Summer: the days are longer, the weather is warmer, and students find themselves immersed in a (well-deserved) break from the academic year! While this time off is precious for students of all ages, it does not have to mean that their learning journey has to end. There are summer activities that they can enjoy, while practicing their English.
Engaging summer activities for students:
-
Reading is key.
Encourage them to buy a book that they would like to read (have a look at our readers which are adapted for various levels) and make use of them over the summer. Reading English books familiarises learners not only with the language, but also with the English culture. At the same time, reading stimulates the mind and enhances students' cognitive abilities.
Find here nine tips to help students build better reading skills.
-
Audiobooks are fun!
Audiobooks can be very helpful for developing listening and comprehension skills. Listening to English podcasts exposes learners to natural spoken English, helping improve and refine their pronunciation. Audible is a way of getting high-quality listening material in English. The platform offers free podcasts, as well as books which you can download and listen to wherever you are. The subscription costs £7.99/month.
-
Free online resources are always welcome!
Another suggestion is to encourage them to make use of all the great websites that have free material available. I have hand-picked three of them:
This is a very simply organized website that has loads of reading material at the A2-B1 level. It is organised by topic and each text comes with the audio, so students can listen and read at the same time. In addition to the audio and the text, there are two interactive activities that students can do alone to practice the vocabulary from the text.
This site is original and useful! Students can access a whole range of videos organized by levels and theme. Each video provides the complete script in a separate window on the right side, which is highlighted as the audio plays. The script is also clickable, so learners can click on any words they don’t understand and check the meaning. It even offers the audio of the individual word, so students can listen to the pronunciation too.
There is also the ability to make notes while watching the video, making the process more engaging and interactive. This feature is of great use in a Flipped Classroom type situation: Ask students to watch a video for homework and take notes. When in class, divide students into groups, encourage them to share their notes, and see whether other students have focused on the same things. Students can then, summarise their notes and present 5 key themes they have learnt from the video.
Lyrics Training is a highly interactive website (also available on an app) that allows learners to practice their English through song lyrics. Worry not: the songs are very up-to-date! Students can search for a song and then choose an appropriate level. Then, Lyrics Training will play the song and present the lyrics, but with some words missing. Students listen to the song line by line. At the end of each line, the video stops and waits for the student to write in the correct words. Students can hear any lines of the song again to fill in any gaps or click on ‘help’ to get the answer.
I hoped you liked the proposed summer activities. If you want to know more about these sites click here:
Videos for learning English with activities and games included.
Five free sites with listening material for English Language Learners
