Summer English Courses for Primary

Our course incorporates the best of two popular phonics systems: Letters and Sounds and Jolly Phonics. Children are taught through a range of fun and multi-sensory activities that help them remember the sounds and combine them to make age-appropriate words. We also focus on pronunciation and intonation with the use of chants, rhymes and songs. After completing our series of Phonics courses, your child will acquire the phonics skills to read and write and be able to build a vast bank of vocabulary. Your child will

• learn the 42 letter sounds
• learn handwriting skills and letter formation
• learn how to combine sounds to make words
• identify sounds in words and segment them to spell
• learn tricky words – words that cannot be decoded using phonics
• learn about alternative spelling – different spellings that are pronounced the same way
• learn to write what they can say.

Our course is taught by highly experienced British Council teachers trained in teaching Phonics.

A phonics assessment before registration is required if this is the first time your child has registered for a British Council course.

Your child will use their creativity to work on a project, task or presentation, like performing a sock puppet show, creating an art gallery with various pieces of art and conducting scientific experiments. During the project, they will learn how to form opinions and discuss and compare ideas. They will develop all-round English skills as well as important life skills for the 21st century such as leadership, digital literacy and critical thinking through a series of interactive and creative activities such as games, music and tasks. Your child will

• co-operate with other classmates to work on and present a communicative project that encourages higher-order thinking with measurable outcomes
• learn to build accurate sentences and write creatively
• develop and refine their presentation skills and pronunciation to express themselves confidently in English
• complete interactive exercises that relate to the theme
• build a significant bank of new vocabulary and phrases related to various topics and real-life situations.

A series of interesting topics for each level is available:

Learn more about the course content (projects and language skills) and 21st century skills by downloading the details at the bottom of this page.

A short classroom experience for parents is available.

Using LEGO® and play, this course opens up the world of STEM and English for your child. Your child will explore core STEM concepts linked to real-life phenomena, which will ignite their natural curiosity. Through using LEGO® bricks and working with LEGO® Education tools to complete activities and challenges, your child will develop their computational-thinking, problem-solving and communication skills, and their creativity, in a fun and exciting way. In these activities, students will learn to predict outcomes, test outcomes and describe them.

Linguistic objectives such as functional language for working with a partner and describing different component parts of machines have been integrated into these courses by British Council experts to help your child improve their language competency.

About LEGO® Education In order to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow, the LEGO Group has dedicated more than 80 years to understand how students play and learn. Learning has always been at the very core of the company’s most heartfelt values. Being part of the LEGO Group, LEGO Education plays a decisive role in igniting student engagement in learning by giving them a hands-on experience that encourages learning through physical and digital creation.

In this course, your child will tackle challenges using a variety of everyday materials and their own creativity. They will learn to solve problems together by inventing and innovating. They will also develop skills in collaboration and negotiation, hone their communication skills in an English environment, learn to communicate their ideas and listen to others, and refine their ideas by making changes and adjustments to their original ideas. Your child will

• learn science vocabulary (e.g. ‘forces’, ‘friction’, ‘load-bearing’ etc.) participate in hands-on STEM challenges, making and experimenting
• develop English communication and presentation skills
• develop higher order thinking skills and problem-solving skills 
• use scientific methods to come up with hypotheses, make observations, design and conduct experiments, and draw conclusions

Based on a range of classic children’s literature, our Reading Skills courses will help your child to develop a sense of reading for pleasure through engaging activities. They will learn skills and techniques to improve their understanding of stories, respond personally to the stories they read and communicate their opinions with their classmates. 

P1 Reading Skills 

The course is based on three classic stories. You child will learn skills and techniques to improve their reading comprehension and build their confidence. Students will interact with a different story in each lesson, moving from whole-group reading for overall comprehension to close individual reading, and identifying literary features such as rhyme, rhythm and alliteration. Your child will 

• develop their reading comprehension in each lesson through macro and micro reading activities
• identify literary features used in stories, such as rhyme, rhythm and alliteration
• practise reading aloud.

