Friday, September 7, 2012
No One Is Safe
As a future educator, I must learn to accept all variations of learners, students, and how they communicate with me and their cohorts. As humans we need to realize and accept that not everyone communicates in the exact same way. Also, each new language or dialect is an opportunity to learn. Knowing this, as teachers, it is our duty to accommodate variations of our own culture so that we might better understand and accept other cultures. I do, however, believe that putting a label on a particular dialect is unnecessary. It would seem, the creole language that's known as AAVE, is merely an attempt to disguise our distaste for the slangy, southern slave, pidgin-style language. When it comes to language, however, in American society it would be difficult to make it up the "corporate ladder" using words such as dat, dem, dey, ma' goh-ness. That's the reality of language. In many ways languages can have authority over other languages. That's not saying that languages have priority over other languages, it only means that there are a majority of people using one language, that language holds all the power. When it comes to teaching, it is our responsibility that each student becomes educated in the proper use, speaking, and writing of English.
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I completely agree with you. I don't think putting a label on any dialect is necessary. I feel that it only segregates English speakers when really, English should be used to bring everyone together. I also like what you said about how we must accept all variations of learners, students, and how they communicate with me and their cohorts. That's so important. We have a challenging job ahead of us.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your interesting perspective! In some ways, I definitely agree. I hadn't considered that teaching students a different approximation of Standard English would be as important for preparing them for the professional world as teaching them to write a resume. The difficult part, I suppose, is teaching them to adhere to Standard English in professional circles without demeaning the vernacular they speak to their peers and families.
ReplyDeleteDear Quentin,
ReplyDeleteYour universal approach of English resonates with my beliefs that English is English no matter what. However, you acknowledge technical mumbo jumbo for which I'd rather not about what "English" is acceptable. So with that ego-booster, I can say that my only question is if we (the educated) are labeling AAVE as to not assimilate with SAE, can it be asked that traditional AAVE speakers would appreciate such diversity from the mainstream? Yay or nay?