All posts by Richard K. Munro

BIOGRAPHY: Richard K. Munro April 4, 2023 I am a retired teacher of English, Spanish & history. I taught in public and Catholic schools for over 34 years. I am a California Certified teacher of Social Studies, Spanish and English. I was a Mentor Teacher in the Kern High School District. I hold a BCC (Bilingual Certificate of Competence). I have always been interested in foreign languages and bilingualism probably from the time as a young man realized that the Roman Empire was a de facto bilingual empire (Latin and Greek) and from the experiences of my father who spoke Spanish and Tagalog as a US Army officer during World War 2. My father encouraged me to study Spanish as it was a practical and important universal language. I attended public schools in New Jersey excelling in AP US history and AP Spanish. At the recommendation of my high school Spanish teacher, I began my university studies in Soria, Spain with the University of Northern Iowa. We American students lived with Spanish families and pledged not to speak English with each other or anyone else for the entirety of the course (10 weeks). I became aware of the value of total immersion in a foreign language. I am fluent in Spanish and Portuguese and have a good competency and reading knowledge of Latin, Italian, and many other languages. In my retirement, I am studying Greek via DUOLINGO and Teach Yourself Books. Like my father, uncles, and other relatives who served during WW2, I volunteered to serve in the US military. I hold an honorable discharge from the US Marines. My parents were naturalized Americans and the first in their families to graduate from high school and go on to college. During WW2 my immigrant grandfather help build US Navy ships and Liberty Ships. My parents and grandparents impressed upon me from an early age the importance of national unity, patriotism and deep gratitude for the opportunities America has afforded us. My specialty became English literacy for newcomers (emphasizing phonics, diction, and grammar) and sheltered English immersion Social Studies (history) for English learners. I believe in voluntary high-quality Dual Immersion instruction and the importance of the teaching foreign languages. My daughter is a Dual Immersion Spanish/English k-6 teacher and my son is a AP Spanish teacher 9-12. I am married with three children. My wife is an immigrant and a naturalized US citizen. For many years I was an AP Reader in Spanish (adjunct faculty) for ETS. In 2004-2005 I was the ISI Renshaw Fellow at UVA and a University Supervisor. I taught at Bakersfield College for four years as an adjunct professor in Spanish. I have a New Wine Credential; I taught high school catechism in English and Spanish for over 20 years. I voluntarily tutored many immigrants pro bono for citizenship tests and for those who attended junior college. My wife and I have co-sponsored immigrant families in our community who have gained US residency. I studied history, political science, and Spanish at NYU (BA with honors) and was awarded the Helen M Jones Prize in history. I achieved my 5th Year teaching certificate at Seattle University and was certified as English teacher as well as Spanish and Social Studies. I hold an MA in Spanish Literature from the University of Northern Iowa. In addition to teaching, I have worked in private industry as a tour guide, a construction worker and as a customer service representative for the Bank of America (five years). I have published articles in newspapers, Military History magazine, Calliope, and Cobblestone. I was author of “Spying for the Other Side, KIM PHILBY” which appeared in the McGraw Hill Anthology of World History. I have authored one-act plays for youth such as "Euripides' Trojan Women” (Calliope),"Romans on the Rhine", "Clad in Gold Our Young Mary" , "Beneath Alexandria's Sapphire Sky" among others. I have edited galleys of several books and have done research for authors notably Andrew Roberts in CHURCHILL WALKING WITH DESTINY and his THE LAST KING OF AMERICA: GEORGE III. I began my career primarily as a Spanish teacher specializing in Spanish for Native Speakers and AP Spanish and AP Spanish Literature teaching in Washington State and California. However, I also coached sports (baseball and soccer), advised for the local “We the People team” and filled in by teaching the occasional summer ESL or US history class. As a bilingual teacher of course, I attended meetings and conventions for bilingual teachers. There Stephen Krashen and others taught that a student could be taught Math, Social Studies, Language Arts and Science in their native languages (rather than English) and that knowledge and literacy would “transfer.” I came to call this Phoney Bilingual Education or NENLI (Non-English Native Language Instruction) Many teachers I met favored a “late exit” approach which meant keeping students in so-called bilingual classes deep into high school. I was skeptical. For me 1995-1996 was the turning point. I was asked to fill in for three ESL classes that had been previously taught by another bilingual teacher. I was shocked by what I found. The students