P2 Reading Skills 

This is a theme-based course that uses modern classic storybooks about various animals to encourage an enjoyment of reading.  Your child will learn skills and techniques that will improve their reading comprehension and their ability to identify different literary techniques used in English stories. They will develop their confidence when reading alone as well as when reading aloud to a group. Your child will

• develop their reading comprehension skills
• improve their vocabulary through reading stories 
• develop their knowledge and awareness of literary techniques used in stories,  such as rhyme, and onomatopoeia like ‘slam’, ‘splash’, ‘drizzle’ and ‘woof’.

P3–P4 Reading Skills

This course will focus on three popular classic children’s literature. Your child will develop their listening and reading comprehension abilities by completing a range of interactive and audio-visual activities related to the content of the stories. Your child will

• use their creativity and critical thinking skills to design new characters or elements of the stories
• learn about the different parts of speech. 
• participate in short writing activities like writing alternate endings and retelling a story.

P5–P6 Reading Skills

This course will focus on some popular pieces of children’s literature supplemented by a range of enjoyable activities to promote your child’s understanding of and ability to engage with a text. Your child will

• develop their reading and listening comprehension skills and their ability to analyse and interpret stories
• learn about the different parts of speech 
• develop their critical thinking and leadership skills, and their creativity.

Our Writing Skills courses are designed to help your child think creatively, express their ideas with clear purpose and understand the process of writing. Depending on their age group, they will explore a variety of text types, including stories, letters, procedures, descriptions, reviews and reports.

P3 Writing Skills

This writing course uses engaging children’s stories to help children develop their knowledge of and ability to write different text types. By writing texts inspired by the stories, your child will become familiar with the features of text types such as letters, narratives, book reviews, instructions, poems and descriptions. By the end of the course, they will create a portfolio of their written work. Your child will

• understand the purpose of different text types, such as letters, narratives, book reviews, instructions, poems and descriptions
• learn how to make their writing more interesting by using adjectives
• have planned, practised, corrected and redrafted their written work.

P4 Writing Skills

This is a writing course that uses an adventure story about a dog to help children develop their knowledge of and ability to write different text types. By writing texts inspired by the story, your child will become familiar with the features of letters, biographies, descriptions, informal emails, newspaper articles and formal letters. By the end of the course, they will create a portfolio of their written work. Your child will

• understand the purpose of different text types  
• have examined the features of different text types
• have planned, practised, corrected and redrafted their written work.

P5–P6 Writing Skills

This course uses a classic children’s story to help your child develop their knowledge of and ability to write different text types. By writing texts inspired by the story, your child will become familiar with the features of narratives, expositions, procedures, information reports, recounts and formal letters. By the end of the course, they will create a portfolio of their written work. Your child will 

• identify features of different text types
• write procedures
• write an information report
• be exposed to technical language related to text features and grammatical terminology such as ‘noun’, ‘verb’, ‘tense’.

P3–P4　Drama Theatre

Your child will work towards starring in a play with their classmates. They will create masks and costumes for their character, run through a script in costume and with music, produce a tepee-shaped poem, go on stage and perform their production and take part in an Oscar-style award ceremony. Your child will

• improve their voice projection
• learn to read from a script
• improve acting ability and confidence when using English
• learn new vocabulary related to animals
• develop collaboration skills by working with classmates

P5–P6　Debating Skills

Your child will learn how to confidently participate in a debate. They will think about the affirmative and negative positions, plan and write the opening statement, structure arguments that are supported by evidence, carry out a final debate and participate in a debating award ceremony. Your child will

• learn the skills of notetaking, listening and responding to arguments
• work together with their classmates and learn how to think logically and creatively when responding to others
• speak with confidence when presenting their opinions.

Maximise your child’s success with the internationally recognised examinations Cambridge English: A1 Movers, A2 Flyers, A2 Key for Schools and B1 Preliminary for Schools. We use materials that are specially designed to focus on different aspects of the exam, providing students with valuable practice and exam strategies. Our courses complement your child’s existing English language learning programme and make preparing for examinations both fun and effective by using challenging and engaging activities.

For entry requirements and special offers* on Cambridge English examinations, please call our Customer Services staff on 2913 5100 for details.

*The special offers are only applicable to existing British Council students or students who have completed a British Council course within the last six months. Terms and conditions apply.