Embedded Files
"The Oxford English Dictionary is the greatest work of reference ever written, and it’s largely the result of a Scotsman who left school at fourteen, and a criminally insane American." Mark Forsyth
Words and their Origins - The OED Longterm Assignment: This is the second of two possible longterm assignments - the first being having students create (with a partner) an Illuminated Text. This was done until 2007 or so. I still think it is an amazing assignment - but the Illuminated Text covers different ground - and the students reacted much more positively to it.
Lesson Overview
Lesson Overview
This was one of the first long term assignments that I ever did with my British Literature Class. Students pick a favorite speech, text, poem or song of theirs that was written natively in English, and they find the origin of the words therein. At the same time, students are reading about the origins of the English Language - so this practical research they reinforces (wait till their done!) what they are reading about in a big way.
The instructions are pretty spelled out on their handout - find the quote and start looking up 50 consecutive words from anywhere in that quote in the Oxford English Dictionary and find where the words originated. After a few years of doing this and asking the students what they found (and keeping track of their results) we came up with some pretty shocking results (though I kind of knew this in theory anyway). Though most of the words in English come from outside the Anglo-Saxon world , most of them in common use - especially in well admired works - originated as Anglo Saxon words.
When the project is done (2-4 weeks) I created a Group Work (found below) that allows them to put their new found knowledge to work and come up with a startling conclusion themselves.
The Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary
My students were lucky in that our media center had the complete OED, while students that had a Chicago Public Library card had full access to the OED Online. Here is the Wikipedia Page on the Dictionary.
Handouts
Handouts
Most Recent Handouts & Quizzes
Most Recent Handouts & Quizzes
Student Handout: Docx PDF - In addition to instructions on how to do the assignment, the handout also includes the blank page that the students will use to record their words and their respective etymology. From the handout: The purpose of this assignment is to get you thinking about the origin of various words in the English language. Where do they come from and are words from different specific place used in different types of settings. For instance when "Winston Churchill wished to appeal to the hearts and minds of the English-speaking people [when England was on the verge of losing World War II] it is probably no accident that he did so with the plain bareness for which Old English is noted: '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.' In this celebrated passage, only surrender is foreign - Norman-French.
Class Sign Up Sheet: Docx PDF Wind through the Aquaducts: Students are not allowed to do the same text as anyone else from ANY class. I created these sign up sheets so that students could claim their text, once they found it.
The OED GroupWork & Extra Credit
The OED GroupWork & Extra Credit
Docx PDF After they are done with the project, I created a Group Work that they can put their new found knowledge to work - and to see what their classmates came up with. There is also an Extra Credit assignment - pretty simple actually - to read Jame Murray's The Professor and the Madman (on the creation of the first Oxford English Dictionary). Like the group work, Murray's book is a wonderful complement to the project they've just completed.
As this lesson is one of two possible long term assignments - you could also do the other long term project: The Illuminated Text Project.
OR
You can go to the Anglo-Saxon poetry from The Exeter Book: We began the year with one of these poems - "Deor" - now we continue (after they've done a lot of poetry already). These are poems from the Exeter Book, an incredible text with many of the surviving verse that we have from the Anglo-Saxon period, including some wonderful riddles (another lesson). The students are given handouts with the poems on them (though they've read them in their text book already) so that they can take notes on the poems as we go through them.
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
Thoughts on the Lesson
Thoughts on the Lesson
One of my oldest assignments - and I still think it was incredibly valuable. It taught students how to do research and how to find things out for themselves, rather than just reading it in their textbook or a handout. I still remember watching The History of the English Language and being in disbelief about how much of our vocabulary comes from other languages but how little other than Anglo-Saxon originated words are found in our every day and important speech.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse