Summer is an exciting season filled with fun, relaxation, and social events. For online ESL teachers, it can also be an excellent opportunity to engage students with creative and interactive activities that keep the learning momentum going during summer vacation.

Whether you’re teaching young learners or adults, here are some fun summer-themed ESL activities that can make your lessons both educational and enjoyable.

1) Virtual Summer Camp

Why not bring the camp experience into your online classroom? Create a ‘Virtual Summer Camp’ theme, where each lesson is an adventure. You can introduce vocabulary and phrases related to camping, nature, and outdoor activities.

Example camp activity: Have students take turns telling a “campfire” story. You can provide prompts or let them share their own stories. This activity encourages creativity, speaking, and listening skills. You can even have a different student retell the story of the speaker, but telling the story from a third person’s perspective.

2) Virtual Scavenger Hunt

Ask your students to search for items around their house that relate to summer. You can even make it a competition to see which student can find the most items within a given amount of time (e.g. 3 minutes). Each student can then show their classmates, or only to you (if it’s a 1-1 class), all the items they found. Other students can vote on whether the item truly belongs to summer!

Example items: Hat, sunscreen, sunglasses, swim suit, etc.

3) Summer Recipe Exchange

Food is the universal language, and summer is the perfect time to explore it! Have your students share their favorite summer recipes from their cultures. This activity is excellent for vocabulary building, especially with terms related to cooking, ingredients, and measurements.

Activity example: Ask students to prepare a short presentation about their chosen recipe. They can describe the ingredients, steps, and share any cultural significance. This can be done individually or in small groups, prompting speaking practice and cultural exchange.

4) Summer Bucket List

Everyone has things they want to do in the summer, so why not turn this into an engaging writing and speaking activity? Have your students create a ‘Summer Bucket List’ of things they want to do or accomplish during the summer. They can include anything from learning a new hobby to visiting a specific place. You can use this activity to practice the use of the future tense. This not only improves your students’ grammar but also gives them a chance to discuss personal interests.

Example: Students can share about their plans and goals using phrases like “I’m going to…”, “I will…”, “I hope to…”, or “I plan to…”, etc.

5) Virtual Travel Experience

Summer often correlates to travel, but even if your students aren’t going anywhere, you can still take them on a virtual adventure. Choose different destinations and plan a ‘trip’ to each one. This activity is great for expanding vocabulary, practicing descriptive language, and learning about different cultures.

Example Activity: Ask students to create a travel brochure for a destination of their choice or you can assign one to them. They can include facts about the destination, must-see attractions, local food, and cultural traditions. This can also be a collaborative project where students work in pairs or small groups.

6) Summer Reading Club

Encourage your students to improve their reading skills by starting a ‘Summer Reading Club’. Choose books or short stories that are appropriate for their level and have a summer theme. This can include anything from classic literature to modern tales set in summertime.

Book discussion activity example: After reading, organize discussion circles where students can share their thoughts about the book. They can discuss characters, plots, and what they liked and didn’t like. This promotes critical thinking, reading comprehension, and speaking skills.

7) Summer Music and Song Lyrics

Music is a fantastic way to engage students, especially during the summer. Choose popular summer songs that are suitable to their level and analyze the lyrics together. This helps with listening skills, vocabulary, and pronunciation.

Activity Example: Provide students with the lyrics to a summer song, but with some words missing. As they listen to the song, they have to fill in the gaps. Afterward, discuss the meaning of the lyrics and any new vocabulary.

8) Summer Vocabulary Games

Incorporate summer vocabulary into learning games. This can be done through platforms like Kahoot, Quizlet, or simple word matching games on your shared screen. If you want to be extra creative, you can create bingo cards with summer-related vocabulary. As you call out the words, students can mark them off on their cards.

Example vocabulary: Sunshine, beach, holiday, sunburn, lemonade, picnic, etc.

Summer ESL activities don’t have to be limited by the virtual environment. With a bit of creativity, you can bring the essence of summer into your online classroom, making learning fun and relevant. Can you think of any other fun summer activities to do in your online ESL classes? Share them in the comments below!