5 ways to reinspire your students after the summer holidays

Joanna Wiseman
A class of students sat at desks in a classroom looking at their teacher stood at the front

The new academic year is here and we're getting ready to head back to the English classroom. Yet, after a long and relaxing summer holiday, some students may feel unmotivated to return to the same class routine, especially if they have been learning English for several years. So, how can we reinspire students to keep learning and reconnect with English? By bringing in new resources, learning approaches and targets, we are sure you'll be able to rekindle their love of learning.

So let's look at five ways to reinspire your English students in the coming academic year.

1. Set new goals

Students may lose interest in classes or feel discouraged when they don't have a clear target to work towards. If this is the case with your class, have them write up a list of five new goals they'd like to achieve.

These goals must be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely. So rather than just saying "I'd like to learn more vocabulary", have students make it SMART.

For example:

Specific: "I'd like to learn new advanced vocabulary to use in my writing."

Measurable: "I'll test myself to see if I can define and use 20 new words in sentences."

Achievable: "I will dedicate 2 hours a week to studying the definitions and writing example sentences in context."

Relevant: "This will help me get a good score in myas I struggle with formal academic language."

Timely: "I will learn 20 new words by the end of September."

If learners find it difficult to think of goals, ask them to write one for each language skill: listening, reading, writing and speaking. You can also refer to the GSE Teacher Toolkit, which has hundreds of learning objectives organized by age, level, skill type and more.

The idea is to encourage them to set clear objectives, giving them an exciting new challenge to work towards for the year ahead.

2. Encourage students to find conversation partners

Students may lose interest in improving their English if they've only been studying in a classroom. They may see it as something boring and unrelated to their real lives.

A great way to tackle this is by encouraging them to talk with English speakers outside of class. By doing this, they'll pick up new vocabulary and expressions, giving them more confidencein their language abilities.

Suggest that they attend a language exchange.andaregreat platforms to find regular language exchange events in their local area. While this is suitable for intermediate learners and above, it may be a bit daunting for beginners.

In this case, the appmay be a suitable alternative. Similar to a language exchange, learners can connect with people from around the world. They can choose people with a similar level as them and either write messages, send short audios, or do video calls, depending on their ability and confidence.

Communicating with real people is a fun and encouraging reason for your learners to want to improve.

3. Introduce interesting new vocabulary

Students may become disheartened if they've been learning for years but aren't seeing much progress. A simple and effective way to help them improve their level is by encouraging them toexpand their vocabulary.

They already have to study a lot of vocabulary from their textbooks, so why not give it a more personal twist and ask for suggestions of topics that interest them?

Maybe they are gamers and want to learn how to communicate better with other players around the world. Select vocabulary about styles of games, turn-taking, and strategizing that they could use – they can practice in class and be thrilled to be given homework.

Perhaps some of your students want to study or work abroad. This may be a common topic, but one thing that is not frequently discussed is how to deal with the paperwork of living in another country. For example, getting into more specific language about banking, housing rentals, or setting up wifi will help them feel more confident about their move. Though these things differ between countries, there is a lot of overlapping vocabulary and roleplaying will do wonders to reassure and excite them about their upcoming adventures.

By allowing your students to take control of their learning, their motivation is naturally higher and you too will enjoy finding out specific language about their interests.

4. Work on specific problem areas

Language learners may become frustrated and lose motivation if they continue to make the same mistakes. It may cause them to feel disheartened in their abilities and want to give up, especially for those who aim to sit exams. You can help them level up by identifying specific problem areas and tailoring your classes to work on these.

Tests can help your learners discover their weaknesses and avoid the frustration of sitting and not passing an exam. They'll be able to pinpoint what they need to work on, and you can dedicate your classes to exactly what they need, rather than cover areas they may not have problems with.

For example, if students are experiencing difficulties with reading comprehension, you could try introducing more varied reading materials. Ask them to bring in blog posts, magazines and news articles on topics that they find interesting. Highlight keywords in the text to enhance their understanding of the piece and create comprehension questions similar to the test format they'll take.

By giving a little extra attention to fixing problem areas, learners will soon start to see their progress, encouraging and inspiring them to keep going.

5. Change your class format

Sometimes learners become demotivated simply because they have become too used to the format of the classes. If this is the case, you might want to take a break from the textbook and try more creative language learning methods. For example:

Use interactive games

Suitable for all levels, you can use platforms such asor to test your learners. They offer a new dimension to the class, encouraging students to have fun with the language. Divide them into teams to add an element of competition – there's nothing like a friendly game to excite students!

Set project work

Put your class into small groups and have them work on a project to present to the rest of the group. Choose topics they might cover in their textbooks, such as occupations, travel or cultural traditions. Or even better – let students come up with their own! This activity can be modified to suit all levels and offers a challenge as learners will need to push their language limits.

Hold class debates

More suitable for intermediate learners and above, class debates get everyone talking. You can ask students to brainstorm topics they're interested in. You can offer prompts such as climate change, the advertising of junk food or the impacts of social media. They'll be happy to talk about things that concern them.

Throw in some unexpected activities to bring students' attention back to class and spark their interest in learning again.

Explore more lesson tips in our blog posts

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  • A woman gesturing to her mouth in a playroom with a child copying the gesture

    Educating young learners: Making phonics fun

    Por Hawys Morgan

    For many young learners, reading and writing can be one of the most challenging steps in their English learning journey. Even fluent English speakers often find it difficult to understand the connection between how English is pronounced and how it is written.

    Let’s explore how phonics can be a valuable and fun tool to help students and teachers understand this connection.

    What is phonics?

    Phonics is a method of teaching learners how to read by making the connection between sounds and letters. There are around 44 different sounds used in English, and around 120 different ways of writing them down.

    Children learn to identify and say individual sounds (phonemes) and what letter or groups of letters can be used to write that sound down (graphemes). This helps children to read and spell words. For example, the /k/ sound is frequently written using these letters:

    • k as in kite
    • c as in cat
    • ck as in back

    When children learn to read using phonics, the sounds are read out in isolation, for example, b-a-ck. Then they are blended together to form the whole word: back.

    How to teach phonics

    Other methods of learning how to read and spell rely on students memorizing every new word they encounter – that’s potentially thousands of new words! On the other hand, phonics gives students the tools and confidence to read and spell unfamiliar words autonomously. If they know the sounds, they can read the word.

    Simply drilling sounds and letters will quickly become dull for students, so here are some practical, fun phonics ideas you can try out in the classroom.

    1. Use music

    Music can create a positive atmosphere for teaching phonics, and it helps children to memorize sounds in a lively, enjoyable way. Furthermore, it can improve pronunciation and listening skills.

    • Use musical instruments or clap to help students break words into individual sounds.
    • Alternatively, use ‘robot talk’ – say the words in a robotic way, breaking up the words into their component sounds, for example ‘r-e-d’.
    • Tongue twisters are useful for working on the initial sounds in words. Try creating tongue twisters using known vocabulary and students’ names, e.g. Sara sings in the sun.
    • Many ELT courses provide phonics songs that practice new sounds. However, you can also adapt well-known songs to teach phonics.

    Example song:

    Clap your hands and turn around!

    Put your hands up!
    Put your hands down.
    Clap your hands
    And turn around!

    Put your head up!
    Put your head down!
    Clap your hands
    And turn around.

    Put your leg up!
    Put your leg down!
    Clap your hands
    And turn around.

    2. Move your body

    Learning through movement comes naturally to many young learners and can be a dynamic part of your phonics routine. Incorporating movement into your lessons can motivate students and help them retain the sounds and letters.

    • Add an accompanying action when you present a new phonics sound and its corresponding letter/s. For example, say, ‘S, s, s, snake’ and make a snaking movement with your arm. The action becomes a visual prompt, so students call out ‘S!’ whenever you do the action.
    • Air drawing can be great fun. Have students trace the shape of letters in the air with a finger while repeating the corresponding sound. This is also good pre-writing practice.
    • You can even challenge students to work alone or in pairs to make letter shapes with their whole bodies!

    3. Make phonics tactile

    To really embed the connection between the shape of the letters and the sounds they represent, get children to use their hands to feel the shape of the letters while they repeat the sounds.

    These tactile phonics activities have the added advantage of working on fine motor skills, which in turn will improve students’ handwriting.

    • Show students how to trace the shape of the letter in a tray of sand while repeating the sound. Alternatively, try tracing the letter shape in shaving foam.
    • Try modeling the letter shapes out of playdough or a piece of string.
    • A fun pair-work game involves one student silently drawing a letter on their partner’s back. Their partner must guess the letter and say the sound.

    4. Be creative

    There are wonderful, creative ways you can explore phonics with your students. For younger students who don’t yet have the fine motor skills to write letter shapes, using arts and crafts can be an enjoyable way to reinforce the link between the letter/s and the sound.

    • They could make letter shapes from dried pasta or use junk modeling.
    • Have your students decorate letter shapes by painting, coloring, or collaging. This will help them memorize the shapes. Encourage them to repeat the sounds as they do this, or play a phonics rhyme in the background so the association between the sound and letter/s is constantly reinforced.

    Create class displays for different sounds using a variety of pictures and objects starting with that sound. Use them for revision and classroom games. Try splitting the class into teams and then calling out a sound, or a word starting with that sound. The first team to touch the display with the matching letter/s wins a point.

    5. Play games

    Many popular ELT games can be adapted to teach phonics. Games are a great way to bring phonics to life and to give young learners the confidence to produce the sounds themselves.

    • Play ‘Whispers’. Students sitting in a circle whisper a sound rather than a word to the child next to them until it reaches the end of the circle. The last child says the sound aloud, or points to the letters that correspond to that sound.
    • Get children to create their own sets of cards with sounds and pictures on them. These can be used to play card games like snap and pairs.
    • Other games such as i-spy, board rush games, bingo and lucky dip, can be easily adapted to teach phonics.

    Whether you dedicate a whole lesson or just five minutes of your lesson to phonics, make sure to have fun!

  • Students working outdoors, two of them are looking over a open book

    What to look for in an English placement test

    Por Jennifer Manning

    If you’re an English teacher, Director of Studies or school owner you’ll know the importance of putting students in the right group. Whether it’s a business English class, exam prep or general English – a placement test is essential. Without one, you’ll teach classes with such varied levels and needs, it’ll be hard to plan an effective lesson.

    Placing students at the wrong level will not only lead to unmotivated learners, but it may also cost your institution money.

    But how exactly do you design a reliable, accurate and easy-to-use test? In this post, we’ll examine the key questions you need to consider before making your own placement test. We’ll also explore what features you need to achieve your goals.

    Problems with traditional placement tests

    Most private language schools (PLSs) and higher education institutions offer new students the opportunity to take a placement test before starting a course. However, these are often just a multiple-choice test, a short interview, or a combination of the two.

    While this does act as a filter helping us group students into similar levels, there are a number of downfalls. Students can guess the answers to multiple-choice questions – and while they might give us a rough idea of their grammar knowledge, these tests don’t consider the four skills: speaking, writing, listening and reading.

    Oral interviews, on the other hand, can give us an indication of the students’ spoken level. However, they also raise questions of objectivity and consistency that even specially trained teachers will struggle to avoid.

    Another big issue with traditional tests is the amount of time they take. Multiple-choice exams are often graded by hand and interviewing every new student uses valuable resources that could be used elsewhere.

    Key questions to consider

    Before you re-design your current test completely, we’ve put together a series of questions to help you think about your objectives, define your needs and explore the challenges you may face.

    Taking a few minutes to think about these things can make the process of finding the right English placement test go more smoothly and quickly. Once you know what you’re looking for, you’ll be ready to make a checklist of the most important features.

    What will your test be used for?

    • Placing incoming ESL students into the appropriate English language program.
    • Measuring students’ progress throughout the school year.
    • Final assessment of students' abilities at the end of the school year (“exit test”).
    • All of the above.

    Is this different from what you use your current test for? How soon are your needs likely to change?

    What skills does your current test measure?

    Does it measure speaking, listening, reading, writing, or all of the above? Are all of these skills measured in separate tests — or in one test?

    • How many students do you need to test at each intake?
    • How many students do you need to test each year? How many do you expect you’ll need to test in three years?

    How quickly do you currently receive test results? How quickly would you like to receive them?

    If you can test your students weeks before the start of the school term, you may have time to wait for results. However, if you are continuously testing students, or have students arriving just before the term begins, you may need to get results much more quickly.

    What features in your current test do you like and dislike?

    Are there things in your current test that you also want in your new test? Is anything missing, or anything that you don’t want your new test to have?

    What resources are available to you?

    Some English language tests require students to have the computer skills needed to take the test online. You may also need a testing lab that has the following:

    • computers
    • a stable internet connection
    • a headset with a built-in microphone
    • a preliminary checklist for placement tests.

    Once you’ve got answers to the questions, you can use the checklist below to make sure your placement test has the features you need. It may also be useful for comparing products if you decide to use an external placement test.

    A preliminary checklist for placement tests

    What features do you need to achieve your goals?

    Now that you've analyzed how you want to use your new English Placement test, create a checklist of the features that you need to achieve your goals.

