Spending my senior year in Sweden as an exchange student meant attending a Swedish-language high school. I had wanted to learn another foreign language and was thrilled when offered the opportunity to go to Scandinavia because I was interested in Viking history.
It was a wonderful year!
A few months after my return to the U.S., I started college. But I had reverse culture shock and missed Sweden. I decided to teach myself Old Icelandic. To do that, I got up early and studied in my room before going to breakfast and my actual classes.
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| Page from my Old Icelandic notebook–yeah, I kept it! Source: The ESL Nexus |
Not being a morning person, that didn’t last long.
But my love of Viking history did. A few months ago, I watched The Last Kingdom on Netflix and now I’m reading the books that series is based on. I wouldn’t recommend them for students but if you like historical fiction, they’re great.
As a result, I was inspired to finally create my resource about English words that come from Old Norse. It’s a companion to my English Words with Arabic Roots resource, which is organized in a similar manner. It also pairs well with my Viking Curriculum Unit: Explorers, Rulers, Places, Gods and Goddesses, which has over 100 pages of material that teach about the Vikings.
When I was in Sweden, it didn’t take me too long to feel comfortable using Swedish; after 6 months, I was even dreaming in it. So I knew there would be lots of related words because both Swedish and English are Germanic languages. You probably already knew that berserk and saga are Old Norse words, but did you know that crawl, steak, and window also are? You can find those words and 46 more – for a total of 51 words – in the resource.
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| Click HERE for more info about this resource; source: The ESL Nexus |
This English Words with Old Norse Origins resource, and all my other resources, will be on sale for 20% off during TpT’s Bonus sale tomorrow, Tuesday, August 20, 2019. Use the promo code BTSBONUS19 for an additional 5% off when you check out and you’ll get 25% off my resources. (Most other TpT stores will also be on sale, offering discounts up to 25% off.)
For your convenience, you can find all my Back to School & Beginning of the Year resources HERE, in a custom category. Of course, you are welcome to browse the rest of my store as well! And don’t forget to check out my Back to School Gift Guide for ESL Teachers and my Gift Guide for Middle School Social Studies Teachers, too.
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| Everything in my TpT store is on sale on 8/20/19! Image credit: Lisa Rumery |
If you are already back in school, I hope the year is off to a great start. If you have a few more weeks of vacation left, enjoy and I wish you a great first day. If you’re in the middle of your school year, I hope things are going great for you, too. Happy teaching!
