Monday, September 24, 2007

Indy Teach: "The Skin That We Speak"

I'd like to blur the lines between black and white, right and wrong, standard and non-standard english. In my lesson I hope to deconstruct the negative connotations often associated with certain American dialects. There is a quiz that I'd like my students to take called "Do You Speak American?"

Another aspect of my indy teach will be to discuss things like "white privledge", language in the context of culture, and sociolinguistic identity.

Possible essential questions:

  • What is standard english?

  • How do we prepare students in the classroom for the professional world of "standard english" while still embracing cultural ties to non-standard english?

  • What are the effects of "code switching"?

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2 comments:

Shannon said...

This is such a rich text. I love that you are taking it on. Your essential questions should lead to a lot of great discussion and debate. I'm fascinated so far. Looking forward to learning more about your plans.

September 25, 2007 at 7:50 PM
ruggermichigan3 said...

Are able to look at the social structure of dialects in America. It is a great way to see the common threads of your speech but and how we say things differently at the same time.
Is the quiz about which regional dialect you speak most of or just to show the social class each student comes from?

October 11, 2007 at 9:01 AM

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