Improving English Skills in Summer

During the long summer break, I often recommend that my students aged between 12 and 16 remember that all languages are living just as Spanish is alive, and the best way they can practise their English is to get a book and read it.

They should also have a pen and a notebook to help make notes or create a glossary of any new vocabulary they come across when reading. I highly recommend the use of the internet to watch short video clips with subtitles in English (or watching TV in English) and to go back and watch the same videos or programmes, but this time without subtitles, to see how much they remember so they are constantly testing themselves.

If they have members of the family who are interested in English, they could even have a movie night in English with subtitles in English or in Spanish. This activity could also be done with friends, not just family members.

I have found that people who are interested in reading tend to have a lot more interest in the target language and an ability to talk about what they’ve read, and when it comes to writing, this helps to reinforce comprehension when writing something. There is actually a lack of this with children, and they tend not to do it nowadays due to the multiple devices that they have at their disposal. Therefore, reading and writing will help them to remember much more over time. Best of all is that you can read anywhere! One can sit down in the bedroom, in the kitchen, in the living room. You can go even go to the beach with a book and sit on the beach or on a bench in a park.

I would recommend comic books just as much as novels or human-interest material as children would feel more attached and not see reading as an obligation when away from school. Parents can even get involved by having their children describe and talk about what they have read. Perhaps by going back to the past we can take reading into the future.