5 Fun Ways To Talk About Summer

The back-to-school season is here, and summer memories are still glowing. Instead of diving straight into textbooks, why not use those fresh experiences to spark meaningful conversations? These five activities will get your learners talking, reflecting, and reconnecting with English in a fun, natural way.

Summer in Numbers

How it works: Students describe their summer only with numbers, then classmates ask questions to uncover the story.

Invite students to describe their summer using only numbers. It might be “5 concerts, 12 ice creams, and 1 broken phone” or “14 hours on trains, 3 new friends, and 0 sunscreen.” The challenge is for their classmates to ask questions that reveal the full story behind the numbers:

• Why so many ice creams?
• What happened to the phone?

This activity is quick, funny, and naturally leads to follow-up conversations. For lower levels, you can model with simple sentence frames. For higher ones, encourage storytelling with connectors and exaggeration.

The Summer Spotify Playlist

How it works: Students pick 2–3 songs that represent their summer. If they don’t know actual songs, they invent funny titles.

Music is memory’s best friend. Ask students to choose two or three songs that represent their summer. They can pick real tracks or invent their own titles if they don’t know any.

One might say, “I chose ‘Lazy Days’ because I slept most of the time,” while another could invent “Netflix Marathon Blues” to capture endless evenings at home. To push this further, students can compare playlists in groups, debating whose soundtrack was the most adventurous or whose was the most relaxing.

Tip: Bring in short clips of summer-themed songs to inspire them.

Summer Superlatives

Who doesn’t enjoy a bit of humour mixed with reflection? Students create “awards” for their summer, just like a prize ceremony. Categories might include Best Meal, Worst Weather, Most Random Adventure, or Longest Sleep. One student might recall a thunderstorm that ruined their camping trip, while another proudly shares their “Best Meal” of fresh paella by the beach. The more imaginative the categories, the better. At the end, let the class nominate each other for playful peer awards—“Best Storyteller” or “Most Unexpected Holiday.”

Summer as a Product

This activity turns storytelling into a mini sales pitch. Students “sell” their summer as if it’s an advert.

Someone might declare, “This summer is fast, cheap, and full of pizza—available only in Italy!” while another promotes “The Rainy London Package: daily showers, wet shoes, and unlimited cups of tea.”

To keep it fun, teach them a few persuasive tricks like “limited edition” or “must-have experience,” then hold a vote for the “Best Summer Deal.” It’s language practice wrapped in humour and creativity.

The 15-Second Summer

In the spirit of TikTok, challenge students to sum up their entire summer in just 15 seconds. They should aim for something short, funny, and a bit dramatic—almost like a trailer. For example: “Me in bed until 2 pm every day—cut to—panic packing for school in one night!” Encourage them to act it out, add sound effects, or imagine background music. Once everyone shares, classmates can expand the story with follow-up questions or emojis that fit the “clip.”