Here We Are!

Thursday, May 16:  Review Narratives here /summary about meeting with the curator at the James Gallery – prints & space / Public Speaking Workshop with Alison Walls

  • Reminders:
    • Showcase @LaGuardia: Wednesday, May 22 – 4pm-6:30pm (and then food) Check the site!
    • Exhibit @Graduate Center – the James Gallery – Thursday, May 30 -12-2pm (space)
    • Pressing Public Issues site is LIVE! HERE
  • Homework: (our last reading and discussion!)

Tuesday, May 12: Brainstorming & Discussion about Presentation

  • Introduction (who we are / course / project)- Peter, Akhda and Arlene
  • GIFs – class GIFs – Malique
  • Linguistic Landscape at LaGuardia – Jermaine & Chris
  • Podcasts
  • Mock interview – Vanique and Malique
  • Linguistic Landscape at Jackson Heights – Cristal
  • Remarks /Thank – Vaniqua & Izaak

Thursday, May 9: Hip-hop & language workshop

Tuesday, May 7: Updates about the project / Let’s bring back the reading you did last week “Black Children are Verbally Deprived” (Walt Wofram / In Language Myths), and make sure to connect it to the Podcast “Code Switching” by Black + Nuanced Podcast 

Remember the question from the reading: African-American children are described in the educational literature as ‘verbally deprived,’ ‘language impoverished’ or ‘linguistically retarded:’ how can such contrasting pictures of language competence arise? how do we reconcile the conflicting portraits of verbal richness and linguistic poverty?

Extra resources/material: John McWhorter on Black English (or AAVE) / AAVE / Ebonics is not “improper” English

Thursday, May 2: Workshop session!!!

  • Intro student body @ LaGuardia (#ELL10fun) – synopsis for the GIFs projection – Cristal / Gary
  • Intro Linguistic Landscape @ LaGuardia – Jermanine / Maria / Akhda
  • Intro Linguistic Landscape @ Jackson Heights – Vaniqua / Malique /Nick
  • Translations (doc 1 – Scholars Program – word doc available here)
    • Korean – Songhui (translation available here)
    • Bangla – Minhaz (translation available here)
    • Polish – Peter (translation available here)
    • Hindi – Tejasvui (translation available here)
    • Spanish (Scholars Program) – Sofia / karina / Chris (translation available here)
    • Spanish ( SPP doc available here) – Agustin / Izaak / Daisy (translation available here)
  • Homework:

Tuesday, April 30: African-American children are described in the educational literature as ‘verbally deprived,’ ‘language impoverished’ or ‘linguistically retarded:’ how can such contrasting pictures of language competence arise? how do we reconcile the conflicting portraits of verbal richness and linguistic poverty?

  • Homework:
    • LaGuardia Showcase:
    • Essay #3
      • Intro student body @ LaGuardia (#ELL10fun) – synopsis for the GIFs projection – Cristal
      • Intro Linguistic Landscape @ LaGuardia – Jermanine / Maria
      • Intro Linguistic Landscape @ Jackson Heights – Vaniqua
      • Translations (doc 1 – Scholars Program – word doc available here)
        • Korean – Songhui
        • Bangla – Minhaz
        • Polish – Peter
        • Hindi – Tejasvui
        • Spanish (doc 1) – Sofia / karina / Chris (translation available here)
        • Spanish (doc 2 – SPP doc available here) – Agustin / Izaak / Daisy (translation available here)
Tuesday, April 23 and Thursday, April 25: Spring Break!!!

Thursday, April 18:  We are going to Jackson Heights! Let’s meet outside “Pecoshitas” (80-03 Roosevelt Ave, Flushing, NY 11372 – it is only 5 min walk from the Roosevelt Av – Jackson Heights Subway Station). Are we ready? Do we have everything we need? Let’s make a list together:

    • Charged phone
      • Audio / app (WAV format)
      • Pictures
      • portable charger
    • metro card
    • Questions
    • Consent forms
    • Pencil / pen
    • Bring a smile
  • Homework:
    • Essay #2 is due Monday, April 22 at the latest.
    • How was your visit to Jackson Height? Take five minutes to reflect upon you visit and share your experience with the class here (just leave a reply / add a comment)
    • Reading: “Black Children are Verbally Deprived” ( Walt Wofram / In Language Myths) Gary / Maria / Jermaine

HAPPY EASTER!

