As I was reading through the microstrategies that Kuma provides at the end of each chapter, I came upon one that made me laugh uncontrollably. A Hispanic student had just arrived to the US and went to go get a coca cola from the vending machine. When he put 10 cents in to the machine which read, "D-I-M-E", he thought it said, "Dime" which translates "tell me." He went up to the vending machine and said, "Una coca cola por favor" which means, "A coca cola please." This is an example of linguistic/cultural misunderstanding. Although these misunderstandings may be very comical, sometimes it may not be the case. Therefore, it is very important as a prospective teacher to ensure social relevance in to my classroom.
Lisa Delpit (1990, p.53) explains, "It is the responsibility of teachers to recognize that the linguistic form a student brings to school is intimately connected with loved ones, community, and personal identity. To suggest that this form is 'wrong' or, ever worse, ignorant, is to suggest that something is wrong with the student and his or her family." This quote really portrays a common misconception I have at times. For example, a few days ago I was watching MTV and the host was using African American Vernacular and I thought, "Why is she not code switching? She is on live television." In other words, I basically said, "She is wrong for not code switching because she is on live television when she should be code switching to standard American English." Chapter 11 reassured me that in some cases, it is not necessary to code switch to standard American English. In all, it is important to be aware of ALL my students' backgrounds and integrate their culture in to my lessons to ensure social relevance. Some ways I can do this is by targeting culture materials that use the culture of a country where English is spoken as a first language; source culture materials that draw on learners' own culture as content; and integrate target culture materials that use a variety of cultures in English an non-English-speaking countries around the world.
I will admit, I often wonder why people won't code switch and am constantly reminding myself that it is not always necessary. We need to be incorporate these different dialects and bring them into our classrooms. This reminded me of the video we saw in class where the students were practicing code switching to academic English and explaining when that is and is not appropriate. I think that we could also use this lesson!
ReplyDeleteTina, I think both of your anecdotes are spot on and certainly effective at illustrating Kuma's points about the importance of social relevance. Well done!
ReplyDeleteTina,
ReplyDeleteI also loved that example as well! I read that and had a good laugh, too. I could not help to think that I would probably do something similar if I was in that child's situation. Also, I really liked your example about the woman who was using AAVE verses ASE. Sometimes I am guilty myself for asking similar questions when I come in contact with linguistically diverse individuals.