http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlWOu9FHm-I
Why do different groups speak a "special form" of English?
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16 comments:
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Garrard McClendon! Why would people be offended by his teachings?
Everyone has their own way of speaking when surrounded by their family and friends. But, it is even more important to know when it is appropriate and when it is not.
When one is surrounded by people that say "ax" for example, it is hard to get out of a habit like that when they are not being corrected, either because they have not been taught the correct way, or because they are too lazy!
I had a girl in one of my classes this past semester that would say "ax" all the time, and I would correct her. I even had a co-worker, a pre-school teacher, that would say "yous guys" to the children. HELLO!! What are we teaching our youth?!
Mr. McClendon is doing a great service and I hope he continues with much success!
We need more Garrard McClendons in the world. His classes and book are a great start but it is just that, a beginning. Although failing to speak proper English is not unique to the African American community, this is where he focuses his work. For many African Americans it is how they were raised and how they were taught to speak. We are all products of our environment and they have simply inherited the language of their community. They grew up in a place where speaking a “special form” of English is the norm and to break people of that is easier said than done. As they say, old habits die hard. However, it is McClendon’s goal to change that. He wants to mold their language skills to fit the professional world. For them, they probably do not even notice when they speak incorrectly. However, on a job interview or in the business world they would most likely stand out like a sore thumb. They may very well be intelligent and capable but that is not reflected in the way they speak. Thus, to be successful and get the good jobs that so many want to obtain, they must first master the English language.
As the news segment mentioned, this problem is not confined to the African American community. I’m sure we have all heard a person with a deep southern accent and wondered if they are even speaking English at all. Like McClendon said, they cannot learn to speak correctly unless someone corrects them. Thus, it begins with education. Teachers are role models and while we may not speak perfect English 100 % of the time it is our responsibility to correct one’s grammar when we hear or see a mistake.
Many educators claim that they promote and teach necessary grammar skills, but what about those who do not correct the spoken grammar of their students? Too many educators are plagued with the question: to correct or not to correct spoken grammar? According to McClendon, African Americans are the cultural group that is suffering the most from these grammar issues. In the video, students speak about the type of geographic regions they grew up in, which promote the use of words such as “ax.” Though McClendon sympathizes with these people, he aims to help them overcome this problem, instead of allowing them to make excuses for why they speak the way they do and supporting a rationale for why they cannot change. People tend to blame past generations for the habits they have acquired, but placing blame will not help them in an important job interview. People are continuously loosing opportunities because of the way they speak.
In my junior field placement, I have personally seen many students who exhibit poor spoken grammar skills that teachers do not correct. However, as mentioned in the “Culture and Cultural Diversity” packet, a teacher must take students’ cultures and family situations into account when teaching. Being in a diverse placement, my cooperating teacher believes that without the reinforcement of the parents and community, a teacher’s efforts are useless in terms of correcting grammar. However, I cannot help but think that this is false. I believe that teachers have more of an impact on students then they think, even without the total reinforcement from parents. With a teacher’s help, students could possibly change their parents’ grammar. Does anyone agree with this, or am I being too idealistic?
I am so relieved to see people like Garrard McClendon and Bill Cosby step up to the plate and begin to fix the wrongs that have been ignored by society for so long. Having come from an urban neighborhood and school system I have always been exposed to the subculture that adopts this “slang” for their everyday language. I absolutely believe that these individuals should be aware that speaking incorrect English is incredibly self-degrading. From the moment you open your mouth you are judged by others in society. If you don’t know the appropriate way to express yourself than you are at a disadvantage to those who can and you will miss out on opportunities for advancement because of this. Speaking slang also pigeonholes individuals to be something that they may not necessarily be. Language and the way you speak is often the first impression you give the world; it is the way you get a chance to represent yourself, everyone should have an equal opportunity.
