Learn Vocabulary and English based on The English Gym

Reading texts about topics you are interested in and at a level that is at your current reading ability is a great way to improve your English skills. As I wrote before, ChatGPT can be used as a way to do write those texts. It can also be used in your English class! So, as an example, we will use a chapter from The English Gym, a textbook we are using for Communication English. We'll use Chapter 3, "Your Neighborhood." One advantage is this is available free online, so I think it does not go against copyright rules.

In the blog today I'll show you step to step how create a vocabulary list, how to ask ChatGPT to quiz you on the vocabulary (and give you feedback on it!), and how to ask ChatGPT to ask you discussion questions about the interview from the textbook. I won't show you how to scan in the text from the textbook (OCR) as I suggest in Step 1 below. I'll do that in the next blog! For today I've done it for you and have added the text from the interview at the bottom of this blog.

Step 1: Scanning the Text First, scan in the dialog from the book. If you don't know how to do this, don't worry - we'll cover this in a future blog post. Once you have the text, you're ready to move on to step 2. For the first three chapters of The English Gym you can copy and paste from the chapters provided at https://www.englishgymjapan.com/online. Later I'll show how to use Google Keep at keep.google.com to take a picture of the text and scan in the text.

Step 2: Creating a Vocabulary List Next, type the following prompt: "Please create a list of vocabulary to study from the following text:" Then add the text you would like to use. In this case, Unit 3: Your Neighborhood from The English Gym that we uploaded from Step 1. ChatGPT will then give you a list of vocabulary words from the text. Copy this list into a separate document (the Google Keep application is good for this, too)

Prompt: Please create a list of vocabulary to study from the following text: [Test From Dialog Inserted Here!] It might give you a different list. For some reason it separated the vocabulary for the two speakers in the dialog.

Ask me for the Japanese for each of these words one at a time. Correct me if I'm wrong:

American Man:

• interview
• neighbors
• residential area
• apartment
• concrete wall
• commute
• classic rock

Japanese Woman:

• small town
• peaceful
• boring
• yard
• tatami room
• western style
• vegetables and flowers
• restaurant
• shopping
• train
• classic rock
• hot and humid
• cicadas
• Hawaii
• mansion
• chandeliers
• pool boy

If ChatGPT doesn't prompt your for the next, word, you can also ask it to. Prompt: What is the next word from the list? or even just next word

Step 3: Vocabulary Quiz Now, type the following prompt into ChatGPT

Please quiz me on the vocabulary words in random order. 1. Ask me each word one at a time in Japanese. 2. Give me feedback on my response in English. 3. Ask me the next word. 4. Tell me when I am finished.

[Insert Text from Step 2 above]

Sometimes ChatGPT will "remember" what you posted before, but often you need to remind it. ChatGPT will ask you each word in English, and you will respond with the Japanese translation. ChatGPT will then let you know whether your answer is correct or not. If ChatGPT forgets, you can use the prompt, "Please ask the next word from the list please" to move on to the next word. By the way, you can give these instructions in almost any language, so asking ChatGPT to do things in Japanese is OK!

In this case, ChatGPT gave me a list of all the words all at once.

Sure! Here's a quiz on the vocabulary words from the conversation in random order:

1. 面接 (menkyo)
2. 近所の人 (kinjo no hito)
3. 小さな町 (chiisana machi)
4. 野菜と花 (yasai)

In this case, you can give a followup command. In this case, I wrote, Ask me one at a time

And I got the response

Apologies for the mistake. Here's the first word:

1. プールボーイ (pu-ru bo-i)

I typed in the answer pole boy

And ChatGPT responded with:

pole boy

The correct spelling is "pool boy". A pool boy is a person who is responsible for maintaining a swimming pool, and often performs tasks such as cleaning and chemical maintenance.

ChatGPT didn't go on to the next word, so I typed:

next word

Remember you can always give new commands or even go back and start over. ChatGPT doesn't ever get impatient.

Step 4: Understanding the Content Finally, you can ask ChatGPT to ask you questions about the content of the interview you uploaded in Step 1 with the following prompt: "

Please ask me questions about the content of the text. 1. Ask me each question one at a time. 2. Give me feedback on my response in English. 3. Ask me the next word. 4. Tell me when I am finished.

ChatGPT will then ask you a question, and you can try to answer it based on what you remember from the text. If your answer is incorrect, ChatGPT will give you the correct answer. You will probably have to paste in the original text from the interview that you copied in Step 1 above.

Once again, ChatGPT tried asking all the question all at once, so I had to ask it to ask one at a time. Here is a sample.

Sure thing! Here's the first question:

1. What does the Japanese woman say she's getting ready for?

I replied:

She is getting ready for work, which is not correct! And ChatGPT responded with: 

That's not exactly right. In the text, the Japanese woman says she's getting ready for "today's interview."

See that you can get feedback on your question!

Finished! You can do this activity with any text. Please give it a try!

Text from the Dialog from The English Gym, Unit 3, Your Neighborhood 

A: American Man B: Japanese Woman A: Good morning, Yuna. B: Good morning, William. What’s up? A: Nothing much. What’s up with you? B: Nothing really, just getting ready for today’s interview. You ready? A: Yep! A: Do you live around here? B: I live about 45 minutes from here, in Kashiba, Nara. A: Kashiba? Small town? B: Yeah, pretty small, but it's very nice. A: What's your neighborhood like? B: It’s mostly a residential area. There are also a lot of farms and mountains. A: Sounds very peaceful and quiet. B: Yeah, it's nice but it can be a little boring. A: Can you tell me about your neighbors? B: Sure. My neighbors are pretty friendly. We always chat when we see each other. We even used to barbecue together when I was little. A: That's cool. You don't barbecue together anymore? B: Not so much. I guess I'm kind of busy now. A: OK. A: What's your home like? B: It's a two-story house. Um, kind of western style. We do have a little tatami room, though. A: Do you have a yard? B: Yeah. That's where we used to barbecue. My mom has a garden and she grows some vegetables and flowers. A: Sounds nice. I live in a little apartment in the city. The view outside my window is a big, concrete wall. (haha) A: What are some fun things to do in your neighborhood? B: Nothing really. It's kind of boring. So, I usually hang out in Osaka with my friends. A: What do you do in Osaka? B: Usually just go to a restaurant or go shopping. Sometimes we'll go to a movie. A: Sounds good. A: How do you get to school? B: I take the train. A: How long is the ride? B: About 30, 35 minutes. The station is a bit far from campus, though. It takes about 15 minutes to walk. A: Well, I guess that's good exercise. A: What do you usually do on your commute to school? B: I usually just listen to music. A: Oh, yeah? Who do you like? B: Well, recently I'm getting into some classic rock, like The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. A: That's cool. A: What's something you don't like about your neighborhood? B: Um, it's a little boring! In the summer it's really hot and humid. The cicadas are really annoying, too. A: Yeah, they can be really loud sometimes. A: Where would you like to live in the future? B: Hawaii would be nice! A: Yeah, I'd love to live there too! B: I'd need a good job, though. I hear it's very expensive. A: Yeah, it must cost a lot to live there. A: Would you like to live in a mansion someday? B: Like a real mansion, with chandeliers and stuff? A: Yeah, like a super rich house. B: Sure! Why not? If I became super rich, I'd buy a mansion in Hawaii. A: Could I come and visit you? B: Of course! You could live there as the pool boy! (haha) A: (Haha) OK! Yeah! That sounds great.