Curated OER
Who Invented English Anyway?
In these English lesson plans, students use video, the Internet and non-fiction essays to research the history of the English language. They write a short research paper and design a PowerPoint presentation showcasing their findings.
National Endowment for the Humanities
A “New English” in Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart”: A Common Core Exemplar
To examine the “New English” Chinua Achebe uses in Things Fall Apart, readers complete a series of worksheets that ask them to examine similes, proverbs, and African folktales contained in the novel. Individuals explain the meaning...
Curated OER
Keep Your English Up to Date: Wannabe
Language is a fluid and ever-changing entity! Take a week to cover the changing English expressions and slang as related to the word "wannabe." Go through vocabulary, spelling, worksheets, and quizzes on the topics with your class.
Curated OER
Linguistic Diversity. Languages in Canada - Elementary
Create a language mosaic to reveal the linguistic diversity in your community. Pupils interview a person with a home language other than English and contribute to a bulletin board display representing the variety of languages spoken. The...
Curated OER
Linguistics 472
Elementary English Language Learners practice following directions by participating in a treasure hunt. Adapt this resource to suit individual learners.
Curated OER
Communicative Choices & Linguistic Style
Start by watching a video entitled Do You Speak American? and respond to discussion questions about the various dialects showcased throughout the video to identify the regional linguistic styles throughout America. As a culminating...
Curated OER
Keep Your English Up to Date: Chav
Take a look at linguistics and stereotypes in Great Britian with a word study of "chav." Learners find out what terms are pejoratives and what they are meant to convey. Geared toward British culture, study the ever-changing English...
Curated OER
Old and Middle English
“The Lord’s Prayer” provides the text for a study of how language changes. Using the provided link, young linguists examine the prayer in Old and Middle English and compare how the diction, syntax, and phonology have evolved over the...
Curated OER
Linguistic Diversity Secondary
Don't be scared off by the title! Read this information packet with your class, or send them off on their own. After each section, you'll find a series of comprehension questions. Great preparation for state testing!
University of New Mexico
Educating Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students
Three mini units make up one large unit designed to explore multiculturalism and encourage cultural identity. Each lesson sparks thoughtful discussion, critical thinking, and are equipped with activities and assignments geared to...
Curated OER
Major Regional Dialects
What does your dialect sound like? Examine variation in English as it relates to geographic regions with your class. They recognize some of the major differences between regional dialects and determine that everyone speaks a dialect....
Curated OER
Understanding Points of View
Investigate the importance of author's point of view. Young linguists study primary source documents related to the Treaty of Casco Bay. The first source is authored by the Native American Chiefs, the second by an English...
Curated OER
Teaching Social Studies in English
Case studies, an examination of images, and readings of passages from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child are used to spark conversations in ESL/ELD social studies classes about this highly-charged topic. Using a variety of...
EngageNY
Analyzing a Central Idea: Carlotta’s Journey to Justice
Verbs are deceptive and like to disguise themselves. Young linguists identify verbals, specifically gerunds, infinitives, and participles when analyzing the third stage of Carlotta's journey in the novel A Mighty Long Way. Bridge...
Curated OER
A Discourse on the History of Language
Analyze and make inferences from the information used by linguists to construct the evolution of languages. They research different dating techniques to explain how scientists infer age with evidence.
Curated OER
Structure of Natural Narratives
Class pairs select a prompt from a provided list and tell (and record) their story to their partner. They then examine linguist William Labov's model for natural narratives, and apply his model to their tale. Next, class members watch...
Curated OER
Perspectives on Written & Spoken English
Pupils explore issues surrounding language norms, including the distinction between prescriptive and descriptive norms, the differences between norms for spoken English and those for written English, how word meanings change, and whether...
Curated OER
Poems and Translation (from Spanish to English)
Students read and are read various poems in their native language of Spanish. In groups or individually, they translate the poems into English and practice speaking English by reading them to the class. They answer comprehension...
Curated OER
Capturing and Sharing Language Acquisition
Practice language development and linguistics with a lesson featuring audio recordings. As kids record the ways they pronounce words and sentences, they learn to upload and organize their audio files into iTunes.
Curated OER
Newspaper Unit: Reading Lesson Plan
Work on identifying the different parts of a newspaper with your English learners. After reviewing newspaper terminology, pupils pair up and complete a scavenger hunt, looking for specific things in the newspaper and recording their...
Curated OER
Language with Linguistic Legos
Students visualize and manipulate sentences as building blocks, and, given a key, use Legos™ to demonstrate how to construct sentences of variety (simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex).
Curated OER
Creative Writing: Children's Building Blocks
Your class can participate in a writing program involving four building blocks. By exploring words, sentences, writing forms, and story organization, they improve their creative writing skills throughout this year-long unit. Early in the...
Curated OER
Exploring the Complexities of Language
An interview with Dr. Rosemary Beam de Azcona launches a study of the complexities of language and how meaning changes across languages and cultures. The investigation continues as class members view clips of the film, The Tailenders,...
Curated OER
Sentence Combining
Learners practice sentence combining at increasingly difficult levels throughout a week. They begin with nouns and verbs and build to contrasts, parallels, etc.