were reading mostly in Spanish and doing journals (in ungrammatical Spanish) only. The students chatted in Spanish the whole period and English was rarely if ever heard. I was told the goal of ESL classes was literacy. I clashed with the local administrator who would not provide me English language dictionaries, bilingual dictionaries or English language material. I bought a box of American heritage dictionaries out of my own pocket and taught using newspaper articles and comics. I protested that the student transcripts indicated the classes were English classes so they should be taught and tested in English for those classes. To do otherwise was, in my opinion, intellectually dishonest, even fraudulent. I continued to inform myself and read books and articles by Linda Chavez and Rosalie Porter especially FORKED TONGUE by Porter. At the time our high school graduation rate was falling and one of the major reasons was students could not pass 11th grade US history or 12th grade Government and Economics. The Bilingual Coordinator had the answer: alternative paths mini-classes (all in Spanish) via Migrant Education. I was asked to teach US history and World History with Spanish language history books. These books were ordered via supplementary budgets and so evaded the normal book approvals via the district. I refused to use those books. Instead, I volunteered to teach US history with English language books (with numbered paragraphs and bilingual glossaries). The school was very divided on this issue; I had at one time the support of the Social Studies chairmen and the school principal but not the vice principal and bilingual coordinator. I was very successful, and the students were very grateful. In one history class, every single student passed his or her English proficiency test and graduated from high school. Over time, however, I became increasingly at odds with the Bilingual Establishment some of whom accused me, publicly, for being a “racist”, “English-only”, a “white supremacist” and “anti-immigrant.” I responded of course that my conscience was clear as I had dedicated my life to help immigrants and newcomers of many races and religions, spoke Spanish and other languages, and that my wife was an immigrant! In 1997 Ron Unz came to our town to promote his new referendum English for the Children. To my surprise, I felt sympathy for most of what he said and so volunteered. I actively campaigned with Unz , Henry Gradillas, and Jaime Escalante in English and Spanish for Bilingual Education reform with English for the Children in California 1997-1998. I helped produce bilingual radio commercials and appeared on Spanish-language and English-language television. During this period I met Rosalie Porter and later worked with her as an advisor in the successful English for the Children campaigns in Arizona and Massachusetts. I have been associated with ProEnglish for many years as an advisor eventually being invited to join the Board of PRO-ENGLISH. I believe local communities should have some choice as to what kind of educational programs they want to provide and what languages they teach. I also deeply believe in La Conviviencia. La Conviviencia is an almost untranslatable Spanish concept. It means living, communicating and working together and thereby gaining mutual respect and comprehension. I believe in La Conviviencia; we must live together as good neighbors. We have many problems in this world, even enemies; but with our neighbors and friends we should live in peace. I believe in the policy of the Buen Vecino (the Good Neighbor) and in la Conviviencia (peaceful coexistence) of different cultures, languages, and religions. Diane Ravitch wrote “a society that is racially diverse requires…a conscious effort to build shared values and ideals among its citizenry.” This includes the recognition that English is and should be our official national language. The language of the rule books, Federal courts and juries must be in English. In addition, the Uniform Code of Military Justice, contracts, official documents, our laws and constitutions must be in English though translations can be provided. I believe English should be the official and national language of the United States. I do not believe we can or ought to be an officially bilingual or multilingual nation. This does not mean in any sense that languages other than English should not be taught or used, however. It should be clear that I have never been an English-only person but a multilingual person who is pro-immigrant and believes in voluntary multilingualism. America needs English but it also needs knowledge of other languages for cultural and educational reasons as well as for national security reasons. My entire family is multilingual and multicultural, and I hope we carry on this heritage into future generations of American Munros and Mendozas in a prosperous, peaceful and United States of America.
Republic of Letters

INTRODUCTION TO A Short history of the english language

By Richard K. Munro

Figure 1 Roman soldier and barbarian In English there has long been a battle between the LATIN  (Classical soul) and the ANGLO-SAXON soul.

