Teaching Standard American English Using the Language of African

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Language Arts Journal of Michigan Volume 21Issue 2Seeking Best Practice Article 13

1-1-2005

Teaching Standard American English Using theLanguage of African American Vernacular Engli Jen ClydeWestern Michigan University

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Recommended CitationClyde, Jen (2005) "Teaching Standard American English Using the Language of African American Vernacular English," Language Arts Journal of Michigan: Vol. 21: Iss. 2, Article 13. Available at:h p://dx.doi.org/10.9707/2168-149X.1201
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Teaching Standard mericanEnglish Using the l ngu ge of

frican merican VernacularEnglish

Jen ClydeWestern ichigan University

Like most Americans, I am bidilectical; Ispeak more than one form of the English dialect.Growing up in my home we spoke Standard English(SAE), but at the inner city school I attended inOakland, California, I spoke African AmericanVernacular English (AAVE). Because I spoke bothdialects fluently and routinely, it was easy for me to

code switch from one to the other whenever it wassocially appropriate for me to do so.

For students who use the same non-SAEdialect at home and at school, adapting to use ofSAE is more challenging. As Linda Christensenexplains in an article on correcting student writing:

Sometimes the errors are part of astudent's hom e language. In thatcase, the correction process needsto make it clear that the student isn't

wrong, but that each language hasits own way of making plurals orusing verb tenses. Students need toexplicitly learn the differencesbetween their home language andStandard English (8)

In my classroom, I am very direct about thesocial and political uses of different dialects and thegrammatical and phonetic differences between SAE

and other linguistic forms. I address the ugly realitiesof the language of power with my students and

together we explore their personal experiences withstereotyping based on dialect.

Once I have presented both the problemlanguage-based stereotypes - and my solutiondevelopment of code-switching ability and respectfor bidialectical forms of speech and writing - I

begin to work with my class on building specific

language Arts Journal of Michigan

linguistic knowledge. I use guides to help studentsbuild a deeper understanding of all Americandialects. I design writing assignments that allowstudents the opportunity to use different dialects; Iuse mini-lessons to review grammatical rules thatdepend on the context of the assignment. Rather than

marking every inconsistency on an SAE writingassignment, I provide sample sentences in SAE andthe dialect used so students can observe standardsentence structure and make changes according totheir own observations rather than my prescriptions.In this way, I foster a classroom climate of mutualrespect and continuing learning.

Lessons Using AAVE1 Vocabulary Development

Building vocabulary is key to developingawareness of language and enhancing written andverbal self-expression. In accordance with a strategypresented on page 60 ofNCTE s Grammar liveguidebook, I teach Latin roots and prefixes usingfamiliar words that the students identify tounderscore meaning. I also teach strategies used byadvanced readers to decode words they do notrecognize using context and knowledge of Europeanlanguages (including Latin).

I accomplish both goals using a single vocabularygame:

Select several roots or prefixes t

target for the week.Take two Post-It notes; on one, writethe target root/prefix of a word andon the other, write the rest of theword. Do this with enough words sothat each student will have one Post t

note.Mix up the Post-Its and give one to

each student (tell them to hide theirword part until the game starts).Students must properly pair theirwords without talking and post theproposed word on the board.After all the Post-Its are paired, wetalk about the words posted and

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decide which are actual words andwhich are invented (since studentsare not familiar with all o thewords, they sometimes makeincorrect pairings). I circle"suspicious" words and ask the classi anyone would like to rearrange thestickies to make more reasonablewords. We work on the words untileach is correctly paired, and thenthey tell me which words they candefine. I give them a context for theleftover words and we deconstructthe root/prefix meaning. This way,they are able to discern wordmeanings for themselves, the same

way advanced readers do.Finally, students make lists o targetroots or prefixes and try to definethem based on word association Ihelp them think o good words).Spanish speakers are particularlygood at this step, since Spanish is75% Latin We use that list as thefocus for the rest o that week'svocabulary activities.

