On a summer's day a picnic or an ice cream is a nice thought, especially if the sun is out (and it does come out sometimes in the U.K.!)

With so many lovely English speaking countries to visit, it's nice to talk about where you would like to visit one day or where you have already been!  Another nice topic to discuss is what you would like to do in the summer holidays!

Frequently asked questions

Why learn English?

Learning English can be so much fun, and a very useful skill to develop. Globally there are about 1.5 billion speakers of English, of which about 373 speak English as their first language.  A knowledge of English will enhance a C.V. as many employers look favourably on people who can speak English.  A knowledge of English is also useful for travel.

How can I help my child learn English?

 1. Make it fun to learn English by using a mix of different activities.

2. Keep a record of the new words your child is learning.

3. Review the new vocabularly regularly.  A short quiz is a good way to review some words.

4. Praise your child to help build their confidence in their ability to learn English.

5. Use lots of visuals - pictures, toys and things you can see around the home 

What age is best for learning a foreign language?

Children can learn languages through play and it can be fun to learn a foreign language!  For children under 7 begin introducing them to 3 - 4 new words at a time.  It's amazing how learning a few words at a time soon mounts up.   For children over 7 you could try introducing your child to a few more words each time they study English.  For example, you could aim to introduce 6 - 8 new words at a time.  Once your child has mastered how to remember some nouns, you could then introduce them to a few verbs so they can have a go at making some simple sentences.   Although it's never too late to learn a language, it is generally concluded that learning a foreign language as a child is beneficial as children can absorb a new language without consciously realising they are doing so. 

What is the best way to teach children numbers?

To teach children how to count to ten in English you could break it down into three parts. First of all teach the numbers one to three, then once the children are able to count to three on their own you could move on to numbers four to six, then finally seven to ten.

One activity that is popular with young children is to teach counting by pretending to swim as you count. For example, count one, two, three as you do actions with your arms for swimming, then tell the children to take a deep breath and repeat counting to three as you pretended to swim. Encourage the children to count with you. Doing this routine several times helps children remember the numbers.

Alternatively you could pretend to do some stretches or some actions with your arms as you count in English. Once you have reached the final number you are teaching you could say "Again!" and then repeat the counting and the stretches / actions.

Once the children know how to count a good way of praticising the numbers is to pretend to play tennis as you count. For this activity there can be two teams or it can be the class versus the teacher. One team starts with the number one, then the second team says two and it continues with one team saying all the odd numbers and one team saying all the even numbers.

Try incorporating counting in English into daily activities. You could count things like the number of apples in a fruit bowl, the number of toy cars a child is playing with, the number of things you see in picture story books or even the stairs as you go up them. Numbers are useful to know, so it's good to revist regularly how to count to help this learning pass to the long term memory.