Episode Transcript

ChatGPT Tutorial – How to use Chat GPT for Learning and Practicing English | Transcript

Podcast intro:

Welcome to the InFluency Podcast. I’m Hadar. And this is episode number 288. And today we are going to talk about how to use the incredible new AI tool (Artificial Intelligence), called ChatGPT, to practice and improve your English.

Hey everyone, it’s Hadar. How are you doing? Listen, I am addicted to this new thing that I’m gonna talk about today. It is so interesting, it is so much fun, it is so useful. And I think it can save you a lot of time and effort practicing English. That tool is ChatGPT. ChatGPT is an AI model that is capable of understanding and generating natural language.

So, it’s like having a robot at your disposal to practice English with, that does a really good job with so many things. Now, there are a lot of ethical questions about the use of Chat… ChatGPT. It’s a tongue twister, say it: ChatGPT, ChatGPT. I’m not going to advocate for using ChatGPT to write your papers, academic papers, or emails or stories. And I also think that even though you can use ChatGPT to have conversations, it’s never going to be the same as having a conversation with a human being. So let’s agree on that. It is not gonna replace people, or it’s not gonna save you from having to think and come up with your own texts.

But in this episode, I’m going to tell you all about how you can leverage everything you’re working on using this free tool. All right, so let’s go ahead and listen to today’s episode. It’s also on my blog with a YouTube video, and the reason why I’m saying that is because this episode is very visual with a lot of examples that you can actually see. So you might wanna watch the video later to get a better understanding as to how to use it.

And also on my website, in the blog, I give you a lot more examples and prompts and ways in which you can utilize ChatGPT to practice English. So you might wanna come back to it every now and then, whether it’s for you to watch the video or just read the blog post. So if you go to hadarshemesh.com/chatgpt in one word, you are going to find both the video and the article I wrote. You can also click the link in the description. Enjoy the episode.


Video transcript:

Are you ready to take your English skills to the next level? Well, get ready to meet your new virtual language partner – ChatGPT. This cutting-edge AI model is like having a personal English tutor at your fingertips. With its ability to understand and respond to natural language, it’ll make writing, grammar and vocabulary exercises more interactive and fun. It’s like having a personal English coach who’s always ready to help you improve. So, don’t wait any longer. Let’s dive in and see how ChatGPT can help you speak right and understand English better. Trust me, you won’t regret it.

I didn’t come up with any of this. You know who wrote the introduction for this video? ChatGPT. In fact, I asked it to write a text for an English teacher introducing ChatGPT to her class. And then it was kind of boring, so I asked it to make it a bit more fun, like an introduction to a YouTube video. And that’s what we got. The entire introduction was written by a robot, by ChatGPT.

So what is ChatGPT really? For those who are not that familiar with artificial intelligence, ChatGPT is a type of computer program that is designed to understand and generate natural language. It uses complex algorithm and a large amount of data to generate responses to questions or prompts that it receives. Think of it as a robot that can understand and respond to human-like conversation. And in this episode I’m going to show you a few amazing ways in which you can use ChatGPT to skyrocket your English practice. It’s pretty incredible. So, let’s get started, for real, this time.

One of the first things that you can do with ChatGPT is practice conversation, or practice a natural dialogue. You can actually have it generate scripts for you to practice different conversations in different situations. For example…

So we have an example of a back-and-forth conversation. So what you can do, you can actually read the conversation, see the type of language that is used, and practice with it. Or you can ask it to write a conversation at the bank.

“Hi, I would like to check my account balance, please.”

“Hey, sure thing, may I have your account number and personal identification number? Pin, please.”

“My account number is 123456, and my pin is 1234.”

Now, you can also ask it to have a conversation with you and ask it to correct your answers, your writing, grammar, and syntax. Take a look.

Another thing you can do is prepare for a job interview together. So you can actually ask it to simulate an interview with you, where it is going to be the interviewer, ChatGPT, and you will be answering questions, and ask for feedback on your answers. Take a look.

By the way, you don’t have to remember everything. I have written an elaborate blog post – I have written it, not ChatGPT – with a bunch of different examples on how to use ChatGPT to practice English effectively. And there are a lot more ideas over there, so make sure you check it out a link to the blog post in the description below.

All right, so one more thing you can do with ChatGPT is to practice vocabulary. For example, you can ask it for the meaning of a specific word. “What is livid?” And then you can ask it to use it in a sentence. “Give me three example sentences using the word livid.”

