Using ChatGPT learn English and practice conversation

 

Using ChatGPT to practice conversation

Want to practice small talk, daily conversations, prepare for a job interview, or find unlimited conversation topics? ChatGPT is a great tool to practice conversation when you don’t have access to someone to speak with. Use it to write conversations in different scenarios to repeat and learn from, or actually have a back-and-forth written conversation with the bot.

Have a conversation with ChatGPT: 

You can ask it to have a general conversation with you, or speak about something specific:

✏️Type in: Can we have a conversation about [topic]?

You can even use Chat GPT to correct your mistakes in English.

And you can ask for clarification to learn more about the correction so you know how to improve: 

You can also ask it to suggest certain vocabulary to use in this conversation:

Use ChatGPT to prepare for a job interview:

Are you preparing for a job interview but not sure where to start? With the right prompts, ChatGPT will simulate job interviews with you and even offer you suggestions on how to improve: 

✏️Type: Let’s conduct a mock job interview where you will be asking my questions as if I were interviewing for a [job role]. Please provide feedback on my answers.

Remember, the success of your practice depends on the quality of the questions you ask!
Don’t hesitate to ask the same questions in different ways, until you get a response you are happy with.

Prompts for practicing conversations:

• Let’s have a conversation about [topic]
• Let’s have a conversation about [topic] and correct my mistakes
• Let’s have a conversation about [topic] and suggest different vocabulary
• Let’s have a conversation about [topic] and suggest phrasal verbs I can use
• Let’s conduct a mock job interview where you will be asking me questions as if I were interviewing for a [position].

DOWNLOAD LIST OF PROMPTS TO PRACTICE English
to copy and paste into ChatGPT

Click here

Create your own prompts:

• You can also start a conversation by asking questions right away about specific topics you’re interested in such as science, history, technology, etc.  

For example: “ What do you know about quantum theory?”

• You can also ask ChatGPT to suggest conversation topics: “can you suggest topics for us to discuss?”

However, make sure you read through the risks of using chatGPT to use it wisely when it comes to asking for information.

Tip: Don’t worry about typos and spelling mistakes, it’ll understand you anyway.

Tip: ChatGPT’s database is currently based on data 15 months old or more.  That means that ChatGPT is not going to be able to have conversations about more recent events.

Practice with scripts of natural conversation:

Let’s say you have a specific conversation that you need to have, and you want to practice it to build confidence, prepare yourself, or make sure that you’re using the right vocabulary. 

You can ask ChatGPT to generate scripts for specific conversations.

You can also use any type of script you can create to practice pronunciation, vocabulary, and sentence structure. You don’t have to have these conversations with a real person in order to practice them!

Here are a few examples of how you can use it to generate natural conversations: 

Type in: Write a chat between a teacher and the mother of a student who is having a hard time in school
(don’t be afraid to be very specific with describing a situation):

Here as well, you can ask for guidance in finding the right vocabulary to use: 

✏️Type in: Can you suggest useful vocabulary to use in such conversations?

You can also use ChatGPT to ask for tips on how to speak about something. 
For example:

✏️Type in: What should I say to my boss if I want to ask for a raise?

Or turn it into a back-and-forth dialogue practice: 

✏️Type in: Can you write a chat between a boss and an employee asking for a raise?

You can make it even more interesting and specific, by adding additional instructions. Here’s the same conversation, but now not everything is going smoothly:

✏️Type in: Can you rewrite it? And this time, the boss will have more objections 

🔊Play the conversation:

Once ChatGPT has created a conversation, you can copy-paste the conversation to a text-to-voice software and play the conversation with a natural human sound (ok, not THAT natural, but still very helpful).

For example, NaturalReaders or Voicemaker.

When you play it, you can pause and repeat it for a better practice experience, especially if you’re an auditory or kinesthetic learner, or visually impaired. 

Tip:

If you use a text-to-speech reader to play a conversation between two people, you can also ask ChatGPT to rewrite the conversation it generated, leaving out the speakers’ names that are written in the chat. That way, when you play it in text-to-speech software, it will sound like a real conversation. 

