Texts in Context
A major new online resource for Secondary students
Texts in Context, a major new online resource for English and History
with hundreds of sources from the British Library's unique collections,
is now available on www.bl.uk <http://www.bl.uk/> /learning.
Texts in Context enables students to explore how English language and
style have continually evolved and changed over time. They can
investigate an extraordinary selection of different types of text:
recipes, handbills, leaflets, advertisements, letters, logbooks,
reports, anecdotes, treatises, satires, catalogues, edicts and legal
pronouncements, guide books and dictionary entries, from humorous,
serious to just quirky. This all provides material to investigate the
many histories - social, cultural, economic, political, technological,
within which language is used and changes. For example, students can
explore the way women are represented, the development of a particular
genre or changes in spoken and written dialect.
Teachers can use the many facsimiles and activities to enhance teaching
and learning in National curriculum English and History and especially
in A' level English Language. The site is organised into themes with
each section providing digital images of original texts and rich
background information, as well as ideas for research enquiries,
creative activities and museum visits. These resources are drawn from
intensive case studies with 11 school groups from Key stage 3 to A'
level. The themes are:
Books for Cooks - changes in a popular genre since the 1400s
Experience of Empire - a range of perspectives on colonial life
Shipwrecksand Smuggling - popular and official views on trade and travel
Taking the Waters - cures, quackery, diversions and dangers of the spa
Town and Tourists - people in search of sea, scenery and science
Dictionaries and Meaning- a selection of unusual dictionaries and word
games
Voices in Time and Place- speaking and writing in dialect (with still
more sources on http://www.collectbritain.co.uk/collections/dialects/ )
Texts in Context was made possible by DCMS/DfES National/Regional
Museums Education Partnerships and was developed from a pilot project
involving four regional museums, two archive/public record offices, six
schools and eleven teachers in the South West of England. Four of the
teachers worked with KS3 classes and the other seven with a mix of Y12
and Y13 students following AS/A2 units in English Language.
____________________________
Henry Girling
Regional and Library Programmes
The British Library
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London
NW1 2DB
T: 020 7412 7333
F: 020 7412 7155
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