What are GPTs?
GPTs are customisable versions of ChatGPT tailored to specific use cases to help you teach, such as data analytics to summarise data findings, generate reports, and create data visualisations. They can integrate various capabilities, including web searching, data analysis, and even creating images using DALL·E. 
This functionality used to be exclusively available for ChatGPT users with Plus, Team, or Enterprise subscriptions. However, since the launch of GPT-4o in May 2024, the GPT store will also be available to free users. 

How to access the GPT store? 
Anyone with a ChatGPT account can access the GPT store from a smartphone, tablet, or computer (chatgpt.com). However, please note that free users cannot create custom GPTs.

Here are some useful GPTs for teaching: 

1. Diagrams: Show Me: This GPT is designed to help teachers, create, render, and explore various types of diagrams. It can produce visual representations such as graphs, sequence diagrams, mindmaps, and timelines, which are invaluable for teaching complex concepts like grammar. Here is the link: https://chatgpt.com/g/g-5QhhdsfDj-diagrams-show-me-charts-presentations-code
2. Consensus AI. This GPT can be a valuable resource for English language teachers by providing quick access to academic research on effective teaching methods, language acquisition theories, and classroom strategies. It enables teachers to stay updated with the latest studies, incorporate evidence-based practices into their lessons, and enhance their students' learning experiences. Here is the link: https://chatgpt.com/g/g-bo0FiWLY7-consensus
3. SlidesGPT: SlidesGPT can help English language teachers by providing ready-to-use, detailed, and visually appealing presentations. These presentations can help educators effectively convey complex linguistic concepts, enhance student engagement through high-quality images, and save valuable preparation time, allowing teachers to focus more on interactive and personalized instruction. Here is the link: https://chatgpt.com/g/g-cJtHaGnyo-presentation-and-slides-gpt-powerpoints-pdfs
   

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Conclusion: 
GPTs represent a significant leap forward in AI technology, offering versatile, powerful, and safe tools that can be customised for a wide range of applications. Whether used in education, business, or everyday tasks, GPTs have the potential to transform how we interact with technology and each other.

On 13th May, OpenAI released GPT-4o (“o” stands for omni) which brings exciting opportunities for teachers, offering new ways to improve teaching methods and better support students in learning languages.

This new model will be available free of charge in ChatGPT soon and likely replace the current free GPT-3.5 model, offering a massive upgrade for free users. 

Here are some key benefits that this advanced AI model can provide.

• Personalised Learning Opportunities
  GPT-4o's advanced capabilities make it possible to create even more tailored homework or group work for your students. For example, teachers can use this AI to develop customised lesson plans and give targeted feedback by copying the student responses in ChatGPT. This personalised approach helps identify and address each student's unique strengths and weaknesses, making the learning experience more effective and inclusive.
  
  
• Real-Time Assistance
  With the new voice and vision features of GPT-4o, it can provide real-time responses and even detect emotions. This makes it particularly helpful in language learning for students who find traditional learning methods challenging. This creates a more engaging and supportive environment, helping students stay motivated and focused on their homework. The ability to respond instantly and adapt to students' emotional cues makes learning more dynamic and interactive.
  
  
• Better Group Work
  GPT-4o's ability to integrate voice, text, and vision also opens up exciting possibilities for collaborative learning. Teachers can use this technology to facilitate group projects, virtual discussions, and interactive activities that promote teamwork and critical thinking all while learning a language. By combining these multimodal capabilities, GPT-4o encourages students to work together more effectively, improving their communication and problem-solving skills. 

More Engaging Teaching Methods
GPT-4o is a game-changer for language learning, offering tools that can truly transform the teaching experience. This AI model helps teachers create a more engaging, supportive, and effective learning environment for their students by providing personalised learning, real-time assistance, and enhanced collaboration. 

Prompt engineering involves designing questions or instructions that maximize the effectiveness of AI responses in tools like ChatGPT. This method helps improve AI interactions to suit specific educational objectives, ensuring that responses are both relevant but also pedagogically appropriate.

