The English language is incredibly difficult to follow. In 2009, the language passed one million words; it's estimated that 20% of these words are no longer even in use. How did we get so many words? Why is it important to understand where our words come from? There are pieces of literature we will be reading that date back to 700 AD. That's over 1300 years ago! As the English language changes and develops quicker than the technology, it's important for us to slow down and take our reading and understanding slow. And important for us to look up words, and context! |
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Possible Units
This is an incredibly rough outline of some things I would like to cover this year. Since this is my first year ever teaching British Literature, this is all subject to change, addition, subtraction, and blatant ignoring. :)
- Beowulf, Anglo-Saxons and the progression of English
- Shakespeare
- Tolkien and Lewis
- 1984
- Contemporary - The Curious Case of the Dog at Midnight and Bridget Jones Diary
Journals
Becoming a better writer is really contingent on the amount an individual writes. It will be important during Brit Lit to journal daily. I will have a prompt on the board which you can write about, or write on your own. At the end of each week, we will roll a die to decide whether that week of journaling will be graded or not. If luck shall have it that your journals will go in the grade book, you will receive 5 points an entry for a weekly total of 25 points. It will be important for you to keep a notebook with all your journals in it, specifically for this class.