German / Foundation to Year 2 / Understanding / Systems of language

• TLF-IDM015530

Have you ever wondered where sayings like 'hanging by the skin of your teeth' come from? Professor Kate Burridge explains the origin and meaning of this saying. She also explains the opposite word (antonym) to 'misogynist' (someone who hates or has a long and deep prejudice against women) and the origins of the word 'goodbye'.

• TLF-IDM015886

Language expert Professor Roly Sussex discusses the sometimes strange and changing nature of our language in this talkback radio progam. In particular he talks about the influence of American words, known as Americanisms. Listen and find out some random and interesting things about our language.

• TLF-IDM009716

This respurce is a tool students can use to make an interactive sentence game. The game involves sentences that have one or more words missing and a number of possible 'answer' words. The player must select the correct answer words to complete the sentences by either dragging and dropping or ‘shooting' the words in the ...

• TLF-IDM009687

This set of interactive activities from the Languages online resource introduces Indonesian ordinal numbers from first to tenth. Student activities include a pronunciation drill, a caption-matching exercise with timer, completing simple sentences and labelling the finishing order of a car race to produce an animation. Also ...

• TLF-IDM017860

How much is your use of the English language influenced by where you live? Would it be possible to work out where in Australia somebody comes from just by listening to them speak? In this clip from a 1975 episode of Four Corners, find out how words and expressions we use every day might be revealing more about us than we realise.

• TLF-IDM019873

Did you know that in Australia the way we use, pronounce and spell some words is different from the way they are used, pronounced and spelt in America? Can you list all the countries in the world where English is used? See if you can think of countries not mentioned in this clip.  

• TLF-IDM015887

Have you ever been in a situation where someone is speaking to you in English but you cannot understand them? William Shakespeare wrote in English but sometimes it is difficult to understand his English. In 'Lingua Franca' the linguist David Crystal talks about mounting a production of 'Romeo and Juliet' using Shakespeare's ...

• TLF-IDM015524

Words can change over time and so can their meanings. The word 'extra' broke away from other words to become a word on its own. Professor Kate Burridge explains how this impacts on words like 'extraordinary'. She also explains the origins and meanings of the words 'hearse' and 'rehearse''.

• TLF-IDM017862

If politicians are the 'voice of the people', does their way of speaking resemble that of the people? In this clip from 1975, listen to Professor John S Gunn describe what he sees as a uniquely Australian rhythm of speech. Then see how many similarities and differences you can find as you listen to some brilliant imitations ...

• TLF-IDM017843

A national survey in the 1960s indicated that the use of spoken English was surprisingly similar throughout Australia. This challenged the notion of 'regionalism', which suggested that people from different places would use language in different ways. In this clip, two leading academics discuss regionalism and suggest that ...