Slang Ain't the Thang!

Bilateral suborbital hematoma? Call an audible? 404? Have fun with “the twittering or warbling of birds,” or as 14th century French speakers would say, have fun with “jargon.” Groups match specialized jargon with plain speech, decode...

“When a great truth once gets abroad in the world, no power on earth can imprison it, or prescribe its limits, or suppress it.” These words come from Frederick Douglass’ April, 1888 speech to the International Council of Women. One of...

ESL students use the graphic organizers to record different phrases of speech with an emphasis upon the use of slang.

A speaker, a message, an audience. After analyzing these elements in Queen Elizabeth's speech to the troops at Tilbury, groups analyze how other speakers use an awareness of events, and their audience to craft their arguments....

Act and act, address and address...there are so many words in our dictionary that can function as nouns or verbs. Start this instructional activity by having your class list as many as they possibly can. When an adequate list presents...

This collection looks at an image and phrase used widely in abolitionist materials, and at how that symbol was adopted and adapted by Sojourner Truth and/or other women's rights activists. Students will examine an abolitionist medallion...

Examine the changing nature of language in the U.S. View and discuss excerpts from a PBS documentary with your class and then conduct Internet research, and complete a team project on the evolution of teen expressions. 

Students research and investigate what laws exist about freedom of speech. They write an article about this topic. Students interview the students at their school on this topic. They take a stand and support their stand with facts.

The New York Times' Learning Network provides great lessons! This one uses articles from the paper to help readers understand homonyms like mail (verb and noun). It also includes an exercise in reading informational text. Links to the...

The election of Barack Obama in 2008 was a watershed moment in African American and American history. Using clips from the acceptance and concession speeches, as well as the words of outgoing president, George H. W. Bush, budding...