Texas Twang

Here's a great link to a site with examples of dialect from state to state.  On NBC Nightly news there was a segment on Texas twang tonight--it's amazing how with our class discussions, I am now picking up on more little differences in language diversity w/in our own language.  Here's the link:http://web.ku.edu/~idea/northamerica/usa/texas/texas.htm

Assignment 5 (repost) No Bedtime

A is for apple…, Z is for zebra        

            In comparison to the article by Shirley Brice Heath, my early language acquisition was probably most like the description of Maintown, but I also have memories similar to the descriptions of Roadville and Trackton.  As Ms. Heath discussed, much depends on your home life and your community.  My mom’s parents are both university graduates—my grandma was a librarian and my grandpa was a university professor.  Conversely, my dad’s parents were farmers (my grandmother is from Oklahoma and is ethnically Native American, Irish, and Welsh; and my grandfather is a first-generation Danish farmer—neither of them have more than a high school education, or a terrific grasp of the rules of the English language).  Like the Maintown example, my parents and my mom’s parents reinforced grammar and annunciation by modeling and providing feedback in the form of correcting my speech when I said something incorrectly.  I do not ever remember my parents using baby talk, and after talking with my mom, I know they purposefully talked to my brothers and I using ‘proper’ English grammar, and worked with us as soon as we were talking to pronounce words correctly by sounding them out.

            My dad’s parents, on the other hand, were much more like the Trackton example; they spoke mostly with adults and when they did talk to me or my brothers it was often in the form of a story, but for the most part they were not very actively engaged with my learning how to speak, read, or write.  To this day, my grandma, on my dad’s side, pronounces California as ‘Cal-i-forny’ and Colorado as ‘Call-a-rad-a.’  They both are great story-tellers, and have always had a knack for stretching the truth in a fun sort of way—the same way in which you might try to embellish a story, or make up something ludicrous while trying to maintain a poker face.          

            I grew up on a crop and dairy farm in the Midwest.  The community was made up of a town of about 1200 people surrounded by small farms.  My dad was a math teacher/farmer and my mom was a stay-at-home mom.  Before going to school, I remember learning how to speak before learning how to read and write.  Some of my first interactions with language were learning the alphabet; I remember my parents and grandparents showing me cards with pictures of animals, trees, cars, etc. with the word representing the picture below it.  In order to memorize my ABC’s, I was taught to repeat them in a sing-song sort of way that is probably typical of many other people in this class.  I also remember mimicking, or repeating each word after my parents or grandparents said them.  Similar to the Maintown example in our reading, I remember taking walks around the farm or in town and having my parents or grandparents (on my mom’s side) name something and then have me repeat it back to them.  They also read books with me; pointing their finger at each word, or parts of words as they read aloud, and then had me repeat them.  I also recall learning to sing along to basic songs or nursery rhymes, like ring-around-the-rosy and Peter, Peter pumpkin eater. 

            Before starting school, my interactions with other kids consisted mostly of family, but I did go to Sunday school, and took swimming and skiing lessons.  So I did have some experience communicating in situations that prepared me for the classroom environment.  By the time I started kindergarten I had learned my ABC’s, how to count to 100, and was able to read and write my name and a few other basic words.  As for making sense, I believe my dad’s parents instilled a bit of their ‘fish-story’ like sense of humor in me because I remember just making things up when teachers asked questions that I had no clue as to what the right answer was.  Looking back, I believe this has helped me over the long run to make inferences, be creative and make the infamous ‘educated guess.’

             

Assignment 4: Reflection on dialect project

Dialectical Diversity

            From the class presentations on the four English dialects, I find a common thread connecting teaching and understanding language to be learning how to listen to, read and write each dialect.  Our class discussions about trying not to teach in such a way that makes students feel inferior due to their dialect is magnified when thinking that one of our goals will be to have each of them writing in SAE, regardless of their dialect.

            From my own research on Indian English, I found it extremely difficult to know how to say many of the words that I was reading.  By listening to video and audio clips, I was able to get a much better understanding of how the language sounds.  This leads me to appreciate efforts in the field of linguistics of creating a phonetic alphabet.  By not knowing how to pronounce many of the Hindi words written in English, I learned that I have some cultural biases which affect the way in which I read English.  Furthermore, I can see how the English language is very complex due to the different sounds letters, and combinations of letters make.  For example, knowing the difference between “th” in words like “there” and “with,” what sound does “ph” make, what’s the difference between “read” in the statements “I read” and “she read,” all point to the intricacies of trying to learn and teach SAE.  Plus, when studying Indian English there is the spelling differences between British English and American English: realise versus realize, traveling versus travelling, etc.  These examples plus the examples presented by the other groups make the idea of standardizing written language very appealing.  Yet the differences between written languages are inseparable from the identity of the people writing and speaking them, so it may be best to be able to learn how to read phonetic translations and thus keep the dialectical diversity intact.

            Our classroom discussions and presentations have shown me how part of our jobs as English teachers is to always remember that we are teaching language, and with that it is important to discuss with our students the diversity of all languages and especially the diversity within the English language.  In order to accomplish this it will be important to provide both written and audio examples.  Incorporating a project on dialectical differences (like the one we just did) will help prepare our students to have a better grasp of their dialect and an appreciation of others’ dialects. 

Assignment 3

Great Divide: correct or not

            The many dialects of English should cause every English teacher to pause, and listen to their students, as well as review their written work. 

