In this Age of Artificial Intelligence, teaching has become, for me, the designing of lessons, with a whole range of exercises and teaching techniques to choose from. Now the whole world of prompting is becoming more diffuse and complicated. Prompts work differently in different AI models, so it’s not really useful just sharing prompts anymore. I’ve transitioned into creating OpenAI GPTs as they give me the best results (so far) and also give me a degree of reliability and greater control over the end product. Below are some of the GPTs I’ve created to assist me.
In this post I’m going to go through the process of creating a GPT. I believe that this is the most advanced method of creating English language teaching exercises using AI at the moment. I’m going to use as an example a Vocabulary Practice GPT. This vocabulary practice GPT was modeled on exercises from textbooks which have some smart and useful elements, including parts of speech abbreviations with each word, and 2 kinds of vocabulary exercises that added a touch of variety. The great thing about creating your own personal GPTs is that you can continually edit and improve the GPTs as you get new ideas.
Firstly, there are 3 elements you need to pay attention to when designing a lesson or exercises with a GPT:
Initial request.
Good prompts
Add to the knowledge section
1. Initial request (also called “Conversation starters”)
The initial request/conversation starter is fairly important. If you are not clear about what you want, you might be led down a rabbit hole you might regret. Below are a few examples of how you can modify your request to meet your needs (as seen in the screenshot).
Create vocabulary exercises about leadership.
Create vocabulary exercises for the following words about fast fashion: ethical (adj.) | waste (n.) | fast turnover (n.) | throwaway (adj.) low-cost (adj.) | circular fashion (n.) | sustainability (n.) | mass production (n.) | textiles (n.) | micro-trends (n.) | capsule wardrobe (n.) | outsourcing (v.)
Create pre-intermediate exercises for fast fashion vocabulary.
Create elementary exercises for food vocabulary.
Create pre-intermediate exercises for talking about cities.
2. Good prompts/instructions (with clear steps)
The prompts are entered in the Configure section. They should include clear steps, instructions with specific vocabulary and can include examples for improving the layout.
When I first had the idea about creating a vocabulary practice GPT I used the prompt/instructions below:
Prompt 1:
“Create 2 vocabulary exercises for a topic or given set of words:
Part 1
Exercise 1: create a set of numbered gap fill sentences for the given words. Please put the words in a word bank before the exercise with abbreviations of the parts in speech in brackets (eg. assume (v.) | morally (adv.) | transition (v.).
Exercise 2: create a numbered set of context sentences with the given/target vocabulary in bold. After, the context sentences, create a lettered definition matching exercise for the words. See the example in the knowledge section.
Part 2
Give the answers to all the exercises.”
Comment
This worked fairly well. But when I was proofreading the output I was annoyed by several things. It wasn't creating a space for student answers and it wasn't shuffling the matching definitions adequately. It always has a tendency to order things numerically or alphabetically. Also, it sometimes has a tendency to create vertical word banks rather than horizontal word banks.
It was necessary to include more specific directions and include examples.
I should also add I emphasized "shuffling" of the definitions to be matched. The choice of word/s may be important here. I keep encountering this problem. Clearly LLMs have a resistance to doing things that may be counterintuitive to their training!
Prompt 2
“Create 2 vocabulary exercises for a topic or given set of words targeted at pre-intermediate level learners:
Part 1
Exercise 1: create a set of numbered gap fill sentences for the given words. Please put the words in a horizontal centered word bank before the exercise with abbreviations of the parts in speech in brackets (e.g., assume (v.) | morally (adv.) | transition (v.). See example:
ethical (adj.) | waste (n.) | fast turnover (n.) | throwaway (adj.)
low-cost (adj.) | circular fashion (n.) | sustainability (n.) | mass production (n.) |
textiles (n.) | micro-trends (n.) | capsule wardrobe (n.) | outsourcing (v.) |
Exercise 2: create a numbered set of context sentences with the given/target vocabulary in bold.
Please format the context sentences as follows with a space for the students to write the matching letter for the definitions.
1.___ Jane decided to build a capsule wardrobe to minimize her fashion footprint and simplify her choices.
2.___ The documentary highlighted the negative impact of fast turnover on both the environment and workers' rights.
3.___ Realizing the benefits of circular fashion, Mark started participating in clothes swapping events.
4.___ Sarah researched sustainability practices within the fashion industry to make more informed purchasing decisions.
After the context sentences, create a lettered definition matching exercise for the words. See the example in the knowledge section. Shuffle the definitions so as to make the matching exercise challenging.
Part 2
Give the answers to all the exercises.”
Comment
This is getting much closer to what I wanted. Most problems are solved. However, sometimes, when the GPT seems to be disobedient, I ask it to redo the exercises and follow the instructions for the word bank etc. carefully. This usually works!
3. Add to the knowledge section
When you have successful outputs or examples of what you want, it’s a good idea to upload files to the Knowledge section. I have noticed that over time, the GPT would improve and produce results that it had shown a resistance or disobedience(?) to in the beginning.
Health and illness exercises
Below are some exercises for teaching health and illness. The exercises have been improved after classroom experimentation. There are extra exercises in the subscriber section ( and of course, everything can be download in one folder.