LANGUAGE COMPARISON PRESENTATION

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http://www.slideshare.net/carinne27/language-comparison-presentation-10279369




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Areas of the word where
English is spoken
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Week 10 Sociolinguistics

Activity Topic 1

Activity 1: Language Variation in the US

I loved the “Can You Guess Where I Am From?” game from the Language Trainers website! Accents and dialects are a fascinating concept. Dialect can vary based on ethnicity or it can be regional. From a personal point of view IPA could be used to capture my “old” New York accent when I used to say the word “water”. I would say it like “wahduh”. Any wor that ended with –er was pronounced like –uh. My grandmother had a New England accent. We used to tease her all the time to say “park my car in the garage”. She would say it like “pahk my cah in the garahge”. I have cousins that live in the Midwest. They have an accent too. It was fun to go through and listen to the different accents depending on the region.

Activity Topic 2

Activity 1: What would you do?

After watching the video, “What Would You Do?” I was not surprised by the behavior of some of the people. I see that kind of attitude here in the Hazleton Area a lot. Many people are of the opinion that the Hispanics come here illegally and collect welfare or come to steal our jobs. I hear this kind of talk in my own school. As a teacher it is sometimes difficult when I hear comments from other teachers about certain races of our students and how certain behaviors are “typical”. I try to gauge the situation and have to make on the spot decisions about what is appropriate to respond, when and if it is appropriate to respond. I have to work with these people everyday…they are not random people in a deli so it make the situation more difficult. I have not always been one to think before I speak and if I was one of the people in that deli I know for sure I would have spoken up....loudly! In a professional work environment there is an expectation of civility that makes that type of situation different. From personal experience i have been on the receiving end of discrimination and I know what it feels like. I am from “the city” and have been treated badly by my peers because of that when I first moved to Pennsylvania as a teenager. I was called a "gangster" and teased about my funny accent. I learned that there are all kinds of discrimination, not just based on race. Many adults were even cruel to my mother at her job because she was a “city transplant”. It saddens me that the attitudes of some adults could be passed on to their children and have a negative effect on the atmosphere in my classroom. I see less of this in the children nowadays because there are now so many city people as well as a growing population of Latinos in our area but the adults are very rigid and do not like the changes in the demographic. I have to admit that the children, in my school in particular, are VERY accepting and welcoming to those that are different. We have a very diverse population and I very rarely see my kids treat each other badly because of their ethnicity or abilities/disabilities. I hope that their attitudes continue to stay this way and as their teacher I hope to be a driving influence to encourage them to do so.

Activity 2: Do you speak American?

The information on these websites were very similar to the topics discussed by O’Grady. I did find the question “Can I be fired for speaking Spanish on the job?’ to be interesting. I have gotten dirty looks and comments from colleagues when I give a command or ask a student a question using my limited Spanish speaking abilities. I would have never given a thought to someone being fired for using another language at their job! I couldn’t believe it when I read that! All of the information in these PBS links are very useful for educators that teach language because it is always good to keep up with current information. That is a benefit of the internet that it can keep up with trends and information that is always evolving.

Fisherman Story and Grammar Unit 9

          TOPIC 1

1. His brother bought land last winter, but sold it to the neighbor when the economy crashed. John loves fishing, but longs to be more successful. When he was feeling down, he painted his boat, “Troubled Waters,” blue and shined it up. John asked his brother what he thought of the new look, but his brother just laughed and said, “You’re always fishing for compliments.

Second part of the Fisherman Story re-written:

His brother bought land last winter. He sold it to the neighbor when the the economy was bad.  John loves fishing. He wants to be more successful. John has a boat named “Troubled Waters”. When John was feeling sad, he painted his boat blue and cleaned it up. John asked his bother what he thought of the boat's new look. John’s brother just laughed and said, “You’re always looking for compliments.”

  

2. There are several parts of this story that might be confusing for ELL’s in  regard to words being taken literally or directional words used in different ways:

The economy crashed…students might not understand that this means that he needed money because the country was having money problems.

Longs to be….might be confusing and it would have to be explained that longs for is a term used for wanting something.

Feeling down…might be taken literally and would have to be explained that this means he was sad.

Shined it up…..a student may not understand that the word up in this statement has nothing to do with direction. It would have to be explained that it means to be polished and shiny.

Fishing for compliments…….a student might take this literally and it would have to be explained that fishing means looking.

                                                                               
TOPIC 2

1. Visual Timeline:

________John is a fisherman(simple present)________
________He hasn’t had much luck catching fish the past few weeks (Simple past)__________
________He is hoping to catch more fish tomorrow (simple future)_____________

________________X_______________________X__________________X____________

                   (Simple past)                  (Simple present)          (Simple future)

               had, past few weeks                      is                          tomorrow

 

2.       After watching the video of the TESOL Grammar experts, I do not think that grammar can be acquired through immersion alone. It should be taught through a good balance between direct instruction and immersion. Teaching grammar directly is a good way to introduce and reinforce rules. The teachers should provide opportunities for grammar instruction in an immersed environment in conversational situations and writing. The pendulum seems to swing from one belief to another in regard to teaching grammar as was noted by Keith Folse. This seems to happen a lot in educational topics. Take the phonics vs. whole language approach that has gone back and forth for years. I also like what Michael Swan said…that grammar is not just about memorizing rules. It’s about communication. That is why we need a balance in my opinion.

                                                                                      

Application Questions Week 8

#1 A good school? (Mrs. Thomas and Mrs. Rashid are both parents of students in the district where Mrs. Thomas also teaches.)

Mrs. Thomas: Johnny has Mr. Smith as a teacher next year. I hear he is an excellent teacher.
Mrs. Rashid: He's very nice.
Mrs. T: Are you happy with the school district?
Mrs. Rashid: There are many lovely people in the neighborhood.

It appears that the Maxim of Relavance has been violated by Mrs. Rashid in this dialogue. She may be signaling that she wants to end the conversation because she is not interested in the topic. It may also be that Mrs. Rashid doesn't have anything nice to say about Mr. Smith or the school district and, knowing that Mrs. Thomas works in the district, chooses to give irrevelevant answers to change the subject. And finally, it is possible there is a language barrier between Mrs. Rashid and she doesn't fully understand the questions and provides irrelevant answers because of this.

Grice's Conversational Maxims

As a teenager, I often violated the Maxim of Quantity, especially when answering questions asked by my parents. For example:

As I stand in front of my parents I tap my foot, cross my arms and don’t look either of them in the eye….

My parents: Where are you going tonight?

My reply: Just hanging around.

My parents: Who are you going with?

My reply: You know…everyone.

My parents: When do you expect to be home?

My reply: Sometime before curfew I guess.

The next day…

My parents: So where did you end up going last night?

My reply: Just hanged around.

My parents: Who all went out?

My reply: Everyone…you know.

My parents: Well we are glad you came home safe and on time.

My reply: Yeah...whatever.

I violated this maxim because as a teenager I thought I knew it all, didn’t want to have to answer to everyone and I also wanted my privacy and independence. Of course my parents just cared about me and wanted to know where I would be in case of an emergency or for safety reasons because that was their responsibility. Looking back I know I was a disrespectful brat but it was also typical teenage behavior. Of course I grew out of it and lost the chip on my shoulder!