The Ugly Truth About Standard English
Friday, April 5, 2024
1:00-4:00 PM (online only via Zoom)
at First Literacy
160 Boylston Street, 2nd Floor
Boston, MA 02116 (across from the Boston Common)
Please Note: These sessions are not recorded.
Workshop Description:
As a teacher you want to give your students the language that will be the most useful, will allow them to communicate with as many people as possible, and take advantage of all the opportunities that a good language user has. So a type of English called ‘Standard English’ seems very attractive. Especially when you are told that this is the English that is used at schools all over the world, in dictionaries, by newsreaders, and even the smart assistant on your telephone. But what exactly is ‘Standard English’? In this workshop we will take a journey from the 1500s to today, and discover the origins, the evolution, and the hidden prejudices behind Standard English. This knowledge will transform the way that you interpret and teach language.
Workshop Learning Objectives - Participants will be able to:
- Learn about the origins and evolution of Standard English.
- Learn about the effects of Standardized language in the classroom and society.
- Learn how to teach Standard language in an unbiased but practical way.
Presenter:
For almost a decade, Christian Saunders ran a small English school in Galicia in the north-west of Spain but is now best known for his online presence as Canguro English where his videos about language learning and interviews with language experts have been watched millions of times by hundreds of thousands of teachers and students from all over the world. Christian is an ambassador for equal access to education through his work with Pencils of Promise, and also fights to end discrimination against non-native speakers of English.
This workshop is free to staff of all Massachusetts non-profit ABE and ESOL Programs.
Questions with an * are required. Thank you!