When I taught at Derby University, we started each weekly session with
words the students had heard or picked up around them. This gave the
students the encouragement to "notice" language around them, a forum to
bring queries and to keep them interacting with an enquiring mind.
It also meant that I was often unable to be the one who helped the
learners to understand meaning, because I was also unfamiliar with
youth/ local culture. The learners, therefore, came to see my role as a
facilitator rather than the source of knowledge, which encouraged
indpendent learning skills. - and I learnt a lot myself!
Like all routines in an ESOL classroom, it could be abused, but I
recommend it as one approach among many to tackling local dialect or
colloquialisms.
Rachel
-----Original Message-----
From: ESOL-Research discussion forum on behalf of Janet Isserlis
Sent: Fri 16/02/2007 15:43
To: [log in to unmask]
Cc:
Subject: Re: Using colloquialisms in ESOL classrooms
All
This is an intriguing discussion.
On this side of the pond (an idiom I actually dislike) - but
here in the US,
parallel discussions are also taking place about the use of
Ebonics are
"standard" English, and its status as a rule-driven dialect.
In ESOL contexts we talk a lot about helping learners see the
contexts in
which language is used (slang, local terms/idioms, etc) and the
potential
consequences of using one word/phrase in a particular context,
with
particular interlocutors, etc. At the end of the day it seems
that if
learners understand how particular words and phrases are used
and
understood, they then can work out - with or without assistance
- how and
when to use them themselves.
As for local peculiarities: in Rhode Island, where I live, a
water fountain
(for drinking) is called a bubbler. A big sandwich with meat
and vegetables
and who knows what all else is called a grinder. That same
sandwich might
be called a hero or a hoagie somewhere else. A milk shake can
be an 'awful
awful' (at one restaurant around the state), etc. etc.
I love it when students bring these words to class and we can
work out their
meannings.
Finally, working on a college campus, I hear young people using
language (in
English, I believe) that I can barely understand. ("I feel you"
for I feel
your pain, I empathise; you're the bomb, etc, etc). So the
whole
generational/pop culture thing is a whole other ball of wax as
well.
Janet Isserlis
> From: Frances Nehme <[log in to unmask]>
> Reply-To: Frances Nehme <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2007 12:30:10 +0000
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Conversation: Using colloquialisms in ESOL classrooms
> Subject: Re: Using colloquialisms in ESOL classrooms
>
> It is an issue, really, of the mismatch between what is useful
to learners,
> what they want, what we are willing (or able) to provide and
what is
> required by our employers.
>
> Anecdotally, some years ago a prospective ESOL learner turned
up to enrol
> for classes in Walthamstow. He said to the secretary 'I want
learn English
> proper like in street. I no want speak like you, posh, posh'
She was
> intrigued - because until then she had only come up against
people who
> wanted to speak proper - as in Standard, as this was seen as a
way of
> getting on in the UK - many learners were quite sniffy about
the way local
> people spoke English.
>
> The difficulty of teaching local dialects is one of complexity
- my
> experience of Bradford and Leeds is that there are wide
differences in
> people's access to dialect and even in how 'broad Yorkshire'
they are. Some
> local people speak of laiking and gunnels and snickets, others
know nothing
> of such things.
>
> ESOL learners often bring amusing stories of their own
struggles with
> varieties of vocabulary - one of my Walthamstow students had
learnt to buy
> 'buns' when up North. His family moved South and after some
confusion, the
> local baker told him they were not 'buns' but 'rolls' - and so
on for
> ever...
> More standardised BBC type English is easier to teach or to
present formally
> simply because it is more standard.
> However, I do feel that the teacher able to interpret and
explain local
> dialects, when asked, has an edge.
> There is also the question, in Adult Education, of the
language brought home
> by learners' children, particularly teenagers.
>
> Frances
>
>
> On 16/2/07 07:29, "stephen woulds"
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> I couldn't agree more. This is something I feel strongly
about. Each area in
>> the UK has its own language acquisition challenges because of
differences in
>> regional accents, dialects and contexts. But we often find a
very 'pure' form
>> of English being taught with emphasis on ESOL CC 'level
descriptors' and
>> discrete skills and grammar to the detriment of a more
richer, vernacular
>> English.
>>
>>
>>
>> Here is an example of how context and dialect inform
communicative meaning. A
>> student of mine called Ali was waiting for a bus in Leeds
city-centre. He
>> overheard two teenage girls talking about three buses at
once. One of the
>> girls turned to Ali and said, "'Ave ya got time on ya?" A
perplexed Ali
>> replied, "Sorry, I'm very busy," and walked off quickly. He
understood the
>> vocabulary, the reference to time, but he didn't understand
the signified,
>> the
>> referential watch on his wrist and the fact that the girls
were making a
>> common complaint about the irregularity of buses. Without an
awareness of
>> context our interpretation of communication is often reduced
to 'context-free
>> semantic information as given in a dictionary,' (Levy, 1999).
Ali thought he
>> was being asked to do something for her which would require a
length of his
>> time. He had no idea why they would need three buses at once
nor that they
>> simply wanted Ali to tell them the time. The failed
interaction was not
>> helped
>> by the fact that the Yorkshire dialect sometimes drops the
definitive article
>> the before a noun, "Have you got the time on you?" e.g. "I'm
going to shop,"
>> rather than "I'm going to the shop."
>>
>>
>>
>> At Leeds Thomas Danby our ESOL tutors created 21 videos in
'local' settings
>> with 'local' vernacular English. This was put onto DVD and
video and
>> distributed to all tutors. I have found that my students
enjoy learning
>> regional English, examining how language breaks the rules,
the pronunciation,
>> the grammar, of the official language they have been taught.
You can find
>> more
>> information about the project if you are interested in doing
something
>> similar
>> yourself at: http://www.aclearn.net/display.cfm?resID=21714
Alternatively,
>> video a regional soap or invite guest speakers. Some of my
students watch
>> Emmerdale, set in Yorkshire. Why not use that as a resource
for
>> teaching/learning English?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ________________________________
>>
>> From: ESOL-Research discussion forum on behalf of Judith
Boardman
>> Sent: Thu 15/02/2007 21:57
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Using colloquialisms in ESOL classrooms
>>
>>
>> Being born and bred in a Bradford working class family, I
have found that I
>> use Yorkshire colloquialisms all the time while teaching
without even
>> realising it! Sometimes learners ask me what something means
and I have to
>> explain "It's what people in Bradford say but you probably
won't hear this
>> anywhere else!" I used to feel somewhat embarrassed by the
fact that I may
>> not always be using 'proper' English until I realised that my
colloquialisms
>> are the ones students will encounter in the real world every
day.
>>
>> Judith Boardman
>>
>>
>>
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>> research into teaching and learning ESOL. ESOL-Research is
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>> Simpson at the Centre for Language Education Research, School
of Education,
>> University of Leeds.
>> To join or leave ESOL-Research, visit
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> ESOL-Research is a forum for researchers and practitioners
with an interest in
> research into teaching and learning ESOL. ESOL-Research is
managed by James
> Simpson at the Centre for Language Education Research, School
of Education,
> University of Leeds.
> To join or leave ESOL-Research, visit
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ESOL-Research is a forum for researchers and practitioners with
an interest in research into teaching and learning ESOL. ESOL-Research
is managed by James Simpson at the Centre for Language Education
Research, School of Education, University of Leeds.
To join or leave ESOL-Research, visit
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/ESOL-RESEARCH.html
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