Text: Writing's Tree of Life

The Text: Writing’s Tree of Life. Studying English – or any language -is best done with reference to texts. Older teaching methods understood this; the Ancients had nothing else. No methods, no textbooks, no crib-sheets.
The text is the tree of life of language. It gives its shade in summer, its fruits are fragrant and tasty, it looks beautiful, and is strong enough to survive the winter. It can be a teacher and a grandparent to us: something to imitate and learn from – so that we benefit from both its content, which will educate us, and its style and manner, which we can imitate. The best place for a close encounter with a text is a good documentary film. The subject should be about cultures, people, technological changes and the shifts of attitudes and beliefs. It should also relate to economics. Because all this is what underpins – in one context or another – globalization. And today, not only our business career, but our very survival – psychologically, nationally, individually – depends on understanding that Hydra. Let’s now watch a film, which deals with these themes, paying careful attention to the text which emerges.