“Learning English remains a hard nut to crack”

According to this article from The Arab News learning English continues to be a challenging endeavor for most Saudi students. Who’s to blame?  Is it the teacher’s inadequate teaching skills? An outdated curriculum? Or is it the student’s lack of interest and poor study habits? Let’s discuss.

By ARAB NEWS

Published: Dec 16, 2011 23:53 Updated: Dec 16, 2011 23:56

JEDDAH: Nobody can underestimate or belittle the significance of English as a global or universal language. It is a powerful means of communication and interaction for people all over the world that helps them not only to interact with each other but also with finding a job, doing business, undertaking foreign trips, taking examination, doing research, surfing the Internet and so forth.

Despite being among the most widely spoken and understood languages, English has not yet acquired its customary omnipresent status in Saudi society, where all official work is carried out in Arabic.

Even though the Saudi government is making every effort to promote learning English as a second language at its schools and universities in addition to extending all financial and logistic support to establish this language for over 80 years ever since the Kingdom’s foundation in 1927, is it has not rooted itself yet in society.

There are more than 800 study hours devoted to teaching English from the first grade of intermediate school up to the final year of secondary school. Even then, the standard of English learning is still at the lowest level globally. Most students who graduate from universities are not in a position to speak fluently or write even a letter or paragraph in English. Read more here

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Success

“Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be”
-George Sheehan

Special Offers for the month of May

Dear Prospective Student,

As someone who has shown an interest in improving your spoken English, you might want to know that we are making it EASIER for you to achieve the success you have been dreaming of.

When you purchase any lesson package(2-4) you will receive TWO(2) lessons for FREE.  This offer ends on May 30th, 2009.

And don’t forget we also offer a free 15 minute trial lesson.

Refer a friend!  If  you refer a friend to Plain English and they purchase one of our lesson packages, we will add a free lesson to your account.

So what are you waiting for? Contact us now to begin your lessons.

It’s now easier than ever to get started…

1.  Go to our website.
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3.  Schedule an appointment time to meet your tutor.

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Brooklyn Botanic Gardens

 

The Brooklyn Botanic Gardens is one of my favorite places to visit New York.  What are some of your favorite places?

Quick Questions

Grace said:

hi,

Can you write a brief explanation of when to write the apostrophe after the s (s’) versus before the s(’s).

thankx!

Hello Grace,

You write apostrophe before the s(‘s):

1. To show ownership in singular possessive nouns- Bill’s car, the cat’s fur.

2. To show ownership in plural possessive nouns that do not end in s-The children’s shoes, the men’s watches.

3. As a contraction-It’s, doesn’t, can’t.

You write the apostrophe after the s(s’):

1.To show ownership in singular possessive nouns if the word ends in s- Moses’ basket, James’ bike.

2.To show ownership in plural possessive nouns if the words ends in -s or -es, the boys’ shoes, the ladies’ coats.

I hope this helps.

Manager said:

Hello,
I read your blog and I wanted to thank you for helping us practice our english.lol Can you please tell me if it is correct to say have got (ie i have got a pencil) or is it more correct to say “I got a pencil?”

thank you

Hello Manager,

It is correct to say I have got a pencil or I’ve got a pencil.

Hope this helps

Destiny said:

hello there,

why in the english language you pronounce pizza, pissa? is that a rule of phonics that everyime you have 2 z’s you pronounce it s?

Hello Destiny,

It is not a rule of phonics to pronounce double z like s.  Pizza is believed to have originated in Italy.  The z in Italian is pronounced ‘ts’ as in sets.  So actually pizza is pronounced peet-sa  not pissa. 🙂

I hope this helps.

What did you say?

Advice or  advise

Advice is a noun.  My advice is to speak English every day.

Advise is a verb.  I advised you to speak English every day.

Answers

There were pigeons in flocks so large that when they settled for the night they filled many trees, and the limbs of the trees would crack and break with the heavy load.  There were wild turkeys, wild geese and wild ducks.  There were hundreds of bright little birds, called parakeets, flying through the woods and crying Skeet, skeet, skeet! in their loud, sharp voices.  You would not see parakeets flying wild in our forests now; but long ago, when the great woods covered the land, there were many parakeets.

The great woods made a good home for wild animals.   Deer walked under the trees and licked salt from the edges of the salt springs.  Bears hunted for wild honey in hollow trees.  Fierce wild hogs dug among the leaves to find nuts and roots for food.

Wild cats and panthers walked among the shadows of the great woods, looking for smaller animals to eat.  A panther is a kind of large, fierce cat.  It was one of the most dangerous animals in the great forest.

There were wolves , foxes, rabbits, squirrels, and many other animals.  Thousands of snakes made their homes in the trees and the tall grasses of the river banks.  There were no smooth, wide roads then on which people might travel .  There were only rough, muddy paths, twisting in and out among the great trees…to be continued.

Present Tense Verbs

crack, break, flying, crying, see, find, looking, eat, is, travel, twisting, be

Past Tense Verbs

were, settled, filled, called, covered, made, walked, licked, hunted, dug, made, continued

Irregular Verbs

break, fly, see, find, eat, is, made, dug, be

Would is a helping verb.

Quiz Time

List all the verbs found in the passage below.  Divide them into past tense and present tense.  Bonus points if you list all the irregular verbs.

It’s easy, give it a try!

Click on the word comments under this post and write your answers in the comments section.

There were pigeons in flocks so large that when they settled for the night they filled many trees, and the limbs of the trees would crack and break with the heavy load.  There were wild turkeys, wild geese and wild ducks.  There were hundreds of bright little birds, called parakeets, flying through the woods and crying Skeet, skeet, skeet! in their loud, sharp voices.  You would not see parakeets flying wild in our forests now; but long ago, when the great woods covered the land, there were many parakeets.

The great woods made a good home for wild animals.   Deer walked under the trees and licked salt from the edges of the salt springs.  Bears hunted for wild honey in hollow trees.  Fierce wild hogs dug among the leaves to find nuts and roots for food.

Wild cats and panthers walked among the shadows of the great woods, looking for smaller animals to eat.  A panther is a kind of large, fierce cat.  It was one of the most dangerous animals in the great forest.

There were wolves , foxes, rabbits, squirrels, and many other animals.  Thousands of snakes made their homes in the trees and the tall grasses of the river banks.  There were no smooth, wide roads then on which people might travel .  There were only rough, muddy paths, twisting in and out among the great trees…to be continued.