European Languages and Language Families

This lesson is to teach kids about the numerous languages in Europe and to show which ones are related. The students will learn which languages are associated with which countries. Along the way they might learn some useful geography. They will learn which languages are similar to each other by labeling each language with the language branch that it belongs to. They will learn about historical linguistics in the process and be introduced to the Indo-European language family. They will also be introduced to minority languages. I small overview of the language branches would be good and it would also be good to explain minority languages and how languages die out. The students are going to learn about these languages from their mistakes. It is also a research lesson. Allow them to search for the answers if they do not know them. The map at the bottom of the lesson should help with identify where the minority languages are spoken.