Ebonics
Bilingual education has been a topic of concern among U.S. citizens for decades. Perhaps one of the most unnoticed areas of bilingual education is the use of Ebonics. Many people don't know what Ebonics is or where it came from. Ebonics is a language many African American youth use today. People tend to overlook Ebonics because they just see it as slang. However, according to Toni Cook a member of the Oakland school board it is not. Cook says "all I know is that it's not slang. The linguists call that lazy English. But our children come to school with this language pattern." The question that raises concern among people in the profession of education is whether to teach Ebonics in school. I feel strongly against teaching Ebonics in school since the language of Ebonics will promote miscommunication between social classes. Ebonics has been a constantly changing language since its origin in early slave times. Many people consider it slang but it is an actual form or dialect of English. It is also
In order for children who speak Ebonics to succeed in the future, we need to prepare teachers on how to bridge this language gap in a positive way. For example, some teachers in Oakland learned this program years ago. "What they knew was how to hear the child, listen to the child, correct the child, and make the child feel good about being corrected. These are teachers who have been through our Standard English Proficiency Program" (cook). The U.S. educational system is in great need of teachers instructed under the Standard English Proficiency Program. Teachers using this program will have greater success teaching Ebonics speaking children Standard English. This is important today because as Toni cook says, "You can no longer drop your kid off in kindergarten and expect to pick him up in the 12th grade with a diploma that means he's ready for college." Currently Ebonics is used not as much as a code language but more as means of connection between African Americans, it has even carried over
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 674
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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