MAPS :

• see Languages in the world

• The English Language Across the World (britannica.com)
  
  

• Carte des pays de langue anglaise dans le monde (salic-slmc.ca)

  

• Major languages (theodora.com)
  
  

FACTS :

• The Queen's English Society, "made up of professionals, academics and self-confessed pedants, has created an English Academy "as a good English reference for everyone".
  According to an article in The Times, the aim is to "to protect the language from impurities, bastardisations and the horrors introduced by the text-speak generation", in much the same way as the Académie Française does (or tries to do) for French."
  (The English Blog)

• Glob-ish
  "Powered by the Internet and the global media, English has evolved into the world’s language...
  Contagious, adaptable, populist, and subversive, the English language has become as much a part of the global consciousness as the combustion
  engine. And as English gains momentum as a second language all around the world, it is morphing into a new and simplified version of itself..."
  (newsweek.com)

  

• Languages smarten up your brain
  "Most people learn languages to help them communicate.
  Now a study of recent research into brain function reveals that students could be gaining a lot more from their pursuit of linguistic skills."
  (guardianweekly.co.uk)

• English lessons for 'Polish' dog
  "A dog caused confusion in an animal home when he failed to respond to basic commands - until staff realised he could only understand Polish...
  Staff ( at the RSPCA centre) brushed up on Polish commands and, four months on, they say Cent is now bilingual and ready for a new home. "
  (BBC)

  

• British regional accents 'still thriving'
  "Britain’s regional accents are becoming more widespread despite the increasingly homogeneous nature of society, according to academic studies...
  Experts found that Geordie, Scouse, Mancunian, and Brummie accents are, if anything, becoming more distinct...
  Accents are more varied in northern England because they have not been subjected to the mass levelling of speech caused by London and its commuting hinterland."

• The death of language?
  "An estimated 7,000 languages are being spoken around the world.
  But that number is expected to shrink rapidly in the coming decades.
  What is lost when a language dies?...
  The largest single language by population is Mandarin (845 million speakers) followed by Spanish (329 million speakers)
  and English (328 million speakers)."
  (BBC)
  

• Beautiful vowels
  "Eunoia is the shortest word in English containing all five vowels - and it means "beautiful thinking". It is also the title of Canadian poet Christian Bok's book of fiction in which each chapter uses only one vowel.
  Mr Bok believes his book proves that each vowel has its own personality, and demonstrates the flexibility of the English language."
  + extracts from each chapter.
  (BBC)

  

• The Simpsons - Influences on Language (Wikipedia)

  

• Indo-European family tree (public.iastate.edu)

  

• American English Tips
  "Speaking English is not only about using proper grammar.
  To use English effectively, you need to understand the culture in which it is spoken.
  Here are a number of important tips to remember when speaking English in the United States."
  (esl.about.com)

• English language (Wikipedia)
  1 History
  2 Classification and related languages
  3 Geographical distribution 3.1 English as a global language 3.2 Dialects and regional varieties 3.3 Constructed varieties of English
  4 Phonology
  4.1 Vowels 4.1.1 See also 4.2 Consonants 4.2.1 Voicing and aspiration 4.3 Supra-segmental features 4.3.1 Tone groups 4.3.2 Characteristics of intonation
  5 Grammar
  6 Vocabulary 6.1 Number of words in English 6.2 Word origins 6.2.1 Dutch origins 6.2.2 French origins
  7 Writing system 7.1 Basic sound-letter correspondence 7.2 Written accents
  8 Formal written English
  9 Basic and simplified versions
  10 Notes 11 References 12 See also 13 External links 13.1 Dictionaries

• List of countries where English is an official language (Wikipedia)
  
  

• The English Language (owlcroft.com)
  A site with thoughts on why using sound English is important and on just what "sound English" is.

• The English Language (truthtree.com)
  "English is well-positioned to become the universal language spoken by all, which would eliminate the harmful language barrier that separates countries and peoples."
  
  

• World of Words (askoxford.com)
  "English is a language on the move, with many hundreds of new words and phrases coming into existence every year. Although these are picked up by Oxford's worldwide monitoring programme, many of these coinages have only a fleeting lifespan and may never appear in the dictionary. This monthly feature takes a look at some of the most recent and interesting words, phrases, and other language changes which have caught our eye and which could be vying for a place in one of our future dictionaries."
  
