Summer English resources for pupils and parents

Here are some recommendations for anyone looking to practise their English while doing something fun or interesting over the summer. All of the following resources are free and available online.

Current affairs topics

See the following places for information about recent events:

BBC Newsbeat

(all ages)

BBC news directed at younger people, and explained in simpler terms.

"Brexit"

Latest news

(all ages)

The latest news about the historical "Brexit", the decision made by the UK to leave the European Union. Includes news articles and explanatory videos.

Analysis

(Bachillerato & older)

This is an academic blog about European affairs. It has a lot of impartial analysis about the "Brexit" and how it may affect the future of both the UK and EU.

Shakespeare 400th Anniversary

(all ages)

This link will take you to our blog article from April this year celebrating the 400^th Anniversary of Shakespeare's death. At the bottom you will find several links to different resources concerning Shakespeare's life and works.

US Presidential elections 2016

(all ages)

"For Dummies" A site which summarises the key beliefs of the Democrats and the Republicans, the main American political parties.

A BBC guide to the election.

A Daily Telegraph guide to the election.

General websites

Keep up to date with the latest Spanish news and sport while learning English:

(all ages)

El País newspaper English version

Think Spain news and sport 

AS sports newspaper English version

Marca sports newspaper English version

'Wait but Why'

(Bachillerato & older)

This is a blog-style website with regular contributions explaining many different topics in a fun and entertaining way. The history of time, why people are sports fans, the future of the human race, how to name a baby, types of friendships, your life in weeks, travelling to the third world, and much, much more.

Futurelearn online web courses

(4ºESO & older)

Futurelearn offers free, short online study programmes. Of particular interest is be the 'Teaching and Studying' section, which has several courses connected with preparing for university, making course/job applications, and doing interviews. There are plenty of other courses on all sorts of topics, like science, history and sport too. I recommend this site to anyone who is considering going to university abroad or just looking to fill their time with something interesting.

Audiovisual resources

Many British & international TV channels live

(all ages)

British Council film archive

(4ºESO & older)

Documentary films online

(4ºESO & older)

TED Talks

(Bachillerato & older)

Fun & games

QuizUp (smartphone app)

(all ages)

Compete in short quizzes on hundreds of different topics against people from all over the world, as you try to earn medals and be the top in your country.

British Council apps http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/apps

(all ages)

Here you will find several mobile apps for all ages, focussing on learning and practising different areas of the English language through fun, games, videos, and more.

I CNSSM Primary Public Speaking Tournament

We recently held our first Public Speaking Tournament, with Primary pupils from 5º and 6º participating in three categories: presentations, the "selling game" and a debate. The audience, in the school chapel, was comprised of the two year groups already mentioned, in addition to several teachers, including a jury made up of four teachers, to decide on the winners and give constructive feedback to all the participants. You could sense the anticipation and nerves in the air as the English teacher Ana López introduced and explained the event to the audience.

The first of the three categories was the presentations. Four pairs, two each from 5º and 6º, made presentations about two themes: "Life at High Latitudes" and "School Life in a Poor Country". They had been given the theme a few weeks previously and had all worked very hard, both in class and out, to prepare the information and photo slideshow, organise the work and practise the public speaking skills that they had been learning throughout this school year.

Next, four pupils (two from each year) had one minute each to demonstrate their persuasive skills by trying to sell an everyday object, as if they were in a market or on a home shopping TV channel. All four did this alone, and used all their ingenuity and humour to convince the jury and audience to buy their product.

Finally, the debate took place between two teams, three pupils from 6º and two from 5º (there was a late withdrawal due to illness). The motion to be debated was "Smartphones are bad for our bodies and minds". The team representing 6º had to defend this proposition, while the pupils from 5º had to argue in favour of their effect on us. The debate was expected to last for just a few minutes, but took on a life of its own as the teams quickly and effectively worked together to counter the points offered by the opposition. In the end it lasted well over ten minutes and due to the high level shown by all of the members, the jury could not decide upon a winning team.

The jury provided feedback to every participant after each section. A constant theme of the feedback from the jury members was their surprise at the ability exhibited by pupils just 11-12 years old (talking not only in front of a large audience, but also what was in most cases not their mother tongue), and the intelligence, ingenuity and creativity shown by each of them. They emphasised the difficulty of deciding on a winning performance such was the high level shown throughout.

It should also be mentioned that the audience was impeccably well-behaved throughout, and showed great interest in the various performances.

After the feedback was given for the debate, the winning performance in each category was announced and the prizes awarded. Then the participants gathered together for photos and to exchange congratulations and observations about the event.

We look forward to hosting this event next year, making small improvements, and hope that it grows year on year, to become yet another loved and respected school tradition in years to come.