Unit 2: Culture, Language and Education

Mind map:

Investigation about the oral cultural traditions of a chosen country

The history of oral traditions of England starts with the roman narrations when some writers described the Anglo peoples and There are many influences, like all peoples in formation, which has the oral tradition of the English language. We must follow a trail through the oral tradition that comes from the Roman Empire, passing through the different villages that formed the Breton people, Anglo-Saxon and Germanic, since it is these, mainly, who gave rise to oral tradition, the formation of British culture and English literature.

The monk Gildas tells traditions of the possible formation of the British Isles before the arrival of the Saxons in his book: De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae

the tradition goes back to the epic poem of the Beowulf, which dates from the eighth century and was written in English totally different from today; It tells many heroic feats and ancient traditions of wars, customs and customs of the Germanic peoples, which were transmitted from generation to generation.

Of great importance is the historian, and writer Geoffrey de Monmouth who wrote an important work to follow the oral and written tradition of England. Several of his works are preserved and studied to trace part of the English, Breton and Anglo-Saxon oral tradition and their background

There are several poems and writers of great tradition who are also owed the possibility of exploring part of the history, tradition, chronicles and the beginning of English national literature. Among them are the poem Brut, written perhaps by Layamon’s; Norman poet Wace’s who would write Roman de Brut; there is also the poem Piers Plowman which was written by William Langland in the fourteenth century.

Geoffrey de Chaucer is one of the most important writers who consolidated the oral tradition through his opus “the tales of Canterbury; we can find different traditions, stories and legends related to the possible experiences from their own context and real situation regarding wars, birth of languages, deseases, misery, hunger and impositions of church. 

CONCLUSIONS ABOUT UNIT 2

The learning processes of a culture are transmitted through language, and it is through it that the evolution in cultural processes can be accounted for, without thereby neglecting the role of the oral, mythical and legendary traditions that identify to each nation.

Education is a fundamental cultural tool for acquiring a second language and also for consolidating and strengthening the values ​​of a people, as they develop the communication skills required to forge the identity of peoples