Tips & Tools
Learning Beyond the Textbook

Practicing with Other Learners

Learning Beyond the Textbook

If you have the chance, practicing with other language learners is a productive—and fun—way to keep up your skills. Below are some ideas to get you started, including some for what to do if you don't have a ready partner. Feel free to get creative and make use of whatever feels most helpful to you and your language learning! 

Games

  • Simon Says – Practice giving one another simple commands, challenging yourself to give more complicated commands as your language skills progress. You can replace the name “Simon” with a common name from the language you are studying.
  • Charades / Pictionary – Act out or draw clues to the titles of movies, books, places, or new vocabulary words and take turns trying to guess the correct answer.
  • Twenty Questions – Think of an object, movie, book, celebrity, etc. and take turns asking questions to identify who or what it is. Guessing games like these can be a great way to practice giving descriptions and asking questions.
  • Apples to Apples – Make your own Apples to Apples game by writing up some homemade cards on scrap paper in your target language. You can check out the rules for Apples to Apples here.
  • This website has some great suggestions for more games you can play for language practice, with options both for beginners and more advanced learners. 

Social media

  • Texting – Create a WhatsApp or text group with other students studying your language and get into the habit of texting each other every day in the target language. Even if you only send one text each day, this can be a great way to practice casual, everyday conversational skills and to keep connected with other language learners.
  • Photo Exchange – Share photos with other students, captioning them to practice short-form descriptions. You could use an app like Cluster, which allows you to make private groups to post photos and comments, or swap photos with captions and comments via text or WhatsApp. You might try to make the photos culturally relevant, e.g., foods or famous landmarks, or you might take pictures of objects / activities relevant to the material you’re studying.
  • TikTok – Challenge yourselves to post a TikTok together in the target language once every week. You could write and perform a short skit together, briefly walk through your daily routine, give a tour of your dorm or campus, or make whatever kind of short-form video you’d like.

Other activities

  • Language Table – Schedule a day once a week when yourself and other students get together for tea/coffee or a meal, either in person or online, and commit to communicating only in your target language for the duration of the time. If you’re a beginner in your language and you’re struggling to hold a conversation without using English, try to tailor the conversation around the vocabulary you’ve been learning most recently, or take turns coming up with conversation topics / themes that fit well with your current language skills. For more advice on how to practice your language skills in a conversational setting, check out our page on strategies for conversations.
  • Movie Night – Coordinate with other students to watch the same movie or a TV show in the target language, either together or on your own. Afterward, describe the plot in as much detail as you can to one another, or assign yourselves some discussion questions about the movie’s / show’s characters, themes, cultural relevance, etc.
  • Book Club – Pick a book or short story in the target language to read together and discuss. For beginners, you might pick out a children’s book with simpler language that can help you practice the basics. Students who have been studying longer might pick out a book written for young adults or a short story, and advanced learners might choose any literary work they’re interested in discussing. 

What if I don't have a partner?

A lot of these activities can still apply to you!

  • Assign yourself movies to watch, books to read, photos to caption, or videos to post.
  • Instead of texting or talking with someone, try writing brief diary entries or recording voice messages for yourself.
  • It might sound silly, but engaging in “roleplays” by yourself can be a useful way to practice conversational skills when you don’t have a partner available. Try writing out or sending messages from both sides of a theoretical conversation or debate.
  • Make use of social media to explore posts in your target language, both in seeking out channels that might specialize in language instruction but also for the opportunity to engage in topics that interest you, explore your target language’s online culture, connect with native speakers, etc.

Get connected with other fluent speakers, locally or online: