The general idea of this course is to provide (beginning) students of English with a survey on the history of English ranging from the very beginnings of the language in the 5th century AD to the present.
The “story” involving history, diversity and change as the main “protagonists” will be built loosely around the British educational TV mini-series “The Adventure of English” (broadcast originally in 2003 on ITV). It consists of 8 episodes (each about 50 minutes long). This will provide the basic “storyline”, which will be supplemented by selected introductory texts on the history and variation of English.