Prompts:

Here are a few more suggestions for different real-life situations:

• Write a conversation at the bank about [scenario]
• Write a conversation at the supermarket
• Write a conversation between a customer support representative and a customer asking for a refund
• Write a conversation between two friends about sports

You can add follow-up requests: 

• Can you suggest phrasal verbs or vocabulary to use in this conversation?
• Can you rewrite it in the past tense/future tense? 
• Can you simplify the vocabulary?
• Can you use C2 level vocabulary?
• Can you add a conflict?

DOWNLOAD a list of PRACTICE PROMPTS 
to copy and paste into ChatGPT

Click here

Tip: Notice that when you write these prompts, you can use real language, and ask questions that you’d ask a friend or a teacher. I actually find myself using ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ sometimes, even though the ChatGPT won’t get offended when I don’t 😉 

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Using ChatGPT to improve your speaking fluency

One of the best ways to improve your speaking confidence and flow, and deliver a clear idea, is to speak and create original thoughts (unlike just reading conversations and scripts aloud).

But we don’t always have the privilege of speaking with others, and sometimes we don’t have the courage to.  

One effective technique I offer my students is to record themselves on video or audio speaking for 3 minutes every day about different topics. Then, if they want to develop and improve they can listen to their recording, rerecord it, and try to improve it (I talk about this technique here)

To practice speaking on your own, ChatGPT can suggest to you a bunch of different topics for you to talk about, so you keep it interesting and you don’t have to search for it every day.

Prompts:

• Suggest 10 controversial topics to discuss 
• Write 5 inspiring ideas for conversation
• Write 10 questions to reflect on 
• Write 10 ideas for a TED talk
• Suggest different conversation topics to speak with friends/students/colleagues

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Using ChatGPT to practice monologues and dialogues

Ok, I think this is my favorite part about this tool. As a pronunciation and fluency coach, I’m always on the lookout for great monologues and scenes for my students to practice.

Monologues, dialogues, and dramatic scripts are such a great tool to practice prosody, tone of voice, pronunciation, grammar, sentence structure, and vocabulary. 

With this tool, you can create scenes and monologues on command (and save yourself hours of online research).

Here’s how you can use scripts to improve your English fluency and clarity: 

For English teachers – you can practice these scripts with your students in the lesson, and help them focus on the things they’d like to improve like: stressed words, intonation, pronunciation, structure and more. 

For independent learners – you can read these scripts out loud and set your intention to focus on things you’d like to improve like the pronunciation of specific sounds, intonation, rhythm and stress, or other elements of speech. 

Here is a video with more information about how to practice intonation, rhythm and stress

You can also run your script through a text-to-speech program and then try to shadow it, but please keep in mind that sometimes the pronunciation (and especially the melody and tone) TTS programs yield may be inaccurate.

For example:

Type in: Write a dramatic scene between two lovers

Or a monologue: 

Type in: Write a comedic monologue about someone who lost all his money

Or a TED talk: 

✏️Type in:  Write a short TED Talk about dreams

 Or a political speech: 

✏️Type in: Write a speech on the topic of equality that would sound like a Michelle Obama speech

Fun, no? Just make sure you actually practice it after creating it! 

Here are some tips on how you can practice different tones of voice when you practice reading your script out loud

Prompts to generate scripts:

• Write a dialogue between two women that is similar in style to the TV show “Law and Order”
• Write a monologue about a broken heart
• Write a mystery scene between two characters
• Write a scene between two characters like a scene from the TV show Friends.
• Write a short TED talk about [topic]

DOWNLOAD a list of PRACTICE PROMPTS 
to copy and paste into ChatGPT

Click here

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Using ChatGPT for learning grammar

There are several ways in which you can improve your grammar using ChatGPT, I’m going to mention three of them. These tips are valuable for teachers looking for new ways to practice grammar with their students, and for self-learners looking for  a grammar checker, resources and feedback.

Ask ChatGPT to generate a text using a certain tense or grammar form

To understand a certain grammar rule, especially if it doesn’t exist in your language, it’s important to see it in context. 

ChatGPT can help you with that, by showing you how these tenses or grammatical concepts are used in context. 

For example: 

✏️Type in: Can you write a short story using the past perfect tense?

