In-Class Activity for Wednesday, September 3rd:
We are going to finish our AAVE posters (15-20 min.), and present them to the class (3-5 min. per group). In case we finish early, you can begin the following homework assignment:
Homework for Friday, September 5th, 2008:
Go to the following link and read pages 93-100 from Lisa Delpit's article "What Should Teachers Do?"
Then, choose one question out of the questions 1, 2, and 3 at the bottom of this article, and post your answer (small essay, about 250-500 words) as a comment to this blog.
NEXT BLOG SUMMARY: "How Can AAE Speakers Become Efficient SWE Writers?", to be done by Michaela Bazar, for coming Friday, Sept. 5th. The responses by everybody as blog comments will be due coming Monday, Sept. 8th.
Left-over copies of the text which I'll distribute in class will be deposited in the letter box outside my office door, FANER 3202B, for pick-up, in case you missed class on Wednesday, Sept. 3rd.
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16 comments:
For me, Delpit's article essentially drove home what Ebonics language really is. It is a language and it does have meaning to a lot of African American students. What she said is true, there is a relationship between group identity and language. These students have grown up speaking ebonics; it is what they relate to. This language is part of who they really are. As far as how this relationship can play out in the classroom, I feel as though it benefits students. My feeling is that students' learn best when they are relaxed. If they feel like learning is a stressful activity, chances are they will not put forth their best effort. In terms of this article, I feel like if you allow African American students' the freedom to speak the way they feel most comfortable with, with a group of friends and classmates who can identify with the language, they will become better students. If you continuously press these students' to change the way they speak, chances are you will fail as a teacher. It is okay to let students' use language with which they are most comfortable with. I like what Delpit said in terms of what language is. She said that language is what you make of it. To me, that means there is no right or wrong language. There may be language's which scholors believe to be better than others, but that is simply because that is what they identify with. If you tried to teach a language scholor ebonics, what do you think they would say? They would probably become disinterested in a hurry and rush back to speak with other scholors who speak the way they speak. You shouldn't judge a student by the way they speak. Sometimes in a classroom setting you have to take two steps backwards in order to take one step forward. Do not restrict students' from using language they are comfortable with because you as a teacher cannot understand it. Work with these students and meet them half way.
1.I believe that Delpit is doing a noble act by trying to teach her students' standard English and at the same time affirming their language of Ebonics. However, it would be difficult to attempt to tell them that there is a more correct way to speak without telling them that the way they speak is incorrect. Therefore, there are certain steps that any teacher would need to take to avoid offending students. First of all, it is necessary to let the students' know why they must learn Standard English. Standard English is basically the only form of English that is accepted in major colleges and universities. Therefore, they must learn this type of language in order for their work to be accepted in their future. Also, most future jobs will demand the usage of acceptable English. Ebonics is normally not considered acceptable English. However, it should be stressed to the students that the way they speak is not incorrect or wrong. It is simply different than the norm.
I feel that there is a time and place for Ebonics and professional environments is not that place. However, I also believe that those who speak Ebonics should not be censured for what they have grown up with. As long as Ebonics speakers can understand and accept the necessity of standard English in some situations then I see no problem in them speaking Ebonics in the other aspects of their lives.
Delpit's article had a lot of good points. Personally, I don't agree with the use of Ebonics in the classroom. If you want to use Ebonics outside the classroom that is your own personal choice. Standard English is what is supposed to be taught in the American classrooms and Standard English is what is used in "real world." When you go out and interview for a job the employer asking you the questions expects to hear replies in a professional language. I would not consider Ebonics to be a professional language. I know that a lot of African Americans use Ebonics and like I said before, that is a personal choice, but I don't think it should be heard in the classroom. The classroom is a place for professionalism and a place to learn and grow. Some people have a hard time learning Standard English since they are so used to the Ebonics Language, but teachers need to work extra hard to help students learn the proper language so they can do well on standardized tests and out in the work place.
Before I came to college I had never really thought about Ebonics and how it affects the classroom. I went to an all white high school here in Illinois. From the time I began school, all the way to my senior year of high school, I was never once in a classroom with an African American student. At my school all the students basically spoke the same way. At college I began noticing the different groups of people that walked around campus. Every group spoke in a different way. African American students had their own kind of language, as well as city kids, country kids, southern kids, and even foriegn kids. They all speak differently, but are easily understood in their own group. I think it is important that people are comfortable in the learning environment and constant correction of their language does not make a person comfortable. I really liked Delpit's example of role playing to get students to understand when certain types of language are appropriate. It shows students that the teacher is not attacking them personally by correcting thier language. It helps students to understand when and where Standard English is appropriate.
The attitude needed to help students who speak AAE is a calm and understanding attitude. There is no need to take a strict outlook on these students because they may have developed this type of speaking through their environment. The resources one would need is a type of translator to first learn how an AAE speaker is taught other than that it is up to the teacher how he would like to teach standard American English to the AAE speaker. I believe that teaching a student who speaks AAE is to not start with Engfish because that is also not the proper way. These students need to be engulfed in an environment where they will not be forced, but put into an area where speaking in there own tongue because students will have trouble understanding therefore it will help them speak like the other kids. It would be the same as any other language. If you engulf and English speaking student into another country he or she will most likely learn the language quicker than just being taught it. AAE students should be treated as an ESL students because while the language is similar it is also very different to someone trying to develop a strong hold on the speech technique. In conclusion, AAE students need to be engulfed among children who speak SAE and treat them as if this is a new language to them while still having the understanding that these students do speak a different kind of English.