That book you read,” she asked wistfully, “what’s it about?”

“It was written by a man named Plato,” Ranse told her stiffly.

“It was written in Greek.”

She brought him a cup of coffee and hesitated for a minute, and then asked, “You can read and write American, too, can’t you?”

“English, Miss Hallie, “he corrected. “English is our mother tongue. I am quite familiar with English.”

She put her red hands on the café counter. ‘Mr. Foster,” she whispered, “will you teach me to read?’    FROM “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” by Dorothy M. Johnson.

B

Figure 2 STONEHENGE

Brief timeline of English history

  • Neolithic (Stone Age) period, c. 5000-2000 BC, agriculture, mound tombs
    • Non-Indo-European speaking people of Britain (indigenous population; related to Picts and Basques?)
    • Stonehenge I & II (2800-2000 B.C.)
  • Bronze Age, 2000-500 B.C.
    • Indo-European language, burial with drinking vessels, flint, metal
    • Stonehenge III & IV (2000 B.C. -1100 B.C.)
    • Celtic inhabitants (British) arrived around 750 B.C., hill forts
  • Iron Age, , in Britain around 500 or 600 B.C.; Began in Europe around 8th century B.C
    • CELTIC  people in British Isles from Gaul and Spain: Britons (hence Britannia) Κελτοί Keltoi  was a Greek word and Celtae was the Latin equivalent.  Britain (Britannia) seems to be land of painted people (Picts).Albion is also an ancient name meaning land of the “White Cliffs” (Dover).  [1]
    • Celtic languages: Gaelic, Brythonic (British; ancestor of Welsh) Celtic place names in Britain:

London, Avon, Carlisle,  Dover, Devon, Cornwall, Tobermory, Glasgow,  Tremaine,Aberdour,Aberdeen,,Cardiff, Tredgar, Breedon, Braemar, Usk, Esk, Thames,

Camulodunum “Camelot” = chief Celtic town named after Camulos a God of War in Celtic Britain; later “Colchester”, York (Eboracum:”Place of the Yew Trees”) Bows were made of Yew wood so occupying this place would have of strategic importance.

Figure 3 Britannia circa 150 AD

  • Roman Britain
    • Julius Caesar invades Britain, 55/54 BC  Roman influence grows
    • 43 AD Roman Conquest begins under Claudius, Romanization of Britain 43-410 AD: introduction of Latin & Latin alphabet.  ; Roman place names (sometimes mixed with native Celtic) Castra meant military camp (fort):Chester (camp of XX Legion), Colchester,Gloucester, Manchester, Lancaster, Portchester;  Lincoln (Colonia)
  • Hadrian’s Wall (73 miles long), 121-127 A.D. Fortification against Picts and Scots.  First evidence of Jews and early Christians in 2nd century.  