And here’s something else that’s pretty cool. You can actually copy this text and paste it to any type of text-to-speech software or program. For example, Natural Readers, I’m gonna show you how to do that. You can simply copy-paste it and then have it read it to you so you can also listen to it and not just read it. “The coach was livid when the team lost the game.”

You can also practice phrasal verbs. “Can you write a short text using as many phrasal verbs as possible?” You can actually spend a lot of time just asking silly questions and getting fun responses. Be careful.

Another thing you can do is to practice grammar with ChatGPT. So first, you can ask for an explanation on a certain grammar form or tense if you struggle with something. For example: “When to use the Future Perfect tense?” And you get a short explanation. But that is not enough. You want to see it in examples. And one of the best ways to practice grammar, and I have an entire video just about that, is to repeat certain structures and forms until you understand it subconsciously simply by the act of repetition of the same tense in the same context, but NOT the same sentences. So what I can do is ask it to generate example sentence for me.

And then when you get those lists, you can just repeat it again and again and say it out loud, or use text-to-speech and listen to it and repeat it back. Which is such a great way to practice grammar, especially when you’re trying to internalize the tenses that you find it really hard to get and to understand. Sometimes just the repetitions make it easier for you to understand it. And ChatGPT really helps with providing you with the resources to practice it effectively.

Another thing you can do is practice pronunciation with ChatGPT. So no, it’s not gonna give you feedback, but you can create for yourself some resources to practice pronunciation. Let’s say you wanna practice the R. So what you can do is ask it to write a sentence with as many Rs as possible. And then you can read it out loud or use text-to-speech to have someone read it for you and then you can repeat it.

Or let’s say you wanna practice the difference between sheep-ship and reach-rich – tense ‘ee’ and lax ‘i’. So you can do something complicated like this. Please write a sentence with the words reach, rich, least, list, seat, sit, leave, live. And then you just need to read it out loud and practice the difference between the tense ‘ee’ and the lax ‘i’ within the same sentence.

Now, again, just to remind you, everything is listed in my blog post with a lot of additional examples and prompts. So that you can use that and you don’t have to come up with your own ideas to practice effectively, whether it’s a conversation, grammar, pronunciation, and anything else you’d like to practice.

Another thing that ChatGPT can do for you is to simplify a complicated text. So for example, you can take an article from the New York Times that you might have some trouble understanding. You can copy-paste it into ChatGPT and ask it to simplify the article. And then it can rewrite it in a simpler language. You can also write that it’s for an intermediate or a beginner level speaker of English. And then it will write the text or rewrite the text accordingly.

Another incredible thing that ChatGPT can help you out with is writing. So for example, if you need to write an email, you can write a draft and then copy and paste it into ChatGPT, and ask it to make it more friendly or to make it more formal depending on who you’re writing to. So, no more sitting in front of the computer trying to figure out what to write and how to write it.

Now mind you, that everything that I suggested here has to do with writing, rewriting, practicing conversation, getting feedback. You can also ask for information, but please take into consideration that it’s not always accurate. So this is why I don’t necessarily recommend that. If you wanna learn English in depth, then maybe you should use some more traditional resources to learn things that are a little more than just the explanation of a word or a certain grammar form.

So to conclude, ChatGPT is an incredible tool. [I think I said ChatGPT like 600 times today.] It is an incredible tool to help you practice English effectively. It’s also a lot of fun, and it’s like a game. You can totally gamify your English practice. However, please remember that it will never replace a real human interaction, which is the essence of communicating in English.

It is a great tool for you to practice when you are on your own, when you have no one else to practice with. But it’s not ideal to help you learn how to have a real conversation and overcome the fear of speaking with others and generating real fluency, especially when you are the one who is speaking and not just writing.

So please remember that no matter what technology may offer, there is nothing like the real human interaction. And by the way, if you wanna find partners for conversation and practice speaking freely to others, you can definitely check out the InFluency community, our free English practice community, that is incredible and a safe and creative space for you to practice English with real humans.

Now, let’s make it even more exciting and let me know in the comments below how do you practice your English with ChatGPT. And definitely go check out my blog post with a bunch of other different examples on how to practice using this AI tool.

All right, that’s it. If you enjoyed this video, consider sharing it and liking it and subscribing to my channel. You can also check out my website at hadarshemesh.com, where you can sign up for my weekly newsletter to get the weekly lesson into your inbox every single week. And I also have a bunch of other resources for you to download for free.

Have a beautiful, beautiful rest of the day. And I’ll see you next week in the next video. Bye.