Introducing 

Prezi AI.

Your new presentation assistant.

Refine, enhance, and tailor your content, source relevant images, and edit visuals quicker than ever before.

Loading…
Transcript

African American Vernacular English & Standard English

Four Steps Toward Integrating AAVE into the Classroom

Teacher, Educate Thyself

Essential Questions

  • Teacher, Educate Thyself
  • Incorporate Multiculturalism into the Classroom
  • Create a Learning Environment Rich in Oral Language
  • Encourage and Demonstrate Code-Switching in the Classroom
  • AAVE is not slang, improper grammar, or broken English
  • The child who speaks in a vernacular dialect is not making language errors; instead, she or he is speaking correctly in the language of the home discourse community
  • Ignorance: this can be passed on to students who will interpret it as "one is better than the other"
  • What exactly is African American Vernacular English (AAVE)?
  • How can I create a classroom environment that genuinely respects the diverse home languages of my students?
  • Will I be harming students if I encourage them to incorporate AAVE into their oral and written work?
  • How can I teach standard English while showing respect for African American student's natural vernacular?
  • What is code switching and how can it be utilized in the classroom?
  • How does using AAVE in the classroom affect my students literacy development?

Objectives

Common Patterns

  • Teachers must understand the unique features of AAVE
  • Teachers must teach in a way that shows respect and appreciation for AAVE
  • Teachers need to understand that AAVE is another form of English and is culturally based within our society
  • Students understand the importance of code-switching and are effectively able to code-switch in the classroom and in society
  • Subject-verb agreement
  • Mama walk the dog everyday.
  • Showing past time
  • I seen the movie
  • Possessive
  • My sister friend came over
  • Showing plurality
  • It take 24 hour to rotate

Create a Learning Environment Rich in Oral Language

Encourage and Demonstrate Code-Switching

Incorporate Multiculturalism into the Classroom

  • Students proficient in oral language are also more proficient in ready and writing
  • Engage students in small group discussions, brainstorming, word games, choral reading, debates, and storytelling's.
  • Read texts aloud to students- this will help them to put the language into context
  • It is important to engage students in activities that link the literacy activities that occur at home with those in school
  • Code switching: the ability to choose the language variety appropriate to the time, place, audience, and communicative purpose
  • Facilitate discussions with students about different linguistic styles and the situational appropriateness of each
  • The importance of contrasting: when a teacher helps the students contrast the structure of AAVE and Standard English, their success in writing Standard English improves by 59%
  • By encouraging code-switching in the classroom, we help create effective writers and speakers.
  • To respect AAVE in the classroom, we must create a learning environment that values diversity in experience, culture, and language.
  • Our school system is failing our students:
  • Only 56% of African American students graduate from high school
  • The hypercorrection, avoidance, or punishment of students' use of language is not helping
  • Students are more likely to perform successfully at school where there is a greater correspondence between their cultural backgrounds and school experiences

Sources

Example

  • Students could work in pairs to make sense of instructions and then review their interpretations with other pairs or the entire class

How to do this?

  • Incorporate texts that use a variety of styles, voices, and languages.
  • Alice Walker's The Color Purple
  • Langston Hughes Cora Unashamed
  • Introduce students to works that incorporate varieties of English so that they have access to the writing of authentic writers that reflects the real world.

"Man corrupt everything, say Shug. He on your box of grits in your head, and all over the radio. He try to make you think he everywhere. Soon as you think he everywhere, you think he God. But he ain't. Whenever you trying to pray, and man plop himself on the other end of it, tell him to git lost, say Shug. Conjure up flowers, wind, water, a big rock. / But this hard work, let me tell you. He been there so long, he don't want to budge. He threaten lightening, floods and earth-quakes. Us fight. I hardly pray at all. Every time I conjure up a rock, I throw it." Part 4, pg. 179

  • Clyde, J. (2005). Teaching Standard American English Using the Language of African American Vernacular English. Language Arts Journal of Michigan, 21(2), 66-71. Retrieved from http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1201&context=lajm
  • Perez, S. (1999). Using Ebonics or Black English as a Bridge to Teaching Standard English. Classroom Leadership, 2(7). Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/classroom-leadership/apr1999/Using-Ebonics-or-Black-English-as-a-Bridge-to-Teaching-Standard-English.aspx
  • Pullum, G. (n.d.). African American Vernacular English is not Standard English with Mistakes. The Workings of Language, 40-58. Retrieved from http://web.stanford.edu/~zwicky/aave-is-not-se-with-mistakes.pdf
  • Wheeler, R. (2008). Becoming Adept at Code-Switching. Poverty and Learning, 65(7), 54-58. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/apr08/vol65/num07/Becoming_Adept_at_Code-Switching.aspx
  • Whitney, J. (2005). Five Easy Pieces: Steps toward Integrating AAVE into the Classroom. English Journal, 94(5), 64-69. Retrieved from http://www.csun.edu/~krowlands/Content/Academic_Resources/Language/About%20Language/Whitney-African%20American%20Vernacular.pdf--
Learn more about creating dynamic, engaging presentations with Prezi