Figure 4 Hadrian’s Wall

  • 4th and 5th centuries: Germanic tribes invade  Roman Empire ; Visigoths sacked Rome in 410 A.D.)
  • Roman departure from Britain 410 AD
  • Birth of St. Patrick in Roman Britain circa 432AD; his mother was the niece of St. Martin of Tours and his father was a deacon and a low-ranking Imperial official.
  • Fall of Roman Empire in the West 476 AD
  • Anglo-Saxon barbarian Invasions  of Britain
    • Roman Britain besieged by Picts, Scots, and Saxons (barbarian tribes) circa 375-410
    • Circa 410: British leader Vortigern invites Saxons (Angles, Saxons, Jutes) into as mercenaries against  other barbarians (Picts and Scots);
    • Large-scale Germanic invasions (Angles, Saxons, Jutes), 449
    • Saxon settlements in Britain  (Sussex and Wessex, 477- 495)
    • British Celts (Romano-Britons) driven into Wales, Cornwall and Brittany (on northwest coast of France)
    • British resistance, King Arthur, British victory at Mt. Badon, A.D. 500 (quasi-historical King of Camelot).[2]
    • Gildas, De Excidio Britanniae (The Fall of Britain) (c. A.D. 540) , a Latin work describing and lamenting the fall of Britain to the Anglo-Saxons.
    • Anglo-Saxons in control of “England” (Angle-Land)  by sixth century
    • St. Columba (Irish saint) establishes center of learning and Christianization at Iona which will spread the Latin alphabet and Christianity to Scotland and northern England. 563 AD.
  • Anglo-Saxon England    
    • Angles’ settlements in East Anglia, the Midlands, and Northumbria;  England (“land of the Angles”)[3]
    • Pope Gregory the Great sends St. Augustine (the “Apostle of the English)”a Roman Benedictine monk,[4] to Kent A.D. 597
    • Aethelbert I of Kent (Jutes), converted to Christianity by Augustine, first Christian king of Anglo-Saxon England (Rex Anglorum), also compiled law code (c. 600)
    • Gradual Christianization of pagan Anglo-Saxons by Roman and Irish (Gaels) missionaries (St. Aidan and others, 635-655); Theodore of Tarsus, Greek and Latin speaking archbishop of Canterbury organized the Anglo-Saxon church.
    • Lindisfarne Gospels 698, Latin Vulgate text with interlined Old English paraphrase
    • Circa 725 AD Beowulf    Old English epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative lines. It is the oldest surviving long poem in Old English (Anglo-Saxon)
    •  Venerable Bede (673-735), Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (Ecclesiastical History of the English People) (731), Latin work;
    • Offa, king of Mercia (r. 757-796); Alcuin of York (732-804), high level of Latin scholarship
    • First Viking attacks 787, sack of Lindisfarne Priory 793; Book of Kells: created in Iona:  Irish illuminated manuscript of four gospels (8th c.) in Latin.
    •  King Alfred the Great of England
    • King Alfred the Great (849-899), king of Wessex (r. 871-899), many victories over Vikings ; 886 Alfred captures London and is recognized as king of all England (except for Danish parts)
    • King Alfred’s employment of Mercian scholars (Plegmund, Waerferth, Aethelstan, and Werwulf) in educational and literary endeavors (885), revival of learning, beginnings of Anglo Saxon Chronicle (written in Old English not Latin) Alfred the Great’s unique importance in the history of English letters came from his conviction that a life without knowledge or reflection was unworthy.
    • West Saxon dialect became literary standard of Old English literature; oral tradition.  Many translations from Latin into English fostered by Alfred the Great.
    • late 10th and early 11th century, renewed Scandinavian (Viking) invasions of British Isles (England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales)
    • Aethelred II Unraed (r. 978-1016); married to Emma (daughter of Richard II, duke of Normandy); peak of monastic and literary revival: Aelfric (955-1020), Catholic Homilies, Lives of the Saints; Wulfstan d. 1023, Sermo Lupi ad Anglos (1014, “Sermon of the Wolf to the English People”) (in Old English with Latin introductory words).
    • Battle of Maldon 991; Old English poem Battle of Maldon recorded in manuscript Cotton Otho (destroyed by fire in 1731)
    • Cotton Vitellius (c. 1000), manuscript containing Old English poem Beowulf  Judith, partially destroyed by fire in 1731
    • Danish Canute (Cnut), king of England (r. 1016-1035), married Aethelred’s widow Emma and fathered Hardecanute, king of England (1040-1042)
    • Edward the Confessor (r. 1042-1066), son of Aethelred II Unraed and Emma; lived in exile in Normandy, during Danish rule of England, until 1041; conflicts and power sharing with Godwin, earl of Wessex, and his son Harold Godwinson (last Anglo-Saxon king, killed in 14 October 1066 at the Battle of Hastings)
