Courses
English Through Time:
History, Linguistics, and English
ages 13+
Course Description:
Join in this twice a week interdisciplinary course which sits at the nexus of Linguistics, History, and English. English Through Time is designed for those who want to immerse themselves in the history of the English language from the beginnings of language itself and to explore how it continues to grow and change. We will dive deeply into these interconnected topics using a range of materials to support our weekly discussions: documentaries, the playful examinations of language by both Bill Bryson and Kory Stamper in their respective books, literature to contextualise our learning, and Ellen McHenry’s Excavating English.
This is a very high input, low output class which can be used to satisfy the requirements of any two ‘credits’ among Linguistics, History, and English.
Schedule and Cost:
Day: BOTH Monday and Thursday (TWICE A WEEK CLASS)
Time: 2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. ET
TWICE A WEEK Full Year Course Dates:
Sept. 9, 2024 – Jun. 19, 2025 (64 classes over 32 weeks – No classes: Sept 30; Oct 3,14,& 17; Nov 25 & 28; Dec 23, 26 & 30; Jan 2; Feb 17 & 20; Apr 14 & 17; May 19, 22, 26 & 29)
For Tuition Fees, Code of Conduct, and all the details, see THE FINE PRINT.
Required Homework:
There will be approx. 3-4 hours of homework per week depending on reading speed (divided between Monday’s class and Thursday’s class). There will be no assigned writing assignments nor testing. The only writing will be the minimal ‘process based’ writing required to do the Excavating English activities.
For EACH of Monday’s AND Thursday’s class:
Approximately 1 hr. of reading and/or watching for each of Monday and Thursday
(a mix drawn from an episode of The Story of English, The Adventure of English, Talking Black in America, or other documentary; or a chapter of either Bryson’s or Stamper’s books)
Approximately 30-45 min. Excavating English worktext (activities and reading) for each of Monday and Thursday
AND
Read the MONTHLY assigned work of literature (novel, play, or travelogue)
Due Monday (Sept. 23):
Watch episode 4 of The Story of English.
Read Chapter 2 of Excavating English and do activities 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3.
Due Thursday (Sept. 26):
Watch episode 5 of The Story of English.
Do activities 2.4, 2.5, and 2.6 in Excavating English.
Excavating English Chapters 1 and 2 sample can be found here:
https://www.ellenjmchenry.com/downloads/EE_first_two_chapters_LightningVersion.pdf
Course Materials:
NOTE: Many, but not all, of the required reading materials are also available as audiobooks.
I have marked the ones that I’m aware of with an (A).
BOOKS:
Excavating English by Ellen McHenry
https://ellenjmchenry.com/product/excavating-english-digital-download/
The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way by Bill Bryson (A)
Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper (A)
LITERATURE:
Frindle by Andrew Clements (A)
Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw (A)
Warrior Scarlet by Rosemary Sutcliff
Any Silk Road travelogue of your choice (A) – if you are having difficulty finding something suitable, try: Adventures on the Ancient Silk Road by Priscilla Galloway and Dawn Hunter
A Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli (A)
A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver by e.l. konigsburg
The Hawk that Dare not Hunt by Day by Scott O’Dell
Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare (A)
A Long Pitch Home by Natalie Dias Lorenzi
PRINTOUTS:
Occasional printouts emailed throughout the semester
DOCUMENTARIES:
All the documentaries are available for free on YouTube in Canada. It is possible that in other viewing jurisdictions they may need to be sought in other places such as Amazon Prime, or watched via a VPN:
The Story of English: 1986 BBC: 1. An English Speaking World 2. The Mother Tongue 3. A Muse of Fire 4. The Guid Scots Tongue 5. Black on White 6. Pioneer O Pioneer, 7. Muvver Tongue 8. The Loaded Weapon and 9. Next Year’s Words.
The Adventure of English: ITV Melvyn Bragg 2003: 1. Birth of a Language. 2. English Goes Underground. 3. The Battle for the Language of the Bible. 4. This Earth, This Realm, This England. 5. English in America. 6. Speaking Proper. 7. The Language of Empire. 8. Many Tongues Called English, One World Language.
Talking Black in America & Talking Black in America – Roots: Language & Life Project at NC State University 2020 & 2022
Ellen McHenry’s Excavating English playlist as well as other short videos as mentioned in the text.
*Mature Content: Bryson’s and Stamper’s books as well as the documentaries were intended for adult audiences. They contain an exploration of swearing as well as suggestive references. Stamper does a good job of supporting same-sex marriage within the context of her explorations of dictionary definitions of marriage. I was comfortable using all of this material with my youngest child at 11, but we used it as an opportunity to discuss appropriate and inappropriate language use as well as an opportunity to define sexual references he might hear from peers and media. It is not my intention to bring up any sex related topics in class.