; otherwise translate the attached document. Use only that one document. Do not add, remove, combine, reword, or summarize anything. LAYOUT - Stacked: every English line exactly as written, then its Spanish translation directly beneath, as its own italic paragraph. This applies to everything: headers, headings, directions, questions, answer choices, banks, frames, examples, glossaries. In a list, the Spanish sits under the item without repeating its number or letter. - Leave out any answer key or list of answers, its heading, and any line telling students where answers are; in its place write "[ANSWER KEY REMOVED]". Keep order, numbering, point values, blank lines, and tables. A table keeps its rows and columns with English and Spanish stacked in each cell; never drop one or turn it into a list. If it cannot be reproduced, write "[TABLE NOT REPRODUCED: name]". STAYS IN ENGLISH - Literary and primary-source text: poems, fiction, drama, speeches, letters, any passage by a named author that students read closely or quote, including quoted phrases inside banks, examples, and frames. A short Spanish gloss in parentheses after a quoted phrase is allowed. - Titles of works, proper nouns, and any word students must locate or produce. In a bank or glossary, each entry is one line, English / Spanish; an entry that already has a Spanish gloss gets no second line. - Copyright lines and standards codes. Everything else written for students is translated, including introductions, background paragraphs, context and key-terms boxes, model examples, and every frame with its fixed words and bracketed hints. Character names take a standard Spanish form only in the Spanish lines and only where one is widely used (Julieta, Fray Lorenzo). SPANISH - Neutral Spanish for a high school reader, tú in directions (Analiza, Escribe), plain wording with academic terms glossed in parentheses on first use. Where an article or adjective before a blank would reveal the answer's gender or number, rewrite the line. - Terms: sentence frame = marco de oración; paragraph frame = marco de párrafo; outline frame = esquema guiado; word bank = banco de palabras; signal verbs = verbos de cita; transition words = palabras de transición; model example = ejemplo modelo; glossary = glosario; background (not from the reading) = contexto (no viene de la lectura). OUTPUT - Title as a level-1 heading, section names as level-2, numbered questions as level-3, so they export as Heading styles. The Spanish version of a heading is normal italic text on the line below, not a heading. - Body text uses only bold, italics, numbered and bulleted lists, and tables. No literal symbols (#, *, -, >) and no citation tags such as [cite: 1]; remove any that appear. - Return the complete document only. No introduction, summary, or commentary.
Prompt 4: FORMAT HTML run after TRANSLATE or SCAFFOLD to generate a print-ready PDF layout
Convert the entire document above into one complete, standalone HTML file styled for student printing. Do not summarize, shorten, add, or omit anything. Remove any citation tags such as [cite: 1]. Return ONLY the HTML code block.
1. Page: @page { size: letter; margin: 0.6in; }. Font stack system-ui, -apple-system, Arial, sans-serif at 10.5pt, line-height 1.4. page-break-inside: avoid on question boxes.
2. Header: a table with the title, its Spanish title beneath, and underline slots for Name/Nombre and Date/Fecha.
3. Callout boxes for directions, word banks, and glossaries: background #f7fafc; border 1px solid #e2e8f0; border-left 4px solid #3182ce; padding 10px 14px; border-radius 4px; margin-bottom 12px.
4. Reading passages in a serif box: font-family Georgia, serif; background #fffaf0; border 1px solid #feebc8; border-left 4px solid #dd6b20; padding 12px 16px; margin-bottom 15px.
5. Bilingual text: English in #1a202c; each Spanish translation directly beneath in italics, #4a5568.
6. Response cards: each question and its frames in a card (border 1px solid #cbd5e0; border-radius 6px; padding 10px 12px; margin-bottom 12px), the question in a light header inside it (background #edf2f7; padding 8px 10px; border-radius 4px; font-weight 600). Blanks and bracketed hints get border-bottom 1px dashed #4a5568.
7. Tables: full width, borders #cbd5e0, light header shading, English and Spanish stacked in each cell. A graphic organizer keeps the orientation and cell count of the original: a horizontal strip stays one row of equal-width columns with tall empty cells; a grid stays a grid. Blank cells stay blank.
Teacher check two minutes, before you print
- Every quoted phrase in the word bank and model example is in the reading. Search the text for each one.
- Read the reading passage in the output against the original. Gemini can merge a caption or a key-terms box into the passage text.
- Every table from the original is there, with the same rows and columns.
- The model example is easier than what students must produce, not harder.
- Nothing your rubric requires was dropped.
- No answer key is on the page, and no line tells students where to find answers.
- The last item is complete. Gemini sometimes cuts off long HTML partway through; if it did, type "continue" in the same chat or run FORMAT HTML again in a new chat.
- Directions are in tú (Analiza, not Analice).
- Every Spanish line is in italics and tables survived. If exporting directly to Google Docs, use Export to Docs. If using FORMAT HTML, open the file in Chrome/Edge and press Ctrl+P / Cmd+P to save as PDF.
If a prompt refuses or asks for the reading, it's doing its job: attach the reading and run it again. If the model tells you it verified something, check anyway; it can be confidently wrong.
If the Spanish isn't in italics, or runs into the English on the same line Gemini does this about half the time; this fixes it in one step
Reprint the entire document you just produced. Change nothing except this: every Spanish translation is on its own line directly under its English line, never on the same line, and every Spanish line, including full paragraphs, list items, frames, and table cells, is in italics, while every English line is not. Remove every citation tag or bracketed source marker such as [cite: 1]. Do not shorten, summarize, or omit anything, and keep every table. Then I will export it.
Paste it in the same chat, right after the TRANSLATE result, then Export to Docs from the reprinted version. If it still comes back plain, the Doc is correct in every other way; the italics can be added by hand for the few lines students will read most (directions and questions).