19 AI prompts for TEFL teachers

Artificial intelligence is everywhere, arranging the photos on your phone, cluttering your social media feeds and even in TEFL classrooms. If you treat it as a tool, AI can be useful for TEFL teachers - and a great time saver.

Online English teaching is already full of AI, with modern teaching companies using it to ‘gamify’ lessons and assess performance. Some of the biggest names in language teaching, like Duolingo and Langua , are massively reliant on AI, so if you’re considering using ChatGPT or Gemini for a lesson plan, you wouldn’t be the first! The TEFL Org even has a course on Using AI in the TEFL Classroom , showing how prominent and useful this tech has become.

Here are some prompts you can use for your EFL lessons, whether you’re trying to come up with new ideas, mark an essay, or find tools to use with specific learners.

Prompts for designing a lesson

Lesson planning can be time-consuming for already busy TEFL teachers, but AI can help to reduce the workload. Don’t just copy lesson plans wholesale - tweak them for your specific needs, and remember that AI scours the web for existing content , rather than creating anything completely new.

Prompt 1 : Make me an elementary reading lesson for someone learning English.

Why this works : AI generates a basic lesson plan for a beginner using lesson plans from around the Internet. You can see this prompt in action by watching Carl C a meron-Day’s TEFL and AI webinar, hosted on our YouTube and socials.

Prompt 2 : Make me an irregular verb worksheet for intermediate English learners aged 10.

Why this works : It’s a specific instruction with a task, an English level and a relevant age. AI will consider each of these factors and create a worksheet.

Prompt 3 : Design an ice-breaker activity to get my intermediate-level students talking in English.

Why this works: Interactive exercises should be part of your lesson planning, especially when taking a class for the first time.

Tip : Read our guide to TEFL ice-breakers to get your students talking.

Prompt 4 : Suggest some popular books for TEFL learners aged 7-8.

Why this works : Nothing beats literature . AI can generate tailored reading lists to match ages and English levels, giving you more time to think about lessons.

Prompts for specific class types

The life of a teacher can be unpredictable. Suddenly, you might teach a different class from the one you’re used to, with learners of various ages, abilities and ambitions. Never rely wholly on AI - let it teach you the basics and give you an outline to work from - but in a pinch, use prompts like these:

Prompt 5 : Make me a 45-minute lesson plan for an academic English learner who needs help understanding a professor’s feedback.

Why this works : Even the most organised TEFL teachers are caught off guard by students who need something specific. This prompt will help you teach one of the most crucial parts of academic English - writing to professors and other university staff. 

Prompt 6 : Explain and give examples of B2 level English, and help me to prepare a student for a B2 exam.

Why this works: Sometimes, students will approach you for help with English proficiency tests. In the CEFR framework , the lowest grade is A1, which is very basic, and the highest grade is C2, which means someone can understand most things they hear and read in English. These grades are useful for AI prompts.

Prompt 7 : Create a job interview situation for two Business English students (aged 30 and 41) to role-play and practice speaking. It must reflect a real-life business job interview - create a ‘candidate profile’ for each student to use.

Why this works : Use AI to create realistic exercises, and let your students get creative and show off their dramatic flair while practicing their speaking and listening skills.

Prompt 8 : Create a syllabus for an English beginner from China with bad pronunciation.

Why this works : If you’re tutoring a student, and they’re really struggling to grasp an element of English, use AI to help you switch up your lessons. This prompt is in action at 9:15 in Carl’s TEFL and AI webinar !

Prompts for teacher admin and development

AI is also handy for administrative tasks like writing progress updates and scheduling. You can also use it for professional development, learning more about new teaching techniques, and staying afloat in an ever-changing industry. 

Here are some prompts to help you with the daily business of English teaching, and to keep your career moving in the right direction:

Prompt 9 : Based on my notes, create a template for student performance reports with sections named “strengths” and “areas for improvement” and a suggested grade based on my notes: (insert notes).

Why this works : Occasionally, you’ll need some inspiration to organise yourself ahead of parents’ night, or for general progress updates. AI can design a foundation, leaving you to fill in the blanks.

