A Christmas Gift List For English Learners

I love this. At a school where I used to work, we had a magnetic poetry kit. Both teachers and students could make little poems from the words, and it was a LOT of fun.

It’s great for your English because you can put words together in a creative way. It gets you thinking about words that rhyme, the syllables in words, and the rhythm of words together. In fact, I might even get one for my fridge…

Go on – channel your “inner” English person and get a proper tea mug. You can drink tea while reading these amazing first lines from books. Can you guess the book? This will keep you busy for ages and ages!

One of my favourite ever mugs was my “Hot Air” mug from Longman. (I used to work for Longman Publishers in Hong Kong, years and years ago.) The mug was covered in English idioms with “hot”: “too hot to handle”, “hot air”, “hot on the heels”, etc. I loved that mug and drank tea out of it for years!

Why this dictionary?

It’s the one I use, because I think that Longman are the best at dictionaries. They were the first to introduce the 2000-word defining vocabulary (which means that the definition will always be simple to understand) and they are always updating their dictionaries. This is the newest version, and I know you / your friend will use and love it for years to come.

I still use paper dictionaries, because I always find something new when I’m looking for the word, but you also get access to the online version.

I think that everybody needs a beautiful notebook or journal to write things. This is bound in leather, and you also get a pen with it.

You can write yourself English poems, or quotes from literature. Example sentences of new vocabulary – even a shopping list will have more style when you write it here!

But the important thing is to have a place where you can practise your English.

I love this! Especially as native speakers of English often have terrible English grammar!

It’s the ideal present for teachers or students, or for anyone who needs to write in English for their work.

This is another great way to practise your English with a friend. Use the letters to make words, and get points for using difficult letters in “bonus” places.

Of course, you’ll need to check that the word is correct by using a dictionary…

These letters are on lockable tiles, which means you can play scrabble on a train. Hours and hours of fun!