School’s almost out |09 August 2017

And hundreds of students think to themselves, “Now what am I going to do with all this free time?”

Sure, there are games to play, movies to watch, and friends to hang out with.

But there are also plenty of productive things to do during the school holidays.

1. Reflect on the term gone by

Take out a notebook, piece of paper and a pen. Answer these three questions:

• What did I do well in the past term?
• What did I not do so well in the past term?
• What will I do differently in the coming term?

2. Learn something new

There are so many things in the world we do not how to do and the holidays are the opportune moment to change that. Here are some options:

• Learn how to bake/cook
• Sign up for swimming lessons (or any other sports)
• Try and learn a new language through the Duolingo app and website. Duolingo provides gamified lessons which are great for everybody.
• Learn how to develop an app through Google’s easy-to-use App maker.
• Check out how to code through an application called Mimo. Mimo offers mini-lessons in a host of web development languages including Swift, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, SQL and more. Because the lessons take no longer than a couple of minutes to complete you can work learning to code into your daily routine.

3. Get a job

Long school holidays have a financial impact on families who are struggling to get by. Finding a temporary part-time job will be the ideal solution to this problem. Even if you are not too concerned about the financial aspect, getting an internship or unpaid job can be the best learning experience of your life.

4. Watch documentaries and educational videos

YouTube is filled with countless educational videos. Here are some all-time favourite channels:

• AsapSCIENCE
• CrashCourse
• TEDX
• Smarter Every Day
• Veritasium

These are some of the channels available in the country which provides documentaries:

• SBC
• TV5Monde
• Toute l’Histoire
• ITV Choice
• DW
• Discovery Channel/Discovery Family

5. Read, read and read

Reading is essential for a student’s success in school as it allows them to access the breadth of the curriculum and improves their communication and language skills. Moreover, reading can be fun and can fuel the imagination. Here are some places where you can get some books/stories:

• The National Library in Victoria and in other places such as Praslin, La Digue is always open during the weekdays. Just pop in, register and choose a book.
• Download free classic e-books at www.planetebook.com . Over there you will get a full collection of public domain classics -- from ‘Pride and Prejudice’ to the ‘Great Gatsby’ to ‘1984’.
• Get free fanfiction stories on Fanfiction.net which is an automated fan fiction archive. It is the largest and most popular fanfiction website in the world with countless stories to be read. It is also available as an app on Google Play Store.

Compiled by E.P.