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1. Ways to Practice your Languages
Alone With Others
Reading Internet
Magazines and Newspapers
Books
Active reading…use what you
have read (eg note down
interesting grammar/vocab in
context)
Find tasks with exercises
Find subjects that interest you
(eg history, linguistics,
education, cooking)
Pre-read…think about some
words that might appear in the
text
Both read the same article and
prepare questions for the other
person about it
Writing
DO IT!
Post-read/watch…write a short
summary of something you
have just read/heard or your
opinions on it
Keep a writing diary…write a
couple of sentences each day,
and once a week turn some of
them into a short piece of
writing…and get it checked!
Practice linking words/phrases
Try something new…eg
describe a graph/table
Write descriptions…people,
places, experiences
One person dictates, the others
write
Both write an answer to the
same question, then swap and
check other persons…see
what ideas they have
Write a story in a group…write
one sentence then pass it on,
and see what you have in the
end
Describe pictures, then compare
your descriptions
Listening Get lyrics for songs you enjoy
Active listening (see reading
above)
Listen to internet radio/news
Eg www.bbc.co.uk
If you hear someone talking the
language, speak to them…
and, obviously, listen!
Watch TV…actively
Listen to talking books, and
read along with what they say
if possible
One person reads, the other
summarizes what they have
just heard
Have a debate
Speaking/
Pronunciation
Record what you are saying,
then listen to it for mistakes
Talk to yourself…it’s not crazy
and you shouldn’t be
embarrassed if you’re the only
one listening!
www.howjsay.com
Talk to others in your foreign
language (not your own!)
Describe pictures or ask/answer
questions about them
Solve some puzzles together
What would you use/take/do in
a certain situation?
Put people/things in order of eg
usefulness, then justify your

2. Ways to Practice your Languages
opinions
Read aloud
Have a debate
Spell words and get others to
write them down (or random
lists of letters)
Vocabulary Make mind maps of topics that
appear often (eg family,
environment, politics) or
starting with a completely
random word
Put words in groups…by
prefix/suffix, by phrasal verb
particle
Look around a room and name
all of the objects
Describe people you have seen
Find vocab exercises eg cloze,
word transformation, sentence
transformation
Learn words in families eg
noun, verb, adjective,
synonyms, antonyms
Choose a type of phrase eg
opinions, and write as many of
them as you can
Make a mind map, then pass it
round the group for each
person to add to – everyone
will add something different
Have a competition to write
vocab lists eg How many parts
of the body can you name in 5
minutes?
List vocab you think of from a
picture/text/headline
Translation…if possible with
someone who speaks the
other language
Read a list of words/numbers to
others for them to write down,
then check if they got them
right
Scattegories/Tutti Frutti
Charades
Hangman
Pictionary
Grammar Internet exercises eg
http://www.englisch-
hilfen.de/en/exercises_list/alle
_grammar.htm
Grammar/text books
Summarize key grammar points
in your own words
Check you know when/why
each tense is used
Write out verbs without looking
at a list
(If not in English, always include
genders with new words!)
Learn verbs with their
prepositions
Put posters on your walls with
difficult grammar points (only 1
or 2 at a time though!)
Teach!