Ahhh the world of English and language...if only we were able to have a step-by-step guide telling us everything we needed to know and teach about the language in general. I suppose since that is not possible (at least for the time being) I could give my input on what I think should be taught in the classrooms about the essence of language. Looking back on my own personal experience as a student in an English class setting, I see the ways in which we did not look at the English language very closely. Rather, it consisted of reading and writing...strange, right? That's not what I mean though. I am implying that my classes lacked reading and writing. The only thing teachers were concerned with was whether or not we knew who the characters were.
If it were my own classroom, I would want to start off with an activity similar to the one we did yesterday in class and really analyze the differences between the languages we encounter. I've always known that we all speak in various ways but I've never looked at how. Ever since that class, I think about all the ways in which someone else talks differently than me and want to figure out why. I want to open my student's eyes to that as well. I want them to question, ponder, and find out why someone else talks differently in the very same language they speak. I think that students should be taught to analyze and think critically about the English language. I fear that we have become lazy when it comes to our language. It comes too easy to us and we constantly try to water it down and make it less intelligible. Like texting for example, need I say more? I think it would be fun to challenge students to write in a "different" kind of English and look at why that may be. For instance, one could look at and see all the ways a boy from Brooklyn would write differently than a woman in upstate New York. (just an example off the top of my head). Language is not merely writing and reading. Language is the dig-deep-find-out-the-deeper-meaning. It is thinking critically and analyzing English itself. One more issue that should be taught about the English language would be the origin...I'm a senior in college and I have yet to figure that out. With that said, I'm going to go do some research right now.
I agree completely with your last idea about needing to teach more about the origins of English. Not only is it good information to know, but I think it would improve vocabulary. As I wrote in my blog, all of the roots, prefixes and suffixes we use daily without thinking about have a meaning and an origin. We would understand more words if we knew where they came from. Also, I really think it would make learning an additional language easier.
ReplyDeleteI too agree that is important that we look at our language and the different ways that we use it more critically and holistically. I also agree that texting is a good example of our laziness that we have developed as a culture. But on the other hand, I think texting shouldn't merely be written off as a sign of laziness but also as a sign of our language constant evolution. Our language is constantly changing and evolving. For example, we don't say thee and thou any more. I am not suggesting we are moving towards text speak, nor that we should, but merely that it is something that ought to be considered.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your comments! I agree that by focusing on the summaries of novels, without requiring us to write or speak critically, our teachers deprived us of many of the skills that we will need to succeed in society. Your comments remind me that English classes should not be aimed at aspiring literature majors...they should be relevant to all students and help them develop their critical reading and speaking abilities.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny that English classes - and especially literature classes - are so focused on the reception of literature, the reading, and not writing it, which of course would help students learn, probably, far more about literature. Even in the teaching of novels we get consumed, sometimes, by correctness. I agree with "Unknown" up there, though, regarding texting - isn't text language entirely appropriate for the medium it is used within? It's a new form of shorthand, in part, and a problem only when writers forget to keep that language in their texts alone.
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