Tuesday, April 16: Reading discussion: What are the literacy standards in the U.S.? What is the role of schools? Do you think that literacy standards have changed with time? How? Why?

The podcast site is ready!

  • Homework:
    • We are going to Jackson Heights! Let’s meet outside “Pecoshitas” (80-03 Roosevelt Ave, Flushing, NY 11372 – it is only 5 min walk from the Roosevelt Av – Jackson Heights Subway Station).
    • Do you know Kanopy? As LaGuardia student, you have access to Kanopy (a video streaming service providing access to more than 30,000 independent and documentary films). Watch the first part of “In Jackson Heights. One of America’s Most Ethnically Diverse Neighborhoods” – Frederick Wiseman (Zipporah): https://laguardia.kanopy.com/video/jackson-heights 

Thursday, April 11: Discussion and Plans for our digital storytelling – Jackson Heights
(1) Discussion: So, is American ruining the English language?
(2) We are done with the pilot project at LaGuardia! We need to start thinking about how we are going to reproduce it at a bigger scale in Jackson Heights. Our first visit to this neighborhood as a class is next Thursday! (Questions here – Thanks Karina!)

  • Homework:
    • Reading: “Children Can’t Speak or Write Properly Any More” (James Milroy / Language Myths) Daysi / Isaak / Akhda
    • Essay #1: The revised version in due next Tuesday, April 16.
    • Essay #2: It is time for our sencond essay (following the same structure that we did for essay #1) – another synthesis essay with the readings from the last three weeks of class. Here you have the instructions, and again, here you have the handout with the steps. Essay #2 is due Monday, April 22 at the latest.

Tuesday, April 9: Discussion: What do we mean and/or understand by “Standard language” and “Standard English”? How would you explain and/or describe “Standard American English”? / The Official English question: Plenty of other countries have designated official languages to manage diversity. Why not the U.S.A.?

  • Homework:
    • Reading: “America is ruining the English language” (John Algeo / Language Myths) Chris / Jermaine / Shanté
    • LaGuardia linguistic landscape art /Visual component: review the email that I sent you last week, just in case you need some context. Remember that there is also post for your questions – use this channel if you have questions or if you want to share your ideas, thoughts and more. Be creative and have lots of fun!

Thursday, April 4: (1)  Essay #1: Peer review task. ? (2) Storytelling workshop with Ryan Seslow.

Tuesday, April 2: Language and Power – How does language wield power over us? Can it overpower us? (terminology: presuposition, entailment, cancelability test, conversational implicature, frame/frasming, taboo terms).

  • Homework:
    • Reading: “The Standard Language Myth” (Lippi-Green) Karina / Chris / Akhda
    • Podcast/Interview – remember to send a caption to introduce your classmate together with the edited audio file
    • Getting ready for the workshop with Ryan – Apps
      • iPhone – send me your apple ID by today!
      • Android –EZGlitch & Glitch! (download these two apps)

Thursday, March 28: (1) Time to discuss the concept of Linguistic Landscape: What does “linguistic landscape” mean? What/Why is relevant to study and analyze the linguistic landscape of a specific space? (2) Audacity workshop (II)

  • Homework:
    • Essay #1 is due this Sunday – March, 30 (please, send it to me by email)
    • Podcast/Interview – Your final edited version (minimum 3 min. – max. 5 min. the shorter the better!) is due next Tuesday (April, 2). If your Dropbox is full and/or you cannot upload the file, please send it to me by email. Send me 2 lines intro./ caption to introduce your podcast.
    • Reading: “How does language wield power over us? Can it overpower us?”(In Language Matters by Donna Jo Napoli & Vera Lee-Schoenfeld) Songhui / Agustín / Arlene / Judith

Tuesday, March 26: Let’s continue our conversation about language ideologies with the reading from last Thursday “They speak really bad English down the South and in New York City.”

