Unit 2 Language

English and its history

Leading-in A quiz1. There are 600 languages in the world.2. Shakespeare, Dickens, Austen, JK Rowling are all famous English writers. 3. America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore are English-speaking countries.4. English used in different countries are completely the same.5. English used in different times stays the same.

Fast readingFast reading

Go through the text and finish Part A.

1) What is the article about?

2) What are the three kinds of English discussed in the article?

3) Is English still changing?

English and its history.

Old English, Middle English and Modern English.

Yes.

Multiple choices

1.The oldest language in Britain is ____________. A. Celtic B. Anglo-Saxon C. Old English D. Scandinavian 2. The English word “pork” has a(n) _____ origin. A. English B. German C. French D. Danish 3. Compared with the other 3, __________ has many Latin words. A. Old English B. Middle English C. Modern English D. Celtic

4. Which of the following statements is the most accurate?

A. English is easy to understand though it keeps changing.B. English stays almost the same after many foreign invasions.C. English nowadays is hard to understand, according to the article, because people make it similar to old English.D. English is changing all the time, but it is still English.

Careful reading

Paragraph 1: read together

Why is English a language with so many confusing rules?

Because people from different countries and cultures have lived together in Britain.

Old English: read silently

1.Where did the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes come from?

2. What did old English develop from?

They came from the European mainland.

Anglo-Saxon and the languages of Vikings.

3. Why is it certain that we would not be able to understand old English if we heard it today?

4. Why can similar pairs of words be found in the English language?

Because it is very different from the English we speak nowadays.

Because each word or phrase came from a different language.

Middle English: read silently

1.Why didn’t the Norman Conquest have the same result as the Germanic invasion had had about 600 years earlier?

2. What impact did French have on English?

After the earlier invasion Celtic had been replaced by English, but French didn’t replace English though the Norman spoke English.

It caused even more pairs of similar words.

3. Why do the words we use for most animals come from English while the words for the meat come from French?

4. What was the German plural form replaced by?

5. Why did upper class people speak French while common people spoke English?

Because many English people worked as servantswho raised animals and cooked for the Normans.

It was replaced by the French way of making plurals.

Because the upper class were French.

ox- oxen child—children

man- men shoe--shoes

foot– feet tooth---teeth

shoe- shoen house- housen

house—houses

Tick the German way of making plurals.

Modern English: listen to the tape

1. Modern English began in the 15th century.

2. English will continue changing in the future.

3. Where a person comes from will affect their style of speech.

4. If a person from the south of English goes to the north, he can understand what people there are saying easily.

F

T

F

T

Please go through the Reading strategy and tell me how to read a history article.

Reading strategy

1. Notice the _____ and ______.

2. Make ___________, listing relevant information such as ______, _____ and ______, etc.

Reading a history article

Reading a normal text

dates years

a time tabletimes places

events

before the middle of the 5th century

people in Britain

Time People Events & the languages

Time People Events and the languages

before the middle of the 5th century

after the middle of the 5th century

at the end of the 9th century

by the 10th century

spoke Celtic

Old English was the official language of England.

invaded BritainAnglo-Saxon+their languages=Old English

invaded BritainCeltic + their languages = Anglo-Saxon

people in Britain

Germanic

tribes

theVikings

Time People Events and the language

in 1066

by the latter half of the 14th century

in 1399

during the Renaissancein the 16th

century

became King of England English

Modern English began.

conquer Englandupper class --______; common people-- ______

English was adopted by all classes in England.

FrenchEnglish

theNormans

allclasses

Henry Ⅳ

Consolidation

1. How is the language developed?

CelticLanguages of Germanic tribes

Anglo-Saxon

Languages of Vikings

Anglo-Saxon Old English

Old English

FrenchMiddle English

Middle English

Latin and Greek

Modern English

Consolidation2. Finish the summary.English is a language ________ up of the rules and vocabulary people _______ to Britain with them.

Old English, which was once the _______ language

of England by the 10th century, _______ of an

Angle-Saxon base ____ words from the languages of Denmark and Norway.

made

brought

official

consisted

plus

Middle English referred the English _____ from

around the 12th to the 16th. In 1066, the

Normans_________ England and took _______ of

the country. From then on, the Normans ______

England for 250 years. French therefore had an

_______ on the English language.

used

conquered control

ruled

impact

The German way of making words plural was _______ by the French way. Wordsfor meat then mostly came from French. That was because upper class people spoke ______ while ________ people spoke English.Modern English began during the _________ in the16th century. Latin and Greek words _________ English not only in _________ but in ____________. It is ______that English will continue _________ and people will keep _______ new words and new ways of Saying things.

replaced

Frenchcommon

Renaissanceaffected

vocabulary pronunciationcertain changing

inventing

Discussion

Chinese characters are always changing.

Borrowed words in Chinese:

English words borrowed from Chinese:

卡通 坦克引擎 雷达汉堡包 柔道基因 镭射维他命 跆拳道

Typhoon tai chiKungfu MahjiangLitchi Toufu

cartoonenginehamburgergenevitamin

tankradar

judolasertae kwon do

Do you think it possible for Chinese to be the most widely used language some day?

Homework

1.Write a short passage about the development of English.

2. Finish P102-103 reading A,B.

What are the words for these animals and their meat?

pork/ bacon

beef mutton

ox/cowox/cow sheepsheep pigpig