Thursday, February 21, 2008

Great news for current Year 8 students!

Yes, it's amazing news for current Year 8 students*...because in 2012 you'll be doing your AS Levels (if they're still called that and not Ronald McDonald's Vocational Awards in Basic Wageslavery) and if you choose English Language (which you should, because it's obviously the best) you might even get a trip out of it. Woo hoo!

For so long English Literature students have been able to boast of school/college trips to dubious theatre productions, Media Students of trips to see gritty urban films (like Notting Hill and Love, Actually), and Film Studies students of trips to Lithuanian Grimcore "art" films, but English Language students have had nothing.

Which is a very long-winded way of introducing Project English, a museum dedicated to the history and development of the English Language which opens in 2012 in Winchester, as explained in this piece in today's Times. The article gives a very potted summary of the history of the language (very potted - 6 bullet points!) but the websites of Winchester University and a powerpoint presentation of the plans for the project might give you some more insight (but don't worry too much about the several slides given over to costings and locations).

Useful for:
ENA5 - Language Change

*
living in the south of England and studying AS/A2 English Language in 2012

Black British English vs MLE

The latest episode of Lexis is out and it features an interview with Ife Thompson about lots of issues connected to Black British English, i...