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On a bright summer's day, a smiling young woman wearing a summer dress sits cross-legged on a green lawn in a park with a tree in the background reading a book to boost her English Language skills.

How to stop English Language skills from slipping over the summer

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English Language Summer Learning Loss: What is it and what can we do about it?

Hurray, the summer holidays are in full swing! After months of intense study, young people can finally take time to explore hobbies, get outdoors, catch up with friends and rest, relax and recharge. While kids and parents alike take a well-earned break, perhaps the last thing on your minds will be how to keep English Language learning up! However, in recent years, researchers have highlighted a phenomenon that may give you food for thought.

What is summer learning loss?

Variously known as summer learning loss, summer slide or simply backslide, experts have found  that many students experience academic regression over the summer months as learning routines come to a halt. This is a particular concern when it comes to English Language. Unlike many other subjects, English Language is skills-based and, like all skills, students can get out of practice and find their reading and writing skills are rusty by the time September rolls around again. Worryingly, taking an extended break from learning can bring a decline of roughly one to two months in students’ reading comprehension, vocabulary retention and written fluency. Studies show up to 28% of literacy and reading gains are lost if students stop reading complex texts and passive disengagement from formal learning can reduce vocabulary recall and spelling accuracy.

How does the summer slide impact English Language learning?

Learning loss over the summer break has several implications for students. They may find comprehension more difficult, make spelling and grammar mistakes more often and previously confident writers might find it more challenging to focus on their work, articulate their ideas and put them down on paper or find it trickier to structure their writing. Furthermore, student stamina is negatively impacted in the absence of formal analytical writing or structured writing practice.

Without opportunities over the summer to reinforce and consolidate skills already mastered, students face the uphill task of revisiting material and rebuilding skills in the autumn, which can take up to six weeks. This means they struggle to re-engage and experience a stressful, high-pressure start to the new academic year. Furthermore, this can open up attainment gaps, particularly for students who are already at risk because they find English Language challenging or for those who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Feeling like they are starting behind can damage students’ motivation, self-belief and confidence. This, in turn, can reinforce feelings of inadequacy and further hinder their ability to catch up with peers.   

A bright yellow banana-shaped fabric case next to Scrabble letter tiles arranged in a crossword layout on a wooden tabletop showing how games can help maintain English Language skills.
Word games like Bananagrams help maintain English Language learning in fun way and boost spelling at the same time!

How to prevent learning gains being lost

So, what can we do to stop summer learning loss? Well,  no-one is suggesting keeping up with your studies in the same way as you might do during the academic year, after all, both parents and kids need time off from regular learning schedules! However, you can strike a balance between having opportunities to explore other interests and maintaining educational progress by taking a number of practical steps and adopting a ‘light touch’ learning approach. Just one hour of targeted learning once a week or 15 or 20 minutes of daily structured support integrated into your routine, makes a massive difference. Here are some ideas to help you reinforce and strengthen English Language learning and skills in an enjoyable way:

  • Read and discuss a wide variety of different kinds of writing – articles, stories, speeches, diaries – together
  • Visit your local library, borrow books online via the online library service, Libby 
  • Engage in creative writing activities – perhaps by keeping a journal, writing a fact file or information leaflet before or while you’re on holiday
  • Play word games like Scrabble or Bananagrams and games that encourage speaking and listening like Dixit and Story Cubes 
  • Complete word searches or word-based quizzes

Crucially, consistency and keeping it fun, fostering enthusiasm and encouraging curiosity, are key to balancing learning and leisure and seeing learning as leisure too!

Structured English Language learning programmes can help

One way you can keep learning over the summer is to sign up for online courses which cover core skills, but are informal and engaging. Did you know that my popular live term-time classes are also available as recorded blocks that you can watch at your own pace, making them ideal for summer learning? Hundreds of students aged 11-14 have enjoyed my themed pre-iGCSE recorded lessons on topics such as People and Places, Magic and Mystery and All Creatures Great and Small.

Each set of ten lessons covers a range of forms with different purposes, including news reports, articles, speeches, letters, journal entries and interviews, poems and literary texts. The classes provide plenty of opportunities to for students to practise reading and writing skills and build awareness and confidence analysing and creating texts in various genres. A variety of supplementary resources are provided including links to relevant articles, news reports, websites and documentaries giving students the chance to broaden their reading and build their knowledge of effective writing as well as extend their vocabulary and their technical knowledge accurate grammar, spelling and punctuation.

So, to celebrate the summer holidays and to help support students, I’m offering a 10% discount on all pre-iGCSE English Language recorded courses. Browse the full collection and get 10% off all courses with the code summerfun And if you’d like ahead and get organised for the autumn term, pre-iGCSE and iGCSE live classes are now open for booking and you can sign up at any time for self-paced pre-recorded iGCSE courses.

I hope you all have a great summer and have fun learning!

Iram   

Iram Malik

I am a qualified teacher with a Masters degree in English Language and Literature from King’s College London and a PGCE from the Institute of Education, UCL. I also have a BSc degree in Sociology from the London School of Economics. I work with students aged 11 to 16 all over the world supporting them with their studies in English Language and specialise in supporting students aged 11-14 at the pre-IGCSE stage and teaching the Cambridg iGCSE English Language specification. I have an in-depth knowledge of this syllabus and have assisted numerous students and I have an excellent track record. Over the years have had a 100% pass rate with the vast majority of students achieving A*/9-B/7. My extensive knowledge of the examination system and my experience of working with my own children and other students means I am able to offer support across a wide range of subject areas and levels and can work with you to devise a bespoke learning programme for your children tailored to your needs: from advising you on how you can best support your young person during the pre-iGCSE years, through to taking your first GCSE exams to applying for further and higher education courses and sharing hints and tips on writing personal statements for UCAS applications. As part of all my pre-IGCSE and IGCSE live and pre-recorded courses, I focus on developing strong reading and writing skills as well as exam technique and understanding how to achieve exam success. My teaching style and my understanding of how students learn is very much informed by my experiences working with students as well as my own children. As part of all my pre-IGCSE and IGCSE live and pre-recorded courses, I focus on developing strong reading and writing skills as well as exam technique and understanding how to achieve exam success. My teaching style and my understanding of how student learn is very much informed by my experiences working with students as well as my own children. I believe in nurturing a passion for learning and enthusing and inspiring students by engaging them and sparking their curiosity. For me, English is about understanding how language works, being able to use words to communicate your ideas, thoughts and opinions effectively and is an invaluable life skill. Supporting learners to realise their ability is very important to me and drives me to create a learning environment and resources which foster students’ enjoyment and confidence, building their knowledge, skills and understanding. I am committed to offering students opportunities to access high quality, affordable education and helping all learners achieve their potential. Although I have taught in various capacities and worked with students at all ages and stages one-to-one, in small groups and webinars since I qualified as a teacher in 1998, I am also a veteran home educating mum to three who were/have always been home educated.

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