Chat GPT In Language Learning (part 2)

Idioms, a key part of language

I noticed a lot of textbooks don't have enough idioms. Particularly on a junior level. It's kind of crazy when you consider how common they are in our daily conversation in the realm of natural English.

So, here are a few that might be of interest to students;

When it rains it pours -> This can be used in both negative and positive situations. We use this to describe that when one thing happens, another or a few events seem to follow. For instance a student came down with COVID 19 and her air conditioning broke down a day later. When it rains, it pours, eh?

Kill two birds with one stone -> This idiom meaning to accomplish two things in one action is easy to imagine. In fact there is a similar idiom in Japanese, as there is for the previous one, so when your students study this, they will say, 'oh, I get it!'

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. -> This is more of a proverb than an idiom but it is a good way to encourage positive thinking. The basic idea is when you are met with trouble (lemons), you should do you best to turn it into a positive situation (refreshing lemonade).

Take it on the chin -> When you are down or something bad happens to you, accept the situation and don't complain or turn it into a big problem. Be positive even in adversity.

I like to focus on positive expressions and situation as sometimes learning a language can feel like a very negative situation, especially for some beginners.

Teachers can teach idioms by making a guessing game (can you guess the meaning of this idiom), or finding ways to draw these out in the course of discussion in class. Make sure the students make a note and try to quiz them later or provide them with an opportunity to use them in a class.

Dragon Stew Teaching

When I was younger I really thought the story of Dragon Stew was quite clever, and the solution to the problem was so simple that it was genius!

If you don't know the story (and I may get a fact or two wrong as it has been years), the basic idea is that a King declared that he wanted to eat Dragon Stew and he tasked his people with catching a dragon. The dragon was caught and was getting prepped to be cooked in the stew. When it came down to the crucial moment, the dragon was desperate for his life and he talked the king into allowing him to cook a meal for him. He asked the king what he liked and he listened carefully and he used the information he had learned to make an absolutely delicious meal. The dragon managed to secure the job as the king's personal chef and he did so by listening every day and making exactly what the king wanted. Win/win. The dragon lived and the king got his 'dragon stew', though in the end that meant it was a stew made by a dragon. Apologies if I have mixed up some details of the story (let me know in the comments!).

Subconsciously, this has bled through into my philosophy as a teacher. There are, of course, non-negotiable staples that need to be in the classes I teach but beyond that, we need to know how we are going to please our students. How are we going to make our lesson time productive and useful for them? The answer is in their words, in their mannerisms in their consistent mistakes. Pay attention, take note and adapt your curriculum to those needs. Put aside your ego or the sense of entitlement your years of teaching affords you. We should always be developing and growing as teachers, this is how we keep our job and our lessons fresh.

On top of that, you can avoid being eaten. :-)

Chat GPT for language positive points

I posted a few times about why I felt it was dangerous to rely too much on ChatGPT for your English needs in business (here and here). I also allowed ChatGPT itself to counterpoint, teaching us some of its positive points. But I would not be a fair and impartial person if I didn't acknowledge some positive points.

It can work as a proofreader. You could copy your writing into the interface and ask it to proofread. If you ask it to preserve your own words as much as possible it could be a win-win.

It could take care of some routine communication that is not vital or involving company secrets.

If you feel your business partner is sending you ChatGPT e-mails, why not return the favor?

It can keep you company if you work alone or at home. Have a fun chat with it.

I still feel it is important to stick to your own word when you are building a business connection or you need to deal with sensitive information. But I exist in the real world and understand that people will use it sometimes, much as they use Google Translate when they are short on time to write an e-mail. But always proofread it and make sure that ChatGPT is saying what you would like to be communicated on your behest.

What is your favorite English word?

Sometimes when teaching English, it is great to engage the students in exploring language purely. No I don't mean drilling them on grammar rules, they will mutiny and steer the ship to free talk in no time. I mean the words and the peculiarities that exist within the realm of the language.

I started doing an activity I called Think Fast, in which I would ask them a question and they would then have to say the first answer that come to their mind (no repeats, no thinking time). Completely wrong answers are okay too, the point is to see their comprehension capabilities. One of my favorite questions in that series was, "What is your favorite English Word?" Naturally I have asked this in other contexts as well. Here are a few of my favorite answers and some thoughts on them when appropriate;

I love you (hmm not a single word)

Gotcha

Sleep/holiday (same idea so I lumped them)

bargain

difficult

easy (they were in different classes, I swear)

Of course I often offer an answer but I never standardized but sometimes my answer are quite random such as;

onomatopoeia

luscious

modest

perpendicular

How about you? Do you have a favorite English word?

