Unit 11: Language Comparison Poster

Here is a link to my Language Comparison Poster: 

http://prezi.com/3aumaa49-ncb/unit-11-language-comparison/

Unit 11 Mind Map by Frank Barbrie and Caitlin Tramontozzi

Click here:  http://www.slideshare.net/CaitlinTramontozzi/unit11mindmap to view the Unit 11 Mind Map.

u10a2 Topic Activities

Activity Topic 1:

Activity 1: Language Variation in the US

It was interesting to read this chapter on Language in Social Contexts...the information discussed in this chapter is what attracts me to the subject of language. I've always been fascinated with a certain communities lingo/slang, even the funny accents or dialects used by people from other parts of the U.S. and around the world. Comedians have made a living on breaking down how humans use language or members of a particular community use subsets of the same language. You must admit that language variations are funny:)

According to O'Grady details of word choice, syntax, and pronunciation reveal us to be members of a particular speech community, a group of people who share social conventions, or sociolinguistic norms, about language (p.485). I feel that mutual intelligibility is the ultimate goal of communication, unfortunately for some NS subgroups, language variation and social distinctions pose a problem, that can lead to discrimination and stereotypes regardless of a persons education or finical background.

I know because I've seen it happen first hand when I taught in the state of Alabama. The first week of being on the job I was coined by some teachers as the "Yankee"...simply based on my accent. Now the term Yankee is defined as a person native to the north, which is true, I am from the north, however I couldn't help but feel that others attached a negative connotation to the term with-out even getting to know me...needless to say it was sad to think that others in the teaching profession felt this way. I had students in my classroom that had really thick southern accents, but I never once judged their intelligence level based on speech speed, accent or financial situation. In fact some of my brightest students where minority groups from socioeconomically challenged backgrounds.

Activity Topic 2

Activity 1: What would you do?

2.) After watching the video I wasn't surprised to see this type of discrimination, needless to say, I was disgusted by it. I'm sure that other ESL teachers who share the same sentiments as I do will help in the fight to advocate for ESL education reform and policy change for the betterment of our students, however I'm not so sure that non-ESL teachers will take the same approach. The common argument I've heard in the past is that time and money shouldn't be wasted on immigrant students...rather the focus should be our native English speaking students. This type of narrow minded approach to education does exist in smaller more rural areas and stubborn mindsets are hard to change. When the time comes, I don't look forward to those types of discussions with colleagues and administrators, but eventually they are going to happen. So when the time comes, I believe that one has to stand by their convictions, even if that means being the outcast of poker flat.

Activity 2: Do you speak American?

Do you speak American?..."we" the class may find this question funny, however I cringed when I hear people ask this question. English is a language that is constantly changing overtime, everything from the GREAT VOWEL shift to new words annually inducted into the Websters dictionary. The http://www.pbs.org/speak/speech/sociolinguistics/sociolinguistics/ is an excellent website that synthesises the information concerning the topic of Sociolinguistics. Topics covered are accents, dialect, vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, slang, and Socio-situational variation to name a few. This information can be useful for teachers, by giving them insight as to why a students writes or speaks a certain way, then the teacher can use that information to help their students become more effective communicators.

FUNNY COMIC

Since we just finished a unit on semantics... I found this comic to be timely, appropriate and blog post worthy.

u09a1_Mini grammar lesson on irregular verbs

Please click on the link below to view my mini grammar lesson on irregular verbs.

http://www.slideshare.net/frankbarbrie/irregular-verb-presentation-10113727

u09a2_The Fisherman Story and Timeline

Topic 1:

Part 2 - Re-written

#1    John wanted to be a farmer, but didn't have the money to buy land. 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 sad, 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."

John had no energy so he did not argue with his brother. Instead, he made more nets and hoped to increase the amount of fish he caught the next day.

___________________________________________________________________________

#2    Comment on what other parts of the story might be confusing to the students and how you would address it?

Written in the paragraph below…you will notice the words or phrases that might be confusing to students. The words are written in italic print and underlined, for your convenience.

