.5 Multilingualism and Dialects

The fourth major thrust is the encouragement of multilingualism and dialects. What I mean by this is very simple: without any apology I say Standard English should be taught in school. But I also say that we have to be absolutely sure that we don't penalize kids for having other language patterns outside of school.

Anything that can be done to encourage bilingualism, I encourage, but not at the expense of Standard English. By de-emphasizing Standard English in school, a skill which students need to survive as first-rate citizens in our society, we devalue their education.

The same is true with dialect: schools can successfully teach standard English as well as communicate that the students need not speak this way at home. There is nothing wrong with learning what language is appropriate when and where. Many people who speak only English speak different versions of it in different locations. A common
example is locker room slang versus Standard English - slang is often used in casual settings, but in professional settings, a more formal variety of English is used.

	What is the common example given of English being spoken differently due to location of the speaker?	Answer Here
	Mr. Smith teaches English at a suburban high school where the population is pretty evenly distributed ethnically. There has been controversy in the town that the students live in concerning the differences in the ways that the various ethnic groups represented in the school speak and write. How can Mr. Smith deal with this controversy while at the same time deal with his curriculum?	Answer Here