            From teaching ESL to reading Mordaunt’s, Bidialectalism  in the classroom: the case of African-American English, I can see that as teachers of English we must be open to multiple dialects in the classroom, and leave our prejudices regarding different dialects at the door.  Yet as Mordaunt points out, there is a need to help all students become aware of standardized, English vernacular in order to open the door to academic, social, and economic success.  

            On the one hand, we need to be open to the use of all dialects in order to foster a positive learning environment.  While on the other hand, we need to make sure that we do not, as Jesse Jackson and Louis Farrakan note, engage in “teaching down” to students that are not familiar with by SAE by not familiarizing them with SAE and provide them with positive feedback on how to improve their work and understanding of SAE.

            It’s important to value all dialects and avoid causing students to feel inferior.  Discussing the differences between informal and formal communication, such as written, business contracts, is important for the foundation of understanding that there are rules for all languages.  It is imperative that we engage our students with the message that the English language has different dialects, and for academic and many professional purposes, SAE is the standard-bearer by which their work with the English language will be judged.   

Assignment 2

Twain’s lingo

            Twain’s A True Story, Repeated Word for Word as I heard it is written in a style described best by its title.  The words “as I heard it,” from the title, do a great job expressing the phonetic style in which Twain is able to write the dialogue between the characters Aunt Rachel and Mr. C.   

            Having the benefit of also having read the articles on AAVE, I can identify many aspects of Aunt Rachel’s speech relating to AAVE: dropping consonants at the end of words, changing the “th” sound to the “d” sound or the “f” sound, and omitting some of the forms of “to be.”  Compared to the parlance of modern day AAVE, Twain reveals some linguistic differences in Aunt Rachel’s speech such as the run-on sentence structure that, along with historical references to slavery, provides some indication that her character may not be familiar with written English.  Yet the syntax of her speech reveals it to be a dialect of English; her sentence structure follows the same subject verb agreement as standard, American English.

            I had to read Twain’s story a few times to get a good sense of the meaning of most of Aunt Rachel’s words, and there are still some words that I am not sure of. 

 

Assignment 1

            Teaching English at any level involves teaching how to communicate using language, and understanding what others are communicating through their use of language.  Understanding English in terms of communication lends itself to teaching that there are many ways to communicate through language, including: speaking, reading and writing.  These three areas should all be discussed in English classrooms.

            How we communicate often depends on who we are communicating with, or our audience.  Audience influences the style of language one uses when communicating, and as teachers it is important to teach that there are different language styles for speaking and writing that depend on the audience.  Along with style, written language also requires understanding that there are conventional formats for communicating information through language.  Examples of written language for which style and format are essential include: resumes, letters, arguments/opinions (persuasive language), expositions, and news reports.  Essential to teaching any language is explaining how audience plays an important role in determining the style of language to incorporate into communication.   An understanding of how language choice is connected to audience naturally leads to understanding how language usage reflects the identity of the person who is speaking or writing.

            As teachers of English language, we need to be equipping our students with an understanding of how to best communicate their identity through their use of language—understanding that depending on their audience, they will need to be able to adjust their style and format in order to best communicate their grasp of the English language, and therefore their identity.  Communicating through language is vital to students’ success in class and in the world as a whole.  Some topics that must be covered to increase students’ success in using language include: vocabulary, grammar, and style.  Plus they must be provided with examples of various forms of written and spoken language and opportunities to practice creating their own examples and then be provided with feedback on their work, and then the opportunity to reflect on the feedback and make changes in order to improve their work.  This ‘feedback’ loop is essential for growth in learning in all classes.

Introduction

            Hi, my name is Ross Ellis. I am a new addition to this class (started Monday, 9/10), and am looking forward to working in a class filled with other, future English teachers.  I am trying to catch-up reading the class materials, blogs, and doing some blogging of my own—please bear with me for this week.

            I am originally from Minnesota, but went to high school in Columbia Falls, MT.  Following high school, I went to The University of Montana-Missoula and received my BA in English literature with a minor in economics in 2000.  Since then I have enjoyed working in a few different fields before making the choice to become a secondary education English teacher.  To make a long story short, here is the condensed series of events.

            After college, I worked as an action photographer with Rocky Mountain Photography; I took action shots of whitewater rafters in West Glacier during the summer and ski and snowboard racers atop Big Mountain in the winter.  This was a great job, but left me with some down time during the spring and fall shoulder seasons, so I got into teaching byway of becoming a substitute teacher in the flathead in 2001.  Substitute teaching led to me pursuing a job teaching English as a second language in Xi’an, China from 2003-2004.  My experience teaching in China got me hooked on teaching, and helped me to realize that I have a passion for working in the field of education. 

            I returned to the states to start a career as a trainer with The American Red Cross Blood Services in Missoula.  I worked with The Red Cross from 2004-2009.  In 2009, the economy crashed and with it, my job as a trainer was replaced by an online training program out of Tucson, AZ.  I enjoyed working with The Red Cross, but it taught me the difference between teaching and training.  Teaching someone to think for themselves is very different than training someone to methodically perform a series of steps.  However, I find both teaching and training to be complementary skills for working in the classroom.

            Oddly enough, the same online revolution that cost me my job with The Red Cross provided me with the opportunity to pursue my passion for teaching.  After spending a couple of years working as a carpenter and doing some odd jobs, I began my master’s in education at Montana State University through an online program called the Northern Plains Transition to Teaching program (NPTT).  I’ve been living in Kalispell, MT and working as a substitute teacher while taking classes with NPTT since the spring of 2011. 

            My involvement with NPTT has brought me here to Bozeman, where I am preparing for student teaching next spring.  I really look forward to working with all of you in a traditional classroom.  Now it’s time to get back to playing catch-up.