Reporting from the Frontline of the Great Dictionary Disaster
One reason for the success of English internationally is that it is wide open to words from other languages. But what would happen if all these borrowed words had a mind of their own? What if they decided to return where they came from, leaving English to fend for itself? That is the light-hearted question posed in the poem "Reporting from the Frontline of the Great Dictionary Disaster".
Read the poem on page 18 in Access to International English. Then do the tasks in the textbook and here on the website.
John Agard performing
Watch the poet behind "Reporting from the Frontline of the Great Dictionary Disaster" read some of his poetry in his own unique manner.
Links
-
Checking Out Me History
(youtube.com) -
Half Caste
(youtube.com) -
Mr Oxford Don
(youtube.com) -
Three poems on stage
(youtube.com)
Visual Material
Articles and Resources
Links
-
Audio: Is English changing? (BBC)
(bbc.co. uk) Will we still be speaking in an English we recognise in a thousand years' time? -
John Agard (British Council)
(literature.britishcouncil. org) -
John Agard (Poetry Archive)
(poetryarchive.org) -
Another John Agard poem
(blogs.warwick. ac. uk)