When I was young, I remember spending hours huddled around the kitchen table with my father, working on jigsaw puzzles. 

At first, we would carefully sort through the pieces and separate them by colour and shape.

We would start with the edges to build the frame. And then we would work our way in, trying to find the pieces that fit together.

With patience, persistence and skill, we would eventually complete the puzzle and admire the beautiful image that we had created.

Isn’t learning a language a lot like working on a puzzle?

It feels a little overwhelming in the beginning.

But with each new word or grammar point we learn, we move closer to understanding the bigger picture. 

And if we seriously want to improve, there are two things I feel are crucial:

1. Whatever we choose to do, it must be enjoyable. If not, we’re more likely to become frustrated and give up.
2. We need to practise regularly. Consistency is key.

As a regular reader of my Sparks, you are already doing something consistently.

Congratulations.

I used to get nervous about speaking in public, but incorporating tongue twisters into my daily practice helped me build confidence in my speaking abilities.

Tongue twisters might be able to help you, too.

Say the following out loud.

But practise them slowly at first and then gradually increase the speed.

Here are two of my favourites:

• Betty Botter bought some butter
  But she said the butter’s bitter
  If I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter
  But a bit of better butter will make my batter better
  So ‘twas better Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter.

• Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
  A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked
  If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
  Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

And two new ones:

• Willy watched the waves wash the white wooden wagon.
• Vera visits various villages, viewing various vistas, and voting for various vendors.

(When saying the last two tongue twisters, make sure that the V sound is made with the bottom lip and upper teeth and the W sound is made by rounded lips.)

Tongue twisters are great if you want to improve your pronunciation and fluency in English. 

Reader’s Digest has some challenging ones.

Do you have a favourite?

When I talk about “scary exciting”, I mean those activities or experiences that make us feel both scared and excited at the same time.

Of course, what may be considered “scary exciting” to me may not be to you, as we all have different fears and comfort zones.

Some examples I consider “scary exciting”:

• bungee jumping
• skydiving
• paragliding
• BASE jumping
• hot air ballooning
• ziplining
• cave diving
• canyoning
• white water rafting
• scuba diving
• rock climbing

The only activity I have done on this list is rock climbing.

But to be honest, I’m not a big friend of abseiling (also known as rappelling).

I’d rather just go hiking!

And you? What have you done that is “scary exciting”?

I’m a fan of the “Foil Arms and Hog” Irish comedy group.

Watch the trio’s sketch, “Irish Student on German Exchange” and see whether you love their humour, too. 

And don’t forget to add the subtitles if you need a little extra help!

You’ve probably heard of ChatGPT by now.

It’s a computer program that uses artificial intelligence (A.I.) to understand and respond to natural language text, in the same way as a human would.

What’s more, it can help you improve your English skills

And the best part is that it’s completely free!

ChatGPT is like having your own language-savvy genie in a bottle.

You can ask it questions or give it prompts, and it will answer in a way that sounds like a real person.

The more specific and clear your questions are, the better the answers will be.

How to use ChatGPT

Here are just a few examples:

• Ask it to generate text in a certain tense or grammar form to help you understand and practise that form.
• Use it to answer questions about grammar rules or idioms.
• Practise your reading skills by having the tool generate text for you to read.

But it can do more

ChatGPT can adjust to your language level.

If you want to simplify the language or use more advanced vocabulary, enter a  text and write:

“Please re-write using simple language” or

“Please use C2-level vocabulary”.

You’ll soon realise that the key to success is in the questions you ask.

And if you’re not satisfied with the response, just keep changing the way you ask until you are.

My first experience with ChatGPT was like discovering a treasure trove of language, with endless doors to unlock and explore.

If you’d like more tips on how to get the most out of ChatGPT in your English language learning journey, send me a short message.

But before you go off and test the tool, please note that there are risks!

Risks of ChatGPT

I asked ChatGPT:

It’s something we need to remember.