Read about different varieties of English

This webpage by the University of Duisburg offers a lot of information about different varieties of English, including maps, historic background, and sound files. To look at individual varieties, click on "Varieties of English".

Also Wikipedia has a list of all varieties of English and information about them.

Listen to different accents

Listen to English accents around the world in the Speech Accent Archive and the British Library.

For accents in Great Britain only, see the BBC voice recordings, which also give you more information on the speakers' background.

If you want to listen to a Scottish accent, you can also do this here.

You may also look at how English spread throughout the world.

1. See how much you know about the 1920s in the "Roaring Twenties Game".
a) What were some of the greatest changes of the 1920s?
b) Was there anything that surprised you?

2. How were the 1920s different in different parts of the world? Why was this the case? (Wiki)

3. The 1920s are also called the Jazz Age, and there were many famous musicians such as Louis Armstrong and Cole Porter . While silent movies dominated the early 1920s, with stars like Charlie Chaplin,
dialogues became possible in the late 1920s.

4. Also dancing was very important in the 1920s. Popular dances of were the Charleston (also here) and the Baltimore, but also other ballroom dances.

Do you think the music and dances reflect the spirit of the age? If yes, how so?

5. Watch the beginning of this video of life in the 1920s. What do you notice?

6. What ended the "roaring twenties", and why?

Beowulf

Listen to Beowulf (text and sound). I recommend the scenes when Grendel comes in and has a feast.

Here you'll find beautiful extracts of a Modern English reading of Beowulf by Seamus Heaney. The second one ("The Fight with Grendel") describes the same scene (from 1:00).

Sir Orfeo

Listen to the following short extract:

Middle English
Bifel so in þe comessing of May,
When miri & hot is þe day,
& oway beþ winter-schours,
& eueri feld us ful of flours,
& blosme breme on eueri bou
Oueral wexeþ miri anou
Þis ich quen, Dame Heurodis,
Tok to maidens of priis,
& went in an vndrentide
To play bi an orchardside, 10
To se þe floures sprede & spring,
& to here þe foules sing.

Modern English
It happened thus at the beginning of May
(when the day is pleasant and hot,
and winter-showers are away,
and every field is full of flowers,
and bright blossom on every bough
grows everywhere very pleasantly)
this same queen, Lady Heurodis (= Eurydice)
took two precious maidens
and went in the mid-morning
to amuse herself at an orchard’s edge,
to see the flowers grow and burgeon,
and to hear the birds sing.

(from http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/stella/readings/Middle/ORFEO.HTM)

History

1) Great Famine
2) Religion in Ireland
3) Irish War of Independence
4) Bloody Sunday
5) Conflict in Northern Ireland

Geography

1) Overall
2) Map of Ireland

Food and drinks

1) Colcannon
2) Irish Stew
3) Irish Beer

Language

1) Listen to an Irish accent (click on play); also here on Irish Radio.
2) Listen to Gaelic Radio (RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta)

Check out my Wiki for more information on Australia - and to look at some lovely Aussie animals!

Famous Trials
Anatomy of a Jury

have got
have + do
have / have got