Welcome to your August issue of the OpenLearn newsletter... our summer special! We know many of you are at the start of the six-week school holidays, and so this edition is here to help you with some fun, and educational, ways to entertain the whole family. We've chosen content that's suitable for children, with enough to keep the grown-ups entertained and challenged too, from language skills and free courses, to fun games and interactives that all the family can enjoy (and compete on if that's your thing!)...

If you're holidaying overseas this summer, have you considered learning a little of the language before you go? There's a whole host of language courses and interactives on OpenLearn that can help you get started, brush up or advance your skills, such as:

• French, Italian, Spanish or German... these interactives will test your language skills as you immerse yourself on an interactive journey.
• Where does the Spanish language come from? Discover its history in this animation...
• Are you a super linguist? How many languages do you really know?
• Check out the Open Centre for Languages and Culture for a range of 'getting started' language courses...

There's always lots of sport taking place over summer, and 2023 sees the FIFA Women's Football World Cup as maybe the highest profile of the lot....

One fabulous family-friendly activity for those summer nights is star-gazing (no school the next day, so one late night won't hurt!). You can start with our 6-part series on identifying different types of stars on our YouTube channel, but there's plenty more to explore too:

• Try our Astronomy with an online telescope course which teaches you how to navigate the night sky.
• Try our Meteoric game... meteors, craters and crashes... what's not to enjoy?
• Watch our series of 60 second adventures in astronomy animations...
• We have a course that's an ideal introduction to Galaxies, stars and planets... perfect for the family to explore together.
  

Of course, there's always new content being added to OpenLearn, and so you don't miss out on the 'not-so-summery' new stuff, here's a quick rundown of the latest additions:

• The Netball World Cup - what's it all about and who's going to win it?
• Walk the walk: encountering death and dying spaces in hospital - a new interactive
• COVID-19: Immunology, vaccines and epidemiology - new badged course
• Young children, the outdoors and nature - another new badged course!
• New articles in our Race & Ethnicity Hub for South Asian Heritage Month