The English teachers voice

  Why do the majority of students study English, and what are they trying to achieve? The number one reason is to learn how to communicate in English, especially through speaking. In order to become better at speaking in English, it seems logical that our students need to practice at every possible opportunity, especially through well-thought-out classroom activities. In theory, this all sounds so easy, so logical, however, as all English teachers know, there are numerous reasons why students may not be able to speak as much as we would like them to during our lessons. These include: Lack of confidence and low self-esteem Natural shyness An inability to speak in public, or with others in either English or their native language. Tiredness The style of teaching or the particular activity is boring. A lack of interest in the subject Fear of ridicule or bullying To prevent any of these reasons from lessening the efficient results of students learning, there are a few things that you ca...

  Though fun, writing can also get pretty darn confusing, especially when you’re trying to figure out whether to use the active or passive voice.  What is the difference between active and passive voice? When and how should you use them? In this complete active voice vs passive voice guide, we'll go over how each voice works in English grammar, when to use the two voices, and how to change a sentence from passive to active (and vice versa). We’ll also give you an active vs passive voice quiz to test your skills. Let's get started! What Is Active Voice? The active voice is when the subject of a sentence  performs  an action on an object. In other words,  the subject does the action, and the object receives the action . The active voice is easy to identify in writing because it follows a simple form, which is the basis of English grammar: Subject ( doer ) → Verb → Object ( recipient ) Here’s an example of a sentence using the active voice: The dog ate my homework....

  The way to present spoken words as reported or direct speech is an important skill to acquire. Reported speech is sometimes called indirect speech, and  in order to understand this fully a good knowledge of how to write direct speech is really important. Direct speech refers to the  actual words that are spoken by a person, in a situation or in a story .  Punctuation of Direct Speech There are specific rules for punctuating direct speech: Speech Marks :  The actual words spoken appear between speech marks (single or double). All other punctuation appears within the speech marks. ‘How do you feel now?’ I asked. End of dialogue :  Often, when writing direct speech, the speaker will be identified with something like  he said  or  cried Juan . If this comes after a piece of direct speech, then that direct speech will usually end with a comma, although it can use a question mark, ellipses or exclamation ...

  As if the learning of English wasn't difficult enough by itself without the inclusion of unexplainable complications such as silent letters and tricky spelling rules.    Whether you are learning English for the first time or are a native speaker, English can be a very complicated language. Given the hundreds of spelling and grammar rules, English doesn't always look the way it sounds. A perfect example of this is the use of silent letters within words. In this article, we are going to outline the rules associated with silent letters and the spelling structures that decided whether they are sounded or silent. Auxiliary silent letters  work with other letters to form one specific sound. They include exocentric and endocentric combinations.  Exocentric combinations  make a sound that doesn't sound like either of the letters in the silent letter pair. A good example of this is 'ph' when it makes the 'f' sound. These types of silent letters aren't alw...