18 July 2016 / by Marjan Van Rij

Some tips for your English students during summer break

Have you already made plans for this summer? Going to the beach, the mountains or visiting family? What about your EFL or ESL students? Will they keep on studying English if they're not going abroad? It might be a good idea to give them something to do, right? Therefore I've listed here some activities to keep them busy in a easy way without you having to check any homework. So let the progress continue of your English students during summer break!
Cooking recipes

Give your students some cooking recipes in English which they can try out during summer break. Make sure that you give them everything in English: the grocery list and instructions. You can find recipes on the web with videos, with instructions (in American English or British English) or you can give them one of your own favourites. Here are two of mine: Chicken pot pie & scones. You can even take it to the next level and let your students organize an English evening in which they can play some charades, cook a lovely dinner and only speak English with eachother.
Ted Talks

A great platform for short interesting videos is Ted.com. Your students can search for any topics they like and watch a short (or longer) video about it. This website offers them full transcripts or subtitles in any language they prefer. Of course, it depends on your students which one will be best. That's why I recommend you to have a look beforehand and already select one or two videos for your students to watch. Some of my personal favourites are Why I keep speaking up & What makes a good life.
Lyrics training

A helpful tool to practise listening which English students can use on their own can be found on lyricstraining.com. Students can select the language of the songs and browse for any song they want to practise with. They're able to choose their own level (beginner, intermediate, advanced or expert) and listen to lyrics while doing a fill in the gap activity.

04

May 2012
Somebody, Anybody, Anywhere and Nobody
by Radmila Gurkova
Singular indefinite pronouns  Somebody, Anybody, anywhe...

04

May 2012
What is there? What are there?
by Radmila Gurkova
What is there in the classroom? There IS a table... There is a chair... there ARE windows! There IS a ceiling! There is/There a...

30

April 2012
APRIL Monthly Quiz
by Radmila Gurkova
Test your knowledge with our April Monthly Quiz! ...

29

April 2012
EUROVEGAS - America in Europe
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44ZRZDVVjuw An America tycoon wants to build Vegas in Europe and has chosen Spain as the destination. The American business tycoon, Sheldon Adelson wants to emulate Nevada’s state cash cow 'Las Vegas' here in Spain and is deciding where to build - Madrid or Barcelona. The decision has sparked a row...

29

April 2012
P2 Titanic prepositions of time
by Radmila Gurkova
Is it in the weekend, at the weekend or on the weekend? What time do you go to work?...

29

April 2012
Homophones...TWO, TOO, TO
by Radmila Gurkova
Do you know how to use TOO, TWO & TO correctly? These are homophones (words that are spelt differently but have the s...

29

April 2012
TITANIC - 100 Years
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xKDRmhp6lQ Titanic is the world’s most famous maritime disaster in history. The colossal four funnelled ship hit an iceberg in the Atlantic ocean during it’s maiden voyage on April 10 1912 and sank to the icy bottom, making history worldwide. The ships top speed was 23 knots with a total capacity ...

09

April 2012
To be or not to be
by Radmila Gurkova
TO BE I am You are He/She is It is We are They are Examples I AM a teacher. You ARE a student. He IS an actor. It IS a cat. We ARE Spanish They ARE politicians ...

09

April 2012
like and as
by Radmila Gurkova
Like and as can be confusing in English. Both like and as can be used to describe how similar things are. Like + noun/pronoun. For example I'm like my mother. Like my mother, I have brown hair. As + subject +...

09

April 2012
2nd Conditional - If I had a million dollars, I would give it to charity
by Radmila Gurkova
We use the second conditional to talk about impossible situations. IF + PAST SIMPLE - WOULD + INFINITIVE (Condition) WOULD + INFINITIVE + IF + PAST SIMPLE  (Condition) If I went to Madrid, I’d visit the Prado Gallery....