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The United Nations dedicates a day every year to one of the organization&rsquo;s six official languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. The purpose? To celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity, and promote the equal use of these languages throughout the organization.

<a href="https://www.un.org/en/observances/english-language-day" target="_blank">English Language Day</a> is observed on April 23, which is also considered to be the birthday and date of death of William Shakespeare. His works serve as the first recorded use of more than 1,700 words in the English language, many of which were invented by the playwright himself.

In the spirit of celebrating the history, culture, and achievements of English, here&rsquo;s a list of interesting facts about the language to share with students, including relevant activity ideas for the classroom. Be sure to also check out our&nbsp;new Famous Things lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/82/lessons/3591">The English Language</a>&nbsp;(includes a video you can also view at the end of this post)!

<hr />
<h3>1. English is the only language that capitalizes first-person pronouns</h3>

But nobody really knows why. The capital &ldquo;I&rdquo; first made an appearance in Old and Middle English. Then, the word for &ldquo;I&rsquo; was closer to its German cousin, &ldquo;ich,&rdquo;&nbsp;which was often spelled &ldquo;ic.&rdquo; As pronunciation changed over time, so did the spelling, and the &ldquo;c&rdquo; was eventually dropped. The new word &ldquo;i&rdquo; was left lowercase until the 1300s when it appeared slightly taller in Chaucer&#39;s&nbsp;The Canterbury Tales.

The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/magazine/03wwln-guestsafire-t.html" target="_blank">New York Times Magazine</a> explains that, at first, distinctions were made between graphic marks denoting an &ldquo;I&rdquo; at the beginning of a sentence and first-person pronouns in mid-sentence. This is common in other languages, like French or Spanish, where personal pronouns are also capitalized when they open a sentence. In English, however, these variations were eventually dropped, leaving the all-purpose capital &ldquo;I.&rdquo;

According to <a href="https://www.thesaurus.com/e/grammar/whycapitali/" target="_blank">Thesaurus.com</a>, historians now offer two reasons for the continuation of this capitalization: it gives added weight to the pronoun used to describe the individual writer,&nbsp;and because &ldquo;I&rdquo; is the only single-letter pronoun in English.

Activity Idea:&nbsp; 
It&rsquo;s common nowadays for people not to capitalize &ldquo;I&rdquo; in informal writing, such as texts or emails. Why is that? Divide students into groups and have them debate the question.

<hr />
<h3>2. English has &quot;ghost words&quot; and &quot;nothing articles&quot;</h3>

Do you know what a &ldquo;<a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/dord-a-ghost-word" target="_blank">dord</a>&rdquo; is? What about&nbsp;an &ldquo;abacot&rdquo;? These are examples of &ldquo;ghost words,&rdquo;&nbsp;a term first coined in 1886 by philologist Walter Skeat to describe &ldquo;words which have no real existence.&rdquo;

According to the publication&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/69880/7-fake-words-ended-dictionary" target="_blank">Mental Floss</a>, &ldquo;abacot&rdquo; was first printed in the second edition of Holinshed&rsquo;s Chronicles (1587) and then made its way into Spelman&rsquo;s Glossarium (1664). It took almost 300 years for the then-editor of the Oxford English Dictionary to discover that the word was actually a misspelling of &ldquo;bycoket,&rdquo;&nbsp;a cap or kind of headwear. By then, &ldquo;abacot&rdquo; had taken on a meaning of its own, referring to the stately caps worn by the ancient Kings of England.

&ldquo;Ghost words&rdquo; are not to be confused with &ldquo;Nihilartikel,&rdquo;&nbsp;which translates from the Latin and German to mean &ldquo;nothing articles.&rdquo;&nbsp;These are deliberately phony words employed by lexicographers to catch out potential plagiarists.&nbsp;

Activity Idea: 
Let students play lexicographers for the day! Divide the class into pairs or groups and have each come up with their own made-up English word and definition for a new class dictionary. Display each group&rsquo;s word to the class and have the other students guess what each means.

<hr />
<h3>3.&nbsp;The longest word in English is 45-letters long!</h3>

If <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/origin-supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" target="_blank">supercalifragilisticexpialidocious</a>&nbsp;first came to mind, you&rsquo;re not far off, but the word popularized by the 1964 Mary Poppins&nbsp;film is only 34 letters long. The longest word in the Oxford English Dictionary is <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis" target="_blank">pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis</a>―a chronic lung disease more commonly referred to as silicosis.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.rd.com/article/shakespeares-longest-word/" target="_blank">Honorificabilitudinitatibus</a>, at 27 letters, is the longest word in English that features alternating consonants and vowels, and the longest word to appear in Shakespeare&rsquo;s works (Love&rsquo;s Labour&rsquo;s Lost, Act V, Scene I).