  • Homework:
    • You did a great job with the interviews! Make sure to listen to your interview and write down the topics/issues you want to focus on together with the time – it will be easier to work on your edits on Thursday (it will save you a lot of time!)
    • Linguistic Landscape: The language(s) you see and hear around you in public places convey powerful messages about what histories, cultures, and identities are valued right where you are. After reading about linguistic landscape, share (blog) pictures from your local linguistic landscape and answer the following questions: a) where was the picture taken? b) what language(s) are used? c) what do the signs say? (***Remember to categorize your post as “Linguistic Landscape”***)
    • Essay #1: Have you started your essay? Do you have questions? Due date – Sunday, 3/30 – check guide and handout below.

Thursday, March 21: Field work (interviews) and Workshop (Audacity)
(1) During the first hour we are conducting the interviews (Make sure to review my last email) Bring your phone fully charged with your recording app ready! Review the steps/instructions on the site.
(2) Audacity workshop: we are learning basic editing techniques using audacity in order to create short podcasts to make sure that we capture the most relevant issues/topics.

Tuesday, March 19: The class will be divided in two parts: (1) We will have our reading discussion: Why are some language perceived as more beautiful than others? How can a language be/sound beautiful? / (2) We will start working of the oral history component of the project: What is Oral History? Why Oral History? Handouts: What is oral history? / Understanding oral History: Why do it? / We will create our interview! (You can find the questions for the interview we created as a group here).

  • Homework:
    • Reading: “They speak really bad English down the South and in New York City” (Dennis R. Preston /Language Myths) Karina / Cristal / Arlene
    • Get ready for the interview – is your cellphone ready? Do you have your recording app? (WAV format!)  / Do you have your questions? / Bring your headphones to class! Make sure to review the resources available in the site Interview pointers and Strategies / https://www.wnyc.org/story/diy-radio-rookies-toolkit/
    • Have you read your classmates’ posts? Check them out! Read them and comment in ast least 2 of them.

Thursday, March 14: (let’s continue our conversation) Everyone has an accent? / Language vs. Accent vs. Dialect / GIF workshop.

  • Homework:
    • GIF: Send via email (1) the GIF together with (2) a short bio – I will add them to the People/Community page. What about a class GIF ? Send me (3) your favorite frame and I will create the GIF! (By Monday night!)
    • Post: We have read and discussed several terms/concepts (language vs. dialect vs. accent). Write a post about your linguistic background. This is a low-stake assignment to help you start thinking about your first reflective essay. Think about your linguistic practices (these questions could help you): do you speak more than one language? (at home? at work? at school?); how does your bilingualism/multilingualism affect the way you communicate?; Do you think you speak different dialects? Why do you think so? How does it affect you?; Do you think you have an accent?; Why do you think so? How does it affect you? (***Remember to categorize your post as “Linguistic Background”***)
    • Reading: “Italian is beautiful German is Ugly” (Howard Giles & Nancy Niedzielski/Language Myths) Izaac / Arushi / Minhaz

Tuesday, March 12:Language myths / Language vs. dialect vs. accent

  • Homework:
    • Reading: “Everyone has an accent except me”  (John H. Esling /Language Myths) Vaniqua / Minhaz / Malique
    • Have you email your image/pic/photo? Check here what we are doing on Thursday! (I will bring all the materials!)

Thursday, March 7: Exploring the CUNY Academic Commons (Profile, explore course site, readings, hypothes.is/anotation, Post/Blog) / Meet Ryan Seslow (Skype) / Readings/Discussion: What is a “language”? What is a “dialect”? Why does (or does not) this differentiation matter?

  • Homework:
    • Reading: The myth of non-accent (Lippi-Green) Tejasvi / Nick / Joshua
    • Send image/pic/photo – size  8.5″ X 11″ (GIF workshop next Thursday) – please send it as an attachment (word, pdf, jpeg) and make sure of the size (expand the image so it covers the entire page).

Tuesday, March 5: Who are we? Building Community / Introduction to the class

Dear students:

Welcome to ELL-101 “Inroduction to Language / Linguistic Landscapes: Unpacking languages hierarchies”! My name is Inés Vañó García and we will be working together this semester.

Our class meets Tuesday at 11:45am (Room C-359) and Thursday at 11:45am (Computer Room C-209).
This will be our online platform/site. Here you will be able to find the material for this course, day-by-day calendar, and an updated syllabus. This is also a place where we will be able to share our thoughts, ideas and ask many questions.

Looking forward to working with you this semester.

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.