READY TO READ – ¡MEJORA TU INGLÉS LEYENDO!

A great way to speed up your English learning is to find a good book to read in English in your free time.  It will help you to absorb grammar structures and learn lots of new vocabulary.

If you are choosing a book to read in English for the first time it may be a good idea to select a book you’ve already read and enjoyed in Spanish.  The Harry Potter series are great books to start with if you are familiar with the characters and storylines.  Why not read them in the language they were originally written in.  Likewise, you can try other popular book/film series such as The Hunger Games and Twilight. Continue reading

Glastonbury

Summer equals the beach, BBQs, and, if you’re a music lover, the opportunity to catch your favourite bands at a summer music festival.  While the amount of rain in the U.K. might not provide ideal conditions for listening to music outside, the number of music festivals in the U.K. is huge and the biggest and most famous is Glastonbury Festival in Somerset.

Glastonbury Festival has been going for 47 years.  The first festival took place on owner Michael Eavis’ farm in 1970 with 1,500 people in attendance and tickets costing just £1 (which also included a pint of milk on arrival). Fast forward to this year, and the festival is still happening on Eavis’ farm except now he is expecting 135,000 people and they will each be paying £238 for their tickets (and that’s without milk!).

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PODCAST POWER

After all that hard work during the year you don’t want to go forgetting your English skills over the long summer break. How about a way to keep English fresh by using a very low input form of language learning which you can do even while relaxing on the beach (no textbooks required)?

Over the last few years, as smartphones have found their way into everyone’s pockets, podcasts have become more and more popular. Easily downloadable, mostly free, and a perfect way to keep yourself entertained on your daily commute; there are now thousands of podcasts available for even the quirkiest of interests. What’s more, there are plenty out there for the English learner and they provide that all important listening practice that so many students struggle with.  Likewise, because they are conversational, they offer the type of ‘real English’ which often doesn’t get as much exposure as it should when you’re studying for a specific exam. And they’ll expose you to a wide range of native accents.

So, I’d say downloading a few (or all) of the podcasts listed below is as important for your summer holiday as packing your sunglasses and sun cream… Continue reading