    • 1066 Norman invasion; William the Conqueror, Battle of Hastings 1066, end of Anglo-Saxon Period   French and Latin become the languages of law and higher education.
    • Circa 1120  Eadwine’s Psalterium triplex, which contained the Latin version accompanied by Anglo-Norman and Anglo-Saxon renderings, appeared.
    • Circa 1350 Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Talesin Middle English using thousands of French borrowings.
    • By 1362 English had replaced French as the common language of the English parliament but the elite study Latin and speak French.
    • Inspired by John Wycliffe, Nicholas of Hereford leads English translation of the Bible. Circa 1380.
    • In 1408 a synod of clergy summoned to Oxford by Archbishop Arundel forbade the translation and use of Scripture in the vernacular (English). The Wycliffe Bible 1420-1450 in English gains popularity; thousands of handwritten copies (200 manuscripts extant).
    • Gutenberg’s Bible (1455); printing double-faced on linen paper spread rapidly throughout Europe opening unexpected possibilities in education, commerce, religion and communication.
    • Protestant Reformation 1519-1560; establishment of national churches with national languages undermines the supremacy of Latin.
    • 1523-1525 William Tyndale translates English New Testament directly from Greek, over 18,000 copies are printed.
    • Act of Supremacy(1534); confirmation of the  English-speaking Anglican  church by Parliament,
    • 1538“Great Bible” of Henry VIII placed in every parish church in England; 2500 copies are printed to start and six more editions are printed in 1540’s.
    • Colonies of dissident exiled Protestants   make the “Breeches” Bible new translation of the Bible published in Geneva (New Testament, 1557; Old Testament, 1560) by a colony of Protestant scholars in exile English will become the standard language of the Calvinist Church of Scotland leading to a decline of Gaelic and of Scots (Scottish dialect of English).Geneva Bible is an important influence on the translators of the James King Version of 1611.
    • Jerome’s Latin Vulgate served as the basis for translations of both the Old and New Testament into Syriac, Arabic, Spanish, and many other languages, including English. The Vulgate provided the basis for the Douai-Reims Version (New Testament, 1582; Old Testament, 1609–10) ,revised in 1740-1752 by Bishop Challoner which remained the only authorized Bible in English for Roman Catholics until the 20th century.
    • Execution of Mary Queen of Scots (1587); leads to war with Spain until 1604;  continues decline of French and Latin in England and Scotland
    • Destruction of Spanish Armada (1588) opens America to English and French colonization.
    • Famous speech by Queen Elizabeth (1588) “On eve of facing the Spanish Armada.”
    • First English dictionary A Table Alphabeticall (1604) by schoolmaster Robert Cawdrey
    • Colonization of North America by England : the South (Jamestown:1609) and the North (Plymouth 1620) Seed of USA and Canada
    • James King Version of Bible 1611.  Most influential English book of all history.
    • William Shakespeare (1564-1616) contemporary with King James Bible and the greatest poet and playwright of the English language.  Sonnets circa 1592;
    • Defeat of the French in the Seven Years War 1755-1763 (“French and Indian War”) leads to the eclipse of French on the Indian subcontinent, and the dominance of English in British North America.   French survives as a regional  (“official”) language in Canada but English will be the predominate culture language in South Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand , Singapore, Hong Kong and many islands in the Caribbean.
    • Johnson’s Dictionary (1755)
    • Declaration of Independence (1776); US Constitution “and Bill of Rights (1787-1791): English will become divided into what we may call a“British Standard” (Standard English based on the “received pronunciation”) and American English where the emphasis in on grammar “good usage and spelling” not pronunciation.
    • 1898 USA acquired Hawaii and the Philippines (Spanish was an official language until 1966) and English will become the lingua franca; Puerto Rico, officially bilingual remains Spanish-speaking.
    • 1914-1945  War with   Germany in two World Wars undermines use of German by German-American Communities (at one time about 20% of the American people -30 millions- spoke German and it was studied more than any foreign language except French and Latin.
    • WINSTON CHURCHILL NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE (1953)
    • 1900-1945 USA becomes major English-speaking world power;
    • about 50% of all native English speakers are American (C. 2016)