Ebonics is essentially to African Americans what Spanish is to Spaniards or French is to France. It's the language that is inherent to the culture who speaks it.
When deciding to incorporate the use of Ebonics in a classroom as a form of validation to the student(s) who speak it a teacher must also consider the other cultural backgrounds in the room. I can see the need to reassure a student who primarily speaks Ebonics while also teaching them the correct form of standard English, however it's a fine line to walk if for instance you have a Spanish speaking student in your class and don't make the effort to encourage them in the same capacity. I applaud Delpit for taking the cultural melting pot of today's classrooms and incorporating that into everyday English lessons.
When considering how the real world functions, especially given the employment sector, a teacher must always keep in mind that they are prepping these students to be prepared for the "real world". This world includes a society who demands that English be spoken correctly in a professional setting.
Delpit's article was eye opening for me and I have alot of respect for any teacher willing to take things one step further. Making our students comfortable in the classroom is a great way to reaffirm them as humans and to bolster their confidence in general.
I think that its important for teachers to make sure that they don't offend AAE speakers. Its very easy to hurt a student's feelings, and constantly correcting a student in class will quickly undermine their confidence. I certainly don't see why AAE shouldn't be spoken in the classroom. However a student can best express themselves is the best way for that particular students. I do think it is important to keep assignments written in American Standard English, and maybe something oral like a formal presentation, but in class discussion I think it would be pointless to constantly correct the students' grammar. As long as they can communicate their ideas freely I don't think it matters how they are spoken. At the same time, I think its important to stress that while the use of AAE isn't wrong, American Standard English must also be used. Students should not be expected to change their speaking habits overnight, but should be gradually eased into speaking and writing in "proper" Englsih.
1. Delpit articulates teachers’ dual desire to affirm their students’ language and teach them standard English. What types of attitudes and resources are necessary to achieve this goal? Describe your own attitudes on this subeject.
I think it is very important affirm the students’ language, but at the same time, it is very important to teach them Standard English as well. A very open and understand attitude would be necessary to achieve this goal. As Delpit said, if you keep on correcting their language, then it will make the students resent you and not listen to you any more. But, instead of correcting them, help them learn Standard English in ways like she listed. Like the memorization of plays or dialogs and mimicking a news castor. This way it makes the class interesting while teaching them Standard English and not chastising the way they are speaking and their use of their language. I think it is very important for the students not to be criticized for the way they have always spoken. It makes them feel as though they are dumb. If the teacher could find another way to do this instead of correcting their every word, it would make the student more attentive and willing to learn. One idea could be to let them right their own stories or poems like a well know story is written, maybe using Beowulf. Let them write an epic poem set in our own time and written in Standard English. However, they can use their normal speech for the dialog in the poem. This would be a way to show the difference between the two, without either one being said it is right or wrong. My attitudes toward this subject are basically the same as Delpit’s. I feel you have to go outside of the box to teach instead of just saying this is right and this is wrong. I think each person has their own way of speaking because of their family background or upbringing. Along with this we still should all be able to speak and write Standard English so that we are excepted in the professional world and taken seriously. The most important thing I think a teacher has to keep in mind for this topic is to keep and open mind and understanding attitude toward their students.
1. A teacher would have to be very patient, understanding, accepting, and also very open-minded to teach Standard American English, while still affirming AAE in a classroom. The patience and understanding would be necessary because the teachers might be dealing with students who don't know much about SAE or who seem unwilling to learn. However, if a teacher takes the right approach, and is accepting of AAE, a student might be more willing to learn and use SAE. I would try to take the attitude that everyone has something to learn. Besides teaching the class SAE, I think it would be interesting to have some of the students who speak AAE teach some of the principles to the class. The class could work together to find similarities and differences in SAE and AAe. Then, the class could decide which they think sounds more professional and should be used in formal speaking and writing situations.
2. Delpit's view on correcting the a student's language, is something that I share with her. I strongly believe that student's are held back by the correction of their language and the way they pronounce certain words. If there was an instance where I was going to correct a student's language, I would do so in private. Or possibly I would call a meeting with parents and other school officials. There are several other ways to correct a student's language without making him/her feel unintelligent.
Delpit’s article does a great job of depicting a problem that many teachers have today. Teachers are faced with a new language that is not always accepted by majority in the country and is often associated with ignorance. This language is referred to as Ebonics and is spoken by many in the African-American community. Delpit discusses how teachers can correctly look at this language and teach students who speak it.
