Language history and change

British history is such a delight. The fact that a thousand years ago so much was already happening in London or in the rest of Europe is just an amazing scene to imagine, but the chapter did not take us straightaway to the green shires of London, but to India, where, it seems, all began. So, the idea of having an old common language from which, we can say, descend, it is just amazing.

Mankind has had to overcome many difficulties whilst on earth and nowadays we can all say that life is much easier than it used to be a hundred years ago. An it may be true, but if it had not been for the old dialects that let mankind made its way through ups and downs we, probably, would not be here today.

Personally, I think that languages represent who we are; they represent the very essence of a nation, tribe or town and not only does it affect our life as individuals, but also the lifes of the rest: society. However, we shall not forget that languages have evolved as years have gone by, having a pretty close relationship with history. We would not know anything about languages without history; let us take into account Sanskrit: the great-grandmother of all the languages that developed under the label of Proto-Indo-European; without no historic record whatsoever, we may have never got to know that far branch of, what now is, an almost forgotten language.

If we talk about the development of English, I think this summary helped me to achieve one of the objectives my British Culture course, because as I made my way thought the document, I realized how useful is knowing historical facts about the development of the language, because I can encourage my students to learn English with this and tell them that learning English can be fun as well, that learning a language can be more than boring drilling exercises. If used properly, I think we, as teachers, would be able to perform really exciting classes, letting the children know more than just grammar or lexical structures that they, reluctantly, would repeat.

Doing this summary helped me to “Relate the origins of the English language and its development over time” and if it happened to me, I know I can use it as a tool to encourage not only children, but also teenagers to see something else in learning a language.

As a teacher-to-be I really look forward to use all the idea I am coming up with through my university years and, personally, I love history and also English, so being able to teach them both at the same time would represent all what I have been expecting this last years: trying to teach what I feel passionate about and letting students know that we teach what we teach because we like it, not because I could not get into another major or I could not pursue another dream. And I know that if they see a happy teacher they will notice that what he is teaching them is more than a job: it is a life.