Explain grammar forms and rules

Instead of a Google search you can ask ChatGPT to explain to you in writing a certain grammar rule, or when to use a certain tense. Take into account that the explanation will not always be 100% correct! This is why books, websites and blog posts written by experts are more reliable.  However, when it comes to basic tenses and grammar rules it does a pretty good job and can save you time.

✏️Type in: Can you explain when to use the future perfect tense? 

Ask for feedback on your grammar:

You can also use ChatGPT as a grammar checker and to give you grammar feedback on your writing, and explain the corrections.

Use it to generate examples and build pronunciation confidence in grammar:

Building Pronunciation Confidence ™ is the idea of creating new speaking habits to internalize a certain sound, word, or grammar form. 

Repeating something that is new to you, in different ways will help you build confidence using it, as well as help you understand when to use it subconsciously. 

Learn more about building pronunciation confidence in grammar.

Once those sentences are created, read them out loud several times. If you’re not sure about the pronunciation of some of these words, look their pronunciation up in the dictionary or YouGlish. You don’t want anything to get in your way when you’re reading those sentences out loud.

Prompts:

• Correct my grammar mistakes in the following text [add text]
• Write a short conversation in [tense] 
• Write a short story using as many gerunds as possible 
• Rewrite this text in the passive voice [add text]
• Write 10 example sentences using [tense/grammar form]

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Using ChatGPT for learning vocabulary

Improving your vocabulary can help you gain more freedom and feel more expressive when speaking. ChatGPT can help you understand the meaning of words and show you how to use them in context. You can also ask more specific questions about words.

 Important Note: From my experience, memorizing lists of new words is not enough, and sometimes ineffective if you want to use them effortlessly in conversation. 

To be able to enhance your vocabulary you want to use a method that works. Here’s a method for building your vocabulary that you can use in addition to ChatGPT – Want to improve your speaking vocabulary? STOP LEARNING NEW WORDS

So first, you can ask for the meaning of a word. 

Now, it’s really important to use a new word in context, ideally several times, and repeat it out loud.

Use ChatGPT for a specific list of words related to a certain topic: 

Or an idea: 

Prompts:

• Write 10 sentences using the word [____]
• Can you write a sentence using the antonym of the word [____]? 

• Can you suggest synonyms for this word?
• Can you show me how to use this word in that same meaning but in a different context? 
• Can you show me how to use this word in its other meanings?

You can also ask for specific vocabulary lists: 

• Can you make a list of the most popular phrasal verbs and provide definitions and examples?
• Can you make a list of sports idioms and expressions in American English?
• Please give the most commonly used expressions in the business world

DOWNLOAD LIST OF PROMPTS TO PRACTICE English
to copy and paste into ChatGPT

Click here

 Important Note: 

Practicing lists of words is NOT going to be effective. Be careful not to go down the rabbit hole of generating lists of words and memorizing them. Instead, use ChatGPT to provide you with context and examples, and maybe small lists to use in certain situations. And always, ALWAYS say them out loud! 

Click to LEARN MORE ABOUT MY EFFECTIVE WAY OF LEARNING VOCABULARY 

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Using ChatGPT to improve your pronunciation

You can also improve your pronunciation skills using ChatGPT. 

A great way to do that is to ask it to generate sentences or words that you can practice saying out loud. You can ask for words or sentences where a certain sound is repeated, or with a sequence of two or more sounds (like the sequence SL in the words ‘slow’ and ‘sleep’), or words that contrast in just one sound (like ‘sheep’ and ‘ship’)

Important Note:

Note that this requires prior pronunciation knowledge so you know what to focus on and how to improve, as ChatGPT cannot listen to you nor offer you pronunciation feedback. 

Also keep in mind that, unlike a teacher, ChatGPT might rely on spelling alone. And since spelling and pronunciation do not always correspond, you may not always get a list of words with the same sound, despite your request. So your judgment is important. If you have doubts, use other tools to check it.  

Practice a sound: 

Contrasting sounds: 

Overcoming pronunciation challenges: 

Let’s say you have a few words that you struggle with. 

Using them intentionally in context can help:

You can also ask it to create lists of words or texts  

• Make a list of common words with the R sound at the beginning, middle and end. 
• Generate a list of common words with consonant clusters 
• Write a list of common words with 3 syllables or more
• Write a list of common words with the -ity suffix?
• Write a poem with rhymes 
• Write a rap song for a B1 speaker 

You can also use text-to-speech to play those sentences and repeat after them.

