I wanted to help a friend learning English who has trouble learning new vocabulary. She often gets new list of words at school and it’s difficult for her to know how to use them, or remember what they mean.

She usually gets one exercise about the topic where she must fill blanks with words from a list.

Why not use generative AI for that?

I could not achieve good results using a single large prompt, so I decided to explicitly break it into different steps and refer to the whole process later, with “OK” results.

Describing the process

Below, you will find my interaction with ChatGPT to describe how to create an exercise.

Me:
Act as an English teacher for young adults. The topic of today’s lesson is: Finance and accounting. You must write an exercise to teach your students vocabulary about the topic. Follow my instructions one at a time. Reply “OK” if you understand.

ChatGPT:
OK

Me:
Step 1: Write 2 paragraphs about today’s topic.

ChatGPT:
Today, we delve into the fascinating realm of finance and accounting, essential aspects of both personal and business management. Finance refers to the management of money and the study of investments, while accounting involves the systematic recording, analysis, and reporting of financial transactions. Understanding these concepts is crucial for making informed decisions in various financial matters, whether it’s budgeting, investing, or managing a business.
In the financial landscape, individuals often engage in budgeting to allocate their resources wisely. This involves creating a plan that outlines expected income and expenses, ensuring financial stability. On the business front, effective accounting practices are paramount. Accountants meticulously document financial transactions, producing statements that offer insights into a company’s financial health. The balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement are common financial reports used to assess an entity’s performance and make strategic decisions. As we explore the vocabulary related to finance and accounting, you’ll gain a better grasp of these fundamental principles.

Me:
Step 2: In the text from step 1, identify words related to today’s topic. Identify AT MOST 1 word per sentence. Print the list of words separated by “,”.
Example: business, money, budgeting, resources, expenses, transactions, balance

ChatGPT:
finance, accounting, investments, understanding, budgeting, managing, financial, transactions, income, expenses, business, accounting, financial, statements, balance, sheet, income, statement, cash, flow, statement, vocabulary, principles

Me:
Step 3: In the text from step 1, replace the words from step 2 with “__________”.

ChatGPT:
Today, we delve into the fascinating realm of __________ and __________, essential aspects of both personal and __________ management. __________ refers to the management of _ and the study of __________, while _ involves the systematic recording, analysis, and reporting of __________. __________ these concepts is crucial for making informed decisions in various _ matters, whether it’s __________, __________, or __________ a __________.
In the __________ landscape, individuals often engage in _ to allocate their __________ wisely. This involves creating a plan that outlines expected __________ and __________ , ensuring __________ stability. On the __________ front, effective __________ practices are paramount. __________ meticulously document __________ , producing _ that offer insights into a __________ __________ . The __________ , __________ __________ , and __________ __________ are common _ reports used to assess an __________ ’s performance and make strategic decisions. As we explore the __________ related to __________ and __________, you’ll gain a better grasp of these fundamental __________.

Me:
Step 4: sort the list from step 2 alphabetically.

ChatGPT:
accounting, balance, business, cash, expenses, finance, financial, flow, income, income, investments, managing, money, principles, resources, sheet, statement, statements, study, transactions, understanding, vocabulary

Me:
Step 5: Print today’s topic as the title, followed the header “Words” and the words from step 4, followed by the header “Text” and the text from step 3, followed by the header “Answers:” and the words from step 2.

ChatGPT:
Finance and Accounting
Words:
accounting, balance, business, cash, expenses, finance, financial, flow, income, income, investments, managing, money, principles, resources, sheet, statement, statements, study, transactions, understanding, vocabulary
Text:
Today, we delve into the fascinating realm of __________ and __________, essential aspects of both personal and __________ management. __________ refers to the management of _ and the study of __________, while _ involves the systematic recording, analysis, and reporting of __________. __________ these concepts is crucial for making informed decisions in various _ matters, whether it’s __________, __________, or __________ a __________.
In the __________ landscape, individuals often engage in _ to allocate their __________ wisely. This involves creating a plan that outlines expected __________ and __________ , ensuring __________ stability. On the __________ front, effective __________ practices are paramount. __________ meticulously document __________ , producing __________ that offer insights into a __________ __________ . The __________ , __________ __________ , and __________ __________ are common _ reports used to assess an __________ ’s performance and make strategic decisions. As we explore the __________ related to __________ _and __________, you’ll gain a better grasp of these fundamental __________.

Answers:
finance, accounting, investments, understanding, budgeting, managing, financial, transactions, income, expenses, business, accounting, financial, statements, balance, sheet, income, statement, cash, flow, statement, vocabulary, principles_

Me:
Very good. From now on, I will refer to this process as “THE PROCESS”.

ChatGPT:
Understood! Feel free to initiate “THE PROCESS” whenever you’d like to continue with similar activities or lessons. If you have any more instructions or if there’s anything else I can assist you with, just let me know!

Quick analysis

As you can see, it didn’t follow my instruction about the maximum number of words per sentence. However, it followed the other instructions.

Let’s see if it can now repeat the process about another subject.

Repeating the process

Me:
Repeat THE PROCESS for today’s lesson: cooking.

ChatGPT:
Sure, let’s apply THE PROCESS to today’s lesson on cooking.
Cooking
Words:
baking, boiling, chopping, cuisine, ingredients, flavors, grilling, kitchen, nutrition, recipe, sautéing, simmering, spices, stirring, techniques, utensils, culinary, preparation, presentation, meal, taste, aroma, cooking, methods, culinary
Text:
In today’s lesson, we will delve into the world of _, exploring the essential concepts that form the backbone of culinary arts. _, the art of transforming raw ingredients into delicious meals, plays a crucial role in both personal and professional kitchens. It encompasses _, _, and _ the flavors of various ingredients. _, on the other hand, involves utilizing different _ and _ to create a harmonious blend of tastes and aromas. It provides the foundation for preparing and presenting a delightful meal, considering factors like _ and _.
As we embark on this culinary journey, we’ll encounter terms like _, _, _, and _. These words are the building blocks of culinary knowledge, empowering us to make savory dishes and explore the diverse world of tastes. So, grab your __ and let’s dive into the vocabulary that will equip you with the skills to become a proficient cook.
Answers:
baking, boiling, chopping, cuisine, ingredients, flavors, grilling, kitchen, nutrition, recipe, sautéing, simmering, spices, stirring, techniques, utensils, culinary, preparation, presentation, meal, taste, aroma, cooking, methods, culinary

Not so bad, but it messed a few things up. The first list is not alphabetically sorted. The order of the answers don’t match the text. However, it may still prove useful to learn vocabulary.

How to improve

Use a better language model. I have only used ChatGPT, perhaps GPT4 or Bard might do a better job. I tried with Bard and it was worse than ChatGPT for this task.

Use a programming language for non-language tasks. It is trivial to perform the following tasks:

  • replace step 2 with a loop, feeding the LM each sentence and asking it to choose 1 word.
  • integrate step 3 in the above-mentioned loop
  • replace step 4 with a simple sort
  • replace step 5 with print functions

Conclusion

Overall, it’s a moderate success. I didn’t fully achieve the desired outcome but it was trivial to get a good result. My friend just has to repeat “THE PROCESS” and type another topic and she gets a new text with new words.

A small LM (~7B parameters) does not require too much processing power nor RAM to be self-hosted. It should be fairly easy to make a Jupyter notebook or a user-friendly app for this purpose.