The Way We Talk- Tracy Icenhour
As I read the articles by Dowdy and Delpit I could see the connection very clearly. I find it interesting how these two authors have shown the intense struggle within people to fit in and at the same time show all they have to sacrifice to do so. In both of these articles having to comply or change who you are to be part of the crowd made them all miserable. Maya was able to be herself and feel confident once she changed to a school were she was accepted and could speak her way. In the Dowdy article it seems she too was miserable trying to “curse in white” to please her mother and to be a “good girl.”
These articles have brought up so many points that I have been learning in Dr. Gill’s class about the English language and the way we all communicate. He has said that we should not correct our students when they are speaking their own dialect. He has pointed out that all dialects are correct that no one is better than another, just different. I agree with him completely. I have struggled all my life and even more so since I entered the teaching world with having to “code switch” when I am at school. In the beginning, I was very stressed about speaking good Standard English that I was miserable. I teach most effectively when I am myself. Very Southern!
I have found that my students code switch even in third grade. They carry on conversations with each other and in the next breath ask me a question using correct English and grammar without having to think about it.
Nobody speaks book language; I feel it is important to know how to write correctly and how to communicate effectively, but speaking alone should never be used to decide ones cognitive ability. We all have our own way of speaking with our friends and family, just as we have a way of speaking when we are teaching. I do my best to model for my students the proper use of English and grammar. I must admit this has been a real struggle for me. My southern is strong “ya’ll”. I believe those of you who have been in class with me can agree with that. However, I know my students must be able to speak and write using proper English and grammar. It is required in the professional world I believe because the job market is so competitive.
The main thing I feel from this article is that we are not helping students be all they can be when we force them to abandon their mother tongue and take on Standard English. We are telling them from the beginning that they are inferior to or “beneath” us. This can then have a domino effect on their lives causing them many complexes about their identity and their value in the world. I believe they should be able to have their own identity and that they would be more successful learning and reaching out to share their experiences to enrich each class with a variety of experiences when they are able to express themselves in their own natural way without having to translate each word or thought into the “proper words.” There is a time for this, but this does not mean that I should not be modeling and teaching, requiring them to learn to speak and write in proper English and using correct grammar.
Embrace the individual, oh yes! Teach the child. That is my job.
Tracy Icenhour
Comments (4)
You are right Tracy. Nobody speaks book language. I think that is why our children sometimes struggle to write the way the read or even write the way they talk. The two languages are nothing alike. It becomes difficult to express oneself when we are overcome with trying to make it presentable, like “book language.”
It is a shame that you were stressed out at times because you were so worried about your dialect. I too, have had moments in my life where I found it best to just not speak at all to keep from feeling inferior because of the way I talked. When I was in middle school, I was picked on so bad because of how southern I spoke. It just got to the point to where I quit speaking at school to keep people from picking on me. It took me years to regain the speaking out in public back. It was hard to start to speak again and it is still a struggle to speak up in classes and I believe it is all because of that stigma attached that, “people are judging the way I am talking.” I haven’t ever had Dr. Gill, but I was interested in what you were saying about how he spoke about dialects and said that there is no right or wrong way to speak.
Posted by Maria Blevins | June 5, 2010 8:35 PM
Posted on June 5, 2010 20:35
Tracy,
I think that all teachers must code switch. I tell my students all the time that teachers make mistakes too. I believe that it is just as hard for us to get up in front of our students and always speak or write correctly. I didn't think about the difference in how we use language in speaking, reading and writing being different when reading these articles. That is a great persepective. The way that we speak is much different from book language. I think that a wonderful way that teachers could help students to understand various dialects in comparison to book language would be the Night Before Christmas books. There are several of these that are could be used to intoduce various dialects to students (Irish, Cajun, etc). What a great discussion that could be in an upper elementary school (or higher) room. You could put students in groups and give each a different book to read then discuss. Following that up with a discussion of all the various books and how dialect makes the books different.
Posted by Erin Whisnant | June 6, 2010 11:36 AM
Posted on June 6, 2010 11:36
Tracy, I agree that we often find ourselves, in the eyes of our children, as overseers of this standard form of the language that, as a result, alienates not only them from learning the language, but also from us as teachers as well. I was really interested in the fact that you see your third graders code switching “all the time” because, even though I knew that we develop the essence of the ability at birth, I had simply just never thought about it. How efficient would you say they are? Are there any disconnects at that age group? I teach high school, so I see some serious divisions.
Posted by William Byland | June 6, 2010 1:14 PM
Posted on June 6, 2010 13:14
I agree our jobs as teachers is to embrace the child, meet them where they are and make them grow. That is hard to do as teachers if all we focus on is what they should sound like. Book language and writing language are very different from oral language. Children need to have a voice, they need to feel comfortable to learn and grow. When we take away the dialect that they know and have heard then we hender them. We are saying you are not right you need to speak this way! Why as teachers would we want to stiffle our children!
Angie
Posted by Angie | June 8, 2010 5:59 PM
Posted on June 8, 2010 17:59