Assignment 10 Activities

Topic 1: Language Variation in the U.S
-I have always been intrigued by all of the different accents in the United States! I have family friends who live in the New England States and they they never pronounce their ending -r.  I have a good friend from Texas and I love his accent.  His talks fast and you know that he is "southern".  When listening to the different accents there are some that you recognize for sure because you are familiar with the accent being "southern",  "Californian" or "Bostonian".  I was surprised by others because they are similar to the standard English dialect and I sould not tell a difference. I believe that the IPA is important for areas which have a strong community dialect.  It would make learning and understanding the English language much easier.  My mother-in-law is from New Jersey and she has the strong Italian-Jersey accent...I still think that I could use the IPA alphabet to understand some of her words.

Topic 2- What would you do?
I feel that as a Spanish teacher in my school district I am prepared for these interactions, sentiments, etc. I teach in a small town very recently populated by Spanish speakers and I hear the controversies continuously, “This is America. Speak English.” My goal is to slowly impact my students in a positive manner and I find that they are opening up to different languages and cultures. They want to experience the language and interact with others. We recently had a Chinese family move into the district and the students are intrigued. They are always asking to learn new Chinese words and I think it is great that have been extremely accepting. This family is upper middle class and speaks fluent English and Chinese which may also be a factor. We have learned that socio-economic status, education, etc. play a role in the experiences of the learner. Some students have it more difficult than others, they worked instead of go to school or do not want to speak the white language” (Topic B). It is important to stay positive by continuously advocating for the needs of your students

Topic 3: Do you speak American?
America is compiled of different dialects and accents.  One concept in the PBS articles is the African American dialect.  I hear this dialect all of the time in the music that my students are interested in and I know that they speak it to make a statement.  There are students which this language or dialect is all that they have ever known.  In Topic B, Jamal Brown, an African American student was confused when he felt that his teacher wanted him to speak "white".  It is also found that not just black people speak Black English.  All Americans speak some sort of English.  Some speak fast, some slow, or some pronounce letters differently than others.  In some way it is all the English language because it is understood by English speakers.