Our education advice this week is on how to ensure that your child’s English continues to be reinforced and supported at home. The advice below is recommended for students of any nationality from the age of 5 to 10 for maximum impact. Providing students with opportunities to continue practising and applying their skills outside of the classroom is vital to helping them to develop and accelerate their learning. Below is a set of tips for how maintain your child’s curiosity and learning in English outside of the classroom.

Improving Writing

• Ask your child to write the dinner menu daily. This will help boost their writing skills while bolstering their creativity.

• Ask your child to write a daily dinner review regarding what tasted nice and what didn’t as an activity to strengthen their writing skills.

• Ask your child to prepare the shopping list before going to the market. Either they can go around the kitchen and write what they think is needed or the shopping list can be dictated to them.

• Ask your child to write a letter to their grandparents, aunts, uncles or cousins. They could write about what they are learning in school or what they plan to do on their next holiday from school.

• Ensure they have adequate tools for writing while teaching your child to respect and care for their writing equipment.

Improving Vocabulary

• Read English books with your children, this should make up at least 20 minutes a day of reading engaging and age-appropriate literature. Take turns to alternate reader so that your child can practise and enjoy listening to your voice.

• Discuss what you have read with your child, why is it important? What does it show? What will happen?

• Teach your child one new word every day and reward them for using it correctly in a sentence.

• Challenge your child to find synonyms for common words (such as “nice” or “big”) to broaden their vocabulary.

Improving Speaking

• Give your child as many opportunities to speak with friends and family as possible.

• Ask your child questions and give them a chance to practise their answers in different contexts.

We hope that this advice helps to find ways of letting student practise their English at home in fun, creative and engaging ways. From all of us at Libra Education, never stop learning!