  • A girl sat surroudned by bookshelves, she is leaning on one and reading a book

    4 top tips to help you encourage teens to read

    Por Donatella Fitzgerald MBE

    Two big questions about reading

    Children who engage with reading are three times more likely to have high levels of mental well-being than those who do not - ().

    There are two big questions we need to consider to help our students succeed in today’s school environment and to improve their general well-being.

    Research points in one direction: that is reading for pleasure! Here are four tips to help your students read more - and enjoy it.

    Tip 1: Give them a choice of great graded reader

    Reading can help students escape into new worlds and switch off from the day, helping them cope with stress and worry. The outcomes of reading will occur more often and more strongly if reading is enjoyable in the first instance.

    The benefits of reading are more likely to be felt when reading takes place through free choice. Give your students a wide selection of graded readers of different genres and at the right level. Ask them what genres they know and then do a class survey to find out which they like reading most.

    app English Graded Readers offer teenagers a large range of genres at all levels. The series offers world-renowned stories – fiction, non-fiction, biographies, cinematic readers, plays, short stories and classics – rewritten for English learners.

    Tip 2: Involve the students in a collaborative group activity

    A reading circle is a strategy where the teacher puts students into groups to read a whole book or one or more chapters. At the end of the project, each group creates a presentation to deliver to the class. Reading circles reinforce listening, speaking, reading and writing skills in a supportive and collaborative environment.

    What’s more, they encourage students to deepen their understanding of a chosen text, as students are encouraged to talk about the book they are reading with their classmates. They discuss plots, the specific language used, and personal experiences, think about the characters and make connections to the outside world and citizenship.

    Students work collaboratively and think about and discuss what they have read. At the same time, they are guided towards deeper comprehension and are encouraged through active learning to take an interest in other students’ ideas.

    This type of collaborative project works perfectly in a face-to-face or remote teaching situation. It can be a way of nudging reluctant readers to read. You can help your students deepen discussions about books, create lifelong readers and build a respectful classroom community.

    How to lead a reading circle

    Create your reading circles by forming groups of four to seven students. Learners should be at the same reading level and also have similar interests, where possible.

    The objective of each circle is to read the book and prepare a presentation to share with the whole class. Each group decides collaboratively which reader they would like to read together; however, ask each group to read a different book so you have a variety of presentations.

    Reading circles should be fully student led. Students are empowered and supported by their peers as they all have a specific and important role to play. Through the project and preparing the digital responses students learn digital skills and improve their digital literacy and critical thinking.

    Suggested reading circle roles:

    • Slides Wizard: Creates the slides for the presentation
    • Presentation Wizard: Helps with the presentation to the class
    • Artistic Wizard: Looks at the illustrations in the book (this could be good for students with dyslexia)
    • Film Wizard: Finds information about the film version if there is one
    • Word Wizard: Finds new or keywords
    • Summary Wizard: Writes/creates a summary/visual summary of the plot
    • Sentence Wizard: Finds important quotations, and sentences in the book
    • Character Wizard: List/description of characters
    • Places in the book Wizard: Finding out about symbolic locations in the book

    Students can present their reading circles project in several different ways. For example:

    • A PowerPoint presentation
    • A poster
    • A video
    • A Padlet (interactive notice board where they can post comments, files, pictures and audio and video recordings).

    While students are watching the presentations, they should give feedback to the groups presenting using a feedback form, giving praise and suggesting areas of improvement.

    Tip 3: Introduce your students to a class library

    Introduce a class library and engage students in reading during class time or outside the classroom. If you don’t have much space for physical books, eLibraries can also ensure students can read the books remotely and read the same book at the same time! As with the printed versions, there are readers for teenage and adult students who want to supplement standard English course materials and build their English competence.

    At the end of the year, students can organize a reading festival (either face-to-face or virtually) where they showcase their responses to reading e.g. videos, posters, lap books, dances…anything they like!

    Tip 4: Help struggling readers build their confidence

    Offering students a choice of readers at the right or slightly below their level can help boost their confidence. Ideally, guide them towards short stories so they can finish them.

    Audiobooks can be an alternative to reading a book for a student with dyslexia (and other SEN students). They can have the same experience and many of the same benefits from listening to the story in English.

    If they are reading it is important to scaffold their reading with pre-reading activities as they provide the necessary support before the reading starts and activate their background knowledge. It is also important to pre-teach vocabulary items and encourage them to predict what will happen in the story. Pair students up with a reading buddy so the student with dyslexia has another student who can help them.