Recently, I was reading a post from a blog "English with Jennifer- a blog for teachers". In it, she dealt with dialect in the classrooms of the developed countries where there is a real pot pourri of languages and nuances of the same language. As I read, I realized that she was addressing the challenge with different pronunciations and accents, especially when considering Americans and the British from different parts of the country. Jennifer is of the view that students should be made aware of the many differences in pronunciation. She gave an example. She pronounces 'cot' and 'caught' the same way. Obviously, she recognizes that in a classroom, the teacher must be consistent with whichever pronunciation the student is exposed to daily. Consistency is the key. The teacher must be aware of his/her accent and pronunciation of words. Tape recordings are to be used to expose students to other pronunciations or accents.
When I think of our local context, our situation is different. Our main concern is not accent but sentence structure. Consider this: Tobagonians say "Ah going home back." while Trinis say "Ah going back home." Then we have "The house big, big." for "The house is very big." Of course we know that we don't tell the students that they are speaking badly. We simply ask them to say it another or a different way. Our language is colourful and sometimes it's the best language to use in a given situation. However, we need to prepare our students to use the language that most of the world uses. After all, we do live in a global village. I am still grappling with the 'how' in using the vernacular in our classrooms. I wish that I could see a lesson plan. Maybe I should ask Dr. James (: I like a particular statement that is made in Jennifer's blog. It says that the ultimate goal is to be understood and not to adopt a certain accent. In our context, the ultimate goal is for our students to know when to use the dialect and when to use the standard English.
Embrace the Creole!
ReplyDeleteIn almost all classrooms in Trinidad there exist two codes, Standard English, the official of education and Trinidadian Creole. Whenever the Creole is used as a language of instruction the result is almost always a negative reaction. There is a need to assess the degree of negativity or positivity towards both codes. It is believed that even though the official code receives attention in the teaching and learning scenario not enough attention is given to the Creole even though it is the native language of the majority of speakers. Teachers’ language attitude towards Creole usage in the classroom, need to be examined, in order to put an end to the stereotype.
I do agree with you and firmly believe that the key is to get children to realize that there exists two codes and be able to code switch, that is, know when, where and how to use each code.
From one Heather to another.
ReplyDeleteLet,s face it.A good Trinidadian dialect can make the difference between whether we are believed and what type of response we will receive.Picture this scenario.Someone comes to you and says"I am in excrutiating pain. At the same time another person comes up and says"Mih head hurting bad,bad."Who would you respond to first? Most likely the one who said "bad, bad."since we know that the repetition of the word bad means that the person is in real pain. It's the same thing the other person said but somehow it does not portray the same kind of urgency.
On a serious note though,I often wonder how people of my generation know how to speak Standard English when the situation demands it . We also know when to use dialect according to the company we are in.Students nowadays don't seem to know when to make the switch. I strongly believe that the Media has a great part to play. I say this because many of our talk show hosts insist on speaking the dialect to get their views across. You know that children live what they learn and learn what they live. They are easily influenced by these so called "role models."The language of the internet is also robbing our students of opportunities to speak,read and write standard English.Many of our students use a language when sending texts to one another that seem like a foreign language to me.I often need to have the language translated but it is so easy and natural for our students to read and understand.WYSIWYG. You know what I mean.
Hi Ms. Raphael,
ReplyDeleteMaybe it is time that serious consideration from the Ministry level be given to addressing this issue on the use of Creole in the classrooms. Teachers are expressing negative attitudes probably because they are none the wiser. It may be beneficial to them if included in the programme at Teacher Training institutions are courses on creole in the classroom. Maybe lecturers like Dr. James should conduct some of these courses. The more enlightnened they become, hopefully the less negative they would be toward the use of creole in the classroom.
Hi Heather, my namesake. What you wrote had me nodding my head. It's true. Our students have poor examples of Standard English from some of their radio talk hosts. I am not saying that our dialect should not be used on the air but at the same time our children must be exposed to
ReplyDeletegood examples if they are to improve.
This means that students from a home where Standard English is not used often are at a disadvantage but the child whose parents and other family members can code switch have the edge. If only we had a programme like the BBC radio programme where students could be exposed to regular diet of Standard English. The onus is on us as teachers to help our students appreciate the value and importance of code switching.
Remember ladies that Standard English is the language we use for academia success. We need to teach our students the structure of both so to avoid combining or mixing both structures together. If they know that the vernacular is a different language from the Standard English although the words might sound alike. We need to be sensitive and don't belittle our students but let them be proud of their native tongue and encourage them to learn a second language (Standard English).
ReplyDeleteIt is good that some of us recognise the creole ant standard english alone. We nned to expose others educators to books by the following authors:
ReplyDeleteDr. Winford James -- The language of Tobago.
Dennis Craig (too many articles and books to name)
Salikoko Mufwene ---The evolution of language
As a Tobagonian growing up in the east or country side of the island I am fully emersed in the creole but on the other hand we were always taught to switch codes. In addition, we were also taught that we do not write the way we speak. This has helped me a lot in my classroom.As such, more needs to be don to help teachers change their atitude towards the creole, our first language.Also for them to understand that both are dialect--a broke form of english.
Heather, I am of the firm belief that Standard English is our second language and should be taught as such. Our mother tongue is the Creole which we learnt at home, and then due to schooling we had to learn the Standard English. Personally, I try to make a comparison between Standard English and Creole for the students. I usually preface my comparison by stating: "This is the way we say it in the Creole, but in the Standard English we say..." It is difficult for students to suddenly make the transition and become fluent speakers and writers of the Standard English. It takes a lot of practice like any other foreign language. Therefore we must encourage the students to practise, practise, practise.
ReplyDeleteHi Roxanne, indeed you were quite fortunate to have that environment in which switchin codes was the norm. That's great and so as a result, you appreciated the use of the Standard English as you grew up. I myself had a similar upbringing. Concerning not writing the way we speak, this is something I always told my parents at PTAs. I would even give them a classic example. Children often wrote for me "It had a man..." and so they were constantly reminded that we write differently from the way we speak.
ReplyDeleteMaybe when we engage them in more authentic writing and when they want themselves to be understood on their blogs and wikis, maybe now they would understand what we are trying to teach them.
Hi, Janice, what you say is so true. In my teaching experience, I too would have to also try to impress upon their minds the need to speak differntly when the situation warrants it. So, when they use the dialect, I would ask them "Can you say that in a different way?
ReplyDeleteno longer can we say that they are speaking bad English. No our language is so colourful and as Heather, my namesake, said above, sometimes some things are best expressed in creole. Yes, we must teach the Standard English for obvious reasons but as Ms. Raphael said let us "embrace the creole"!
Life is like a bennie ball; sweet, round and hard. Have you ever tried learning a third language other than Standard English? I have and I most attest it was difficult. I speak three languages, Creole(My first language), Standard English and Spanish. And I must confess that learning another language other than my native tongue was hard and to some extent very shameful. When other persons make your language feel inferior and theirs superior there is a language barrier.
ReplyDeleteErrol Miller in his prelude in the State of the Art Review on Reading in the Caribbean believes that students who are exposed to English as their Second Language, should be given instructions in their native tongues, since it is the language that they hear most frequently. It might sound silly but I tend to agree with him; we should move children from the known to the unknown. At Teachers' College, my Reading Lecturer, Mr. Mohammed explained to us that the best strategy to use to get creole speakers to become competent speakers of Standard English is the transitional strategy. In this activity students are exposed to their dialect and are given opportunities to translate their dialect to Standard English. Too be quite honest with you i love the Creole and feel very comfortable speaking in it, if this is the case for me why cant we write and do our exams using the creole??????????????