tedu 500 Language Variation in the Classroom: An educator’s toolkit
Summer 2010 dates TBA
3 graduate credits
In this course, we will examine some of the major differences in the speech and writing of students who are who are speakers of Southern English and/or African-American English and students who are new learners of English. We will share assessment tools needed to recognize language variation and distinguish language diversity from student error in listening, reading, and writing in students of all ages. We will also explore other aspects of communication, such as word choice, slang, tone, silence, and loudness, and how variation in their use can affect learners in the classroom. We will demonstrate methods and activities that educators can use to address language variations in their students’ speech and writing. We will practice strategies designed to help non-standardized English-speaking students approach reading and standardized test taking.
What will you take home?
Participants will develop a set of materials based on their new knowledge of language variation, including lesson plans and project plans, that they can incorporate into their own classroom materials. The creation of teacher journals, lesson plans, project plans, and presentations will help educators develop their sociolinguistic knowledge and will serve as take-home materials that teachers can bring back to their classrooms and schools.
Instructor Bios
Dr. Anne Harper Charity Hudley
Assistant Professor of English
Program in Linguistics
William & Mary Professor of Community Studies
The College of William and Mary
acharity@wm.edu
http://wmpeople.wm.edu/ahchar
Anne H. Charity Hudley is Assistant Professor of English, Professor of Community Studies, and Director of the Linguistics Laboratory at The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA. She teaches service-learning centered courses on African-American English, language variation and change, and speakers’ attitudes towards language variation in the United States. Dr. Charity Hudley has worked with K-12 teachers through lectures and workshops sponsored by the American Federation of Teachers and by public and independents schools in many districts across the United States. She serves on the Board of Trustees of the Orchard House School in Richmond, VA. She and her students work closely with the Academy for Life and Learning, a school for long term suspended and expelled middle and high school students from Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools.
Dr. Christine Mallinson
Assistant Professor in the Language, Literacy & Culture Program
Affiliate Assistant Professor in the Gender & Women’s Studies Program
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
mallinson@umbc.edu
http://userpages.umbc.edu/~clmallin/
Christine Mallinson is Assistant Professor in the Language, Literacy, and Culture Program and Affiliate Assistant Professor in the Gender and Women's Studies Program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). At UMBC, she teaches graduate courses on research methods and seminars related to sociolinguistics. Mallinson teaches a service-learning course on language, race, and ethnicity, in which UMBC graduate students serve as interns, partnering with teachers at a small Baltimore charter high school that primarily serves lower-income students to develop educational projects on the theme of Diversity in Language and Culture.
Ms. Hannah Askin (teaching assistant)
Department of English
Program in Linguistics
North Carolina State University
hannah.askin@gmail.com
Hannah Askin is a graduate student in English and Linguistics at North Carolina State University.She is a summa cum laude graduate of the College of William and Mary in Linguistics. For her senior honors thesis she created a website to inform teachers about language variation and African-American English. For her masters capstone project at North Carolina State, she is expanding her website to include additional theoretical and practical research about language variation and the classroom. She will attend graduate school in Education in fall 2009 at a school to be determined.
Contact Us
For more information about this workshop, contact Anna Jones at (804) 828-8831