History of the English Language

Why should we study this?

English is the most widely spoken language in the world today. Knowing something about the history of the language not only is interesting, but explains the reasons behind some of the exasperating irregularities in the language, and helps to understand why there are so many varieties of English.

 

One of the goals in the Swedish curriculum for English is:

 reflektera över livsvillkor, samhällsfrågor och kulturella företeelser i olika sammanhang och delar av världen där engelska används. 

 

Knowing something about the history of the language not only is interesting, but explains the reasons behind some of the exasperating irregularities in the language, and helps to understand why there are so many varieties of English.

During this unit we will, among other things:

• ·       Watch a film about the history of the English language  (www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3q95Mg2i7c)

• ·       Listen to some dialects of British English (http://youtu.be/-8mzWkuOxz8) 

• ·       Read excerpts from texts from Beowulf and The Canterbury Tales

• ·       Learn about basic phonetic script

 

Assessment will be based on:

·       A test

·       A short individual presentation