If you want to know what sounds to practice, you’re invited to download my pronunciation guides for specific speakers:

Pronunciation challenges for Spanish speakers

Pronunciation challenges for Brazilian Portuguese speakers

Pronunciation challenges for Russian speakers

Pronunciation challenges for Arabic speakers

Pronunciation challenges for Hindi and Urdu speakers

Pronunciation challenges for Chinese speakers

Pronunciation challenges for Korean speakers

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Using ChatGPT to Create a study plan

If you’re struggling with creating an effective practice routine, or you want to have a custom routine for studying for an exam, enhancing your business vocabulary, or getting to a B1 level of English, ChatGPT can help (but you will have to be specific about your needs). ChatGPT will create a routine and plan for you to help you study more efficiently.

Prompts:

• Please provide a practice plan for a B1 English learner to practice grammar every day for 15 min 
• Create a vocabulary-building plan for me if I want to focus on improving business English
• I want to improve my academic reading skills in English. Can you suggest a reading plan for me for the next 90 days?
• Can you create a 3 month IELTS study-plan for me? I have 30 minutes every day to study.

Important Note:

When it comes to improving and expanding one’s vocabulary, it seems that ChatGPT mostly recommends reading, using flashcards, and passive activities. For a more effective vocabulary practice, I recommend using my Pronunciation Confidence Method. And for that, ChatGPT can definitely help – simply ask it to generate sentences with words you want to practice out loud and integrate more into your speech.

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Using ChatGPT to improve your writing

ChatGPT can help you write better, and sound better. 

Let’s say you need to write an email to a colleague, and you’re not sure how to make it sound more polite. You can simply ask ChatGPT to rewrite it using a more formal tone or friendly tone. 

Once you do it, make sure you spend time comparing the different versions (yours and ChatGPT, and try to see what you can learn from the differences). 

You can ask it to suggest different vocabulary or general feedback, and ask it to explain. 

You can also get ChatGPT to help you write something from scratch: 

And ask it to revise it, if you’re not happy with it 😎

🚨Important Note:

To be able to improve, it’s important not just to use it to rewrite your text, but try to understand why those changes were made so that you can learn from them. 

This is how you improve in the long run! 

Also – I strongly advise you not to use it for any type of academic writing. There are tools that are trained discover whether or not you’ve been using AI to write your paper, and you can be accused of plagiarism. While writing may not be everyone’s cup of tea, learning how to write better will help you speak and understand better, and that is something no robot can help you with!

Prompts:

• Write an email about [topic]
• Correct my mistakes in the following text
• Please rewrite this text and explain your changes [add text]
• Can you suggest a better vocabulary to be used in this text? 
• Rewrite in a more informal way
• Rewrite this text in a more polite way

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Using ChatGPT to practice for TOEFL or IELTS

If you are studying for TOEFL or IELTS – you will definitely want this study buddy! If you’ve been preparing for TOEFL or IELTS, you know how helpful it is to have sample questions, practice tests, and the need to improve your vocabulary and grammar, as well as get feedback on your practice. ChatGPT will be your new best friend as you prepare for the exams. 

 

Here are some ways ChatGPT will become your new best friend as you prepare for TOEFL or IELTS:

Practice your writing skills:

ChatGPT will create sample TOEFL/IELTS writing prompts for you to practice your essay skills. But it doesn’t stop there! ChatGPT will give you feedback on your writing response, to help you improve your skills even more.

✏️Type in: Create sample writing prompts to prepare for the TOEFL/IELTS exam

Practice your speaking:

Practice your speaking skills by asking ChatGPT to create speaking prompts and questions. To practice your response, combine ChatGPT with my method for practicing your speaking skills. Watch: Skyrocket your fluency with 2 minutes a day

Vocabulary and grammar: Exams like TOEFL and IELTS have specific vocabulary and grammar structures that you should be prepared for on the test. You can give ChatGPT a word or grammar point and ask it to generate sentences using that word or grammar point that you want to study.

