Suitcases are almost packed. Between swimsuits and sunscreen, however, there’s something that risks staying at home: the months of English that were painstakingly built during the school year. The phenomenon has a precise name — Summer Learning Loss — and it concerns millions of children every summer.
What is Summer Learning Loss and why does it affect languages most
International educational studies have documented this for decades: the summer break interrupts the process of consolidating skills learned at school. If the slowdown is modest for some subjects, the impact on foreign languages is more significant. Language learning, in fact, relies on continuity: without regular practice, the brain — and children’s brains in particular — tends to “forget” faster than one might think.
This is confirmed by Adrienne Landry, an expert in teaching methodology and a Novakid consultant, who has spent years examining the link between school interruptions and the development of language skills in the youngest learners. Her message to parents is not to skip holidays, but to rethink how English practice is approached outside the classroom: apply less pressure, but maintain more continuity.
Novakid: 25-minute lessons, wherever you are
Among the solutions that have answered this need is Novakid, an online platform for learning English aimed at children aged 2 to 14, today a leader in Europe and the Middle East in its sector. The figures speak for themselves: 100,000 active students in more than 50 countries, a network of 3,700 certified teachers, and a proprietary curriculum with a declared effectiveness rate of 96%. These numbers are reflected in its financial results as well, with a platform that has surpassed 100 million dollars in annual recurring revenue, cementing itself as one of the most solid EdTech projects worldwide.
The teaching model is designed to adapt to real life, vacations included. The sessions with native-speaking teachers last 25 minutes, a duration sufficient to work effectively without taking away from the rest of the day. Lessons are one-on-one, conducted via video calls, and booked with the necessary flexibility to accommodate trips, family meals, and long afternoons at the beach.
Joining the lessons is Novakid’s Tutor AI: an intelligent assistant that follows the child in autonomous practice between sessions, proposing exercises calibrated to their level and progress. The goal is to keep the language active even on days without a lesson, without turning study into a burden.
The expert’s tips: small habits that make a difference
Keeping English alive during the summer doesn’t mean recreating school under the umbrella, but finding ways to use the language in everyday activities, in a natural way and — when possible — fun.
Adrienne Landry suggests starting from what children already love to do. Fairy tales, for example: listening to or watching a story in English stimulates concentration and creativity, and lesser-known titles — such as those drawn from African or Australian folklore traditions — have the advantage of broadening cultural horizons as well.
Even travel itself can become an open-air classroom. Packing the suitcase together while naming clothes and accessories in English, building a small thematic dictionary before visiting a zoo or a museum, using train or car hours to learn a few new phrases — these are all concrete ways to transform vacation into a learning context without the child realizing it as such.
For calmer days, the expert suggests simple but effective habits, introducing a “word of the day” to drop into conversations, labeling household objects or hotel-room items with their English names, or keeping a small vacation diary with a sentence or description written each evening. And then games—from memory with English vocabulary to karaoke with favorite songs—that leverage rhythm and repetition to fix words in memory in a lasting way.
“English learning should be associated with something enjoyable,” emphasizes Adrienne Landry. “Because of this, the language becomes a tool for personal expression, not just a school subject.”
Summer can be an ally
The summer months offer favorable conditions for language learning: children are more relaxed, less weighed down by school tasks, and often more curious. What is usually missing is not the desire but a structure that makes practice possible even away from home.
And this is where online teaching changes the game. Unlike traditional courses tied to physical locations and rigid calendars, a digital platform travels with the family. Whether by the seaside, in a mountain retreat, on a train carriage, or in a hotel room, all you need is a tablet or a laptop and an internet connection.
Twenty-five minutes a day, enough not to fall behind
You don’t need to set up a full study room under the parasol. Twenty-five minutes can be enough while adults read, during a train ride to the destination, or after dinner at the campsite to ensure children maintain the continuity they need.
Summer Learning Loss is not inevitable. With the right tools, and the right flexibility, September can arrive without unpleasant surprises and perhaps with even more progress than in June.
