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VCU Summer Workshop
Stay tuned for information about the summer of 2010! In the summer of 2009 Christine Mallinson and I taught a course entitled Language Variation in the Classroom: An Educator’s Toolkit at Virginia Commonwealth University. The course was open to anyone interested in the practical implications of language variation in K-12 classrooms. The course was held from 9-5 on Monday June 22nd-Friday June 26th 2009. Accommodations were available for out of town students and a discounted tuition rate was available for multiple people coming from the same university or school district. The course syllabus, schedule, and flyer are linked below: Additional information may be found at http://www.community.vcu.edu/programs/sws/. In this course, we will examine some of the major differences in the speech and writing of students who are speakers of Southern English and/or African-American English as well as students who are new learners of English. We will share assessment tools needed to recognize language variation and distinguish language diversity from student error in listening, reading, and writing in students of all ages. We will also explore other aspects of communication, such as word choice, slang, tone, silence, and loudness, and how variation in their use can affect learners in the classroom. We will demonstrate methods and activities that educators can use to address language variations in their students’ speech and writing. We will practice strategies designed to help non-standardized English-speaking students approach reading and standardized test taking. Participants will develop a set of materials based on their new knowledge of language variation, including lesson plans and project plans, that they can incorporate into their own classroom materials. The creation of teacher journals, lesson plans, project plans, and presentations will help educators develop their sociolinguistic knowledge and will serve as take-home materials that teachers can bring back to their classrooms and schools.
Thanks so much,
Anne & Christine
Instructor Bios
Dr. Anne Harper Charity Hudley
Assistant Professor of English Program in Linguistics Mellon Assistant Professor of Community Studies The College of William and Mary
Anne H. Charity Hudley is Assistant Professor of English, Mellon Professor of Community Studies, and Director of the Linguistics Laboratory at The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA. She teaches service-learning centered courses on African-American English, language variation and change, and speakers’ attitudes towards language variation in the United States. Dr. Charity Hudley has worked with K-12 teachers through lectures and workshops sponsored by the American Federation of Teachers and by public and independents schools in many districts across the United States. She serves on the Board of Trustees of the Orchard House School in Richmond, VA.
Dr. Christine Mallinson Assistant Professor in the Language, Literacy & Culture Program Affiliate Assistant Professor in the Gender & Women’s Studies Program University of Maryland, Baltimore County http://userpages.umbc.edu/~clmallin/ Christine Mallinson is Assistant Professor in the Language, Literacy, and Culture Program and Affiliate Assistant Professor in the Gender and Women's Studies Program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). At UMBC, she teaches graduate courses on research methods and seminars related to sociolinguistics. Mallinson teaches a service-learning course on language, race, and ethnicity, in which UMBC graduate students serve as interns, partnering with teachers at a small Baltimore charter high school that primarily serves lower-income students to develop educational projects on the theme of Diversity in Language and Culture.
Ms. Hannah Askin Franz (teaching assistant) Graduate School of Education University of Pennsylvania
Hannah Askin Franz is a graduate of the Master's Program in English and Linguistics at North Carolina State University. She is also a summa cum laude graduate of the College of William and Mary in Linguistics. For her senior honors thesis she created a website to inform teachers about language variation and African-American English. For her masters capstone project at North Carolina State, she expanded her website to include additional theoretical and practical research about language variation and the classroom. She is currently attending the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education's M.S.Ed program in Reading/Writing/Literacy (Reading Specialist Certification).
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