2 Code Switch Creative WritingTo teach students about voice, stylistic choices andthe value o different dialects in different contexts, Iuse a revised version o the code-switching activityin Grammar Alive (40). In that activity, studentsaddress the same thing to numerous differentaudiences. In my version:

Students in groups o three each usean assigned perspective and dialect

to craft an interior monologuedescribing a common event. Forexample, a sailor from Texas, a NewYork City judge and a Baptistpreacher are trapped on an elevatortogether.Students divide up the roles, discussany additional action as well as

dialectical grammar rules and thenwrite their own monologues.Students share pieces within theirgroups and with the whole class.Stereotypes that surface arediscussed and evaluated by the classas a whole.

3 Mimic Published AAVE DialogueI distribute two copies o a dialogue from MaryMonroe's God Don' t Like Ugly, (207) one includingnarrative and the other straight dialogue.

Version OneStop shaking so hard. People get murdered

all the time, girl.

Yeah, but not in my own house. Rhoda, Idon't know I can go through with this ... not tellanybody what you did.

But you can I tell anybody, now can you?

He was old. Real old. He was going to die soonanyway, I bet.

Well what do we do now? We have to callsomebody.

We aren t goin to do any hin . Your mama sgoin ' to come home and see us sittin ' here crying like

babies over Martin Luther King, then she ll go huntup Bultwright and find him dead in bed.

She 'll ask us what happened. The policewill come. They'l l do an autopsy -

Let them do all the autopsies that want.Just like I told you, he just stopped breath in . That swhat they' ll say.

Version TwoStop shaking so hard. People get murdered

all the time, girl, " Rhoda sa id firmly, rubbing theside of my arm.

Yeah, but not in my own house.We watched TV in silence for another ten

minutes.I could not focus on anything but Mr

Buttwright. Rhoda, I don't know I can go through

with this ... not tell anybody what you did. " I heard a

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car door slam, and 1 jumped off the couch and stoodin front o f her

Rhoda stood up with her face close to mine.moved away so we wouldn't have to touch.

But you can' t tell anybody, now can you?He was old. Real old. He was going to die soon

anyway, 1 bet. " The way Rhoda stumbled over herwords, 1 think she was trying to convince herselfmore than she was trying to convince me.

Well what do we do now? We have to callsomebody. " could not stop shaking no matter howhard tried.

We aren't goin 'to do any hin . Your mama sgoin 'to come home and see us sittin ' here crying likebabies over Martin Luther King, then she'll go huntup Buttwright andfind him dead in bed.

She'll a sk us what happened. The policewill come. They'll do an autopsy--

Let them do all the autopsies that want.Just like 1 told you, he just stopped breathin . That swhat they 'll say.

Students take roles and read the dialoguefrom the "dialogue only" copy. Then we look at thecopy with narrative and the students perform theirreading again, this time informed by the author's

notes. e discuss the value that narrative adds todialogue.

then prompt students to circle all o thepunctuation used n the dialogue and underline anysentences written using AAVE. Based on theirobservations, we make a list o guidelines topunctuation and code switching in dialogue. I theninvite students to write their own 16-line dialoguesaccording to these rules.

4Mimic Professional Poetry

I present my students with the following poem,written by Derrick Gilbert:

"All That and a Bag of Words"Derrick Gilbert (A.K.A. D-Knowledge)Have you ever notices that black folk have a way oftalkin'Words that mean one thang

langua ge rts Journal of Michigan

And turnin 'em 'round so that they mean anothaLike when a brotha s talkin . 'bout a beautiful sistahAn' he says this sistah is phatBut not fat like overweight or obese'Cuz this sistah s fresh

An' not fresh like she s got attitude

Or fresh like she s inexperienced'Cuz this girl s tight

But not tight like uptight or stiff'Cuz this girl s dope

And not dope like the stuffsome o f us smoke'Cuz this girl s fineBut not fine like just awright orfine like that'lldo