The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7F0JWhHRa8s&amp;t=2s" target="_blank">chemical name</a> for titin is the longest chemical name in English at 189,819 letters long, although it is disputed as to whether this counts as an actual word or not. If said aloud, it would take more than three&nbsp;hours to pronounce correctly.

Activity Idea: 
Now that students know the longest word in English, test their general knowledge with a fun superlative quiz! Prepare questions such as&nbsp;&ldquo;What is the tallest mountain in the world?&rdquo; or&nbsp;&ldquo;Which country has the smallest population?&rdquo; and have them compete in teams for the winning answers.

<hr />
<h3>4. English is full of fun things like pangrams and palindromes</h3>

Wassamassaw is the name of a swamp in South Carolina, US. It is also an example of a palindrome―a word, phrase, or verse that reads the same backwards as it does forwards. The word, &ldquo;palindrome&rdquo; comes from the Greek roots &quot;palin,&quot; meaning &ldquo;back,&rdquo;&nbsp;and &quot;dromos,&quot; meaning &ldquo;running.&rdquo;

The longest English palindrome is the onomatopoeic &ldquo;tattarrattat,&rdquo;&nbsp;first coined by James Joyce in Ulysses (1922) to imitate the sound of one knocking on a door. Other examples of single-word palindromes include wow, racecar, kayak, and level.&nbsp;

Here are some examples of multi-word palindromes:

<ul>
	<li>Was it a cat I saw?</li>
	<li>No lemon, no melon.</li>
	<li>A man, a plan, a canal―Panama!</li>
</ul>

A pangram is a sentence or phrase in which all 26 letters of the English alphabet appear at least once. If each letter only appears once, it is called a &ldquo;perfect pangram.&rdquo;&nbsp;The word comes from the Greek root &ldquo;pan,&rdquo;&nbsp;meaning &ldquo;all,&rdquo;&nbsp;and &ldquo;gram,&rdquo;&nbsp;meaning &ldquo;something written or recorded.&rdquo; 
 
&ldquo;The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog&rdquo; is a well-known example, but here are a few more:

<ul>
	<li>The five boxing wizards jump quickly.</li>
	<li>Amazingly few discotheques provide jukeboxes.</li>
	<li>The lazy major was fixing Cupid&rsquo;s broken quiver.</li>
</ul>

Activity Idea: 
Print free <a href="https://www.madlibs.com/printables/" target="_blank">Mad Lib cards</a>, or create your own, and have students see how many of the blanks they can fill in using only single-word palindromes.

<hr />
<h3>5. English is the official language of air travel</h3>

Language barriers and miscommunications have caused some of the deadliest accidents in aviation history. That is why, in 2008, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) declared English as the standardized language of air travel.&nbsp;

Pilots, flight crews, and air traffic controllers must now pass an English language proficiency test to work in aviation. <a href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/55677/what-universal-language-skies" target="_blank">Mental Floss</a> explains that applicants are required to know appropriate terminology, understand instructions in English over radio, and develop an accent that is &ldquo;intelligible to the aeronautical community.&rdquo;&nbsp;

Aviation English, as it is now known, consists of roughly 300 terms that are a combination of professional jargon and plain English.

Activity Idea: 
Review the dialogues from our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/122/lessons/2787" target="_blank">At the Airport: Part 1</a> and <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/122/lessons/2788" target="_blank">Part 2</a> lessons with students, then divide the class into air travellers and airport workers for roleplay practice. For added fun, organize some props for students to use, such as boarding passes, rubber stamps, clipboards, and passports.

<hr />
<h3>6. English has over 160 different dialects</h3>

English is recognized as an official language in 67 countries, and for every place that it is spoken, there are different ways to speak it. As of January 2021, the International Dialects of English Archive has 1,570 samples in their <a href="https://www.dialectsarchive.com/" target="_blank">collection</a>.

In the UK alone, there are roughly 40 different dialects, including Cockney, Scouse, Geordie, Yorkshire, and Essex. The US has roughly 30 of its own dialects, including Pennsylvania Dutch, Appalachian English, and Ozark English.

