Learning Through the Summer

The school doors may be closing, but that doesn’t mean your student’s education should stop. This summer try planning a few fun learning activities to help your student continue practicing the skills they’ve been working on over the year. Use the following list for inspiration and if we’ve missed anything, add your own ideas using the comments section at the bottom of this article.

• • • Help them find a local, English-only museum or cultural experience in their home town.
      
    • Get them set up on Couchsurfing (with parent permission) and participating in local language exchanges, events, and activities with English-speaking foreigners.
    • Ask your international student to make a note of how much they understood and what they learned from the school year.
    • Encourage them to write in a summertime journal to share and discuss with their family, their friends, and their host family when they return in the fall.
    • Suggest that they teach their friends and family some new words in English so they can practice together.
    • Pen pals— send your student English emails and encourage them to practice their English writing skills when they reply.
    • Help them find volunteer opportunities in a summer school program in their city. Ideally, try to find a program where they can teach English and math skills to local students.
    • Play online video games like scrabble, pictionary, or chess (with parent permission).
    • Organize a potluck or BBQ with one rule — English only conversations!
    • Make summer reading goals where your student aims to read a target number of English books and discuss them when they return in the fall.
    • Look for English walking tours in their hometown or in a city nearby. These are fun ways for your student to play tourist while practicing their English listening skills.
    • Suggest that they organize a fun family movie night and watch an English film. Your student can translate for their family between mouthfuls of popcorn.
    • Ask them to translate the news and headlines from your city. Their family may be excited to learn what’s happening in your hometown and your student can use the opportunity to work on advanced cognitive skills like translation.
    • Use apps like iTalki to find language partners that are excited about learning your student’s native tongue. This can encourage a deeper understanding of the subtleties in language learning.
    • Don’t forget to use Skype! You can easily set up a video call with your student and help them practice their English skills before they return.

We hope this list can help spark your own ideas. If you have any of your own suggestions, add a comment to this article so other families can learn to structure their own fun summer learning activities. Have a fantastic summer, and don’t forget to shoot us a quick message if you have any questions about the Twinn Palms experience.

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