'Cuz this woman s properAnd not proper like formal or genteel

'Cuz this woman s afreakBut not like some Freddy Krueger-type freak'Cuz this honeys the shhAnd not like the stinky shh'Cuz this honey s flyBut not like the buzz, buzzflyin ' fly that hangsaround the hummin' shh'Cuz this sistah s the bomb

And not a bombBut the bomb

'Cuz this sistah s all of thatBut not all that like all of the above'Cuz this sistah s above all thatThat s above allAnd that s not all'Cuz she s live, and she s go t flavor, and she s topnotch, and she s hypeAnd this sistah s just all that and a bag of wordsBut not just any 01 bag or wordsBut a bag of our words, with our meanings

That s what she isShe s all that and a bad o f wordsWith our meaningsThats all

I define the terms allusion, code switching,rhyme ,and meter as they apply to this piece.Students work independently or in pairs to identifythe rhyme scheme, meter and allusions used. They

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circle lines written in SAE and place a star next tolines using AAVE.

Next, each student crafts his or her ownpoem using Gilbert's formula as a model. Aftercompleting the poem, students are prompted torespond in writing to the following questions:

Why did you choose to code-switchwhere you did?What allusions did you make andwhy?Did rhyme and meter help or hinderyou in getting out the message of

your poem? Why do you thinkpeople like effective use of rhymeand meter (demonstrated in most rapmusic)?

I ask students to partner and share theirpoems. Then I ask if anyone heard a good poem theywould like the whole class to hear (this givesaffirmation to young poets). After each studentshares, I ask why they made their code switching andallusion choices. Once several students havecontributed to the reading, we discuss rhyme andmeter as a whole class. I often take this opportunityto introduce the subject of rap as poetry and bring insome positive rap music for the class to discuss and

analyze. (Positive rap artists include: Jurassic 5, Delthe Funky Homosapien, Blackalicious and QueenLatifah - these artists also compose radical,combative and controversial music, so listen to theirmusic and read the lyrics carefully beforepresenting.)

5. Compare and Contrast AAVE and SAE inPublished Writing

I draw interior monologues from Dorothy Parker's

A Telephone Call and Gloria Naylor 's Mama Day.Students in the class present dramatic readings:

WILLOW SPRINGS Everybody knows but

nobody talks about the legend of Sapphira

Wade. A true conjure woman: satin black,

biscuit cream, red as Georgia clay:

depending on which o f us takes a mind toher. She could walk through a lightning

storm without being touched; grab a bolt o flightening in the palm o f her hand; use theheat o f lightening to star t the kindling going

under her medicine pot: depending uponwhich o f us takes a mi nd to her. She turned

the moon into a slave, the stars into

swaddling cloth, and healed the wounds ofevery creature walking up on two or down onfour. It ain l about right or wrong, truth or

lies; it's about a slave woman who brought awhole new meaning to both them words,soon as you cross over here from beyond thebridge. And somehow, some way it happenedin 1823: she smothered Bascombe Wade inhis very bed and lived to tell the story for athousand days.

- Gloria Naylor, from Mama Day, pg 3

This is the last time I 'll look at the clock. Iwill not look at t again. It's ten minutes pastseven. He said he w ould telephone at fiveo 'clock. I'll call you atfive, darling. I

think he said darling. I'm almost sure hesaid t there. 1 know he called me darl ing

twice, the other time was when he said goodbye. Good-bye, darling. He was busy, and

he can l say much at the office, bu t 1 know hecalled me darl ing twice. He couldn't haveminded my calling him up. I know you sshouldn't keep telephoning them-I know

they don ''t like that. When you do that, theyknow you are thinking about them andwanting them, and t makes them hate you.But 1 hadn 't talked to him in three days-notin three days. And aliI did was ask him howhe was; it wasjust the way anybody might

have called him up. He couldn't have mindedthat. He couldn l have thought I wasbother ing him. No, of course you' re not,

he said. And he said he'd telephone me. He

didn't have to say that. 1 didn't ask him to,

truly I didn't. I'm sure I didn't. I don 't think

he would say he'd telephone me, and then

just never do it Please don't let him do that,God. Please don't.

