The key things in the readings for me was the Ebonics and the 17 things about ESL learning.
Dealing with ELL's everyday for work is really, REALLY helping me understand and use what I am learning/have learned at MnSU. I see examples of negation, deletion, cognition etc. and also get to see how people at different levels learn and make mistakes.
But, back to Ebonics... I think in this region academic learning is REALLY disrupted by Rap/Hip Hop culture. The students I teach are both Hispanic and African and they all have adopted slang and the general way of interaction that is portrayed in Hip Hop/Rap.
To be honest it is ridiculous, a few students can't read or write, but they are able to have small conversations as long as you use phrases that they are familiar with. It is kind of rewarding/frustrating to see a student using new words, but when it is not a very useful phrase or, something that SHOULD NOT be said in school it hurts a bit. Especially when they can't figure out how to spell Cat but they can insult someones mother in 5 different ways.
Maybe I am just ranting, but the idea that it is cool to live off the streets makes me irate. If I have to hear "I don't need this, I can just go hustle", I will punch Lil' Wayne 'teef'. It COMPLETELY destroys all motivation for many of the male students. Why should they try and learn to read and write when they can make huge money slinging rocks yo'!?!
Like the 4th rule said, the best predictor of success is motivation, the best indicator of failure is lack of motivation. Damnit.
That's all for now, sorry for the bad words Esther, but it is me expressing myself, which is what I think you were going for ;).
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2 comments:
I agree that academic learning is disrupted by rap and hip-hop culture. When I studied in Australia I noticed that a lot of the non-caucasian (that's the politically correct way to say it right?) L2 English learners tried to copy how "Americans" speak by using what they see in rap. The funny thing is though, that they usually got it wrong and instead had created a really weird form of international english, but it still made it hard to understand them in an academic setting (more annoying than anything).
yo yo yo yo yo
haha you talking about your girl? J/K
I understand what you are saying. But it is so cool to use Ebonics!!!
Like I always say when Iswear, I don't have the feeling of words in English. I swear a lot in english. But I am known for speaking beautiful Japanese.
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