I change the verb tense in the opening sentence to simple past tense and took out the conditionals because they are too confusing to Ells. I replaced the verb crash, because a non-native speaker may take the literal meaning of the word and have trouble making sense of the sentence. I replaced it with the word: declined.  The verb long(s) could be confusing to a non-native speaker so I replaced it with the word: wants. I changed the expression shine-up to simply shine and dropped the (up) so that it isn't mistaken as a separate preposition. I changed the expression "new look" to "appearance" because most non-native English speakers may not understand that expression. Lastly, I changed the idiomatic expression fishing for complements to the verb asking for complements.

l  His brother bought land last winter, but sold it to the neighbor when the economy declined. John loves fishing, but wants to be more successful. When he was sad, he painted his boat, "Troubled Waters," blue and shined it. John asked his brother what he thought of the appearance, but his brother just laughed and said, "You're always asking for compliments."

John had no energy so he did not argue with his brother. Instead, he made more nets and hoped to increase the amount of fish he caught the next day.

Topic 2:

#3 
        
Timeline:

John is a fisherman. His brother bought land last summer, but he will sell it because the economy crashed this year. John shines his boat when he feels sad…poor John.

_______________X____________________I___________________I_________

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

                   bought, crashed           is, shines, feels,sell                  will

#4         

Consider whether you think grammar can be acquired through immersion or if you think it must be taught?

“Hooray…my original thought process has been vindicated…excellent video!”

I stated in my very first discussion in this class, that there is no perfect or “right” way to teach ESL…Mrs. Azar, Mr Folse, and Mr. Swan reconfirmed my thought process. I always believed that a communicative approach is a key approach to teaching ESL; however I didn’t believe that the rules of grammar would automatically manifest themselves in learners L2 simply through comprehensible input. I truly believe that the hybrid approach is the best way to teach English to Ells, given the infancy of the facts that exist about L2 acquisition.

I will now frequent Mrs. Azar’s website for research and add it to my accumulated knowledge of teaching experience for a source of enlightenment…thanks to Mrs. Azar, Mr. Folse and Mr. Swan.

u08a3 Application questions

Barbrie_u08a3

Application questions:

Conversation #1, the miscommunication occurs in the response by Mrs. Rashid, “There are many lovely people in the neighborhood.” In this response we see a violation of Grice’s Maxim of Relevance. Mrs. Thomas will most likely think that Mrs. Rashid is indeed not happy with the school district since she is thinking that avoided answering the question directly, and changed the topic to talk about the neighborhood. However Mrs., Rashid misunderstood the word district to mean area of town where the school is located, and to her, she answered the question perfectly.

Explaination of the cultural factors that contribute to the miscommunication in the conversation:

I chose Conversation # 1. I believe that Mrs. Rashid was not a native English speaker and when Mrs. Thomas asked, “Are you happy with the school district?”Mrs. Rashid misunderstood the word “district” to mean the area of town where the school was located instead of the intended meaning by Mrs. Thomas: The school system.

GRICE'S CONVERSATIONAL MAXIMS

Barbrieu08a2

Grice’s Conversational Maxims

The Maxim of Relevance – Violation of this signaled that I wanted to change the topic of conversation.
It was accompanied by a slight change of intonation, bodylanguage, and the reason was to avoid answering an embarrassing question. ( My Friend) Question: "Hey Frank, how was your date with Debbie?" (Me) Answer: "Hey man, where are we going to eat tonight?"

The Maxim of Quality – Violation of this was used as a way to express sarcasm. I used it just to add humor to the answer and changed my intonation/accent to a more sarcastic, funny tone.
 (My Mother on the phone) Question: "Hello, Frank...is that you?" (Me) Answer: "No...it is  Mr.Miyagi...can I help you?"  (changed accent)

The Maxim of Quantity – Violation of this Maxim was done as to not hurt the person's feelings and supplied the person with insufficient information. (My student) Question: "Mr. Barbrie...how do you like the picture I made for you?" (ME) Answer: "Nice"...(said with a huge Cheshire smile on my face).

The Maxim of Manner – Violation of this Maxim was used to be polite and avoid giving the wrong information. (My Dad) Question: Frank...who is that sitting at our table with your brother?" Answer: (Me) "You know...Nicky's new lady friend." (I did not know her name at the time, and my brother  had just met the girl).