Warm Up 09/03/08

1. What patterns did you see among the Language Investigations you wrote and read?

I found a lot of people's language investigations were about inside jokes or things that pertained just to their family. I also noticed a lot of them were about a families heritage. For example, a lot of mine had to do with English things because my family is English. Whereas, I read one persons whose family was French and did a lot of things that were pertaining to France. I found it really interesting that everyone had something completely different to say. The fact that I wasn't able to really compare one blog to another was something that hasn't exactly happened before in an english class. Normally people will write about similar topics or make similar points but here everyone had their own distinct writing and I liked that a lot. It made me more interesting in reading other people's because I knew nothing was going to be the same.

2. What do these patterns reveal about language and its conventions in family contexts?

I think this shows that no matter what type of family a person is in, there is always going to be some kind of family connection. Some particular phrase, or ritual that one's family does which is special to that family. These things also seem to come naturally, noone really plans for them, they just tend to happen. I think this also shows that when a person is with their family they don't feel the need to be grammatically correct or use the right words to convey what theyre trying to say. Most people can be whoever they want to be around their family without being judged and that's why we have this openness of language with our family. Even though it may not make much sense to anyone else because it is our family language we cherish that and hold it close to our hearts without really realizing it.

3. Thinking about these Language Investigations in conjunction with what you’ve read so far in Lives on the Boundary, what does it mean to be an “insider” in terms of language? What questions and issues do your conclusions raise for you as a future teacher?

To be an insider means that in some settings such as family and friends, one has a particular dialect that they use when they are with those people. Whereas, with strangers or at school that same language may not be used. When you're with your family or friends you know how they are going to talk or act. So each person sort of has their own "inside" scoop already. But with someone new coming in they can be considered an outsider because they may not know how your family or friends talk.
It may be hard as a teacher to teach students that everyone has their own dialect that they use outside of school etc. Yet I think it is a good thing for students to have these type of outside forces. I think kids can learn about other cultures and about themselves from hearing the way other children talk. It may not always be a good thing but I don't think it is right to shelter kids to an extent where parents disapprove of influence from other children etc.