View Content #19480

From http://www.open.edu/openlearn/languages/english-language/the-history-english-ten-minutes

This is a 10-minute video segmented into ten 1-minute chapters. As the website states: “Voiced by Clive Anderson, this entertaining romp through 'The History of English' squeezes 1600 years of history into 10 one-minute bites, uncovering the sources of English words and phrases from Shakespeare and the King James Bible to America and the Internet. Bursting with fascinating facts, the series looks at how English grew from a small tongue into a major global language before reflecting on the future of English in the 21st century.” The speaking is quite fast and they make many tongue-and-cheek references to historical, cultural, and linguistic items that many L2’s of English would find very challenging. However, that is what makes it a rich, authentic resource to explore with your ESL students using guided pre-, during, and post-listening activities. If you choose just one of the one-minute chapters you’ll have much to explore, debate, discuss and learn. You might use one to prompt or start a discussion on a topic, such as the use of English as a global language. Be sure to pre-watch any video segment you want to use first to assess its appropriateness for your class context.

Access the segments here http://www.open.edu/openlearn/languages/english-language/the-history-english-ten-minutes

Access all the segments together as one 10-minute video on YouTube here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njJBw2KlIEo