Unit 7 Learning about English
Learning Objectives: Students will be able to:
1. grasp the main idea that English has become a great language because of its tolerance for
outside influences;
2. understand some idiomatic English usages mentioned in the unit;
3. master the key language points and rhetorical devices in the text, such as oxymoron, metaphor,
parallelism and so on;
4. conduct a series of reading, listening, speaking and writing activities related to the theme of the
unit.
Pre-reading task:
1. How do you understand the title of Text A－The Glorious Messiness of English? And try to
find out some examples from Text A. 2. Do the exercises in Text Organization.
The First Two Periods (90 m)
Part one: Listening task (15 m)
Listen to the passage and answer the following questions:
Chinese Language -- Our Mother Tongue
The Chinese language usually refers to the standard language and its dialects used by the Han nationality which makes up 93.3% of the total population. Most of the minority nationalities in China have their own languages. Both numerically (从数量上来讲) and in the extent of its distribution, Chinese is the most important language in China and also one of the five official working languages of the United Nations. It is also one of the richest and highly developed languages in the world.
Chinese is also spoken by many overseas Chinese: it is the common language of more than 10 million overseas Chinese and persons of Chinese descent in Southeast Asia alone. At present, more than one billion people, approximately 1/5 of the world’s population, speak Chinese as their mother tongue.
A written form of the language was developed as early as 6,000 years ago. From the point of view of its origin, it belongs to the Sino-Tibetan languages family(汉藏语系,包括汉语、西藏语、缅甸语等). Questions:
1. What does the Chinese language usually refer to? (It refers to the standard language and its dialects.)
2. What is the percentage of the Han nationality in the total population? (93.3 %)
3. Why do we say the Chinese language is very important in the world? (Because it is one of the five working languages in the United Nations.)
4. How many overseas Chinese and persons of Chinese decent in Southeast Asia speak the Chinese language? (More than 10 million.)
5. According to this passage, what was the world’s population when the passage was written? (About 5 billion.)
6. How long has the Chinese language been spoken? (More than 6,000 years.) Part two: Cultural Notes (20m) 1. History of English The Root of English
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English began as a west Germanic language which was brought to England by the Saxons around 400 A.D. Old English was the spoken and written language of England between 400 and 1100 A.D. Many words used today come from Old English, including man, woman, king, mother, etc. But Old English was very different from modern English and only a few words can be easily recognized. In the 9th and 10th centuries, when Vikings invaded England, Old Norse words, e.g. sky, take and get and many place names, entered the language. From the Norman Conquest (1066) until the late 12th century English was replaced as the official language by Norman French, though English was still used by the lower classes. English from about 1300 to 1500 is known as Middle English. It was influenced by French and also Latin in vocabulary and pronunciation. French brought many words connected with government, e.g. sovereign, royal, court, legal and government itself. Latin was the language of religion and learning and gave to English words such as minister, angel, master, school and grammar. Literature began again to be written in English during this period. One of the most famous Middle English works is Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. The Development of Modern English
Modern English developed from the Middle English dialect of the East Midlands and was influenced by the English used in London, where a printing press was set up by William Caxton in 1476. English changed a great deal from this time until the end of the 18th century. During the Renaissance, many words were introduced from Greek and Latin to express new ideas, especially in science, medicine and philosophy. They included physics, species, architecture, encyclopedia and hypothesis. In the 16th century several versions of the Bible helped bring written English to ordinary people. The Elizabethan period is also famous for its drama, and Shakespeare’s plays were seen by many people. The development of printing helped establish standards of spelling and grammar, but there remained a lot of variation. Samuel Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language (1755) was the first authoritative treatment of English. It defined about 40,000 words and gave examples of their use.