Activity Idea: 
Display maps, posters, or flags around the classroom to represent different regions or countries. Read out different words or phrases from different dialects, or use a free <a href="https://sounds.bl.uk/Sound-Maps/Accents-and-Dialects" target="_blank">sound map</a>, and have students walk around and decide which region or country they would hear it in.

<hr />
<h3>7. The English language is constantly evolving</h3>

<a href="https://www.rd.com/article/how-words-get-added-to-the-dictionary/" target="_blank">Reader&rsquo;s Digest</a> reports that more than 1,000 new words are added to the English dictionary every year. In January 2021, alone, Merriam-Webster added <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/new-words-in-the-dictionary" target="_blank">520 new words</a>, including cancel culture, hard pass, ASMR, flex, reaction GIF, and second gentleman.

As globalization expands, the amount of loan words&nbsp;in English increases. The advent of the internet is responsible for many new additions&nbsp;too, as are other new inventions and technologies. As&nbsp;the world continues to evolve, old words take on new meanings.

Activity Idea: 
Divide the class into pairs or groups and assign each a year. Have students use Merriam-Webster&rsquo;s free, online <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/" target="_blank">Time Traveler</a> tool to look up the words that first appeared in that year and present their findings to the class.&nbsp;

<hr />
<h3>Video: The English Language</h3>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="564" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/539835565" width="640"></iframe></div>

<hr />
English may be one of the most difficult languages to learn, but its many complexities and oddities make it one of the most interesting&nbsp;too. What about the English language fascinates you and your students?

7 Interesting Things about English

https://esllibrary-staging.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/1911/Simone_7-Interesting-Things-About-English__1_.png

While attending this year&rsquo;s TESOL sessions, I noticed two contrasting themes: the increased use of media and tech in the classroom, and the challenges of teaching students in homes or schools with little to no technological access.

Media is a powerful tool for English teachers as it targets all kinds of language learners. A music video, for example, can stimulate visual learners with its imagery, auditory learners with its sounds, and kinesthetic learners who are free to emulate the movements they see.

Students interact with different kinds of media in their daily lives, making learning with it more relatable and fun. A lesson on ordering food, for instance, becomes far more engaging when you include real menus from a popular restaurant or have students use a food delivery app. In this way, media also lends authenticity to a classroom setting.

The traditional classroom as we once understood it, though, is no more.

Modern language teachers are navigating new educational landscapes: in-person teaching, hybrid models, online lessons, and also considering&nbsp;the importance of creating more inclusive and culturally conscious classrooms.

This got me thinking: As we rise to meet these new challenges in education, how do we adapt the use of media for new classrooms?

I&rsquo;ve shared some media activities below that I&rsquo;ve used with students, and I&rsquo;ve included suggestions on how they can be modified for online or low-tech teaching.

<hr />
<h2>1. Character redub</h2>

Media used: Video 
Language targets: Listening, speaking, writing, vocabulary, pronunciation, intonation, slang, idioms, colloquial language 
 
In this group activity, students choose a scene from a movie (or TV show) to redub. Each group member will play a different character in the scene and must listen to, write down, and learn to say those lines. When each group is ready, the scene is played for the rest of the class and each group voices their respective parts out loud.

Online version: Choose a video clip that is available online or can be downloaded and shared. Students can voice their character live in class while the video is played on a shared screen, or you can have them record the audio in advance either with a cell phone or free online voice recorder. 
 
Low-tech version: If watching a movie in class is not possible, ask students to choose something they&rsquo;ve already seen and take a guess at the original lines. This free collection of <a href="https://imsdb.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">movie scripts</a> might spark some ideas!

<hr />
<h2>2. Mood board match</h2>

Media used: Photographs 
Language targets: Vocabulary, grammar, writing, spelling 
 
In this individual, pair, or group activity, students review new vocabulary by creating a mood board to match a given word or phrase.

A mood board is a board covered with images, materials, and pieces of text to convey a particular theme or concept. This works especially well for adjectives and abstract nouns.

Once the mood boards are complete, display them in class and have students decide which words or phrases belong to each board. 
 
Online version: Have students take their own photos with a cell phone or camera, or use an online board like <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/esllibrary/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a> to curate images from the web. 
 
Low-tech version: Bring in some magazines and newspapers for students to cut up, or have them draw pictures instead.

