3 anytime English activities

Audio: 4 min. 19 sec.

When it comes to learning English, it is important to constantly be thinking about the language.

You might have dedicated times when you study using a textbook or an online resource, but how about on long bus trips, or while waiting at the doctor's office?

Instead of letting your mind go idle or scrolling through social media, you can try one of these activities to keep your brain thinking about English! 

Alphabet Vocabulary 

This is a simple activity that gets more challenging the more frequently you do it.

All you have to do is think of one word for each letter of the alphabet.

You can do it in sequence (Start with A, then B, and so on) or you can pick letters of the alphabet as you think of words.

I recommend writing the list out on your phone or a piece of paper so that you can keep track of the words you think of and also check your spelling.

The first time you try this, it probably won't be too difficult except for the less common letters Q, X, Y and Z.

However, every time you do this activity, you should avoid using any word that you used the last time you created a list. You might surprise yourself with how many words you know! 

To make this even more of a challenge, you can give yourself a specific topic for the list.

For example, you can only list food items, or each word must be an adjective.

You might struggle to create a full list with all 26 letters, but as long as you complete the majority of the list, it's worth the practice. 

Other people's stories 

This is a great way to practice language structure and vocabulary connected to people.

Look around for a person and focus on them.

Use your English to describe them with full sentences, considering things like their physical characteristics and fashion.

From here, try to make sentences about what they are currently doing.

This language is quite simple but it is good for reinforcing sentence structure. 

The next part of this is where it becomes more difficult.

Based on what you can see, try to speculate and guess aspects of this person's life.

Why are they dressed like that?

Where do you think they are going? What did they do earlier today?

Many exams will test you on this sort of language, so this is an easy way to get everyday practice with this skill. 

You might feel uncomfortable focusing on a stranger like this, but remember it's just for English practice so you have nothing to worry about. 

Word chain 

This is another vocabulary exercise but it is a bit more fast-paced, and can be played with other people as well.

The basic idea is to start with a word in English, any word, and then think of a second word using the last letter of the first word.

For example, if the first word you came up with was “train”, the next word must start with the letter "N", such as "neighbour".

You must try to continue this sequence until you are unable to think of a new word in an acceptable amount of time.

When playing in a group, you can set a time limit (I recommend 10 seconds to start) and then reduce the amount of thinking time as the game continues.

You can also set additional rules or categories such as “no verbs” or “words with 5 or more letters only” to really test yourself. 

These are only a few of the activities that you can do anywhere to practice English outside of dedicated study.

Look forward to more ideas to come and until then, don't lose your focus!

Keep focusing on improving your English and being the best speaker you can be!