*note- I am Canadian and the actual spelling should be 'favourite' as British English dictates. However, I have been studying in an online American university so have taken to American spelling, apologies to my Canadian brethren.

So, what are the differences between face-to-face and online lessons

I will say right off the bat, that I am not against teaching English over Zoom. If there were no video conferencing options during the pandemic, I would be in a really bad place right now. There are many good tools that flow smoothly, especially the Whiteboard which is such a great tool to use in class. There are also Breakout Rooms and Polls which can be useful in classes. These features exist in Teams, but I have found them more difficult to find and activate, so Zoom is my tool of choice there.

But face-to-face?

Live!

There is just something so refreshing and so much more crisp about a lesson in the same room. Students seems to communicate and connect more with the teacher, everyone looks more comfortable and the classes just go more smoothly. Not even considering the occasional Internet connection issues that are experienced, things just seem to flow that much better! A teacher can make more dynamic use of the teaching environment, alternating between sitting, standing and whatever falls in between the two. When LGC started some lessons with a new client this year, I felt like I was coming home after a long absence. It was so refreshing! Everyone seems to connect better and the students are completely free of temptations to be distracted (I have caught a number of students with their televisions on as background noise in the Zoom era). It just feels like the right way to do classes.

Of course, we can do both types of classes and the students always get full effort from the teacher, but it was just so great to get back into the classroom again. If you are in Hamamatsu, where we are based, or nearby (Toyohashi, Kakegawa, Iwata, Fukuroi), you can take advantage of our experience, dedication to teaching and enthusiasm for making a difference with in-person classes. If you are elsewhere, we can still work out online lessons or I am open to offers of short programs within reach of a Shinkansen!

Signs, signs everywhere a sign

My previous post about unusual signs was just scratching the surface, strange English can be found in a variety of places such as on t-shirts, menus or bags. Here are a couple more examples (courtesy of my acquaintance WM).

This sign is very near in their communication but it just feels very... well... generated using Google Translate or Weblio (my bane, some of the translations from this site have confounded me over the years). The most glaring error is the phrase, "what a so tasty". Why the heck is the 'a' in there? And it just doesn't work. It should be "What a tasty treat!" or simply, "How tasty." If I were to make this more natural I would probably say, "Congratulations! You have selected one of our shop's most popular treats. We are dedicated to seeing our customers' happy faces as they say, "How tasty!" We will never give up on our pursuit of making tasty treats. We are only satisfied if our customers are and we extend all of our efforts with the hope of seeing our customers' smiles. We are looking forward to your next visit." With a little more time I would smooth it out even further and leave your foreign guests feeling welcome with your strong and natural English.

With this sign, they really tried and again were not far off the mark. The section about the 'batch setting system' is a little awkward, I would change that sentence to say, "The air conditioning system is controlled centrally, so you are unable to adjust the temperature yourself." And the last part used 'fade away' when it should probably be 'turn off', so it should read- ' the green lamp will turn off when you push the power button and turn off the air conditioner. The monitor will also automatically turn off after a short time. '

Clear communication contributes to your branding and helps your foreign guests feel confident in your company. If you don't have the time and you want a native speakers input at a reasonable cost, we can help!

Use that idiom properly

So you just learned a new idiomatic expression and you know that the best way to remember is to try to use it. You have to tread carefully and make sure it comes out sounding naturally. While most people will forgive you for making a mistake, you run the risk of forever using it incorrectly after that.

For instance Jun picked up the phrase, " a fish out of water", which means to feel out of place in a setting. It is usually used when talking about a human's feelings but he accidentally used it talking about an object that was out of place in the office. "That clock next to the door is like a fish out of water," he says. His colleagues know that he is trying, so no one corrects him and just nod awkwardly. After that he continues to use it in the same context to the point that it becomes habitual and it is tough to stop once he becomes aware of the situation.

So how to avoid it? Here are some ideas;

Listen actively, try to catch how other people use the expression

Google the new phrase, maybe you will find a video using it.

Ask a teacher or strong English speaker

Read! It's a great way to feed not only new vocabulary but also ideas of how to use words and phrases.

And, on the other side, if you are a bit higher level than your friend or coworker, it doesn't hurt to correct them.

Don't let this post make you feel anxious about using the new expression, you have to make mistakes to learn. Just take the time to research it and always communicate with open ears and an open mind.