I first must say that new technology is a huge reason why the English language is rapidly decreasing. Students and adults of all ages now use text messages; talk on AIM as well as send emails and use slang at all cost to save time while doing so. For instance, on AIM everyone uses “LOL” which stands for Laugh Out Loud. This is not seen as a good thing especially for teachers. Student’s writing has drastically gone downhill and Garrard McClendon understands this as well. Garrard’s You Tube video shows that different cultures and backgrounds do indeed speak different. For instance, people in the south say, y’all. This would translate into you all and like in the video, when some say Ask it sounds like Ax. This does need to be looked at and corrected. Students need to be taught early in elementary school how to speak correctly and it is the teacher’s job as well as the parents to try and fix this problem.
I think it is great to have people such as Garrard McClendons. I feel that everyone needs help with pronunciation. I know that I often do not say every letter in a word such as important. I never really noticed this until a class I had last semester. The professor in this class stopped us if we said something wrong and would correct us so we knew the proper way to say these words. I know that is it important as a teacher to enunciate words correctly since we want to teach our children correctly. When my professor first started correcting people I thought it was a little degrading since he was telling people how to speak but after a little while I understood why he did this. I hope that as a teacher I will remember to enunciate and make sure to correct my students’ speech so that my student will leave my classroom know the proper pronunciation of words.
Sam, Bob and I are going to the store.” This type of grammar I would always be corrected on. I would get so frustrated because I was never corrected when I was young. I would always use “me” instead of “I.” One child on utube mentioned that he was never corrected or never taught the correct pronunciation of the word. This is directly correlated with teachers. If the teachers do not correct the students, how will they learn?
Utube mentioned that even Bill Cosby, a spokes person for the African Americans, gets ridiculed for trying to help their language skills. As I am learning more about teachers, I feel that it is party our responsibility to instill in our students the importance of pronunciation. A more imperative aspect of this utube, is that how does this make English language learners feel. If we can’t instruct our students how to speak correctly, how will be able to teach a whole language to ELL students?
Ask or Ax? If you were taught proper English and the proper pronunciation it would be ASK. Unfortunately, many people/children of today’s society use slang because it is apart of their everyday vocabulary. It was the way they were raised and what they heard in their house, school, streets, wherever. I think what Garrad McClendons is doing is great! This guy should go around more often and teach people the correct pronunciation of words. I feel that the people in today’s society are so sensitive. If I didn’t speak proper English I would want someone to correct me, it would be corrective criticism. Speaking skills reflects on a person. If you go into a job interview with poor language skills they won’t want to higher you. I don’t think correcting English language has to target African Americans; it should target anybody in general that can’t speak correctly.
The earlier you catch your mistakes the easier they are to fix.
I think that what the Mr. Garrard McClendon is doing is a positive thing. He is absolutely correct when he said to his students that “when you go on interviews people are going to be looking at how you speak”. Usually the first thing jobs look for on interviews is a person who is appropriately dressed and the way they speak. Many jobs will not hire someone for a position if they speak improper English. A female student in his class said, “Many African Americans speak slang and not proper English”. She gives an example of what they say, “I ain’t got no money” and she states, “that the correct way to say that would be I do not have any money”. According to the video, African Americans are not the only ones who speak improper English. It is all races and classes, but as Mr. McClendon brought out, “it is the African American children who are suffering the most”. Mr. McClendon believes so many people are losing opportunities everyday because of the way they speak. Therefore, he feels that it is his duty as a teacher to teach his students the proper way of speaking English. I think different groups speak a “special from” of English because of each family’s generation passing on different language skills, which travels done to their children. As an educator it is so important to correct our student’s grammar if we notice the mistake. Do not ignore it because it is crucial for our student’s language skills. I strongly encourage Mr. McClendon to continue teaching classes showing students how to speak proper English and I wish him the best with his book Ax or Ask? The African American Guide to Better English!
Garrard McClendon is doing an outstanding favor to America. His efforts to correct the speech of children and adults alike, is profound. The more and more I am involved in the classroom setting, the more and more I am prone to hearing children speak just as he suggests in his book and lectures. It seems as though society chooses not to correct the use of improper English, and I can not understand why that is.
I feel as though I am continuously correcting the use of language by the students in my field experience classrooms. This is not because I wish to embarrass them or make them feel as though they lack the ability to speak proper English, but it is simply because I want them to learn the correct way to speak now, so that in turn, as they grow up they will be able to gain much more respect and attention for the words that come out of their mouths.