INTRODUCTION

English is not the oldest native language of the British Isles and Ireland but today it is the preeminent language of many English-speaking nations such as England (the U. K.), the USA, Canada, Ireland, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.  English has become the native language of more than 380 million people and is the most important second language in the world spoken by perhaps 1 billion people.  English is worth studying because it is very useful in business, law, medicine, technology, computers, and education.  English has a vast and famous literature, an influential musical culture and arguably the greatest film and entertainment industry in the modern world.  English is also the language of the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Kennedy and the Roosevelts and so has been an instrument in spreading democracy and human rights throughout the world. The first step in gaining command of English is to know the story of English. Along the way you will be introduced to selection of great authors, orators and writers of the English language.

[1] Thomas, Charles (1997). Celtic Britain. London: Thames and Hudson. p. 82. “If we seek a meaning, the favored view is that it arises from an older word implying ‘people of the forms, shapes or depictions’  

  • [2] Morris, John (1977). The Age of Arthur: A History of the British Isles from 350 to 650. Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom: Phillimore & Co Ltd.   

[3] The legal name of the country we sometimes call England is “The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.”  Their passport is British, their Army is British, and the Parliament is British.  There is an English national football team (soccer) and a Scottish national football time.

[4] NOT the more famous St. Augustine, author of The Confessions who lived 354-430 A.D.)

Republic of Letters

Joseph conrad wrote

“…after we had watched the moon float away above the chasm between the hills like an ascending spirit out of a grave; its sheen descended, cold and pale, like the ghost of dead sunlight. There is something haunting in the light of the moon; it has all the dispassionateness of a disembodied soul, and something of its inconceivable mystery. It is to our sunshine, which— say what you like— is all we have to live by, what the echo is to the sound: misleading and confusing whether the note be mocking or sad. It robs all forms of matter— which, after all, is our domain— of their substance, and gives a sinister reality to shadows alone.”

Lord Jim, Joseph Conrad

This Polish author was an amazing English-language author I understand he spoke with a heavy Polish accent his entire life.

Republic of Letters

The very unattractive and irrational “aoc”

Amigo this is the old, old idea (Socialist/Marxist) that entrepreneurial skill and business acumen count for nothing. Essentially all property is theft and inequality of condition is immoral. “Billionaires need no more spiritual defense from me. But AOC’s presumption that all the very rich do is take, take, take ­because they are narcissistic and dishonest at their core is an idea based in rage, not in reason.” Wedgewood and Boulton became prosperous because of hard work, use of new technology and effective marketing campaigns. Just today I was saying that I may not love Trump but one has to give him credit for being an effective and successful business leader and promoter. It is a mistake to merely envy or hate (but it is easy to do). The essence of anti-Semitism and Jew-hatred is based on envy. One should not hate those who are successful but emulate them or at least learn from them. I am no genius myself but smart enough to recognize genuine talent and genius when I see it. And I do not hate those greater than I -I admire them especially when they are good, generous and kind.


https://nypost.com/2019/04/10/alexandria-ocasio-cortezs-psycho-class-war/?fbclid=IwAR0YzCGeVsnrfqvRN3NeJMt4FDuxs4q9CF59MKkf7SE0OKsBQ1N3KIzlJuk