William Shakespeare's Anniversary

Dialects and Accents in Britain

There are three general types of British accents in England: Northern English, Southern English, and the Midlands accent. One of the most obvious features is whether "bath" is pronounced like the a in "cat" (as it is in the US and in Northern English dialects) or like the a in "father" (as it is in Southern English dialects). The generic British accent, meanwhile, is known as "Received Pronunciation," which is basically a Southern English accent used among the elite that erases regional differences. Here's a video of one woman doing 17 British accents, most of which are shown on the map.

Credits: 25 Maps that Explain English

The Life and Works of Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl, who was born almost 101 years ago, has sold more than 250 million books worldwide. What made his writing so successful?

Shakespeare Insult Kit

Contronyms - words that are their own opposites

Why is English Spelling So Weird?

How British and American Spelling Parted Ways

These days, when we want to know how to spell a word, we have an accepted authority to look to: the dictionary. But that wasn’t always the case. Here's how Brits and Americans came to look to two different authorities. Produced for Mental Floss.

Good English vs Bad English

What makes a word "real"?

Curious Facts about English

poster credits: English is Fun

Should English be the Official Language of the World?

Source: wp.me via Miguel on Pinterest

Global Citizenship in the Classroom

image credits: British Council

The education of learners to enable them to participate in a global context has brought new challenges for teachers who have to go beyond the traditional ‘tools of the trade’. This 54-page booklet comprises a collection of papers with contributions from leading researchers on global citizenship in language education.

The English language plays an important role in creating a global community and developing planetary citizenship. Consequently, the education of learners to enable them to participate in the global forum has brought new challenges for teachers who have to go beyond the traditional ‘tools of the trade’. There is a whole new world to be explored. In order to help teachers in this journey of exploration in 2005 the British Council organised a seminar entitled ‘Global citizenship and language learning: education in a multilingual world’, attended by teachers, lecturers, researchers and administrators from all continents, in both face-to-face and online modes of participation. It was the first event that provided ‘live’ coverage, enabling professionals to interact with the discussions via technology. For this reason it created a more global forum that brought together experiences and ideas from both the UK and the participants’ countries.

In The British Council English Agenda, booklet made available for free download here.

Texting is good for the English Language