My unit is entitled, The Great Vowel Shift - The Great English Movement. It is a part of a curriculum on the history of the English language. As the title may imply, the focus is upon the Great Vowel Shift of 1066 A.D. as the single most important linguistic movement in the history of the English language. The shift is basically a movement from short sounding vowels to long vowels and the addition of multiple tense vowels which greatly influence the way we and others write and speak English. The teaching style necessary for a lesson like this consists of patience, time and allowing the students a great deal of freedom and creativity in their works. What makes this lesson so interesting is that there is room for creativity by the students, understanding language alterations is ironically not a rigidly fixed activity. When focusing on the aesthetics and the auditory functions of a language instead of the meaning of the text, there opens up a world of possibilities for teachers and students to explore, which you will see is included in this curriculum unit. What I feel is so pertinent for teaching this to a group of 9th Grade college bound students is the fact that they must understand where their language comes from in order to fully understand and appreciate the plethora of texts in multiple genres and eras that they will encounter in high school and college level English courses.