Learning English in the summer vacation

Introduction

In this article I want to give some advice about how students can continue to improve their English over the long summer vacation. Before doing so, however, I would like to stress that ESL students need time in the summer to completely relax from the academic pressures they have been under all year.

If they are laden with extra holiday work against their will, they are unlikely to start the next school year with the renewed energy and enthusiasm that is so important to their success.

Nevertheless, the eight week vacation is a long time. And it is certainly good that students do not completely neglect their learning of English in this period. Your child could do some grammar and vocabulary work, as well as writing and listening activities, if he enjoys them.

The importance of reading

@ While grammar and vocabulary work can be useful, the best thing an ESL student can do in the summer is to read. ~ Indeed, reading is in general the best self-selected language improvement activity for students.

Extensive reading is not something that is usually possible during the busy school year. But in the long vacation students finally have time to do so. In the sections below you will find various suggestions about what your child should be reading.

Here you can read more about the importance of reading.

Reading as preparation for mainstream English

If you child will be doing mainstream Mainstream English is the English class taken by all native-English speakers. Non-natives who have good English also take this class. English in the new school year, he could find out which novels or short stories are planned and read them in advance. he could practise speaking by telling you what happens in the stories.

Reading as preparing for other subjects

As direct preparation for the work in other classes, for example in science or humanities, he could read up about the planned topics in a textbook or encyclopedia. Again, telling you what he has learned from those materials is a good way to practise his speaking too.

Reading for pleasure

If your child is not keen on preparatory reading as discussed above, it is best not to force him. Instead, encourage him to choose for himself what he wants to read - both fiction and non-fiction. He could borrow several books from the school library before the end of the school year.

Mother tongue reading

Not all of the preparatory or pleasure reading should be in English. Indeed, textbooks and encyclopedias are better read in the mother tongue. And your child will be able to read better quality literature in his own language than he currently can in English.

In fact, @@ reading good books in the mother tongue will also indirectly benefit your child's English development because of the transferability of skills and knowledge from the first to the second language. ~~

Read more about the importance of the mother tongue.

Summer language courses

Another way for a student to improve his English in the summer is to attend a vacation language course. There are numerous courses on offer in the United Kingdom alone.

Most summer language schools offer morning lessons followed by afternoon activities and trips. The lessons will probably focus on conversational and situational language such as discussing likes and dislikes or buying a ticket at a railway station. Typically, most of the students on the course will be of the same nationality, and accommodation is with a host family.

I have had experience teaching at a couple of summer language courses and am a little reluctant to recommend them to ESL students. If you choose a reputable school and are lucky enough for your child to stay with a good family, your child will learn a lot of conversational English and have an enjoyable holiday too. But in many cases the opposite could be true.

It is also important to point out that your child will most likely not learn very much of the kind of English that he needs to be successful in his academic work in the new school year.

A good starting point if you or your child are nevertheless keen on the idea of a summer language course is to consult the British Council website. It has a page listing accredited English language centres in the UK. You can be reasonably sure that all schools on the list meet certain minimum standards of course content, teaching and accommodation.

Summer activity courses

If you wish your child to practise his general English in the vacation, a better choice, in my opinion, would be an activity course in a topic that he is interested in. For example, if he is interested in computers, you could send him to a computer course in England at which most of the participants will be native speakers.

If he likes water sports, sign his up for a children's activity holiday organized by a British travel company. Maybe he's very keen on basketball; put his name down for an English language basketball camp. And so on.

The advantage of all these kinds of activities is that your child will be mixing with native-speakers, not just with other English language learners, many of whom spend all of their time outside lessons speaking their own language. Furthermore, your child will be learning new skills and enjoying himself - as compared with sitting in a hot classroom learning grammar!

Conclusion

In conclusion I shall repeat a sentence from the introduction:

In particular, @@@ it is probably not a good idea to compel your child to do grammar and vocabulary activities or preparatory reading against his will. ~~~ The recommendation instead is to read books of his own choice.

Finally, you might want to ask your child's ESL teacher for advice before signing him up for a summer course.

Here is the corresponding advice to students on learning English in the vacation. It contains information about a recommended summer activity course provider: PGL.

And here is a brief video on the same topic.