Get practice tests: You can ask ChatGPT to generate full-length practice TOEFL or IELTS tests, and it will generate the questions and the answers for you, and you can practice answering them!

 Important note:

Even though ChatGPT is an excellent resource for studying, it is not a replacement for an experienced tutor or teacher that is specialized in preparing students for these exams.

TOEFL/IELTS Prompts:

• Create sample writing prompts to prepare for [TOEFL/IELTS]
• Can you give me feedback on my writing sample, including suggestions for improvement and corrections of any grammatical errors?
• Can you provide a sample essay or writing prompt related to a specific topic, such as environmental issues or globalization?
• Generate a vocabulary list for [TOEFL/IELTS]
• Generate a practice test for [TOEFL/IELTS]

Download FREE prompts to practice English: 
copy-paste into ChatGPT

Click here

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Going Beyond ChatGPT in your English practice

When you learn a language on your own, especially if you’re an upper intermediate or advanced learner, there are several challenges you need to address. While ChatGPT can help you with many things, it won’t solve everything! 

Here are the main things you need to focus on if you’re a self-learner of English:

1. Identify what YOU need to work on. In other words, what to focus on so that you can get the best results out of your practice, in the least amount of time. ChatGPT WILL NOT help you with that. But this will – How to become fluent in English | Identify your challenges
2.  Find resources to practice with. This article and of course, ChatGPT, will help you with that! 
3. Get Feedback. ChatGPT is a great solution for feedback when it comes to writing. It will give you feedback on your grammar, sentence structure, and vocabulary.  However, it will not give you feedback on speaking.   If you want more coaching and feedback, make sure you get on the waitlist to our programs Beyond, our English practice membership, and New Sound, our signature program. 
4. Practice effectively. You could potentially find yourself going down the rabbit hole of ChatGPT, playing with this computer program instead of practicing English. So here are a few additional tips on how to stay focused and practice English effectively to become fluent.
5. Build strong learning habits. ChatGPT will not help you there, even though it may restore some motivation to practice in the short run. For building stronger habits I recommend that you watch 3 MUST HAVE Habits to Learn a Language.
6. Use English intentionally with other humans. Naturally, this is not the domain of a robot, so you’re invited to join the InFluency community to practice English for FREE in our speaking club. 

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Risks using ChatGPT

There are a few risks when learning English with ChatGPT that you want to be mindful of: 

It’s addictive and potentially distracting 

While ChatGPT offers many new possibilities when it comes to your English practice, I can easily see how one spends most of their time generating resources instead of practicing them, because it’s fun and easier than doing the actual work. Make sure that you don’t fall into the trap of the “Illusion of learning” , and you focus on using most of your time to implement what you learn. itionally, ChatGPT is not aware of context and cultural differences like a human would be. Furthermore, it could not be as interesting and motivating as learning with a teacher or with other people. Lastly, ChatGPT is mainly good for generating text, but it cannot perform other language-related tasks such as speech recognition or understanding.

English is meant to be used with people. 

Human interaction is not just important for a more accurate experience. Speaking with people as part of your English practice will help you develop confidence and fluency, and allow you to learn how to speak while also experiencing the pressure of being evaluated by another human. Or help you learn to develop and speak out your thoughts while also listening to others and making them feel comfortable. And that’s an integral part of learning a language.

Dealing with fears, dissatisfaction, and anxiety is part of the work, and you wouldn’t want to rob yourself of that experience, even though it may often be uncomfortable. 

By the way, if you struggle with a lack of confidence when speaking, I recommend that you check out My English Mindset – A 30-day audio program designed to help you build a healthy and powerful mindset in English.

You’re also invited to join our FREE community, to practice speaking in our speaking club with other amazing humans.

Inaccurate information.

Searching for content using ChatGPT, especially deep and thorough explanations about grammar or linguistics, may not always provide the most relevant or accurate information. The generated text may contain mistakes or inaccuracies and ChatGPT may not fully understand the context of the information being searched for. 

Remember that ChatGPT is mainly good for generating text. For content I would recommend using more  reliable resources such as English learning blogs, websites, and platforms, as well as learning with a teacher who can provide reliable information and resources

And I’m not the only one who thinks that!

Type in: What are some of the risks using ChatGPT for language learning?