Blog 2

My whole life I have been taught by my teachers, my parents, and older members of my community what the “proper” way to speak was. After I moved to the U.S from Spain I stayed in the same place for most of my life. So all of my teachers and people that I took influence from where generally from the same discourse; so everything that I was learning on what the “proper” way to structure my thoughts were all the same. I was told that this way was the most educated way, the way people from my class spoke. And that anyone else who spoke differently was uneducated and lacked sophistication. Because of this—some may call it brain washing; I disagree however—I found myself making many first assumptions about people’s intelligence, social standing and value based on the way they spoke [here I used the dash to emphasize that this was my own personal opinion. I also used a semicolon because standing alone each sentence was too short but they were related so combined they created the perfect length].

Chapter one from GA and the Christensen article both challenge my view on what it means to teach grammar. I am one of those people that will correct people because in my “standard” English the way they are speaking or writing is wrong. Although it may be wrong according to my dominant discourse; they could be right for their discourse. GA states that our presumptions or prejudices about a language variety may stem from our prejudices about the people. And in order to appreciate language variety I need to deviate from my idea that there is a “standard”. Because “standard” is subjective and differs from different regions; which is something that I was not raised to value. Christensen gives an example about one of her students who integrates the language she uses at home with the language she was taught in school. What some consider a beautiful blend of culture; I see as something that needs to be corrected; because in my discourse you cannot infuse one variety with the “standard” without being judged [use of the double semicolon]. This is something that over my years at school has been challenged, and although I still struggle with the urge to make other language varieties or discourses seem inferior to my dominant discourse. And like stated in GA it isn’t actually the language that is deeming itself inferior to others it is the people within it. So when I am teaching grammar in m English class I need to remember that I am only teaching one way of grammar. I am not teaching the correct way or the better way. But am giving them another tool in their tool box to use when is appropriate. And show them that each language variety has value, not just the one that I am teaching them.

“although vernacular does not carry the same intensely negative connotations that the term dialect does, it often brings out our assumptions, perhaps unconscious ones, about “better” or “worse” language’” (7)

Normally in my writing when I want to insert my own opinion I would use parenthesis. However I want to expand my writing so I have decided that whenever I would normally use a parenthesis I will now replace it with a dash to add emphasis. I also have seen the use of a sentence with double semicolons and I thought that it flowed nicely and look interesting. So I decided I would also try to incorporate that as well, although I am not sure if I am using it correctly.