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Dorothy Parker, from A TelephoneCall , Dorothy Parker Stories, pg 82

I divide the class into six groups and assigneach group to reflect on one o f the following themes:

How is gender shown by the two

texts? Cite quotes.How s setting established? Citequotes.Each author uses nontraditionalpunctuation methods. Whattechniques do they use? How doespunctuation change the tone or

meaning of the text? Cite examples.Where do you see evidence of SAEor AAVE? Why did the authorchoose this dialect?What does the voice o f the narratortell you about her state-of-mind?Cite examples.Where do you see evidence of

culture in the writing (food, clothing,beliefs, values, traditions, familystructure, gender roles, etc.)?

Each group gets a standard sized sheet of

butcher paper and some markers to use in recordingdiscussion notes in a way that is meaningful to therest o f the class. After small group discussion, eachgroup presents their findings to the class. Once thepresentations are complete, I solicit student opinionsof the writing, asking Which piece was mosteffective and Why? Afterward, I let them choose onewriting sample to mimic in a piece o f creativewriting.

These lessons encourage students to developa more enhanced understanding o f dialect andlanguage use in general. While I use AAVE rules and

writing samples in my class, I also consider otheressential curriculum outcomes such as readingcomprehension, writing with purpose for anaudience, and development of oral, written andvisual methods of expression Michigan CurriculumFramework, English Language Arts ContentStandards , 16-18).

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Works Cited

U.S. Census Bureau. Census 2000 Profiles TableDP-I. Profile of General DemographicCharacteristics: 2000 Geographic area:Kalamazoo County, Michigan http://www.michigan.gov/documents /

Kalamazoo _27989_7 .pdf.

Christensen, Linda. The Politics of Correction: Howe Can Nurture Students in Their Writing

and Help Them Learn the Language of

Power . The Quarterly, 2003, 25.4, P 6-9.

Gilbert, Derrick I.M. Hennaman. Riverhead Books:New York. 2000.

Haussamen, Brock et. al. Grammar Alive: A GuideFor Teachers. NCTE: Urbana, Illinois. 2003.

Michigan Department of Education. StudentEthnicity: Kalamazoo Public Schools. 2003-2004. http://www.greatschools.net/cgibinlmi /districtyrofile/4681

Michigan Department of Education. MichiganCurriculum Framework, English Language

Arts Content Standards . Lansing: Michigan.1996.

Minnick, Lisa Cohen. Dialect and Dichotomy:Literary Representations o f AfricanAmerican Speech. University of AlabamaPress: Tuscaloosa. 2004.

Monroe, Mary. God Don t Like Ugly. KensingtonPublishing Corp.: New York. 2000.

Naylor, Gloria. Mama Day. Vintage Contemporaries:New York. 1988.

NCTE. Resolution: On the Student's Right to TheirOwn Language . 1974. http://www.ncte.org .

Parker, Dorothy. Dorothy Parker Stories. RandomHouse: New York. 1992.

Tchudi, Susan and Stephen Tchudi. The EnglishLanguage rts Handbook: ClassroomStrategies for Teachers, Second Edition.BoyntoniCook Publishers, Inc.: Portsmouth,NH 1999

~ IAbout the Author

Jen Clyde is compl.eting her MA in E n ~ l i s h(Teaching EmphaSIS) at Western Michigan University, where she supervises the English1000: Basic Writing program.

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http://www.michigan.gov/documentshttp://www.greatschools.net/cgibinlmihttp:///reader/full/http://www.ncte.orghttp://www.michigan.gov/documentshttp://www.greatschools.net/cgibinlmihttp:///reader/full/http://www.ncte.org

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Teaching Standard American English Using the Language of African