By the 18th century American English was established and developing independently from British English. After colonists arrived in the US new words began to be added from Native American languages, and from French and Spanish. In 1783, soon after Johnson’s dictionary was published, Noah Webster’s The Elementary Spelling Book was published in the US. At first it used Johnson’s spellings, but later editions contained many of what have come to be known as American spellings, e.g. harbor and favorite. 20th Century English
During the 19th and early 20th centuries many dictionaries and books about language were published. New words are still being added to English from other languages, including Chinese (feng shui) and Japanese (karaoke). Existing words gain new senses, and new expressions spread quickly through television and the Internet.
English is now an international language and is used as a means of communication between people from many countries. As a result the influences on the English language are wider than ever and it is possible that World English will move away from using a British or American standard and establish its own international identity. 2. Winston Churchill
As a politician, Winston Churchill is remembered as one of Britain’s greatest statesmen. He was the son of the Conservative politician Lord Randolph Churchill and his American wife Jennie. As a young man he served as a soldier in India and Egypt, and as a journalist in South Africa, before entering politics. Churchill became Prime Minister and Minister of Defence in 1940. His radio speeches during World War II gave the British people a strong determination to win the war,
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especially at times of great crisis. Examples of Churchill’s phrases still often quoted today are “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat”, and “This was their finest hour”. The Conservative Party led by Churchill lost the election of 1945, but he became Prime Minister again from 1951 to 1955 when he retired, aged 80. When he died in Jan 1965 he was given a state funeral. 3. Julius Caesar (100~44 BC)
Julius Caesar was the best-known of all the ancient Roman leaders, and the first one to land in Britain with an army. He did this twice, in 55 and 54 BC, although Britain did not become part of the Roman Empire until nearly a hundred years later. 4. Viking
Viking was a member of a people from Scandinavia who attacked parts of northern and western Europe, including Britain and Ireland, in the 8th to 11th centuries. In Britain they were also known as Norsemen. They settled on the Scottish islands and in areas of eastern England, and the Danish King Canute ruled England from 1016. The Vikings were feared as violent and cruel, but they were also noted for their skill in building ships and as sailors. They had an important influence on English culture and the English language. 5. Norman
Norman refers to any of the people from Normandy in northern France who settled in England after their leader William defeated the English king at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The Normans took control of the country, a process known as the Norman Conquest. They used many of the existing Anglo-Saxon methods of government of the state and the church, but added important aspects of their own and made government much more effective. The language of government became first Latin, and then Norman French, and this caused many new words to be added to the existing English language.
6. William Caxton ( c.1422~c.1491)
William Caxton was the man who set up the first printing firm in Britain. He printed his first book in 1474. By printing books in English, Caxton had a strong influence on the spelling and development of the language. Many of the books he published were French stories which he translated himself
7. Otto Jespersen (1860~1943)
Otto Jespersen was a Danish philologist, grammarian, and educationist. He promoted the use of the “direct method” in language teaching with the publication of his theoretical work How to Teach a Foreign Language (1904). Other books include his seven-volume Modern English Grammar (1909~1949).
Part three: Review task(10m):
1. How do you understand the title of Text A－The Glorious Messiness of English?
The title offers a good example of oxymoron. An oxymoron puts two contradictory terms together to puzzle the reader, luring him/her to pause and explore why. ―Glorious‖ is a commendatory term, while ―messiness‖ is derogatory. Why do they stand next to each other? Then, as the reader reads on, he/she will find out that the title is actually a thesis statement: Yes, English is messy, but the messiness reflects some commendable qualities of English, such as tolerance, the love of freedom, and the respect for others’ right. At this point the reader cannot but admire the author’s ingenuity.
