How English was born?

Colegio Nacional J.P. VarelaHistory, 1st Form Bilingual “A”

Teacher: Juan Manuel AceroAugust 2011

TRACING THE ORIGINS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE

• The language we are learning has a long history of its own.

• At the First century of our age, people in England were speaking nothing even similar to English as we know it today.

• How was it that English became the world’s lingua franca, the national language of so many places, and how is it that it took the shape it has today… that is yours to find out!

One of Beowulf’s first written copies. c. 900 AD

Peterborough Manuscript of the Anglo Saxon Chronicles. c. 1120 AD

Early edition of the Canterbury Tales14th Century AD

Facsimile of Shakespeare´s First Folio, printed in London in the year 1608

Click on pictures to enlarge them

To know how English got from this …

... answer the following questions, using the online resources listed here :

1) Who were living in Britain after the end of Roman Rule? Which type of language did they speak?

2) Who brought the first traces of English language to Britain? When did that happen?

3) Was there originally only one variety of English language?

4) Which alphabet was originally used to write in Old English? Why did it eventually change to the one we use now?

5) Did Old English remain completely the same throughout time? Explain why/why not.

6) Which change or changes were brought to the English language by the Norman Invasion?

7) How do the changes in the language reflect in English geography (places’ names?

8) Why the Middle English words for live farm animals came from Saxon origin, but the ones for cooked meat from these same animals had a French origin?

 9) Which are the major changes in English language in the

last two centuries?

… to this…

Online Resource Library:

 

Mongrel Nation at Youtube: a brief account of how English started http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5XIA0oKHNM

 Before and After the Germanic Invasions: http://www.anglik.net/anglosaxonmap.htm A Timeline of English Language:

http://www.englishclub.com/english-language-history.htm The language of the ancient Britons:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/themes/society/language_celticbritons.shtml

 Old English origin and Characteristics:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/lang_gallery_01.shtml A Brief account of the History of English:

http://www.englishlanguageguide.com/english/facts/history/ The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, online edition:

http://www.ldoceonline.com/

And now, the big issue:

This Youtube link leads to a fragment of a BBC Documentary called Mongrel Nation. Look upon the dictionary and find the definition of the word mongrel. Then, tell us....

... why, do you think, can we say that England is a mongrel nation?

Is our country a mongrel nation too? Why / why not?

How is your work going to be marked / graded ?

Excellent Satisfactory Acceptable Below Standard

Teamwork Reflection as a product of cooperative work by all team members. Different personal views are considered. All team members share responsibility in generating thought / knowledge.

Most of team members have responsibility in generating thought / knowledge. All members work, but not 100% cooperatively (for instance: some of them are in charge of “mechanical” duties only).

Interaction level is not ideal, showing different levels of responsibility in the elaboration of knowledge. The outcome shows the work of one (or several) “preeminent” team members prevailing over the rest.

Very little or no teamwork at all, the outcome showing the work of a minority of team members.

Quality of Answers

Answers fully related to questions, showing a high degree of comprehension of the information contained in most of the featured sites.

Answers related to questions, showing a good (but not complete) degree of comprehension of the information contained in most of the featured sites.

Some answers not completely related to the topic/s. Some questions have not been fully answered. Part of the questions (>30%) left without answer.

Answers are very loosely addressed to the topic/s, or not at all. Answers have been clearly “copied and pasted” with no citation references stated50% or more questions left unanswered.

Big Question High level of analysis / reflection, showing a variety of points of view. Students integrate their personal opinions/ values to reach a common point of view.

Good level of analysis / reflection. Point/s of view correctly stated, though not fully achieving an integration of opinions/values to reach a common point of view.

Main issue correctly addressed, but without a great level of analysis/reflection. Students do not show their personal opinions/values, or fail to reach a common point of view.

Very little, or none, personal reflection / elaboration. Conclusion/s do not correspond with the evidence.

Use of Language

Very good command of syntax and lexis, in accordance to the students’ level of competence. Good use of specific terminology. Very few errors, if any, which by no means interfere with comprehension and which mainly occur when employing unusual words / structures.

A reasonably good command of structures and non-specific lexis. Few errors, if any, which do not hinder comprehension. Little or no use of specific / uncommon language.

Some syntax and/or lexis errors, which begin to interfere with understanding of major points. Errors occur in language items which should fall within the scope of students’ capacity.

A great proportion of errors, which do not allow text comprehension. Numerous mistakes in elementary items of syntax, spelling and/or lexis.

Use of Resources

Students achieve full profit from all, or a vast majority, of the supplied resources. Classroom work shows a wise use of video / audio clips. Students solve problems/comprehension gaps by finding additional resources.

Students’ profit from sources is uneven: answers show a higher degree of information obtained from reading than from listening (or viceversa). .Audio and/or video resources not fully used.

Students profit from sources shows a significant gap between information obtained from reading than from listening (or viceversa). Video and/or audio clips are largely not used.

Students take little profit, or none at all, from most of the sources. Answers show that > 50% of the supplied sources have not been checked.

Time Management

Wise use of lesson and home time, collaboration between students took place both in the classroom and at home.

Wise use of lesson time. Members should have put more effort in their work at home time. Work outside classroom was not perfomed 100% cooperatively.

Use of classroom time not completely wise, but students did some collaborative work outside classroom. .

Time was not used wisely, neither in nor outside classroom. Deadline date not met by students.