I think it is important for all teachers to remember that Ebonics is a language and it is very important to some students. To many students this language is part of their cultural identity and is part of who they are. Teachers must always remember this when correcting students in the classroom. It is important not to shame a child because of they way they speak. In their lives Ebonics is the main language they hear and it is how their family and friends talk. If a teacher comes off as shaming this language, that student is less likely going to respect the teacher or attempt to learn proper English. Ebonics is how some students identify themselves, so in teaching them one must always be sensitive to that.
I believe that one way to help students who speak Ebonics is to teach them proper English as a different language, not the correct language. The teacher can do activities that incorporate both languages. Delpit suggests having the students make dictionaries, translating their language into English. This will show that their language is not wrong and help students to differentiate between the two.
Ebonics is a language that many students use in their everyday lives. As teachers, we must respect that. Also, as teachers we must make sure that these students can thrive in today’s society. This is why we must find a balance between respecting the students’ culture and helping them to thrive once they leave school. It is not an easy task.
The article states that children in first through third grade mimicked their teacher’s language. Then the article says that by the time they reach fourth grade they start to use their cultural form of language. I find this interesting. The article says that the students don’t pick up the “negative” attitude toward their community until fourth grade and this is why they start to speak using the language of their community. I think that students pick up on this “negative” attitude before fourth grade but until then they are still understanding the world around them. I think that teachers need to limit the negative attitude and encourage students to learn standard English while maintain their own community language. I think it is very important for students to know where they come and from and practice their culture. Teachers should not try to make student conform to what society says is correct. I think that teachers do need to make sure all students know and understand standard English because from a societal viewpoint it necessary. Students need to be taught that some situations are not suitable for their community language. Just as in standard English there are situation where incorrect grammar, slangs, and curse words are not acceptable. I do believe that as a society in the professional world, we expect other professional to speak using standard English. Students need to be taught that they need to keep their community language while also knowing when it is necessary to use standard English.
This article is very educational. The fact that Delpit recognizes Ebonics as a “second” language instead of down rating it, as so many people do, is a plus. Delpit’s main concerned seems to be teaching the children the difference between Standard English and Ebonics and letting them know when it is okay to use each. One way that she went about describing this was through group identity. Group identity is when children are able to recognize their social group and conform to their way of speaking. At the age when the distinction between the two occurs children can still be taught the difference and are able to acknowledge when and where they should speak in a certain way. According to the reading, the children still understand how to write the correct form of language but the oral portion is what is suffering. The tactic of Carrie Secret uses is one of significance. By critiquing lines and words from a play she is allowing the children to hear and correct themselves without feeling inferior because it is not their own words. If the children can hear the difference in how people around the world talk it would be easier for them to recognize the proper way of speaking. This way no one feels ashamed for the language that their families first introduced them too. The children will respect the situation more and will be more open to accepting it. I recommend anyone who plans on teaching to read this article and take some of the tips that are being offered.
Delpit describes the tightrope walk involved in stressing the importance of Standard English while respecting and giving proper credence to the importance of preserving one’s heritage through their language. In an attempt to teach Standard English to AAE speakers, it could be easy to damage those individuals’ self-respect or create an unfriendly distance between them and the teacher. The attitude necessary to approach AAE speakers is to be conscious of the potential negative effects some methods might have. The ideas suggested by Delpit are designed to take the focus off of the learner’s “inadequacy” (as constant correction may suggest) and turns it to an external project. I feel that the bilingual dictionary is an excellent method for teaching Standard English to AAE speakers as well as teaching the validity of AAE to what we might call Standard English speakers. Creating a bilingual dictionary would be an exciting class project that would, in my opinion, draw a lot of participation from the students. As Delpit states, it is easier for an AAE speaker to write in Standard English with a list of rules available to them than it is for them to start out speaking it. That gives this project so much more potential because submissions for the dictionary can be written down and then presented orally to the class. This would give the students practice with writing that leads into speaking. It would also be helpful to keep past classes’ dictionaries available at some point to either compare to the finished product or to use as resources for ideas. Necessary tools for this project would then be a list of rules for converting AAE to Standard English and vice versa and past classes’ bilingual dictionaries (if available).
I think that Delpit brought up a very good question for this article, What should teachers do about the Ebonics Speakers, whom are African Americans? Should teachers punish the students for having a specific dialect by making them change the way that they talk? Delpit really made a good point when she came up with the whole idea that language correlates with group identity. A person's language is one way of identifying who they are. This specific language is continuously spoken among African Americans everywhere. As an African American, I associate with people who speak Ebonics all the time, but that does not mean that they are any less smarter than me because I know the correct "American" standard English. To take anyway someone's language, is like taking away a huge part of them. In most cases, African American students derive their languages from their parents, whom received their dialects from their ancestors. So to take away the African American language known as Ebonics, it is taking away apart of their history. So what should teachers do? I believe that teachers should try to teach students with dialects standard English, but do not be too forceful about it. Let the student become comfortable with you as a teacher. When the student becomes more comfortable with the teacher, they will respect you more and honor your wishes and attempt to speak the correct English that is more acceptable in society. I believe teachers should be more understanding for students with different dialects and instead to criticizing the student, the teacher could help them. Teachers should not judge the students on the way that they talk, they should judge the students on the effort they put into their work and what they learn.
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