I truly respect what Mr. McClendon is doing and I hope that he continues to emphasize the proper use of speech for many years to come. He should not be criticized in any way, because his efforts come with the best intentions. Many people “suffer” from the use of slang, and fortunately for them, having people like Garrard McClendon will allow them the opportunity to correct and mistake that too many people are making today.
I am pleased to know of the work of Mr. Mc Clendon, I knew in the past of the efforts of Mr. Bill Cosby, and I admire Will Smith and Oprah Winfrey for educating themselves, serving as examples to follow no matter where we come from. Actually, I saw a long time ago an interview of Will Smith, one of his comments stays with me constantly and is that he can not understand why people of humble origins when climbing the stairs of success, don’t do anything to educate themselves in general, but what bothers him the most is that they don’t learn to speak English correctly.
As said by several of my class mates, this is not a problem of the African American community only, but also high school students in general who make light of sounding, as they call it “ghetto”
Pilar
AMEN! That was a fantastic video! I do not understand why people would be offended by Gerrard McClendon! It is important for children to learn how to speak! When people say "ax" or "birfday," they give the impression that they are not educated. The way we speak defines who we are. We are judged by everything that we say. No matter what subject a teacher teaches, it is his or her job to correct students' English.
I must say, that was a great eye opener for many people, not only young kids, but many adults too. Just last week when I was doing my Junior field experience I heard so many students speak like this. Not only with words such as Ask or Ax, but bafroom instead of bathroom, or thunk it instead of thought of it. I don't know if anyone has taken classes with Professor Long, but the first day of class he tells his students that he doesn't want anyone using the words, Like, Whatever, or You Know. I bet no one has noticed that whenever anyone speaks, one, if not all of these words come out after every other word. For example, "We were like at the park and then you know we went to get ice cream of whatever".
It is so hard not to use these words in context when you are so used to using them. But just like Professor Long said, it is not professional. If we were to go to a job interview using these words every other time we needed to take a pause to get our thoughts together, I don't know if we would get the job. We were taught in his class to stop and think before we come out with a Like, You know, or whatever. This goes the same for many slang words that are completely overused in today's society. Everyone should try to speak without using these three words and see how hard it can turn out to be!
This video is so true. Coming from the suburban, slang is very common and most people get by without getting corrected. To some extent, I believe that some people should be corrected because it is so important to present oneself professionally. It is very important when it comes to careers and developing education. Unfortunately, they loose many opportunities due to this language barrier. However, I think it also takes away from their culture. Not only does this exist within the African American culture but also within many other ethnicities. McClendon is doing a great job in helping his students realize their mistakes and helping them correct them. It feels great to know that there are people out there like McClendon trying to help out future generations with their wrongs in hope for a better future.
This video made me realize how many times people make these grammatical mistakes. However, it is not only african americans who make these mistakes but the public in general. During my student teaching I saw this a lot with students in the school. The students would speak with incorrect grammer and although the faculty would correct them they still continue to do it and what was worst was that the students found nothing wrong with it. Its nice to see that Garrard McClendon has taken the time to teach these classes, and do not why on earth anyone could be offended, when he is just trying to help. And commenting on Ilana's comment its true. I know plenty of teachers that say "you guys". And it is definately not correct or right as a professional educator.
I believe people speak in different forms because of the way they were taught to speak and also their environment. One of the first things that children learn to do when they are growing is learn words. If children are learning to speak incorrectly from the beginning that is what they will do on the long run. I found the video very interesting in the sense that it is a topic that many people do not bring up yet it is very important. I have noticed that in my two years of working as a substitute teacher in urban areas many students write the way they speak. Some of the students alredy have poor language skills to begin with, you can imagie the way they write. I have found my self correcting student writings and I have been amazed on the poor writing skills these students have. I think that professor Mclendons is taking an excellent approach on teaching students how to speak before teaching them how to write. I believe children will learn easily by first learning how to speak and then learning how to write. We as teachers should take this topic into account even if English is not our main focus in the classroom. I personally was an ELL students when I arrived to this country and on many occasions I caught myself listening carefully to the way people spoke.I believe this strategy helped me tremendously with my writing skills.
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