 Welcome to the VLC course History of English, our on-campus offer for everyone who is interested in the development of English from proto-Indo-European and before until today. Before you start, it is important to know that without a solid background in linguistics and in particular in phonetics, there is no point in doing this course. You need to have done introductory courses to linguistics and phonetics. Alternatively, we accept statements of accomplishment in our massive open online courses, Linguistics 101 and 102. So make sure that you satisfy these prerequisites. Access to the class is simple. Log in with your personal data to find the class on your personalised VLC start site under your current classes on the virtual linguistics campus. On the class start site, you have access to several class-related links, for example to the bibliography, to the link section or links to the social media, for example to the Facebook group associated with this class. Furthermore, your class is a flock. But how does a flock a flexible on-campus course work? Fundamental for the realisation of a flock is an inverted classroom scenario with its two phases. Phase 1, the digital self-guided phase of content delivery and content acquisition. And the subsequent phase 2, the in-class phase that is dedicated to the deepening and consolidation of the content. In a flock, students are given more flexibility in phase 1. They not only have unlimited access to the digitised material of a course, but they can also define their own unit access rhythms. They can choose between the standard rhythm of one unit per week. On a faster track, they can opt for a five days rhythm or in the extreme case, they can even select a rhythm of one unit every three days. And what do they gain? Well, as a result, our students can select their own course end and they can choose between three dates for their final exam. The in-class phase of a flock, however, is challenging. In the classroom we now have three groups working in three different rhythms. But in an inverted classroom scenario, this is not problematic at all. We simply give each group their tailored exercise material and help them with careful individual tutoring. Let us now look at the content of History of English. The class is subdivided into three central parts. In order to understand the development of English, we will first look at the central principles of reconstructing and classifying languages. The second part is devoted to the discussion of the developmental phases of English and their central linguistic aspects. Special emphasis is laid on early modern English phonology, including a detailed discussion of the great vowel shift, one of the most influential sound shifts in English. The remaining part looks at recent developments with a final focus on present-day English orthography. And our teaching and learning concept? Well, put simply, go through each digital unit at your own pace, make use of as many VLC options as possible. For example, if you don't know what to do, use the advice options on each unit start site or contact your instructor or your peers via the class-related forum or the Facebook group Linguistics202 History of English. And then, very important, join the in-class meetings. After detailed evaluations of previous classes, we now definitely know if you don't attend the in-class meetings, you will encounter severe trouble and will find it difficult to pass. And if you want to pass, well, click on the class requirements to find out what you have to do. Well, that's it. In case you have more questions, do not hesitate to ask us. For example, in our Facebook group. Thanks for your attention and see you soon.