I truely never deeply thought about how sensitive my students are to my language. I have always known to watch my tone, but never fully considered how I was being heard and understood. It is true that you loose your studetns when they detect your insincerity or even don't trust you. Listening to my students is something I have done, but now know I need to do much more of. I have done a turn around since my first year of teaching. I do remenber loosing a few students my first year when I had a hard time knowing how to connect with them. I still have lots to learn, but see a big difference in how my students respond to me now that I have learned more about how to build my students trust and give them "fair opportunities." It is true that teachers are listened to more than they think they are. When my students are at the puppet station, I hear them replaying and acting out things that I have said and done in the classroom. They are reinforcing the "teacher talk" they hear.
There are so many Julia's out there that are afraid of not knowing the right answers to a question so they just don't speak up. I was one of them and yes I was afraid of what the teacher and even my peers would think about the things I said. I had many teachers who created an open and giving environment, but the fear of being wrong and humiliated stopped me from speaking out. A child doesn't understand that intelligent guessing is more important than avoiding learning.
Standard testing gives false information to some degree. The students that were supposed to answer the CBESET test, is an example of how testing is not 100% accurate. I just wonder the percentage of questions students answer incorrectly on tests just based on their sensibilities.
I agree with Knols statement that "Teaching is a matter of craft, experience, and art, which makes teaching well a continuing challenge." To earn student's trust and respect is a hard skill for some to aquire and comes more naturally for others. The "topsy-turvy" art of being a consciouencious listener is definately an art and it makes sense that lovers do wonder if what they say affects their partner.
I don't speak about religion in my room except during times it fits in the curriculum, but I never thought about how the children turn against you if they disagree with your religious beliefs. As teachers we have to be so careful with the language we use. An example they gave in the book was telling parents, "you people have disrespectful children" which was implying that all the parents children were disrespectful. Teachers do need to watch their talking skills since some comments could seem racist.
In 1974, the Conference on College Composition and Communication passed a policy resolution, "The Sudents' Right to Their Own Language". Smiterman suggests this policy was failed to be acted upon and now we must re-act. Smiterman suggests a language policy that has three parts. 1. reinforce the language of wider communication; 2. promote and extend the legitimacy of mother tongue languages and dialects; and 3. promote the acqusition of one or more foreign languages, preferably those spoken in the Third World.
I agree with point two that we need to teach students by taking into account their culture and background. I was very interested in point three and agree that we should learn more than one language. I was disheartened when foreign language was taken out of our schoos. Our principal is trying to make Spanish a specialist choice for us next year. I hope we get this.
It hurts me to hear stories such as the one about the students who had won the award for the best newspaper, but felt too inferior to speak because of their language. I like Wynne's statement, "If we want these children to be socially and economically mobile in mainstream culture, we must teach the standard English; yet, if we reject them by rejecting the language they grew up with, we alienate them from the very places where they could learn the standard dialect. I agree that we need to teach SE to our students, but what is the best way to teach it without alienating them from who they are and damanging their self-esteem? I do agree with Rokeach's statement that, " by fostering prejudice such a language biases, we stifle all students' cognitive development."
Even the African American students said the SE is the "proper or correct" English to use. Colleges need to continue classes such as this one. I agree with Wynne that it would be failure not to discuss the political ramifications of language use and acceptance to the students.
So now I wonder if any of you have awesome ways of teaching SE to your students, but still are respectful to their mother language?
Linda Younts
Comments (25)
Linda,
When you mentioned testing, that immediately made me think about how the testing craze has actually set up students, in some ways, to feel inferior. As they learn that there is ONE RIGHT ANSWER, they may grow less confident in their abilities to make meaning in different sorts of ways.
To respond to your last question, I'm not sure what those methods would look like. What I believe the book to be telling us is that it is more of a DISPOSITION rather than simply a matter of methods. What do you think?
Alecia
Posted by Prof. Alecia Jackson | June 2, 2007 11:43 AM
Posted on June 2, 2007 11:43
linda,
i teach kindergarten and the standard course of study is wonderful for kindergarten children when it comes to holidays, traditions, cultures and celebrations. we are the only grade level in elementary school that actually can teach these topics in the social studies curriculum. i dont have awesome ideas, i am just able to pull in discussions and activites with my children based on this topic. just think of what you can do with cinco de mayo and hispanic five year olds. all the children get so excited about celebrating with our hispanic friends. we write about our experiences. we listen to the spanish language. we count...read...sing. young children are so open to cultures and they get so excited! i dont know what grade level you teach and of course i dont know exactly the standards you have to meet. wouldnt it be great if there was an example of great lesson for each grade level that could give each of us ideas. teacher are creative. sometimes we just need one awesome example.
donna byrd-wyatt
Posted by donna byrd-wyatt | June 2, 2007 10:44 PM
Posted on June 2, 2007 22:44
Linda,
I do not have an awesome way of teaching Standard English, but the reading assignments from this class have certainly given me some new ideas. One idea is examine other languages and dialects as the teacher did from the previous chapter. We could even have our students read short segments from books, listen to tape recordings, act out skits or plays, or watch short films in other dialects. It could be interesting to have children watch a short film and then act it out in another dialect. Think of the fun children would have learning from these dialects. It could be a taste of another culture.
I know when I taught Japanese, the first thing we did was look at what was different and what was similiar about Japanese and English. I would ask the question if were Japanese trying to learn English what would do you think would be difficult based on the language differences? I think this may have lead to greater sensitivity to non-native speakers of English.
I think the main point is to keep talking about these ideas when ever and where ever we can. The more people who understand that understanding is more important than perfect grammar, we will be better off.
I remember when I was in Japan, many Japanese would go to great effort to try to understand my Japanese. The same needs to be true of Americans. When a non-native speaker tries to communicate in English, we need to take time to try to understand. I have seen many people who would not try to understand unless it was perfect English. It saddened me to see communication break down because the American, in this case, would not reach out and try. This is heart breaking.
Posted by Laura Wollpert | June 4, 2007 11:18 AM
Posted on June 4, 2007 11:18
Isn't it funny and amazing how much we learn from year to year. After reading these chapters and your comments, i think back to my first year. I remember one particular child who did everything in her power to turn my words around and behave to get negative attention. Of course, being a first year teacher, she constantly won my attention. I finally got some advice from my mentor teacher and began ignoring her negative responses and behaviors. After about 2 weeks, she had a total turn-around. Just based on my "killing her with kindness" language and attitude, i gained her respect. Once i gained her respect, she was a different student. If teachers remember that kids are kids and we don't stoop to their level, it makes a world of difference. This relates to language as well. I basically learned how to topsy-turvy with her. I listened very carefully to my own voice, tone and language, and it changed how she behaved toward me. Language is so powerful.
As for any ideas about how to teach SE without killing their mother tongue, i'm struggling with the same question. I really liked the idea from a previous chapter about having a mini language study near the beginning of the year. The kids would interview family members, do some research into their own language culture, and present their findings. I think as long as we make the kids aware of other dialects and languages, and let them know that all are beautiful and important, we could teach SE with a little less resistance. Good post!
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