How to Use ChatGPT to Learn English

If you already have an account, skip to the next steps. If not:

1. Go to chatgpt.com and click Sign up.
2. You can register with your email address, your Google account, or your Apple account.
3. Confirm your email and you are ready: you now have access to the free plan.

With the free plan you can send text messages with time limits. For more intense practice, the Plus plan ($20/mo) gives many more messages and access to advanced voice mode. Confirm the details at chatgpt.com/pricing.

ChatGPT knows nothing about you unless you tell it. At the start of each practice session, write a context message. Here is one you can copy and adapt:

“I want to practice English with you. I am a [beginner / intermediate / advanced] Spanish speaker. Talk to me in English, but if I don’t understand something you can explain it in Spanish. At the end of each response, correct any grammar or vocabulary mistakes I made in my messages.”

That single message gives ChatGPT everything it needs: your level, your support language, and when you want corrections.

Why it works: ChatGPT remembers context within the same conversation. If you close and open a new conversation, you will need to give the instructions again.

Free conversation is the most powerful exercise. Talk (write) about any topic that interests you and let ChatGPT keep the dialogue going.

Topics to start with:

• Your daily life: “Tell me about your day” or you go first and describe your routine.
• Your hobbies: music, cooking, sports, movies.
• Recent news about something that interests you.
• Your work or career: professional vocabulary in context.

Tip: If you run out of words, write the word in Spanish in parentheses and ask how to say it. For example: “I want to tell you about my (vecindario), how do I say that?”

Learning isolated word lists is boring and not very effective. Ask ChatGPT to teach you vocabulary inside real sentences.

Prompts that work:

• “Teach me 5 English words related to [cooking / travel / job interviews]. Give me each word, its meaning in Spanish, and one example sentence.”
• “I keep confusing ‘make’ and ‘do’. Explain the difference with three examples of each.”
• “What are 3 formal ways to say ‘I don’t know’ in a professional email in English?”

The context trick: When ChatGPT gives you a new word, ask it to use it in 2 more sentences with different contexts. Repetition in context is what makes words stick.

Role play is ideal for preparing for real situations: job interviews, travel, meetings, everyday conversations. Tell ChatGPT what scene you want to practice and start.

Examples you can copy:

• “Let’s do a role play. You are a hotel receptionist in New York. I am a guest checking in. Start the scene.”
• “You are a hiring manager and I am interviewing for a marketing position. Conduct a job interview with me in English. Ask me 5 questions.”
• “Let’s role play: you are a waiter at a restaurant in London and I am a customer. Keep it natural.”

ChatGPT stays in character until you end the scene. Afterward you can ask for feedback: “Now tell me what mistakes I made and how I could have said things better.”

To go deeper into building more effective prompts for this kind of exercise, check out the tutorial How to write effective prompts for artificial intelligence.

Writing in English is one step, speaking is another. ChatGPT’s voice mode lets you have a real-time conversation, out loud, from your phone or computer.

With the free plan you have limited access to voice mode. With Plus ($20/mo) you get much more conversation time and access to the GPT-4o model, which sounds more natural. Confirm current limits at chatgpt.com/pricing.

How to activate it: open the ChatGPT app on your phone, tap the microphone icon in the message bar and follow the instructions. For detailed steps, see the tutorial How to activate voice mode in ChatGPT.

Once active, say something like: “Let’s have a casual conversation in English. I want to practice my speaking. If I make a big mistake, let me know gently.”

Save these prompts in your notes and use them at the start of each session:

General conversation session:

“Let’s have a casual conversation in English about [topic]. I’m an intermediate Spanish speaker. Correct my grammar mistakes at the end of each of your responses. Keep the conversation going with follow-up questions.”

Text correction:

“I wrote this text in English. Please correct any grammar, vocabulary or punctuation mistakes, explain what was wrong, and show me the corrected version: [paste your text here]”

Vocabulary practice:

“I want to learn vocabulary for [job interviews / travel / cooking]. Teach me 5 useful words or phrases. For each one: the word, the pronunciation guide, the meaning in Spanish, and an example sentence.”

Preparation for a specific situation:

“I have a job interview in English next week. Ask me 5 common interview questions one by one. After I answer each one, give me feedback on my English and a better version of my answer if needed.”

Problem	What to do
ChatGPT replies in English but I want it to explain in Spanish when I don’t understand	Add at the start: “If I write to you in Spanish or say ‘en español’, switch to Spanish to explain”
Corrections interrupt the conversation flow	Change the instruction to: “Give me a correction summary only at the very end of our session, not after each message”
ChatGPT uses vocabulary that is too difficult	Tell it: “Please use simple vocabulary. I am a beginner. Avoid complex words or idioms unless you explain them.”
I reached the message limit on the free plan	Wait for it to reset (about every 5 hours) or consider the Plus plan for intensive practice
Responses are too long and overwhelming	Add: “Keep your responses short, no more than 3-4 sentences per turn. We are having a conversation, not a lecture.”