Direct and Indirect Speech: Understanding the Difference

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 3

Direct and Indirect Speech: Understanding the Difference

Learning Objective

At the end of the lesson, you will be able to identify and use direct and indirect speech correctly.

Introduce the learning objective to the students and emphasize the importance of understanding the difference between direct and indirect speech.

What do you already know about direct and indirect speech?

Direct vs. Indirect Speech

Direct speech reports the exact words spoken by someone. Indirect speech reports what someone said without using their exact words.

Explain the difference between direct and indirect speech using simple language and examples.

Which type of speech is usually enclosed in quotation marks in writing?

1. Direct speech
2. Neither direct nor indirect speech
3. Both direct and indirect speech
4. Indirect speech

Identifying Mistakes

Ask the students to identify the mistake in the sentence and explain the correct way to report what John said using indirect speech.

Spot the mistake in the following sentence:
John said that he will go to the party later.

Which sentence uses indirect speech correctly?

1. She said 'I will come tomorrow.'
2. She said she would come tomorrow.

What is the mistake in the following sentence?

He asked me if I am going to the concert.

Which sentence uses indirect speech correctly?

1. She said 'I am going to the cinema.'
2. She said she was going to the cinema.

Creating Indirect Speech

Ask the students to create an indirect speech sentence and provide feedback on their answer.

Rewrite the sentence in indirect speech:

'I will call you tonight,' said John.

Rewrite the sentence in indirect speech:

'I am busy right now,' she said.

Rewrite the sentence in indirect speech:

'Can you help me with my homework?' asked Tom.

Rewrite the sentence in indirect speech:

'I have never been to Paris before,' said Jane.

Rewrite the following sentence in indirect speech:

'I am going to the store,' said Sarah.

Rewrite the following sentence in indirect speech:

'I love pizza,' said Mary.

Review

In this lesson, we learned about the difference between direct and indirect speech, how to identify mistakes, and how to create indirect speech.

Review the key points of the lesson with the students and ask if they have any questions or concerns.

Write down 3 things you learned in this lesson.

Have students enter three things they learned in this lesson. With this they can indicate their own learning efficiency of this lesson.

Write down 2 things you want to know more about.

Here, students enter two things they would like to know more about. This not only increases involvement, but also gives them more ownership.

Ask 1 question about something you haven't quite understood yet.

The students indicate here (in question form) with which part of the material they still have difficulty. For the teacher, this not only provides insight into the extent to which the students understand/master the material, but also a good starting point for the next lesson.