Enjoying a productive summer break

With a long summer break awaiting school and university students, there is much anticipation of how to spend the days and nights: long hours of shared family time, socialising with friends and of course, watching endless reels on social media are a given.

Talk about spending time more productively and the options suddenly seem limited. It doesn’t have to be.

There are various opportunities to discover oneself, contribute to the community, learn new skills and engage with an international group of like-minded people. Doing all this in an enjoyable way is an added advantage.

The challenge is that a summer break does not give a structure, so the discipline has to come from oneself. This can be difficult for some youngsters, so it is a good idea to commit yourself to a few activities so that there is accountability.

Many young learners tell me that they learn English by playing games. The interactive online community makes it possible to enjoy gaming (for those interested) and polish their English language skills. Similarly, youngsters are also picking up more than a spattering of Turkish through the immensely popular shows on television and streaming services. Who knew that learning a new language could be tied up to your favourite pastime of watching a screen?

Volunteering anywhere is a great way of networking, contributing to the community as well as acquiring leadership skills. It does not even have to be on a big platform. Volunteering at a local summer camp, a tutorial centre or even among neighbours is an immensely useful way to spend quality time: it can even be documented in a CV.

One of the problems with a long summer is that there is a break in learning and retention is reduced. Research suggests that students lose up to one month of learning in the summer break. Catching up can be a steep climb.

To avoid that, engaging in small activities that link to learning is a useful tip. This could include teaching younger siblings, making drawing for them, creating games, or even hosting a small class with neighbour’s kids. This will help to keep the habit of learning and not lose the content learnt in the school year.

For those with a clear future goal, summer is a wonderful time to discover career possibilities. For someone whose goal is to be an animator, for example, visiting and spending time at a media company would give a clear idea of what such a job requires, the challenges, and even whether one has sustainable interest to make a career out of it.

The summer experience can work in two ways: Identify a goal and pursue its possibilities or explore different options and run with it.

Even more productive could be identifying a personal project: creating an app, a short film, a battery or solar powered toy – whatever is interesting – there are no limits. This gives a goal and a clear outcome in the form of a product to be proud of at the end of a fruitful, productive and fun summer.