Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Introduction

I've chosen to read a book that has been edited by Lisa Delpit titled The Skin That We Speak, Thoughts on Language and Culture in the Classroom.  Since this is a series of essays, I've decided to blog about each chapter/essay as I complete them.

In the introduction, Delpit discusses the research and writings done on "Black English" and "Standard English". One of the studies found that white children preferred the SE speaker and the African American children preferred the BE speaker.  Both groups of children also displayed expressions of learned stereotyped images.  Many were negative toward the BE speaker--silly, having nothing, "not having drawing ability" while the stereotypes for the SE speaker were more positive--gentle, better looking, "having better drawing ability".

I like what Delpit says about language--"Our language embraces us long before we are defined by any other medium of identity.  In our mother's womb, we hear and feel the sounds, the rhythms, the cadences of our 'mother tongue.' " (2002, p. XVII)  She goes on to say
"Just as our skin provides us with a means to negotiate out interactions with the world--both in how we perceive our surroundings and in how those around us perceive us--our language plays an equally pivotal role in determining who we are:  it is The Skin That We Speak."

The rest of the introduction sets the tone for what is to come--personal accounts of language--as identity, in the classroom and teacher knowledge of what language is.  I am eager to read these essays.  Just the format alone seems to speak to me...real discussion about real ideas facing teachers and adults who work with children.

6 comments:

  1. Hi,
    I like the introduction and the title of the book!! the word "identity" that you mentioned in the introduction reminds me of our first class when Dr. Pence asked us to start our Journal for ten minutes. I remember I was the first to go reading what I wrote aloud. I also remember saying that when I speak english 24/7 I feel like I am somebody else, like I am losing my identity!! I also recall here our readings from Gee when he mentioned that Discourse, with a capital "D", refers to values, beliefs, feelings, language, genres, identity and social language. And that Discourse is an identoty kid guided by a cultural model that would determine what is accepted and what is not. So, success and faliure is school depends, to a great extent, on whether or not being exposed to the right Disocurse determined by those who are in power, while denying the rights of other minority groups their rights of practicing their onw Discoutses too!! It is a sad story! But who sai dthat life is FAIR!

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  2. its me Noha Ghaly who posted this last comment. I don't know where this nono come from!! when I tried to change it, thing sdid not work out1

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  3. I believe that we inherit our initial identity but then have achoice of who we wish to be. It is not cast in stone. Several of the autobiographies we have read in class demonstrate how we can alter our identites if we choose to. Having lived in Asia and Europe, I know it is uncomfortable to change but, as Noha states, some of these changes in our identities occur almost by cultural osmosis.

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  4. Yes, i believe we have a choice as to what identity and who we want to be in life. We never forget the 'mother' tongue, the language, dialect and so forth that we learned as a child. That being said we 'adjust' that language as we grow into adulthood in order to survive in the dominant society. Those people that do not make those adjustments are hindered in a society that cannont understand or chooses not to understand them.

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  5. This is a profound area of study. It seems to me that our identity or our choices of identity depend first of all on the awareness of that language is power and learning where we fit in. Prejudice based on accent and discourse runs deep and oftentimes we are not aware of how we are actually reacting to it. It often takes leaving the area or country or even changing a socio economic status to see it more openly. But maybe not, as we have read about with children's experiences in the schools and seeing how their teachers react to them based on the fact that they speak differently.

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  6. We adjust our identities and our manner of speech depending on the environment we’re in or depending on the people that we’re interacting with at the time. I do not believe that we have just one identity. We’re like chameleons – we change when we need to for different reasons. Sometimes we baffle people or sometimes they baffle us and we can walk away with question marks dancing over our heads.

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