Key Techniques for Effective Prompt Engineering

• Priming the AI: Start by providing AI with context to generate specific and helpful responses. For example, instead of asking "What are irregular verbs?" you might say, "List irregular verbs commonly used in past tense narratives," to focus the AI’s response on a specific teaching point. 
• Adjusting Response Length and Detail: Specify how detailed or concise you want the AI's response to be. This helps manage classroom time and aligns the AI’s output with your lesson’s depth. For example, "Explain in three sentences why using articles is important in English."
• Guiding Content Style and Complexity: Control the complexity of the language used by the AI to suit your students' proficiency levels. Asking for explanations in simple English or requesting definitions with examples are ways to make AI interactions more accessible.
• Directing the Format: Whether you need a list, a paragraph, or a dialogue, specifying the desired format helps integrate the AI’s output into your lessons. For instance, "Generate a dialogue between two tourists asking for directions."

Applying Prompt Engineering in the Classroom

• Interactive Exercises: Use AI to generate role-play scripts or situational dialogues based on specific prompts, which students can then act out or discuss.
• Writing Assistance: Have students interact with the AI to develop drafts, where the AI acts as a brainstorming partner or first reviewer, offering suggestions for improvement.
• Grammar and Vocabulary Drills: Create prompts that ask the AI to provide practice exercises on targeted grammar points or vocabulary, adapting in complexity based on student responses.

Try it yourself
The best way to get better at prompting is to try tools like ChatGPT, Microsoft Co-Pilot, Google Gemini, and Claude 3. 

It's impossible to ignore the ChatGPT in education these days. But how should teachers and schools deal with it? ChatGPT raises both exciting possibilities and serious concerns. In this article, we’ll explore the upside and challenges of using ChatGPT. 

The upside of ChatGPT

• Learn from prompting: ChatGPT can be a source for ideas, a place where students brainstorm without getting hung up on every word. It can generate outlines, first drafts, or even playful stories, encouraging deeper exploration of subjects via prompting.
  
• AI is here to stay: AI won't go away. Using ChatGPT helps students grapple with how these tools work (and where they fall short), preparing them for a world of AI.
  
• Teacher's helper: Lesson planning, grading, ideas for activities and personalised feedback... ChatGPT can help teachers be more creative. This lets teachers focus on leading great discussions and giving one-on-one support.

The challenges

• A source for cheating: We need strategies to preserve academic integrity and teach students that real learning goes way beyond copying from an AI.
  
• Fact or fiction? ChatGPT can make mistakes. This highlights the importance of teaching students how to fact-check and be critical of all sources, including convincing responses from ChatGPT.
  
• A new way of teaching: Just dumping ChatGPT into the classroom won't work. We need to evolve how we teach: more discussions, less memorisation, a focus on using AI responsibly.

What Does This All Mean?
ChatGPT is clearly here to stay and a game-changer. In the coming years, this means adapting teaching methods, reimagining assessments, and promoting a culture of critical thinking and digital literacy.

As we integrate similar AI technologies into our offerings at EEG, we're incredibly excited about the possibilities that lie ahead. Especially how we can help teachers and students to learn more effectively. 

 A recent report, titled "Artificial Intelligence and English Language Teaching: Preparing for the Future," was released by the British Council.
 
Here are the key highlights that you need to know:

How it benefits the classroom​

•  Personalised Learning: AI tools analyse students’ performance and learning habits, offering customised lessons and feedback. This individualised approach caters to different proficiency levels, learning speeds, and styles, ensuring that every student's needs are met.
• Enhanced Engagement: Interactive AI tools like language learning apps and chatbots make learning more engaging and fun. They provide a safe, pressure-free environment where students can practice and improve their language skills.
• Immediate Feedback and Assessment: AI enables instant feedback on students’ work, allowing for timely corrections and learning. This immediacy helps in maintaining students' interest and accelerating their learning curve.
• Developing Core Skills: AI-driven programs can effectively assist in teaching core language skills such as grammar, vocabulary, reading, writing, speaking, and listening, often through game-like exercises and interactive activities.

 
Navigating AI tools

• AI Literacy: Teachers should strive to stay informed about the latest AI tools and their applications in ELT. Understanding how AI works and its potential in education is essential.
• Integrating AI with Traditional Methods: AI should be seen as a complement to, not a replacement for, traditional teaching methods. Educators should find a balance between technology-based and traditional pedagogical approaches.
• Ethical and Bias Considerations: Awareness of potential biases in AI tools and striving for ethical use is vital. Teachers need to ensure that these tools are used fairly and inclusively for all students.
• Professional Development: Continuous learning and professional development in AI and ELT will enable teachers to integrate new technologies into their classrooms effectively.

 
In 2024, AI in ELT is not just a possibility; it's a reality that offers exciting opportunities for teachers. Follow this newsletter if you are interested in technology and how we at EEG integrate AI into our products.