English · Year 7

Active learning ideas

The Future of English: Global English and Loanwords

Active learning turns the abstract idea of language change into something students can see, touch, and argue about. When students hunt, debate, build, and invent, they move from passive readers to active investigators of how English reshapes itself through global contact every day.

• National Curriculum Attainment Targets
• KS3: English - Language in Context
• KS3: English - History of Language

• 30–45 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Carousel Brainstorm
• 30 min · Pairs

Word Hunt: Loanword Scavenger

Pairs scour newspapers, menus, or school libraries for loanwords, noting origins and meanings. They categorize finds by source language and share three examples with the class. Compile a class glossary to display.

Predict how the increasing use of English globally might impact its future development.

Facilitation Tip

For Timeline Build: Language Evolution, give students sticky notes in four colors to code each loanword’s origin continent for quick visual grouping.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'If English is spoken by more non-native speakers than native speakers, what are the biggest advantages and disadvantages for the language itself?' Allow students to discuss in pairs, then share key points with the class.

• Remember
• Understand
• Analyze
• Relationship Skills
• Social Awareness

Activity 02

• Carousel Brainstorm
• 45 min · Small Groups

Debate Circles: Global Pros and Cons

Small groups prepare arguments for and against English as a lingua franca. Rotate speakers in a circle, with each student contributing one point. Vote on strongest ideas and reflect in journals.

Analyze the process by which loanwords from other languages become integrated into English.

What to look for

Provide students with a short text containing several loanwords. Ask them to underline each loanword and write down its likely origin language and its meaning in English. Review answers together.

• Remember
• Understand
• Analyze
• Relationship Skills
• Social Awareness

Activity 03

• Carousel Brainstorm
• 40 min · Small Groups

Future English Factory: Word Invention

In small groups, students blend English with another language to create five new words for future tech or food. Present inventions with definitions and vote on class favourites. Discuss integration likelihood.

Hypothesize about the potential challenges and benefits of English as a lingua franca.

What to look for

Students research the etymology of a chosen loanword and prepare a 1-minute explanation for a partner. Partners listen and then provide one piece of feedback on clarity or accuracy, signing off on their partner's explanation.

• Remember
• Understand
• Analyze
• Relationship Skills
• Social Awareness

Activity 04

• Carousel Brainstorm
• 35 min · Whole Class

Timeline Build: Language Evolution

Whole class adds sticky notes to a shared timeline of English loanwords from past to predicted future. Research one addition individually first. Discuss trends as a group.

Predict how the increasing use of English globally might impact its future development.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'If English is spoken by more non-native speakers than native speakers, what are the biggest advantages and disadvantages for the language itself?' Allow students to discuss in pairs, then share key points with the class.

• Remember
• Understand
• Analyze
• Relationship Skills
• Social Awareness

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teachers should frame English as a living system, not a static codex, by connecting loanwords to human stories—migration routes, colonial trade, or pop culture moments. Avoid over-correcting pronunciation or spelling of loanwords early on; focus on recognition and origin first. Research shows that when students trace a word’s journey through history and geography, they retain both the word and the concept of language change more effectively.

Students will confidently identify loanwords in texts, explain their origins with evidence, and discuss how English grows through exchange rather than replacement. They will also create new coinages that reflect real-world influences and place them on a timeline showing language evolution.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Word Hunt: Loanword Scavenger, watch for students who assume loanwords are all recent or all exotic.

  Provide a mix of Old English loans like ‘street’ (Latin) and modern loans like ‘hacker’ (Germanic influence via Japanese), and ask groups to sort them by century on their worksheets.

• During Debate Circles: Global Pros and Cons, watch for students who claim English will replace all other languages.

  Give each group three loanwords borrowed back into other languages, such as ‘coffee’ from Arabic now used in Turkish, to argue for mutual exchange rather than replacement.

• During Future English Factory: Word Invention, watch for students who create words that sound completely alien to English.

  Ask them to include at least one recognizable English suffix or prefix, like -able or un-, so their inventions feel like natural extensions of the language.

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Methods used in this brief

• Carousel Brainstorm