<hr />
<h2>3. Flashcards up!</h2>

Media used: Flashcards 
Language targets: Vocabulary, grammar, listening, speaking, reading, spelling

In this group or class activity based on a popular app, students take turns holding up a blind flashcard and guessing which word or phrase it contains based on verbal descriptions given by other students. Students earn a point each time they correctly identify a word in rounds of 30 seconds or more, depending on the level of the class. 
 
Online version: Create your own <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_sets" target="_blank">Flashcard Set</a>, present it to the class on a shared screen, and have students type their name in the chat if they can identify the word. Whoever types their name first has a chance to say the word. If correct, they earn a point; if not, another student tries for the point. 
 
Low-tech version: Print ready-made <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres" target="_blank">Flashcards</a> or have students design their own as a prior class activity.

<hr />
<h2>4. What&#39;s on the menu?</h2>

Media used: Restaurant or take-out menus 
Language targets: Reading, speaking, listening, vocabulary, spelling, grammar 
 
In this pair or group activity, students read menu descriptions of different food and drink items and decide which restaurant or take-out menu they belong to. Teachers hang up the different menus as posters (with select descriptions removed beforehand) and students walk around and decide what matches where.&nbsp; 
 
Online version: Prepare a list of descriptions from popular restaurants or fast-food menus that are available online. Have students use a search engine (e.g., Google, Yahoo!, Bing, etc.) to try and find which menus each description belongs to. 
 
Low-tech version: Cover the food and drink descriptions on different menus with washi tape, sticky notes, or whiteout before photocopying. Remove and make a second photocopy to use for cutting up the descriptions.&nbsp;

<hr />
<h2>5. Where&#39;s Panda?</h2>

Media used: Maps 
Language targets: Grammar, speaking, listening, reading, vocabulary, pronunciation 
 
In this class activity, students discover the hidden locations of a character named Panda (you can use any popular character or create a class mascot as a prior activity).

Students are divided into two groups. Students in Group A take turns reading out directions to students in Group B, who take turns following the directions on a map. After several rounds, the groups swap.&nbsp; 
 
Online version: Create a shareable Google Map and divide students into pairs or small groups. Give each pair or group the same directions and have them save the location they find on the map using a designated color or symbol. Whichever group is closest to the right location wins the round. 
 
Low-tech version: Use a projector to display a map on the board and give students magnets to show locations, or use photocopied maps with tokens from an old board game.

<hr />
I hope these examples will be useful or inspire your own creativity. With a bit of out-of-the-box thinking, almost any activity can be adapted to suit online or low-tech classrooms. There are also dozens of examples of media that can be used with students&mdash;I&rsquo;ve included a few lists below.&nbsp;

<table align="center">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Online</th>
			<td>
			<ul dir="ltr">
				<li>websites</li>
				<li>software</li>
				<li>databases</li>
				<li>audiobooks</li>
				<li>e-books</li>
				<li>e-mags</li>
				<li>emails</li>
				<li>podcasts</li>
				<li>social media</li>
				<li>digital video</li>
				<li>digital audio</li>
				<li>gifs</li>
				<li>blogs and&nbsp;vlogs</li>
				<li>holograms</li>
				<li>video games</li>
				<li>virtual reality (VR)</li>
				<li>non-fungible tokens (NFTs)&nbsp;</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Traditional</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>television</li>
				<li>movies</li>
				<li>radio</li>
				<li>books</li>
				<li>newspapers</li>
				<li>magazine</li>
				<li>photographs</li>
				<li>brochures</li>
				<li>digests</li>
				<li>newsletters</li>
				<li>handbills</li>
				<li>playbills</li>
				<li>flashcards</li>
				<li>business cards</li>
				<li>board games</li>
				<li>menus</li>
				<li>maps</li>
				<li>how-to guides</li>
				<li>flyers</li>
				<li>leaflets</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Out-of-home</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>billboards</li>
				<li>wallscapes</li>
				<li>placards</li>
				<li>posters</li>
				<li>signage</li>
				<li>realia (coffee cups, pizza boxes, shopping bags, bus tickets, etc.)</li>
				<li>projections</li>
				<li>pop-up installations</li>
				<li>wrapped vehicles</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

How do you use media in the classroom? How have you adapted the use of media for online or low-tech classrooms? What kinds of media do you wish to see on Ellii? We&rsquo;d love to hear your thoughts!

&nbsp;

VIEWING POSTS BY

Simone Armer

7 Interesting Things about English

Adaptive Media Activities for Every Classroom