I have had good luck convincing high school students that they speak in a
dialect through showing and discussing the documentary film "American
Tongues." ( http://www.cnam.com/flash/language/american.html) The website
offers a study guide that isn't bad (click on the "downloads" link).

Though the film is a bit dated (students will quickly notice the 80s
hairstyles and clothes), the information it presents about American dialects
and stereotypes about those dialects is not.

Amanda

On 3/21/06 9:10 PM, "Jan Kammert" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I teach 8th grade in Washington state.  We have just started reading the
> book Tom Sawyer as we do every year.  Also every year more than one
> student complains that the dialect in Tom Sawyer is too difficult for
> them.
> 
> When we have a conversation about dialect, I tell them that everyone has a
> dialect.  I know that I have never convinced most of my students that even
> they have a dialect.
> 
> Suggestions?
> Jan
> 
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*****
Amanda J. Godley, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
English Education
University of Pittsburgh
412-648-7313
    

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