How to improve your English on vacation?
This is the time when children, young people and most adults, with a few exceptions, are already on vacation and the plan for these weeks is to relax after months of early mornings and daily work routines. And think about studying? Surely your answer is: “No! Not that yet, we leave it for later… ”.
Habits and practice are essential when learning a language to advance in the level and reinforce the knowledge acquired. So if you started an English course this year or are already taking it, the ideal is to be able to continue practicing, even if you go on vacation or are taking a few days off.
It is not as boring or difficult as it sounds. With these simple ideas, you can stay in touch with the language or practice your listening or speaking skills during this season:
1 A movie : If you are a movie buff and it is among your vacation plans, when you go to the cinema, you can choose to watch an English-speaking movie preferably with subtitles. This way, you can be aware of the dialogues and associate them with the translation. It is a good way to practice vocabulary, equivalent expressions in both languages, and improve listening skills.
2 Music in English : In all courses, a recommended exercise to tune our ears is through music and even better if you choose something by your favorite artist or group. Nothing is more fun and relaxing than listening to music!
If you carry music on a device while you exercise at the gym or you have karaoke among your rest plans. The advantage is that today we can have channels like Youtube where we can find subtitled videos, with the lyrics of the song in English. It’s even better, because it helps us to improve our english with complete fun.
3 Magazines and newspapers in EnglishIf you are traveling in an English-speaking country, you can get magazines and newspapers in English . It’s a great way to practice reading and vocabulary, as well as getting used to the writing style of news and articles in English, such as noticing differences in headlines. It helps you find new words that you have never read before and stay informed.
4 Watching television in English : It not only applies to the previous case, if you are on a walk in an English-speaking country. Now with the increasingly common access to channels from all over the world through cable operators or online platforms, we can watch some programs in their original audio and practice listening skills . From news in English, history programs, cooking, lifestyle, etc., to our favorite series or movies, we have the possibility to choose to see them in their original language to challenge ourselves to understand what they say and perfect the ability to listen in English .
5 Conversation clubs in our city: One of the wonderful advantages that we have today with globalization and multiculturalism is that it is now possible to find English conversation clubs, convened by both language schools and native English speakers who reside in our city as a way of working. Perhaps if you decided not to travel in high season and stayed in your city of origin, search through social networks or Google what kind of conversation clubs have been organized in your city, where do they meet, what day of the week already what time.
They are usually meetings in a cafe, bar or restaurant where you can sit at the table with more people and have an informal conversation on the topic of your choice with a native English speaker. It’s a fun plan you can socialize with other people and also improve your language skills.
These are just a few ideas that can be put into practice on vacation, without losing the study habit, while you relax and do not even realize the effort of studying.