How do I start learning English again after the summer?

Pick one fixed time in your week and speak in your first session, instead of spending that week planning. A small restart you keep for a month beats the big plan you drop in week two.

Last updated: 17 September 2026 · By Lucas Potjer, English teacher

Why is back to school week a good time to restart?

Your week gets its shape back in September. The kids have a timetable, work has meetings again, and suddenly there is a Tuesday evening that looks the same every Tuesday. That is all a language habit needs: a slot that repeats.

January gets all the attention, but September is easier. You are not fighting your calendar. You are copying it.

What do you actually lose over a break?

Speed, not knowledge. The words are still in your head after eight weeks off. They just take two seconds longer to come out, and those two seconds feel terrible while you are standing in front of someone.

So the first session back is slow. That is not the summer undoing your work. It is the normal cost of not speaking for a while, and it comes back fast once you start again.

What do you do in your first week?

One sentence out loud every day, about your own day. Not a lesson. Not a list. Just “I have a busy morning, and then I pick up my daughter at four.”

Add ten minutes of listening while you walk or cook. Then, before the week ends, have one real conversation with a person. That is the week. If you only manage the daily sentence, you have still started.

What happens when learners come back in September?

Almost everyone opens with an apology. “Sorry, I did nothing all summer.” Then they talk for twenty minutes and sound exactly like they did in June, and they are surprised by it.

The ones who lose most are not the ones who took a holiday. They are the ones who waited until they felt ready before booking anything, and waited right through October. Ana, from our English community, said it well: “I still make mistakes, but I don’t stop anymore.”

You get that feeling back by speaking, with real people, not by reading about it. The free community is a calm place to restart: you can read quietly for a while, and speak when you are ready.

Join the free community → Free to join, and you can leave anytime.

What school English do parents need this month?

September brings a lot of short, high-pressure conversations at the school gate. Most of them run on about ten sentences, so learn those ten and the fear drops.

“My son was ill on Monday.” “Could I speak to his teacher for a moment?” “How is she doing in class?” “I didn’t understand the letter. Could you explain it to me?” Say them out loud now, at home, where nothing is at stake. They come out much easier at the gate if your mouth has made the shapes before.

Do you need a new course to begin again?

A course helps with two things: structure, and a date in your diary. If you never know what to study, that is worth paying for.

It does not solve the speaking gap on its own, though. You can finish a full course and still freeze in a meeting, because reading and listening are not the same skill as talking. Whatever you choose, put one hour of speaking with people in your week and build the rest around it. For the first sentences, how to start a conversation gives you openers you can use the same day.

How do you get past week three?

Week three is where most restarts die, because the first excitement is gone and nothing visible has changed yet. Keep the bar embarrassingly low and it survives.

Tie your practice to something you already do without thinking (the kettle, the drive home, the walk to the bus). Then let bad days count: “I’m tired, but I’m speaking” is a full sentence in English, said out loud, on a day you did not feel like it. That counts.

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