Webquest

Curso: 2º de Bachiller To contact me: rachelmodino@yahoo.es Especialidad: Inglés A Brief Introduction to English Language History -Is English a useful language? -In which countries can we communicate in English? -Why do we should learn English? -Where does English come from? After taking part in this Webquest, you will be able to answer these and many more questions about the English language history.

Introduction

English is the second most spoken language in the world. It is the language of science, aviation, computing, diplomacy, and tourism. It is listed as the official or co-official language of over 45 countries and is spoken extensively in other countries where it has no official status. English is on its way to becoming the world's unofficial international language. Mandarin (Chinese) is spoken by more people, but English is now the most widespread of the world's languages. For this reason I have prepared some exercises about the English language history. With these exercises I tend to show my English students and whoever is interested, the origins of English language and how useful has English become nowadays to make ourselves understand in many different places around the world. By the end of doing the exercises I have proposed, I will be expected that you will be familiaresed with at least some information about English language's origin and its development through history.

Task

In pairs, you will have to do the following exercises. 1.-Answer the following questions: a) Where does English come from? b) Which kind of language is English? c) Which languages come from the Indo-European family? d) In Crysstals opinion, in how many branches is the Indo-European Family divided? Which of them are existing languages? e) What language most influenced English? f) How many native speakers it is estimated to use English? How many speakers use it as second language? And as a foreign language? g) Which are the most important countries where English is spoken? h) Draw a historical summary of English language development. 2.- Answer the following questions: a) Around the second century BC, the Germanic language split into three distinct groups. Which were they? b) Which words derive from Old English roots? c) Who is the most important writer during the Early Modern English period? Which were the innovations introduced by this writer? d) Which were the consequences of the establishment of the printing press in England in 1476 by William Caxton? e) Which is the principal distinction between early-and late-modern English? f) In which languages did English rely heavily on when there were a need for neologisms to describe the new creations and discoveries? Write examples. 3.- a). Where does these pairs come from? Barbacue & cannibal Husband & window Pistol & robot Orange & sugar Cookie & lottery Kebab & yoghurt Golf & whisky Teenager & OK Democracy & museum Ketchup & tea Judo & karate Welsh and Tuesday Chocolate & tomato Alcohol & zero Justice & parliament b). Say if the following estatements are true or false. -Chile and poncho are borrowings from Araucanian. -The word polo comes from Breton. -The word paella comes from Catalan. -The word sauna comes from Flemish. -The word Paris comes from Gaulish. -The word coach comes from Ibibio. -The word opera and facist come from Italian.

Process

Find a partner to work with and go through the following questions and exercises proposed above. You will be able to do these exercises consulting the web pages I have suggested. Read the information given in these pages a do the exercises. To answer the questions of the first exercise and to know where does the words given in the third exercise come from, you will have to go to www.krysstal.com/english.html To answer the questions of the second exercise, you will have to go to www.wordorigins.org/histeng.htm According to the varieties of English, you will only have to listen to them to see the differences between them, go to www.une.edu.au/langnet

Resources

You will be able to complete and answer all the questions with the help of the following web pages: www.krysstal.com/english.html www.wordorigins.org/histeng.htm www.anglik.net/englishlanguagehistory.htm Go to this page and see varieties of language: www.une.edu.au/langnet If you have problems with vocabulary, you can go to http://dictionary.reference.com/writing/styleguide or www.wordreference.com/es/

Evaluation

Students will be evaluated according to the number of correct answers given. I will follow this criteria: 90% - 100% Perfect 70% - 90% Very Good 60% - 70% Good 50% - 60% OK 40% - 50% Fail Less than 40% Poor

Conclusion

You have now learnt a litle bit about the origins and history of English language. And, what is more important, after taking part in this Webquest, you probably feel better to learn English, knowing that it is use in many countries around the world.

Las mujeres y el fútbol

Desde bien entrado el siglo XX, el fútbol masculino se ha seguido, y ya en las últimas décadas el número de seguidores ha aumentado consederablemente. Y especifico, el fútbol masculino porque hasta hace pocas decadas las mujeres no han tenido la posibilidad de demostrar que también saben jugar.
Aunque poco a poco, el fútbol femenino se va haciendo un pequeño hueco en este mundo dominado por los hombres. Ahí tenemos, las pocas noticias que aparecen tanto en televisión como en otros medios de comunicación. La última que yo ví, fue el fichaje de la mejicana apodada Mari Gol. Un fichaje que hizo el Barcelona en la pasada temporada y que sin duda, fue más un fichaje mediático que otra cosa.
Muchas páginas de periódicos deportivos son utilizadas para reflejar los resultados y las últimas horas de los equipos tanto españoles como internacionales. Cuando juega la selección de fútbol masculina, como la repesca que han tenido que jugar semanas atrás, parece como si todos jugaramos un poco. La importancia que tiene para el equipo español estar en el próximo mundial de Alemania es inmensa. En cambio, cuando juega la selección femenina no se entera nadie. Es como si no hubiera selección, cosa que me parece más que nada machista ya que al final las dos selecciones comparten el mismo deporte.
En el fútbol masculino, la mayoría, por lo menos que sea aficionado al fútbol sabe que la Primera División es la máxima categoría, en la que juegan los mejores equipos del mundo y los que tienen las mejores estrellas. Pues bien, no creo que mucha gente sepa que la Superliga Femenina es la máxima categoría donde pueden jugar las mujeres. Además tampoco creo que se sepa que las jugadoras del Athletic de Bilbao llevan dos años seguidos siendo campeonas de liga.
Estas son algunas de las cosas que deberían de ir cambiando, ya que por ley todos tenemos los mismos derechos. Sólo nos queda ponerlo en práctica.