Greetings folks, great thread here. see short note within:

Len Wyatt wrote:

> I agree wholeheartedly with what you say here, David.  And for me, the
> contradiction is a serious consideration in my classroom.  Do I teach
> "Standard English" or do I accept as standard what the majority of my
> students may actually agree upon as "correct"?

I teach my teacher-education students that it is OUR JOB to teach standard
English in the schools, to assure that our students exit with the capacity to
speak and write proficiently in formal, received Standard English.

Now, that said, there is much involved in achieving this. Instead of teaching
the Standard as the all and only 'correct,' 'good' English, I approach it as
the Language of Wider Communication (Power Language; the language of business;
school English; Book English,  edited American English, Standard Written
English -- SWE, etc. etc.), and work with the students to contrastively
discover the contrasts between home/community verbal expression, and the
structure of our LWC -- Language of Wider Communication.

The school systems have charged us with preparing our students to enter the
wider  world of business, government, and academia, and to do so they must be
able to operate within Standard English. But that doesn't mean we treat it as a
monolith; instead, we can treat it as the language VARIETY that it is -- one
language variety, but one that they will need.

A student came to me recently and commented that he had talked to an African
American mentor. The mentor had been accused of speaking "White English," but
in reply, that teacher commented, "I don't speak White English; I speak GREEN
English -- the English of money."  Seems apt to me.

cheers folks

rebecca wheeler


> I have often drawn attention
> to a student's use of "I and John" when they should be using "me and John."
> What fascinates me is that they frequently rush to change the phrase to
> "John and I."  I put it down to the elementary school training in "polite"
> usage, which demands that you put others before yourself in a series.
> However, I have NEVER met a student willing to use the first person pronoun
> improperly ON ITS OWN.  The fellow who writes "Me and her are having a great
> time," would NEVER write "Me am having a great time," or "Her is having a
> great time."
>
> As far as the subjunctive is concerned, I agree with Jeff Glauner that it
> may be leaving us.  I don't for a moment believe, though, that it is
> happening by choice.  People cannot choose to not use something that they
> have never learned.  The question for me is should we give up teaching it
> because only a few will learn and use it?
>
> Always a pleasure to read this list -- thank you all.
>
> Len Wyatt
> Terry Fox Secondary School
> Port Coquitlam
> BC, Canada.
> unctive

*******************************************
Rebecca S. Wheeler, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Christopher Newport University
1 University Place
Newport News, VA 23606-2998

Editor, Syntax in the Schools
The Journal of the Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar (ATEG), an
assembly of the NCTE
http://www2.pct.edu/courses/evavra/ATEG/SiS.htm

phone: (757) 594-8891;  fax: (757) 594-8870
email: [log in to unmask]

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