Timeline & A Street through Time

From the Making-Revision-Fun department, two suggestions for ways to ground your sense of historical context.


The first we played in class: the Timeline series of card games, which test your grasp of the relative order in which key historical events happened. you can get themed packs and even mix them up; in class we used the green and red packs ('Diversity' and 'Historical events'). Play solitaire or with a study buddy.


The second is from A2 student Emily, who suggested this beautifully illustrated book tracking the appearance of a street through time. Others in the series look at cities, farms, and so on too. You can get hold of these very cheaply!

A Neat Summary of Linguistics

Useful summary, at undergraduate level, of issues and descriptions addressed in the study of language. Pretty good revision reading, perhaps especially for A2s…

https://www.uni-due.de/ELE/NeatSummaryOfLinguistics.pdf

Exercises in Pronouns

Excellent find from A2 student Rachel: a series of exercises to explore your personal pronoun usage and beliefs. Part of an Internet-based research project stemming from a book, The Secret Life of Pronouns.

http://www.secretlifeofpronouns.com/exercises.php

Language Wars (newyorker.com)

A contemporary argument for prescriptivism.

Language Wars
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/05/language-wars-descriptivists.html

Publication of Dr Johnson's Dictionary today

15th April 1755, folks.

Publication of Dr Johnson's Dictionary
http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/publication-dr-johnsons-dictionary

Willpower and the To-Do List

An article, and related book, about organising all the stuff you've got to do – and making sure you get to actually do it.

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/02/09/willpower-to-do-list/

Dictionaries: The British Library

Here you'll find extracts from, and discussions of, Cawdrey and Johnson, amongst other lexicographers from English history.  You'll see here how I've simplified the story in class somewhat; have a look at others' variants of what a dictionary can be.

http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/dic/meanings.html

A Literary History of Word Processing

The conditions of production of a text can affect that text, and changes in the technology of writing have changed the styles in which things are written. The actual book under discussion here isn't due out till 2013, but there's food for thought in the article.

A Literary History of Word Processing
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/26/books/a-literary-history-of-word-processing.html?_r=1

I just rediscovered this in my iBooks collection. Other ebook readers which can handle the standard .epub format should be able to read it too, though it's got some snazzy features that might not work. 

The material in this short, free, electronic book from the Open University bridges our work on grammar and introduces some of the issues we'll be learning next term at AS; good revision material therefore for A2s, too. 

Check out this collection on iTunes U:

English grammar in context - for iBooks The Open University English 13 Ratings View in iTunes

Crystal's Encyclopaedias

Whilst I'm on books, here's the Crystal encyclopaedia of the English language. There's also the encyclopaedia of Language, which covers a wider range of languages, and includes child language acquisition; that one's in its third edition and has extra chapters on Internet language too.

The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language David Crystal £30.00 £21.92

Making Sense of Grammar

The companion piece to Rediscover Grammar, this fatter book has the advantage of exploring how the grammar matters, giving examples of usage and contexts and dealing with some pragmatic issues about grammatical usage. So, useful for your A Level studies in giving you ideas about what grammatical frameworks are applicable where.

Making Sense of Grammar Prof David Crystal £18.99 £18.04

Rediscover Grammar

The book I've been waving at students this week. Pricier than I remember - but that makes it a great Christmas present, right? It's educational, mum. 

This one is the more concise, just giving clear explanations of the full range of English grammar - far more than I could deliver in class. This'll last you through the second year and into university.

Rediscover Grammar Prof David Crystal £18.50 £16.74

Grappling Grammarians

Review of a book about the history of grammar rules and prescription - most relevant to A2 students when their research project is done, so pop back and read it later. They did get cross about their linguisticals.

Grappling Grammarians
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204224604577028243560830070.html

From Riddle to Twittersphere

The prolific David Crystal has another book out - looks like a readable approach to the history of English. Details in the article, including the full list of words he picks out.

From Riddle to Twittersphere: David Crystal tells the story of English in 100 words
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/8824676/From-Riddle-to-Twittersphere-David-Crystal-tells-the-story-of-English-in-100-words.html

Revision Book for English Language

Just logging on the blog the revision book required for all AS and A2 Language students.

Revision Express AS and A2 English Language Mr Alan Gardiner £14.99 £7.72

The Stories of English

Just testing an Amazon link, really; but this is excellent background reading for the A2 year, covering the history of a variety of Englishes - all you need for Section A of the A2 exam. :)

The Stories of English David Crystal £12.99 £7.55

18 Seriously Cool Bookshelves

This isn't strictly to do with language, but you'll need somewhere to store all your fervent reading matter, right?

18 Seriously Cool Bookshelves & Bookcases
http://www.neatorama.com/2011/05/27/18-seriously-cool-bookshelves-bookcases/?ref=nf

Books for Thought-Provoking Reading

Okay, so it's not summer... yet. But, as students of the English Language, you should read anything and everything you can lay your hands on. 

Of this list, I'm currently reading The Information, which just happens to include an interesting chapter on early printers and dictionary makers, the names of whom my A2s will recognise. It's got some cool stuff on codes and the transformation of the world by communications technology too. 

The list ends with Kurt Vonnegut, of whom you should read everything, because he's funny and clever and fun and wise. 

10 Essential Books for Thought-Provoking Summer Reading
http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/05/10-essential-books-for-thought-provoking-summer-reading/239657/