English Language Day 2012 — The language of making and craft

We can be ‘fired up’ like a kiln when we are all ready to go. We may also seize the moment and 'strike when the iron is hot' without being aware of metalworking. We may sense only a thin ‘veneer’ of politeness in some people and enjoy knowing that a veneer was a thin layer of wood long before it had this metaphorical use.

Saturday 13 October is English Language Day and the theme for this year's annual celebration of the English Language is the language of making and craft.

We can be 'fired up' like a kiln when we are all ready to go. We may also seize the moment and 'strike when the iron is hot' without being aware of metalworking. We may sense only a thin 'veneer' of politeness in some people and enjoy knowing that a veneer was a thin layer of wood long before it had this metaphorical use.

When we use our hands to make new things we also need to make new words to describe what we are doing. Words such as – appliqué, batik, still-life, origami, papier-mâché, and so on. Often we take words from other languages or combine them from existing words.

Sometimes we make a new word like 'daguerreotype' but it does not survive. In this case, replaced by the more familiar 'photograph'.

Writers are also 'makers'. When we make a book the medium we are using is words (and sometimes pictures). Poets and playwrights and authors make stories out of words which, like a beautifully made 'thing' can transport us to other worlds.

If you would like to find out more contact us at The English Project.

If you decide to run your own event, why not tell us about it?

News

English Language A-level students at Richard Huish College in Taunton had a lot ‘on their plate’ last week when the English Language Team, Sue Morkane, Jo-Ann Sharpless and Marcus Barrett, held the College's second English Language Day event. ... Read more
For the second year running, students at Taunton’s premier sixth-form college will celebrate English Language Day with a demanding competition to test the abilities of its English Language A-Level students.  Last year contestants were... Read more