using AI for speaking practice
Most my clients only have one session per week with me. In that session they work hard and they make progress. However, to make the most progress possible in our time working together, you need to be speaking English outside the session as well. Just like learning a musical instrument, or playing a sport, the more practice you put in, the better you get. While some of your English practice can be done in silence e.g. learning vocab or doing grammar exercises, you also need practice at speaking.
AI has opened up a massive opportunity. You have a conversation partner who is there whenever you have time (in the car, while you are cooking, during your coffee break) is an expert in every topic imaginable, is happy to base the conversation around your needs, can speak in varying accents and can grade their language to the level you require.
Watch the below video to see just how good ChatGPT is at speaking. I use the paid version of chatGPT, currently 23€ per month but I've heard other AI bots are just as good. In the video, I talk about the weather as that was what everyone was talking about the week I recorded it! However, you can choose whichever theme is the most useful to you- annual performance review, streamlining processes, agile working etc. etc.
AI has opened up a massive opportunity. You have a conversation partner who is there whenever you have time (in the car, while you are cooking, during your coffee break) is an expert in every topic imaginable, is happy to base the conversation around your needs, can speak in varying accents and can grade their language to the level you require.
Watch the below video to see just how good ChatGPT is at speaking. I use the paid version of chatGPT, currently 23€ per month but I've heard other AI bots are just as good. In the video, I talk about the weather as that was what everyone was talking about the week I recorded it! However, you can choose whichever theme is the most useful to you- annual performance review, streamlining processes, agile working etc. etc.
This is all about giving you speaking practice, so stick to having a conversation. Please DON'T turn it into a lesson by asking for corrections and feedback (Plus the technology isn't good enough yet to give you reliable feedback anyway)
You get the best conversations when you give the AI bot a persona and a specific situation e.g. 'Dave from the accounts department and small talk by the coffee machine' or 'a client from a toy company and a call to update them on the marketing plan to support the launch of their new boardgame'. The more details you give, the more specialised the conversation can be.
If you work with people from a specific country, you can ask it to change it's accent. This works very well with native accents e.g. US and British and fairly well (but not perfectly) with non-native accents e.g French or Dutch.
If you are finding the English hard to understand, don't forget you can ask it to slow down or use simpler words, just like I do in the video. You can also ask it explain a word.
Here you can find five ideas of how you can use ChatGPT for conversation practice. However, this is only a starting point. The possibilities are endless.
You get the best conversations when you give the AI bot a persona and a specific situation e.g. 'Dave from the accounts department and small talk by the coffee machine' or 'a client from a toy company and a call to update them on the marketing plan to support the launch of their new boardgame'. The more details you give, the more specialised the conversation can be.
If you work with people from a specific country, you can ask it to change it's accent. This works very well with native accents e.g. US and British and fairly well (but not perfectly) with non-native accents e.g French or Dutch.
If you are finding the English hard to understand, don't forget you can ask it to slow down or use simpler words, just like I do in the video. You can also ask it explain a word.
Here you can find five ideas of how you can use ChatGPT for conversation practice. However, this is only a starting point. The possibilities are endless.