How+can+we+incorporate+teaching+about+dialect+and+make+it+interesting+(and+also+not+offend+parents)?+(Stephanie+D)

//How do the dialects of North Carolina (and the United States) reflect its diverse array of cultures, and in what way do our dialects influence our lives?//
 * Revised Question:**

I think the best in general to teach about dialect in the classroom is to talk about it within the context of code-switching. If no student is made to feel that his or her dialect is inferior or superior to others, simply that speaking or writing changes for different audiences or situations, students will be able to handle the subject. As far as parents go, as long as the teacher emphasizes that he or she is not teaching the students that they //should// speak in another dialect, simply describing that it exists and how it is used, I think that would be the best way to handle it.
 * Potential Answers:**


 * Dr. Y's Comments: **

// Stephanie, You've posed an interesting question, especially s it relates to thinking about teaching language in the classroom. With regard to the ways dialects influence our lives, I wonder the extent to which we are aware of this in the way that most of us were made aware of how much we take language for granted when we did the opening activity for our class this semester. It's often not until we're faced with some type of semantic disruption that are we made aware of dialect. Ideally, we would have a deeper awareness and appreciate for language variation. //

// In terms of teaching about language variation and dialect, I think one of the best places to start is with the literature that we read with our students. Looking at language in context is key, and literature is one of the main content-specific areas our students experience language. One resource I recommend highly is the chapter from Andrews on dialect and language variation. I hope the other readings have also provided ideas. Your idea of focusing on the idea of code-switching is really good -- there are lots of contexts in which to explore code-switching. We've even discussed this some in class. Keep us posted on how your answers continue to evolve here... //