The English teachers voice

  Every day our world is constantly changing, evolving, re-focusing, and with these new developments come new challenges for teachers and students. Over the last 10 to 20 years, the lives of our students have been on a constant cycle of physical, mental, and psychological change, processes that have irreparably affected the development, structure, and expectations of the youthful mind. At the moment, during the educational upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been predicted by The United Nations that more than 1.3 Billion children worldwide have shifted from the physical to the virtual classroom, a change that was not only unplanned, and ill-prepared for, but a change that has tested the very professionalism and effectiveness of each and every countries educational system. Teachers, trained for, and comfortable in their physical classrooms, have been thrust forwards, without choice, into the world of virtual education, a world that they were never trained to teach in, a...

  During the 2020 quarantine, I have been asked many times my opinion about the benefits of reading in online classes. Many questions have been posed to me such as "How do we monitor our students?", "Does it really help?" or "Wouldn’t we be better off worrying about the more important subjects?" Well, there is no skill more important for students than reading, every subject can be taught through the use of books with the majority of subjects requiring varying degrees of reading skills. For this reason alone, it is obvious that when students become accustomed to reading, and it becomes a part of their daily lives, that their ability to study will be heightened as will the overall academic results that they achieve. Yes, there are many people who deny the benefits of reading, but generally speaking, we find that the majority of these people base their opinions on financial restraints, and whilst this is relevant in many educational systems, it could never be...

  Nothing is more frustrating to a teacher than lack of attention from students. You have spent several weeks or even months working on some project that you thought would be a breakthrough, but nothing happens. Situations like this are very common in modern learning because a lack of interest to engage in teamwork is widespread.  When a group of two or more students work together to complete an activity, discuss a question, or collaborate on a task, we call it collaborative learning. The intended consequence of accomplishing tasks together is to help students learn the complexities of solving a problem and promote deeper learning through doing. Group work not only helps students learn the course material better; it also provides opportunities to develop additional skills. While working in groups, students need to harness group members' strengths, address group learning needs, manage time, divide a large project into small tasks, cooperate, negotiate, resolve conflicts, and re...

  Everyone is talking about the physical health of teachers and students during virtual classes: Don`t sit too long, exercise, go for a quick walk, stretch, turn off the tech ect, but what about the teachers' mental health, their ability to stay focused, their ability to stay motivated in this totally foreign teaching environment? I have spoken to dozens of teachers who feel as if they have lost their way, who feel disconnected from reality, who are lacking direction, focus and who are questioning if they are achieving their goals and obligations. Going from the physical, to the virtual classroom as been a difficult adaptation for the majority of teachers for many different reasons. Being unable to have a physical presence in the classroom, unable to work with students face to face, unable to directly monitor their work, unable to regulate their participation or influence their level of motivation has taken its toll on many teachers. For this reason, one of the challenges that...

  Blogging comes in many forms, it addresses countless topics and is an excellent tool for improving a student’s involvement, excitement, and most importantly, writing skills. The benefits of blogging are tremendous, especially for young people. They can develop much-improved writing skills that will remember forever, their brains will be in continuous development, and they will also develop a better understanding of the world that surrounds them. In this article, I wish to present several reasons why students should start their own, personal blogs as part of their normal education as well as tips for how to write an article.. 1. Blogging Exercises Student Creativity One of the best benefits that come as a result of blogging is that it allows people to express and hone their creativity. This can turn a boring paper into a fun creative process. Bloggers always need to use their creativity and thinking to: Develop unique and original content Solve problems Express their perspective a...