  

LISTENING :

• Here's a poem being read to illustrate the crazy spelling of English and how it relates to the pronunciation.
  It's read in a standard Canadian-English accent.
  (international.ouc.bc.ca)
• Sounds : why it is so hard to learn English!
  ex : "The bandage was wound around the wound."
  (Darren RIGBY - Ac. Montpellier)

• An English Pronunciation Poem - Listen to it.- Difficult English (kico4u.de)
  "I take it you already know
  Of tough and bough and cough and dough?
  Others may stumble but not you
  On hiccough, thorough, slough and through."

INTERACTIVE ACTIVITIES :

• How Well Do You Know the British Language? - interactive quiz (quizilla.com)

EXERCISES TO PRINT :

• Semaine des Langues - activités
  (teachers.domainepublic.net)

• Countries with English as an Official Language. Where are they ? (north, south, east or west of ?)
  (xtec.es)

LESSON PLANS :

• 21 February is International Mother Language Day. Practise your English while you learn about languages.
  "Take a look at the article, story, cartoon, trivia, poll and word games."
  (British Council)

  

• The English speaking countries - séquence - 14 séances
  Niveau visé: A2 - Classe de 5°
  (Nathalie Cadot - Ac. Martinique)

POEMS :

• English is crazy! - A Poem about Plurals
  "We'll begin with box, and the plural is boxes,
  But the plural of ox should be oxen, not oxes..."
  (humbleapostrophe.com)
• Learn English Pronunciation Poem (a joke) - with AUDIO (anglaisfacile.com)
  "Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
  Dies and diet, lord and word,
  Sword and sward, retain and Britain..."
• An English Pronunciation Poem - Listen to it. - Difficult English (kico4u.de)
  "I take it you already know
  Of tough and bough and cough and dough?
  Others may stumble but not you
  On hiccough, thorough, slough and through."

JOKES :

• L'anglais pratique
  "Vous avez beau vous appliquer, cela ne veut pas rentrer : impossible de manier la langue de Shakespeare !
  Alors ne désespérez plus : avec des phrases françaises adaptées, vous arriverez à vous faire comprendre par les Grands-Bretons !"
  (vuesdumonde.forumactif.com)

• English is Crazy Language
  ex : "When the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible."
  (jokes4teachers.com)

• Why English is so hard to learn!
  ex : "The present is a good time to present the present."
  (jokes4teachers.com)

CARTOONS :

• The English language (cartoonbox.slate.com)
  (Si le lien est inaccessible, enregistrer l'image pour obtenir la taille normale.)

  

• English : The national language (cagle.com)

  

• Impediment to understanding (ourlocalstyle.com)
  
  

SONGS :

• Pete Seeger - All Mixed Up + the LYRICS
  "You know this language that we speak
  Is part German, part Latin, and part Greek
  With some Celtic and Arabic all in the heap..."
  (YouTube)

• English is cuh-ray-zee by Pete Seeger :
  "English is the most widely spoken language in the history of the planet.
  One out of every seven human beings can speak or read it.
  Half the world's books, 3/4 of the international mail are in English.
  It has the largest vocabulary, perhaps two million words,
  And a noble body of literature. But face it:
  English is cuh-ray-zee!"
  

  Pete Seeger sings "English Is Crazy"
  (YouTube)

  

VIDEOS :

• What's Your Reason for Learning English? - with the script - Difficulty: Hard
  You can hear the lines slowed down.
  "People from different countries express their reasons for wanting to learn English."
  (englishcentral.com)

  

• Inflationary language - Humour
  " Comedian and entertainer Victor Borge used to do a bit where he'd muse about the application of economic inflation to language.
  
  See, we have hidden numbers in the words like "wonderful," "before," "create," "tenderly." All these numbers can be inflated and meet the economy, you know, by rising to the occcassion. I suggest we add one to each of these numbers to be prepared. For example "wonderful" would be "two-derful." Before would be Be-five. Create, cre-nine. Tenderly should be eleven-derly. A Lieutenant would be a Leiut-eleven-ant. A sentence like, "I ate a tenderloin with my fork" would be "I nine an elevenderloin with my five-k."
  (kottke.org)

• Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie: The Subject of Language - Humour
  (YouTube)
  
  

• Do You Speak English? (You Tube)
  - the transcript (Yvan Baptiste - franglish.fr)

  

• Avista - The Goldfish (YouTube)

  
  
  ETUDE D'UN SPOT PUBLICITAIRE : Pub TV pour Avista language school (Pauline GIROUD)