It’s Wednesday, September 30, 2020, and time for Language Arts at ClickSchooling!
Recommended Website:
Age Range: 9-18 (Grades 4-12, with parental supervision)
This PBS website attempts to answer the question, “Do You Speak American” through information and activities that explore the origin and evolution of English in the U.S.
When you get to the site you will see a menu of choices that provides a sound introduction to the topic along with “Special Features” that offer further exploration. Younger visitors may wish to jump directly to the extensive activities page. There, you can access information, quizzes and exercises such as:
- Radio America — Listen to radio broadcasts from typical speakers in each of the 50 states, and notice the great variety in dialects and pronunciation of words.
- Where is the Speaker From? — Listen to a few different speech samples and try to place them on a map of the US. (You might want to try this *after* you’ve listened to Radio America).
- Verb Machine — See what would happen to one verb if you used another verb as a pattern to conjugate (or try to figure out) the present, past, and perfect tenses.
- Test Your Vowel Power — See if you can understand the speech of people who pronounce vowels differently. (These shifts in pronunciation are appearing regionally throughout the U.S.)
This site can easily be used to springboard an interest in studying English grammar — and it’s a great Social Studies conversation starter as well.
