Summer Activity Diary
Summer is nearly here, and it’s time to relax and have fun! It’s also a great opportunity to study English the way that YOU want to, without deadlines, tests or homework. I recommend that you try to keep some contact with English over the summer.... otherwise you might forget everything and have to work extra hard to catch up in September!
Here are a few interesting ways to study English during the holidays.
Listening
Most people enjoy watching movies and TV shows, and you can visit your local rental store and borrow DVDs. If you want to watch videos online, you can see movies for free at http://www.openflix.com and http://archive.org/details/movies. All the movies are in the public domain, so you can watch them without breaking the law!
On http://vimeo.com you can watch very short documentaries and animations, and at http://www.ted.com/ you can watch great presentations by smart presenters about important issues. The great thing about the TED website is that the talks are available with subtitles in English and Japanese, and you can also read the transcripts.
If you want to hear people in conversation, check out http://www.elllo.org/. I especially like this site because the speakers are from all over the world, not only native speakers. The conversations are short and interesting. Finally, I like http://www.storylineonline.net/, where you can hear famous actors reading children’s stories.
Writing
Keeping a daily or weekly diary in a notebook is a great idea. Try free writing, and write for five or ten minutes every day.
Try chatting with your friends in English on LINE, instagram or Facebook.
If you want other people to read your writing, try writing reviews. http://www.goodreads.com is a wonderful site full of book reviews and recommendations.
You could start your own blog, too. One of the easiest is http://wordpress.com. Write about anything you like!
Reading
If you are close to Nagoya, the Nagoya International Center http://www.nic-nagoya.or.jp/en/e/library has a very well-stocked library of foreign language books. Aichi Prefectural Library has a good children’s section, too. You can find Japan news in English at http://www.japantimes.co.jp and http://the-japan-news.com.
If you want to read free books online, the Gutenberg Project is collecting public domain books at http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/
Speaking
Want to improve your pronunciation? How about some online karaoke? http://redkaraoke.com/. Of course, you could visit a real karaoke box and sing in English too!
To chat with your friends from home, or around the world, http://www.skype.com/en/ is free and easy.
General English Learning Sites
If you want to work on materials especially designed for language learners, try one of these sites.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/
http://cambridgeenglishonline.com
http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/
Online security - Important Note
As long as you are sensible, you should be safe online. Remember these points.
1. Don’t post your personal information - full name, phone number, student number or address.
2. Don’t post anything online you might be embarrassed about later. No drunk bikini pictures please! Protect your image.
3. Some sites have a free and a paid section. If you are not sure, check - especially if you are using a mobile site. Make sure your mobile plan covers your costs.
Summer is nearly here, and it’s time to relax and have fun! It’s also a great opportunity to study English the way that YOU want to, without deadlines, tests or homework. I recommend that you try to keep some contact with English over the summer.... otherwise you might forget everything and have to work extra hard to catch up in September!
Here are a few interesting ways to study English during the holidays.
Listening
Most people enjoy watching movies and TV shows, and you can visit your local rental store and borrow DVDs. If you want to watch videos online, you can see movies for free at http://www.openflix.com and http://archive.org/details/movies. All the movies are in the public domain, so you can watch them without breaking the law!
On http://vimeo.com you can watch very short documentaries and animations, and at http://www.ted.com/ you can watch great presentations by smart presenters about important issues. The great thing about the TED website is that the talks are available with subtitles in English and Japanese, and you can also read the transcripts.
If you want to hear people in conversation, check out http://www.elllo.org/. I especially like this site because the speakers are from all over the world, not only native speakers. The conversations are short and interesting. Finally, I like http://www.storylineonline.net/, where you can hear famous actors reading children’s stories.
Writing
Keeping a daily or weekly diary in a notebook is a great idea. Try free writing, and write for five or ten minutes every day.
Try chatting with your friends in English on LINE, instagram or Facebook.
If you want other people to read your writing, try writing reviews. http://www.goodreads.com is a wonderful site full of book reviews and recommendations.
You could start your own blog, too. One of the easiest is http://wordpress.com. Write about anything you like!
Reading
If you are close to Nagoya, the Nagoya International Center http://www.nic-nagoya.or.jp/en/e/library has a very well-stocked library of foreign language books. Aichi Prefectural Library has a good children’s section, too. You can find Japan news in English at http://www.japantimes.co.jp and http://the-japan-news.com.
If you want to read free books online, the Gutenberg Project is collecting public domain books at http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/
Speaking
Want to improve your pronunciation? How about some online karaoke? http://redkaraoke.com/. Of course, you could visit a real karaoke box and sing in English too!
To chat with your friends from home, or around the world, http://www.skype.com/en/ is free and easy.
General English Learning Sites
If you want to work on materials especially designed for language learners, try one of these sites.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/
http://cambridgeenglishonline.com
http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/
Online security - Important Note
As long as you are sensible, you should be safe online. Remember these points.
1. Don’t post your personal information - full name, phone number, student number or address.
2. Don’t post anything online you might be embarrassed about later. No drunk bikini pictures please! Protect your image.
3. Some sites have a free and a paid section. If you are not sure, check - especially if you are using a mobile site. Make sure your mobile plan covers your costs.