DO NOT PRINT THIS LAB OUT.

Type it directly into this document and Send it

electronically to Mr. L on Google Drive.
Name:_____________________________
Watch: The Last Speakers (National Geographic) on YouTube

1. Why does Harrison travel the world interviewing speakers of endangered languages? Do you
agree that the transmission of knowledge has been disrupted?Do you think what K. David
Harrison is doing is interesting or worthwhile? Explain.

2. If you were the last speaker of the English language, would you want someone to try to
understand you? Explain.

Go To: Enduring Voices Project

1. Every ____ days a language dies.

2. Read about a Low Threat Level endangered language and tell me about it.

3. Read about a Medium Threat Level endangered language and tell me about it.

4. Read about a High Threat Level and explain how people could help save the language.

5. Read about a Severe Threat Level language. What do you think you could do to help preserve
this language?

Go To: The Primitive Language of the Amazon's Pirah People

1. What is this primitive language called?

2. What makes the Pirah unique?

3. Write down a few interesting things that you learned about the Pirah language by reading this
article.



Go To: The English Pronunciation Poem

1. How far did you get before becoming frustrated?

2. Were there any words you had trouble pronouncing?

3. What does this poem tell you about the English Language and why it is a challenge to learn?


Go To: The English History Timeline

Choose a decade from each century to read about. Explain what you read. (Skip the 2000 century;
there should be ten centurys explained.)

01.



02.



03.



04.



05.



06.



07.



08.



09.



10.


Go To: The MLA Language Map

Above the map there is a Language box and a State box. Click the Language box to Spanish and
Spanish Creole
1. Describe the regions where Spanish is spoken in the US. Are there any places it is spoken that
surprise you? Why?


2. IN the language box, click Prevalent language other than English and Spanish. Find 4
language clusters that surprised you. What languages were they and where were they?


Go To: About World Languages

1. Choose a language you have never heard of from the list of individual languages. Read about
the language and explain here what language you learned about and what you learned about it.

2. Describe 2 other languages that you are curious about. Where did they originate and where
are they spoken?



Go To: The Pop v. Soda Map

1. What do you say? Pop, Soda, Coke, or something different? If something different, what do you
call it?

2. Are you part of the majority in Chicago that calls these drinks Pop? If not, why do you think
you say something different?

3. Scroll down the page to the survey. Submit your information. Name and Email are optional.



Go To: TED Talks Video - Murray Gell-Mann on the ancestor of language

Watch the 2 minute video and answer these questions.

1. Does it really lead to a single ancestor some 20, 25,000 years ago? Do you think that there is a
single ancestor of all languages and that it is only about 20,000 years old?


2. Well, I would guess that modern language must be older than the cave paintings and cave
engravings and cave sculptures and dance steps in the soft clay in the caves in Western Europe, in
the Aurignacian Period some 35,000 years ago, or earlier. I can't believe they did all those things and
didn't also have a modern language. So, I would guess that the actual origin goes back at least that
far and maybe further. What do you think of this idea do you agree with it? Explain why you do
or dont agree with this.



Go To: TED Talks Video - Jay Walker on the world's English mania

1. And now English is becoming the language of problem-solving. Not because America is pushing
it, but because the world is pulling it. Do you believe this to be true? Do you think America isnt
pushing its language or that is?

2. Why should English, the second language of the world, be the languages of problem-solving?
Why cant Mandarin Chinese, the most spoken language in the world, be the language of
problem-solving?



To finish this project, watch this group of ten videos about the history of the English language:
http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/culture/english-language/the-history-english-ten-minutes

Last question: What was your favorite video of the group of ten? Why?