Prompt 10: Here is a list of important dates this term, including assignments and exam dates: (insert text). Help me build a basic calendar outline to schedule my time efficiently.

Why this works : AI is not gospel, and you shouldn’t let it run your life, but if you’re overwhelmed with tasks and dates and are struggling to make sense of them, a computer-generated schedule could help.

Prompt 11 : A new paper has come out about task-based learning: (insert link here). Please analyse the paper and provide a section-by-section summary.

Why this works: AI can summarise new teaching research and methodologies if you’re eager to keep up but have limited spare time.

Prompt 12 : My student (age 11) struggles with the past tense. I have tried several exercises but haven’t found a breakthrough. Suggest three popular online guides to teaching tenses and three new approaches.

Why this works : You care about your work; you’ve read every textbook, leaned on everything you were taught during your TEFL certificate, and have teaching experience to draw from, but nothing’s working. AI might have something you hadn’t considered before, or at least, some advice to get the wheels turning.

Prompts for helping neurodivergent students

AI can provide some resources and lesson plans to help you te ac h neurodiverse students , but use it with caution. Large language models can only offer very general, oversimplified advice. Use AI as a jumping-off point, but don’t rely on it for your knowledge of neurodiversity.

Try these prompts for inspiration:

Prompt 13 : Generate 5 lesson plans for group English lessons for learners with ADHD, and tell me about the effects of ADHD.

Why this works : In this scenario, one or more of your students has ADHD . AI can create lesson plans for these learners, telling you how to provide specific help and any symptoms to look out for.

Prompt 14: Give me pointers for helping an autistic learner participate in A2 English classes.

Why this works : Autism can be hard to understand, mainly because it presents itself in many ways. AI can provide information, tips, and strategies to make your classes more inclusive.

Prompts for TEFL marking and assessment 

Every TEFL teacher cares about their students and wants to give the best feedback possible, but sometimes, you might miss something. Proofreading can also be extremely hard if you’re neurodivergent - particularly for teachers with ADHD or dyslexia - so using AI alongside your own marking system can be super helpful.

Tip : The ethics of AI-generated feedback are complex, so you should trust your best judgment. Although AI can be helpful, don’t rely on it - understand your students’ challenges, and teach in your own style. If you feel you’re using AI too much or disagree with its responses, use it less often.

Prompt 15 : Please show me errors in the following text: (insert text).

Why this works : At 17:18 in Carl’s TEFL an d AI webinar , you can see ChatGPT scanning a piece of work and picking out mistakes - super helpful!

Prompt 16 : Check this student’s work for evidence of excessive AI use: (insert text).

Why this works : Sometimes, students might use suspiciously complicated language in their coursework, either because they’ve used AI, or they’re trying too hard to impress you! 

Prompt 17 : Mark this piece, focusing on word choice, syntax and evidence of basic English comprehension.

Why this works : As a teacher, you might receive work that leaves you stumped, and you’ve no idea how a student came up with it. 

Prompt 18 : Create three areas of improvement for this student based on this essay.

Why this works: You should always have your own ideas as a teacher, and other teachers should be able to help, but sometimes, you need something and you need it quickly. 

Prompt 19 : Referring to the essay title “What I did on holiday”, show me how well this student answered the central question and stayed on topic.

Why this works: As a TEFL teacher, you’ll have your own ideas for feedback and advice, but AI can help. If you have a nagging feeling about some work you’ve received, but can’t quite put your finger on it, AI can objectively read something for you and provide feedback.

AI and TEFL can work beautifully together!

AI is not a substitute for your teaching skills . It can’t be empathetic or passionate - it doesn’t have the human touch - but it is handy for spotting mistakes, designing materials, and helping you to organise your tasks.

Using the right prompts, you’ll find creative new ways to teach, give feedback and adjust to different classes. It’s also helpful for developing as a teacher, creating games and activities, and providing objective responses to your burning TEFL questions. 

In today’s teaching landscape, knowing how to use AI for good is a key skill - this technology isn’t going away, and if you can harness it, it could be your best friend in the classroom.

Don’t fear AI - use it! Our brand-new Using AI in the TEFL Classroom course is an ideal way to learn about this vital technology and how to use it to energise your students.