Learning the Landscape through Language: place-names and childhood education

英语地名是作为描述性的标签出现的，在许多情况下是几百年或几千年前创造的，当地人描述他们的环境的方式对当时碰巧经历过这种景观的任何人都有意义。它们提到地形和土地使用、动物和植物、个人和社区、活动和职业、神话和记忆，保留了对一个地方的早期看法。它们是关于不断变化的景观的非常详细的证据来源，与许多其他来源不同，它们无处不在，并由社会各阶层赋予，而不仅仅是有文化或有权势的人。什罗普郡地名项目（2013-16）通过巡回展览，免费小册子和公开讲座与一系列成年地名持有者进行了接触。通过语言学习景观将通过与学童和儿童教育工作者的接触，将早期项目产生的影响扩大到全新的持牌群体。它将通过一些相互关联的办法来做到这一点，利用创新方法将地名带入课堂和其他教育环境。主要重点将是关键阶段2，强调通过当地研究英国历史的许多阶段，这是一种非常适合地名的方法;但在学校课程中使用地名可能会远远超出该年龄组。该项目将利用他们与学校、学校教师和其他教育工作者的既定关系，目的是制订在现有教育方案和课程中使用地名的方法，并设计以地名为重点的新的学习材料和经验，项目小组将组织四个培训和发展日，向当地教育工作者介绍地名，将其作为了解语言发展的工具，景观和社区，并进一步注重最佳做法。在这些活动中，当地教师将向项目小组提供咨询意见，说明如何通过使用地名在中学2年级及以后加强教学，并将开始编写自己的教材，供课堂或其他教育环境使用。项目参与研究员将观察这些新内容的交付情况，并将与其他人分享和提供所制作的任何材料，项目小组将开始收集以地名为重点的创新学习材料、新课程计划和可能的项目。这些将作为可下载的PDF文件在名称研究所网站上免费提供，并链接到什罗普郡教育团体的资源，其中一些也有全国性的存在：例如，什罗普郡山AONB伙伴关系与其他AONB伙伴关系、历史英格兰和国家信托基金有联系。该小组将与诺丁汉大学教育学院合作，探讨如何将地名作为受训教师的学习工具。没有直接参与该项目的教师将可以利用诺丁汉大学网站上提供的并通过项目伙伴及其联系人公布的学习资源，该项目的成果将是改变什罗普郡及以外地区的教学做法，更多地利用地名材料作为教育工具，并使学童更广泛地了解地名的重要性。这将通过以下方式得以维持：-为教师和儿童提供资源-提高教师的地名专门知识-通过与诺丁汉教育学院的联系对教师进行继续教育。

English place-names arose as descriptive labels, in many cases coined hundreds or thousands of years ago, by local people describing their environment in ways that would have been meaningful to anyone else who happened to experience that landscape at that time. They contain references to topography and land-use, animals and plants, individuals and communities, activities and occupations, myths and memories, preserving earlier perceptions of a locality. They are a source of very detailed evidence on the changing landscape and, unlike many other sources, are ubiquitous and were bestowed by all sections of society, not just the literate or the powerful.The Place-Names of Shropshire project (2013-16) engaged with a range of adult stake-holders through a travelling exhibition, a free booklet and public lectures. Learning the Landscape through Language will extend the impact generated from the earlier project to entirely new stake-holder groups, by engaging with schoolchildren and child educators. It will do this through a number of connected approaches, using innovative methods to bring place-names into the classroom and other educational environments. The main focus will be Key Stage 2, which emphasises the many phases of British history through local study, an approach to which place-names are ideally suited; but the use of place-names within the school curriculum could extend well beyond that age group.The project will collaborate with local heritage organisations, working with their wider schools outreach networks. It will build on their established relationships with schools, schoolteachers and other educators, with the aim of developing ways to use place-names in existing educational programmes and curricula, and devising new learning materials and experiences with a focus on place-names.The project team will organise four training and development days, where local educators will be introduced to place-names as a tool in understanding the development of language, landscape and community, with additional focus on best practice. During these events, local teachers will advise the project team on ways to enhance teaching provision through use of place-names, at KS2 and beyond, and will start to develop their own teaching materials for use in the classroom or in other educational contexts. The delivery of this new content will be observed by the project Engagement Fellow and any materials produced will be shared and made available to others.The project team will start to build up a collection of innovative learning materials, new lesson plans and possible projects, with content focused on place-names. These will be made freely available as downloadable PDFs on the Institute for Name-Studies website, with links to the resources from educational groups in Shropshire, some of which also have a national presence: Shropshire Hills AONB Partnership, for example, has links with other AONB Partnerships, Historic England and the National Trust.During the lifetime of the project, the team will work with the School of Education at the University of Nottingham, to explore ways of introducing place-names as a learning tool for trainee teachers. Teachers not directly involved in the project will have access to the its learning resources, made available on the University of Nottingham website and publicised through project partners and their contacts.The legacy of the project will be changed teaching practice in Shropshire and beyond, greater use of place-name material as an educational tool, and a more widespread understanding, among schoolchildren, of the significance of place-names. This will be sustained through:- Provision of resources for teachers and children- Increased expertise in place-names among teachers- Continuing education of teachers through links with Nottingham's School of Education.