Teach English in Colburn - TESOL Courses

Peculiarities of the english languageI?ve spent the majority of my life speaking english. Save for a few years at the beginning, a few teenage years, and the countless hours spent speaking slang and jargon (which simply shouldn?t be allowed to fall under the category of the english language), I think I?ve grown to be fairly fluent at my native tongue. It comes quite naturally to me now, much like walking or falling asleep. It comes so naturally, in fact, that at times I forget how strange the english language can be. From its Germanic and Norse roots to its current world-wide influence, it is a constantly evolving language. In the fourteenth century, thou wouldst perhaps have read, ?whan that Aprille, with hise shoures soote, the droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote. (Chaucer)? from the Canterbury Tales. Reading that famous work requires almost as much dictionary legwork as understanding modern english rap lyrics. To this day I?m not quite sure what fo shizzle means or why it is in common practice. As fascinating as the timeline of english is to the many language historians in the world, that?s just the tip of the weird iceberg that is this language. From the written word to the spoken word, there are quite a few disconnects that native speakers take for granted. If you read this now you probably have not read it before. Have you heard about the farm that produced produce, or the dove that dove at the famer when he was harvesting? The sewer of seeds often tries to dump the excess in the sewer, but the workers at the dump refuse to accept his refuse. We will all shed tears when the government tears the barn down next year, but after a number of years we will grow number after all is said and done. Honestly, it?s a wonder we ever communicate effectively. It?s a distinct possibility that there was a mischievous linguist in the developmental years of our language who purposefully threw a wrench into things. Why can you put one mouse with another and have two mice but if they travel between more than one house they aren?t hice? Likewise, a group of stuffed oxen must be shipped in boxes, because inexplicably boxen is not a word. The plural form of goose is geese, but the plural form of moose is not meese. In fact, strangely enough, it is moose. As a teacher, I?ve taught many lessons about many things. It?s a good thing I?m not a preacher, because I can?t have praught anything. In the united states we simply do many things backwards. We do things that don?t make one iota of sense in the literary world. For instance, we drive on parkways and park on driveways. People at recitals play, while people at plays recite. A slim chance and a fat chance are synonymous terms, while a wise man and a wise guy are most assuredly not equally complimentary titles. Grapefruits taste nothing like grapes, pineapples nothing like apples, but nowadays you can make up words for fruit like when you combine apples and grapes and get grapples. It?s a mystifying fact, but our most common and arguably effective method of communication in the english-speaking world is arguably not very effective on occasion. Perhaps worrying about it is a floccinaucinihilipilification (our way of saying something is useless). Is it worth learning, worth teaching, worth pursuing, however? Fo shizzle.