Journey to Hogwarts... oops, I mean Geoje Island, Korea!

Journey to Hogwarts... oops, I mean Geoje!

Instead of exploring Geoje, I ended up having a delightful 4-day staycation with none other than the marvelous author, ChatGPT! And together, we embarked on some rather ambitious projects. Here’s what we got up to:

1. Harry Potter Challenge for Kids

Throwback alert! Back in the early 2000s, I tried to tackle *Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone* in its original English—only to discover that this “easy” book for American kids was a steep climb for a university student like me. Between the Scottish slang and magical terminology, it felt like a mini triathlon for my English skills.

So, when I found out that one of my NTB Challenge students was a hardcore Potterhead, I got an idea: why not create a Harry Potter reading challenge specifically for intermediate English learners? With ChatGPT as my co-author, we crafted a magical text that used 95% of the vocabulary and phrases this student had already learned.

Here’s the plan for the challenge: over 20 days, our little wizard will read through the entire book, step-by-step.

- Mission 1: Read each chapter’s mini-stories (about 30-50 sentences per chapter) and follow along with the prompts.

- Mission 2: Read along with audio support in the NTB app, where they can tap any unknown word for instant translations.

- Mission 3: Watch scenes with English and Korean subtitles to check their understanding.

- Final Mission: Pick apart three challenging sentences and practice translating and writing them out. (Debating this one, though—our young wizard might find it a tad too much like homework!)





2. Launching Babe’s Global Blog in English

The global version of Babe’s website now has an English blog section, thanks to a new upload schedule. Fifteen English posts are lined up, with a little help from ChatGPT’s native English flair, to ensure they’re both SEO-friendly and primed for Google AdSense.

3. Publishing English Originals on Amazon KDP

We’re putting together two unique English books for Amazon KDP! First up, the translated *Rules of Wealth*, which was even selected for the 2021 Sejong Book List. The second is a series based on Babe’s letters to “A High School Dropout”—a quirky and candid webnovel-style adaptation.

With ChatGPT’s help, we’re experimenting with tone and style to keep things authentic. As for multimedia, I briefly considered transforming the book into a webtoon but quickly gave up when the DIY website proved too complicated!

4. NTB English Conversation App

Inspired by the movie 'Her', we’re creating an English conversation app, fueled by empathy-driven AI. Users can engage in natural, fluid English conversations based on topics from NTB Challenge—all with a futuristic touch.

5. Studying Auto Blogging with APIs

Still navigating the learning curve with API, but it’s coming along! For now, I’ve automated a steady month’s worth of posts for various promotional blogs. But Babe’s flagship blog? That still demands a human touch—ChatGPT might be good, but nothing replicates these unique tones just yet!

6. The Ultimate NTB Income-Blog GPT App

The crème de la crème of our creations! This app will condense all of Babe’s blogging knowledge—SEO tricks, income-boosting strategies, and every tip ever given—into a simple one-click solution. Just pick a topic, and voilà! With real-time keyword research, the app creates a blog post in both Korean and English for Google AdSense. Working through some API issues, but expect the upgraded “Suble Challenge” soon!

I’d love to stay hidden in the Hogwarts world, but my muggle obligations are piling up! Yesterday’s Zoom meeting was all about prepping for the SingaMalaysia English Camp, and today, I’m off to a book club in Busan. Next week brings another Hogwarts-esque adventure, followed by English education events in Seoul, and finally, the grand NTB Hall of Fame Night in December.

Busy as a house elf, but excited as ever!