2 Do the exercises in Text Organization. parts paragraphs Main ideas 1 Paras1-3 Massive borrowing from other languages is a major feature of the
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English language. 2 Paras4-16 Tells about the history of the English language from the Indo-European parent language to modern English. 3 Paras17-19 Tolerance, love of freedom, and respect for the rights of others -- these qualities in the English-speaking people explain the richness of their language. Part four: The Structure of Text A (44m)
Main idea: Massive stealing of English (para1)
●Beginning:
Indicated by a contrast with French (para2)
English French
Massive stealing don’t like borrowing over one million words about 75000 words walkman balladeur
origin of walkman (para3) How did the language of a small island off the coast of Europe become the language of the planet—more widely spoken and written than any other has ever been?(para4)
●Body:
●The introduction of the Indo-European language—the parent language of English (paras4-9)
old English or Anglo-Saxon English
features (para4): short and direct: identity (I, me, you)
possession (mine, yours) the body(eye, nose, mouth) size (tall, short)
necessities (food, water)
function (para5): arouse emotions: Winston Churchill made a speech with old English and a
word—surrender from Norman French. It shows that a writer can mix, for effect, different words from different backgrounds (para6)
theory about origin of English(paras7-9): 55B.C. Celts spoke languages that survive today
mainly as Welsh but their origins are a mystery but there is a theory. An English judge in India noticed several Sanskrit words resembled some words in Greek and Latin. Study revealed that these modern languages descended from a common parent language---Indo-European parent language. These people had common words for snow, bee, and wolf but no word for sea. So some scholars assume they lived somewhere in north-central European, where it was cold. Traveling east some established the languages of India and Pakistan, and others drifted west and became known as Celts.
●new words came with the Germanic tribes—the Angles , the Saxons, etc. they settled in
Britain in the 5th century and passed on to us their farming vocabulary, including sheep, ox, earth, wood, field and work and laughter. (Para10-11)
●the next big influence on English was Christianity (para12): 400-500 words from Greek and
Latin including angel, disciple and martyr.
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●Vikings came into this relatively peaceful land from Scandinavia (para13): Old Norse and
English both survived such as, raise and rear, want and wish, skill and craft, skin and hide, and they also brought to English many words that begin with sk, like sky and skirt.
●Another flood of new vocabulary occurred in 1066, when the Normans conquered England
(para14):Three languages: French for the nobles, Latin for the churches and English for the common people. With three languages competing, there are sometimes different terms for the same thing, such as kingly, royal and sovereign. English gradually swallowed French and by 15th century English developed into a modified, greatly enriched language—Middle English with about 10000 borrowed French words.
●Borrowed words from Latin and Greek (para15): Around 1476 William Caxton set up a
printing press in England and started a communications revolution. Thousands of Latin words like capsule and habitual, and Greek words like catastrophe and thermometer came into English. Today we still borrow from Latin and Greek to name new inventions like Video, television and cyberspace.
● American English (para16): as settlers landed in North America and established the United
States, English found itself with two sources—American and British.
● Conclusion:
That tolerance for change represents deeply rooted ideas of freedom. (para17)
The same cultural soil produces the English language also nourishes the great
principles of freedom and rights of man in the modern world. (para18)
English language is not the special preserve of grammarians, language police,
teachers, writers or the intellectual elite. English is the tongue of the common man. (para19)
Part five: homework (1m)
Memorize the following important words and we will have a dictation next time.
massive, corrupt, ban, strictly speaking, fascinating, tolerance, to an extent, necessity, arouse, surrender, virtually, invade, inhabit, mystery, resemble, systematic, descend, establish, pass on sth. to sb. conquer, royal, sovereign, alternative, modify, enrich, catastrophe, independent, out of control, academy, fortunately, put into practice, strike out, nourish, preserve, elite
The Second Two Periods (90m)
Part one: review task (10m) Have a dictation of the words we have learned. Part two: writing skills (25m)
1. Rhetorical devices: ask students to find out how many rhetorical devices are used in the text
and underline them and explain them.
Oxymoron: the glorious messiness of English.
Metaphor: core of English (para4), a common parent language(para8), another flood of new
vocabulary (para14), the preserve of grammarians (para19), the cultural soil, the first shoots sprang up, … grew stronger, build fences around their language (para18).
Parallelism: we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in
the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender.(para5)
Metonymy: the country now had three languages: French for the nobles, Latin for the churches and
English for the common people.(para14)
2. Transitional devices for the coherence of text: ask students to read part 2 from para4 to
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