An Island Of English

Newly arrived Chinese immigrant students face the hardest imaginable situation in the classroom: most often, this is the only place where they can listen to and practice English, having little if any opportunity to do so at home. The burden is then on the teacher to further these students' English education and at the same time create a classroom environment that appreciates and respects their culture and language. Danling Fu has experienced these difficulties firsthand as a teacher, as a student, and as a parent. In An Island of English, she brings together her extensive research in New York's Chinatown, where she worked as a literacy consultant at the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Middle School, her personal story as an immigrant, and the stories of her son as an immigrant student. She extends her findings to other immigrant populations and applies her keen research talents to devise practical recommendations for educators and policymakers.

From the author of "The Cheese and the Worms" comes a quartet of luminous explorations into English literature, from Sir Thomas More to Robert Louis Stevenson. 14 illustrations.

Strupac, fornenst, trappy, scriss, kippy, snool, flying axehandles, from across - these and hundreds of other fascinating and colourful words and phrases give the English language as it has been spoken in Canada's smallest province a flavour all its own. With the Dictionary of Prince Edward Island English, T.K. Pratt makes a major scholarly contribution to the growing list of regional dictionaries that enable us to discover the rich heritage of the language as spoken throughout North America; at the same time it offers a splendid general introduction to the historical and sociological life of the island. There are approximately 1000 entries of non-standard or dialect words, past and present. The notes deal with usage, pronunciation, alternate forms and spellings, and stylistic and regional labels. Entries include definitions, supportive quotations from P.E.I. sources, editorial notes about various subtleties, and dictionary notes which provide links to some thirty-five other dictionaries. Pratt's introduction defines the criteria for inclusion of words, explains his research methods, and outlines the layout of entries. The end matter includes a bibliography and an important sociolinguistic essay, 'The Dictionary in Profile,' which places the work in the broader context of Prince Edward Island speech. Its range and depth of coverage make this an essential work not only for those concerned with P.E.I. and Maritimes studies, but for all those interested in the regional usage of English.

A plane crashes on a desert island and the only survivors, a group of schoolboys, assemble on the beach and wait to be rescued. By day they inhabit a land of bright fantastic birds and dark blue seas, but at night their dreams are haunted by the image of a terrifying beast. As the boys' delicate sense of order fades, so their childish dreams are transformed into something more primitive, and their behaviour starts to take on a murderous, savage significance. First published in 1954, Lord of the Flies is one of the most celebrated and widely read of modern classics. Now fully revised and updated, this educational edition includes chapter summaries, comprehension questions, discussion points, classroom activities, a biographical profile of Golding, historical context relevant to the novel and an essay on Lord of the Flies by William Golding entitled 'Fable'. Aimed at Key Stage 3 and 4 students, it also includes a section on literary theory for advanced or A-level students. The educational edition encourages original and independent thinking while guiding the student through the text - ideal for use in the classroom and at home.

While shipwrecked on the island of Pala, Will Farnaby, a disenchanted journalist, discovers a utopian society that has flourished for the past 120 years. Although he at first disregards the possibility of an ideal society, as Farnaby spends time with the people of Pala his ideas about humanity change. HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

Existing accounts of Australian Aboriginal English do not investigate the significant degree of variation found across the continent. This book presents the first description of English spoken on Croker Island, Northern Territory, Australia, in terms of its history, linguistic features and connections to local Aboriginal languages. It demonstrates that English on Croker Island shows an extremely high degree of intra- and inter-speaker variation and embedding in a longstanding multilingual contact situation, both of which challenge existing models of variation and language contact. These results have significant ramifications for how variation is modelled, for our understanding of how postcolonial Englishes develop, as well as for the dynamics of complex contact situations. The book also puts English on Croker Island into a typological context of World Englishes by establishing a profile according to the parameters of the World Atlas of Varieties of English (WAVE). It is of interest to academics interested in Australian Aboriginal English, language contact, World Englishes and Australian Aboriginal languages.

Before New York Times bestselling author Bill Bryson wrote The Road to Little Dribbling, he took this delightfully irreverent jaunt around the unparalleled floating nation of Great Britain, which has produced zebra crossings, Shakespeare, Twiggie Winkie’s Farm, and places with names like Farleigh Wallop and Titsey.

Three boys, fifteen-year-old Ralph Rover (the narrator), eighteen-year-old Jack Martin and fourteen-year-old Peterkin Gay, are the sole survivors of a shipwreck on the coral reef of a large but uninhabited Polynesian island. At first their life on the island is idyllic; food, in the shape of fruits, fish and wild pigs, is plentiful, and using their only possessions; a broken telescope, an iron-bound oar and a small axe, they fashion a shelter and even construct a small boat. Their first contact with other people comes after several months when they observe two large outrigger canoes land on the beach. The two groups are engaged in battle and the three boys intervene to successfully defeat the attacking party, earning the gratitude of the chief Tararo. The Polynesians leave and the three boys are alone once more. Then more unwelcome visitors arrive in the shape of pirates, who make a living trading, or stealing, sandalwood. The three boys conceal themselves in a hidden cave, but Ralph is captured when he sets out to see if the pirates have left, and is taken aboard the pirate schooner. Ralph strikes up an unexpected friendship with one of the pirates, "Bloody Bill", and when they call at an island to trade for more wood he meets Tararo again. On the island he sees all facets of island life, including the popular sport of surfing, as well as the practice of infanticide and cannibalism. Rising tension leads to an attack by the inhabitants on the pirates, leaving only Ralph alive and Bloody Bill mortally wounded. However they manage to make their escape in the schooner. After Bill dies, making a death-bed repentance for his evil life, Ralph manages to sail back to the Coral Island to be re-united with his friends.