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.  

 

Would you know how to translate the German word “Dingsbums” without looking into a dictionary?

You know those objects whose names you have forgotten or don’t know even?

Of course, we have other words in German. Like Dings, Dingsda, Dingens or Dingskirchen.

We have several words in English, too. 

Here are some of them

• thingamajig or thingumajig
• thingamabob
• thingy or thingie
• whatchamacallit
• whatsamacallit
• whatsitcalled
• whatsit
• whatnot
• doodah

And here’s an example sentence

“I’ll have to go to the shop and buy a new thingamajig. This one is broken beyond repair.“

So do you have a favourite word?