A story in the media on 7 June said how the Queen's English Society wanted an Academy to 'protect English'. Use the Times article http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/education/article7145147.ece as a starting point to investigate why people are concerned, then write your comment to add to this debate.
You can look at the story of the Academy in France and also explore previous discussions about change in language - for example you can see Dr Johnson's opinions at http://www.bl.uk/learning/images/texts/dict/transcript1387.html
You could discuss examples of words and phrases that annoy people - do they actually damage our language? See what David Crystal says about texting. Does this make him a Descriptivist or Prescriptivist?
Use what you have learned about article style to write about the debate and your opinions.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Debates about our language
Welcome to English Language A2!
Through the year, you'll discover lots of people have strong opinions about English, how it's used in different contexts and how it changes.
You will be able to add your comments and ideas to the debates in your blogs, and also give links to relevant articles and websites. I will share sites I'm finding useful for our topics, including any items that may come up in the news.
Through the year, you'll discover lots of people have strong opinions about English, how it's used in different contexts and how it changes.
You will be able to add your comments and ideas to the debates in your blogs, and also give links to relevant articles and websites. I will share sites I'm finding useful for our topics, including any items that may come up in the news.
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