The first thing that students notice when they start learning English is that the writing system doesn't really help with pronunciation. Something that I love about Spanish is that the way a word is written is the way the word is pronounced and this is true for many other languages. English used to be exactly like that! Historically the writing system mirrored pronunciation, however, over 100s of years our pronunciation changed and our writing system never updated.

Interestingly, when the USA created their English language dictionary in 1828, they made some spelling changes to reflect the pronunciation. For example, colour in British English is color in American English. Emphasise in British English is emphasize in American English. Travelled in British English is traveled in American English.

What English language learners may not realise is that learning to write in English is difficult for native English speakers as well. Even English language teachers are known to misspell English words...and easy words too! (not me of course hahahaha).

There is one English spelling rule that I vividly remember learning because it was magical. I think I learned this in my first few years of primary school, but it is such an important spelling rule that I think it is worth a blog, except, I'm going to make it into a vlog!  I'm talking about the 'magical e' in English. If you are interested in knowing this simple and effective spelling/pronunciation rule, then click on the video above.