Language Arts 8 - Vocabulary: Loan Words
One of the PLOs for Language Arts for Grade 8 is as follows:
B13 demonstrate the increasing word skills and vocabulary knowledge, by
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analysing the origins and roots of words
Rather than restricting this analysis to the typical etymology of words that come from Germanic or Latinate languages, or Greek, it would be instructive to prepare a lesson on the presence of a large number of loan words from South Asian languages (bandana, bungalow, bottle, cot, jungle, pyjamas, shawl, etc.) Looking at a list like this might be folded into a literature unit that looked at fiction from South Asia. The class could read stories by Rudyard Kipling, written from a traditionally imperialist and culturally chauvinist perspective, as well as stories or a novel by a more contemporary South Asian writer who can offer a postcolonial corrective. This type of lesson could be linked to a general unit on the British empire, or the empire on the Indian sub-continent, that could be collaboratively planned with a social studies colleague. A similar exercise or lesson could be done with loan words in English that have an indigenous origin as part of a unit on the history and literatures of colonization in our country. Many other languages supply loan words to English, but South Asian and aboriginal examples are often quite surprising! Interrogating that surprise can be part of what makes the lesson so instructive.
Obviously, learning about the history of empire is crucial to understanding the cultural and political shape of the world we've inherited.
Excellent example
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