Happy 2025

Hi, everyone! It's already a month and a half into 2025 and I am just updating now! 2024 was such a busy year and that spilled over into this year as well, but that is just an excuse. Like with studying a language or skill, it is important to stay focused and dedicated to what is important.

We are still in business and we are working to help LGC's clients with growing their language skills or addressing needs in establishing business links into Japan.

I have never talked about where we are based or what areas we serve. As far as face-to-face lessons go, we are based in Hamamatsu in Shizuoka so are able to service businesses in the outlying area. Naturally, online is always an option anyway.

We are always at the ready to work with you, so never be shy to contact us and let us know what you need!

Put the test mentality behind you

I was aware of the big problem in Japan before seeing my own children battling through it. It hinders language students from the beginning. It remains, wrongly, the criteria that companies use to gauge success.

Japan's education system is anchored around a focus on tests. Every course, every textbook is centered around the students taking and passing exams. It is very common that the children will go to cram schools called juku, where they essentially are trained the ins and outs of how to pass the tests to get to the next tier of education. And this stands in the way of their ability to actually speak the language that they speak, because schools don't set a curriculum based on activating the language they use.

This continues on to the adult level. TOEIC, the Test of English for International Communication is the standard that companies and some institutions measure people's ability to communicate. Which means that company workers are bound by a similar constraint of a system focused on the wrong thing, the ability to actually speak. I have taught students with strong TOEIC scores in the 700's (990 is best) but are unable to string together a few sentences. Similarly I have taught students in the 400's who manage to communicate consistently. It is just not the right focus.

English training, or any language for that matter, needs to be centered around a focus on actually speaking and relaying information. Classrooms need to be loud with students using the target language in structured, productive, activities. And it needs to be the students' voice you hear the most, not the teachers'. Activating and getting practical experience can help push Japan towards a stronger average level of proficiency. Japan is ranked at #87 in the world in the global English proficiency rating (LINK), which is labeled as 'Low Proficiency'. It would help to see this over-reliance on tests change from the Elementary level, but as trainers of Adult Speakers we can make a difference by giving our students every chance to speak, but ensuring that the lessons are productive and there is always a takeaway.

I should qualify that tests are not all bad. They do provide a motivation to study and some people really grow their vocabulary trying to do well in their tests. Also companies do need some way to measure people's progress, especially if they are spending money on English training programs. But the current test systems are insufficient and there needs to be a way to measure people based on their ability to communicate. I don't have the easy answer to this, but my eyes are open to how we can achieve this. Either way, for now, I am focused on improving the opportunity to speak while ensuring the students have multiple takeaways from each class.

Broadening experiences

On a personal note, I really feel that I enjoyed a large growth as a language facilitator over the last 5 years. By taking on new experiences and prodding the English language from different angles and opening up to new experiences, we can grow our awareness and become better teachers, coaches and vessels that help to transport our charges through language acquisition.

The 4 and half years I spent as an instructor working from within a Japanese company helped to give me a more practical experience of how English is experienced in an international company. I could find some areas that English training could be useful that I hadn't considered before and how to prepare my students better for international communication or travel. COVID 19 really shifted that whole scene, which I have touched on before, but business travel is still needed.

One of the most unique experiences I took on in that time frame was developing a curriculum for an English Communication School that wanted to operate in a VR environment using Microsoft's ALT Space. Sadly as my contract finished, Microsoft shuttered their venture into the metaverse and when I offered to adapt my plan to a different platform, the company did not seem interested.

We used the MEXT website as a reference and found the target vocabulary and grammar points and developed a fun program for grade 3 students. One idea was using mini stories to illustrate the targets to kids in a fun way. I was able to record the voices for the characters and it was really fun to develop.

The best experience helped me to finally collaborate with my sister on something.

For the program we wanted to use songs, but the staff said that due to copyright issues, it was difficult, could you make songs? Sure! I thought up lyrics in each unit as I made the course plan and after that was done, I set out to think up a tune. With my iPhone, I recorded some sketches that fit the rhythm and the lady in the staff actually had some musical skills so helped fix them so they were more technically sound. They wanted to use an AI singer but I suggested using my sister as the singer as she has some experience with singing. I was quite proud of the results. Unfortunately only about half of my songs were recorded.

The first two songs had a few hits in the first few weeks, but seemed to stop getting interest soon.

Every program needs a hello song. We used a traditional tune but it still came out alright.

Sadly, I thought this last song was the best one but it had only 230 hits. I learned a lot about naming. If I named the song Colour and fruit song, it would have 1000 times more hits.

That was a great, fun experience and I learned a lot about thinking about an entire language training program, even if it was just for 3rd graders.