As a teacher of English as an ESL subject how could I use ChatGPT in the classroom. My students are 11 years old and started learning English last year.
GPT-3.5
GPT-6 Astra
ChatGPT can help you create simple English activities and give your students extra practice. For 11-year-olds who have studied English for only a year, it works best as a teacher-guided classroom tool, not as an independent tutor.
Keep the language short, familiar and visual, and focus on one skill or language pattern at a time.
1. Play “Guess the animal”
Display ChatGPT’s clues and let pairs discuss their answers before responding.
Prompt to use:
We are learning English. My students are 11-year-old beginners. Play “Guess the animal.” Give three short clues using common words, such as “I am big. I have big ears. I can swim.” Give one animal at a time. Wait for our answer before giving the next animal.
You can provide a list of animals students already know so the activity stays manageable.
2. Practise short role-plays
Use ChatGPT to model everyday situations: buying food, meeting a new friend or asking about someone’s favourite sport.
Prompt to use:
Write a six-line dialogue between a customer and a café worker for beginner English learners aged 11. Use “Can I have …?”, “Here you are” and “Thank you.” Use only these food and drink words: sandwich, apple, cake, water and juice.
Read the dialogue together, then have students practise in pairs. They can change the food words and perform their own version.
3. Create a class story
Students choose a character, place and object—for example, a cat, a school and a football. You enter their choices, and ChatGPT creates a short story.
Prompt to use:
Write a funny story of 60–80 words for beginner English learners aged 11. Include a cat, a school and a football. Use the present simple, short sentences and mostly common words. Finish with two possible endings for the class to choose from.
After reading, ask students to:
- Put three story events in order.
- Draw and label a scene.
- Change one sentence to create a different ending.
4. Make vocabulary practice more varied
Give ChatGPT your current vocabulary list rather than asking for a general activity.
Prompt to use:
Create a ten-minute activity using these words: bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, living room, bed, table and chair. My learners are beginner English students aged 11. Include a matching task and four sentences with missing words. Put the answers in a separate section.
For beginners, add pictures or real objects yourself. Check that each question has a clear answer before using it.
5. Play “Teacher, find the mistake!”
Have ChatGPT produce simple sentences containing deliberate errors. Students become the teachers.
Prompt to use:
Write six short sentences about school. Three should be correct and three should contain exactly one mistake with “am,” “is” or “are.” Use beginner vocabulary. Provide a separate answer key.
Students can work in pairs and explain their choices. Present this as a detective game, rather than a test.
6. Support writing without doing it for them
Ask students to write first. Then use an anonymous example to show how feedback can help.
Prompt to use:
Give feedback on this beginner learner’s writing. Say one specific thing they did well. Then give one hint about an “am/is/are” mistake. Do not rewrite the text or correct every error. Use very simple English: [anonymous sample].
Let the class improve the sentence before revealing a correction. This keeps the thinking with the learners.
A simple 20-minute lesson
Topic: Food — “Do you like …?”
- Review, 4 minutes: Use food pictures to revise six familiar words.
- Model, 3 minutes: Display a short ChatGPT-generated dialogue using “Do you like …?” and “Yes, I do / No, I don’t.”
- Pair practice, 6 minutes: Students ask each other about the pictured foods.
- Class challenge, 5 minutes: Ask ChatGPT to create food riddles using the same vocabulary.
- Exit task, 2 minutes: Each student writes “I like …” and “I don’t like …” without AI help.
Important safeguards
- Use it through you. ChatGPT is not intended for children under 13. For your 11-year-olds, keep interactions adult-led through your account, subject to school policy; do not ask students to create accounts or chat independently.
- Protect privacy. Do not enter students’ names, photos, contact details or identifiable schoolwork.
- Preview the output. ChatGPT can make mistakes or produce language that is too difficult. Prepare and check materials before class where possible.
- Keep students talking to people. Use AI to supply prompts and models, then spend most of the activity on pair work, games and student responses.
- Check learning without AI. Finish with a small independent task so you can see what students can actually do.
A useful rule is: let ChatGPT create opportunities to practise—not replace the practice itself.
What changed
The biggest difference is who touches the keyboard. GPT-3.5’s first suggestion is to “have students take turns asking ChatGPT questions,” which puts 11-year-olds in direct conversation with a product not intended for children under 13. Astra flags exactly that, keeping things “adult-led through your account,” and adds sensible warnings about student names and checking output before class.
GPT-3.5 also barely uses what the teacher said. Its four ideas (a vocabulary quiz, a group story, reading passages, conversation) would suit learners of any age or level, and its closing reminder that ChatGPT “is a tool” is filler. Astra builds the brief into every activity. Its ready-to-paste prompts limit vocabulary to “sandwich, apple, cake, water and juice,” target “am/is/are” mistakes, and tell the model “Do not rewrite the text.” The answer is long, and the 20-minute lesson plan stretches it further, but nearly every section is something a teacher could use on Monday morning.