**WHY AN INITIAL GUIDE? The approach suggested here will change over time as it is tried and tested by our local teachers. This is the development that we want to achieve.Hence the term "initial". Again the emphasis is on creole-influenced Trinidad and Tobago secondary-school students who have difficulties reading Standard English texts. We recommend the use of this guide for teachers who are themselves speakers of Trinidadian Creole English and who switch back and forth comfortably along the speech continuum from Trinidad Standard to the vernacular. Not a few teachers have an "aversion" for the local creole-type speech of their students. The hope is that this guide (and the related literature) will bring about an appreciation for the appropriate uses of Creole. Also, teachers may be looking too for ways of helping their students to read diffult English texts. This guide offers some suggestions.

*HOW CAN WE FIND OUT ABOUT STUDENT AWARENESS OF THEIR LANGUAGE ? How many of us as teachers take the time during an English Language class, for example,to find out and to record what our students have to say about their knowledge of how they (and other people)use language? In order to achieve certain learning goals we have to start with what our students know. You would be surprised how much they know about their language environment and how they see themselves as users of the local varieties. Ask them and they may help us to find new ways to teach about language. You'll find that students are willing to talk about language voluntarily the manner described in the paragraph below.

*WHAT ARE COMMUNITY WAYS OF SPEAKING? HOW IS THIS RELATED TO THE CLASSROOM ? This quotation from Hymes explains how language in the community affects classroom interaction--a quotation on studying language use that is very relevant today as it was when it was published thirty (30) years ago: "For language in the classroom, what we need to know goes far beyond how the grammar of English is organized as something to be taught. It has to do with a relationship between a grammar of English and ways in which English is organized in use by teachers, by children, and by the communities from which they come; with the features of intonation, tone of voice,rhythm, style that escapes the usual grammar and enter into the essential meaning of speech; with the meanings of all those means of speech to those who use them and those who hear them, not in the narrow sense of meaning as naming objects and stating relationships, but in the fuller sense, as conveying respect or disrespect, concern or indifference, intimacy or distance , seriousness or play etc., with the appropriateness of one or another means of speech or way of speaking to one or another topic, person or situation; in short with the structure of language to the structure of speaking." (Hymes, p.xiii)

WHAT ARE THE ROLES OF YOUNG PEOPLE IN COMMUNICATION EVENTS? Generally our young people limit their "old-talk" (sharing of news and tales in a relaxed manner in a group) interaction in talk events to their peers. Some adults feel that young people do not know how to "old talk". But the younger people talk about different topics among themselves. There will be a limit then to the topics younger people will share with adults and how they share this. Even in greetings, respect terminology is used with some deference patterns shown towards adults. This has a spill-over effect in the classroom and will affect learning.

*CREATING LITERACY MATERIALS AND "NATIVE STRATEGIES" FOR TALK AS "MENTAL MEANS": These two points were dealt with in the module: "Improving Literacy through Communication Experiences" (see link in the nav. panel). The speech acts themselves provide stimuli that will generate materials. These can be narrative, dramatic, speech, poetic etc. The idea is to let students explore, chat and produce. Native strategies may be the type of "logic" or thinking that a speaker employs during the speech act. The challenge is to collect, document and categorize several examples of talk and matching strategies, and then to align them to Comprehension skills in/of written English text.

*WHY "VALUING" TALK ? Not every speech act is suitable for use in the classroom. It is valuable to understand how your students feel about this and how they can make appropriate and positive use of those acts/ events they have selected. The oral traditions of Trinidad and Tobago can inspire the creation of materials also. *The hope is to find creative ways to teach about Language and Literacy making use of our vast sociolinguistic resources.

References:

Hymes, D. (1972). "Introduction." In Courtney B. Cazden, Vera P. John and Dell Hymes (Eds.) Functions of Language in the Classroom, Teachers College Press, New York.

James, Winford (2002) "A Different, not an Incorrect Way of Speaking Pts. 1-7." Retrieved from http://trinicenter.com.

Joseph, B. A. (1995) "Revisiting Language Experience in Reading: Search for a Caribbean Paradigm", Working paper presented at the Ethnography in Education Forum, University of Pennsylvania.

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Last edited by Barbara Joseph on Mar 9, 2011 3:18 pm US/Central.