A history of the English language
I can explain how the English language has been influenced by different historical events over time.
A history of the English language
I can explain how the English language has been influenced by different historical events over time.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- The invading Angles, Saxons and Jutes brought useful language, for describing everyday things.
- The English population adopted Latin words through the Church and French words through the Norman invasion.
- Both Shakespeare and the King James Bible gave the English language many of the phrases that we use today.
- Scientific developments led to the creation of many new words.
- The expansion of the British Empire led to new words being adopted and the English language travelling globally.
Keywords
Conquer - To conquer means to take control of a particular place and its people by force.
Invade - To invade a country means to enter it by force with an army.
Colonisation - Colonisation occurs when a country takes control of other lands and its people and creates settlements there.
Adopt - If a group adopt a new word, they start using it.
Common misconception
That the English language developed quickly.
The English that we speak today was shaped across many hundreds of years by lots of significant events in our history.
To help you plan your year 8 english lesson on: A history of the English language, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 8 english lesson on: A history of the English language, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
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The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
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Explore more key stage 3 english lessons from the A history of language unit, dive into the full secondary english curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.