Hello, world. :)
My name is Kathryn Brower and I am an English Education major at Kennesaw State University. I am an avid reader and writer.
I chose to become an English Ed. major after a few detours in my college career. I started out as an English major (hoping to pursue journalism), changed to Early Childhood Education after a brutal encounter with a composition course (my always-thick skin must have gone on vacation), and then realized that with ECE I was forsaking the thing that was most important to me - writing. I decided to mesh the two together to get the best of both worlds. My friends and family have always supported my choices, especially when it comes to academics.
I do think that views on literacy/literature are changing in the United States, though I can't be sure if it's for better or worse. The introduction of such advanced technology has seemed to push everyone to do things as quickly as possible, including spelling with shorthand which seems to show lack of respect of the English language in my opinion. However, going through the English Education program at KSU has shown me the many different ways that teaching English in the schools is evolving into a much more creative fashion. In fact, I am excited to see where our kids can go after they have been taken away from the "drill and kill" grammar instruction they are used to and introduced to novel ways to incorporate grammar into their art.
Once I graduate, I intend on continuing my education further. I'd like to obtain my Master's degree in the Art of Teaching English, and am considering a PhD program as well. After schooling, I (obviously) plan to teach: first on the high school level, and perhaps onto the college level in the future. My degree is necessary for my field of work.
I can't wait to get to know you all. :)
Hello Kathryn,
ReplyDeletegreetings from Slovakia. My name is Jan.
It is an interesting point that you have made. Those redundancies and spelling with shorthand that is becoming more and more popular. Do you mean this "newspeak" often used on internet to spare space and time to give the information as quick as you can (like instead of "Oh my God" just OMG etc)? I am just asking. Because I want to know if I understood what you wanted to say...
Because in my opinion it depends on the outlook. I know English is not my mother tongue. So I don't have any right to judge it's "development" (if we should call it so). But isn't it showing us the lifeability of language. When people modify the language to fulfill, or to make it more useful for certain specific purpose.
But of course I have to agree that there is no point to use those “newest elements” in your speech unless you can't define yourself properly in full form of language.
…
Because I have an idea. I just came to me in last couple of days and I didn't talk about it with anybody yet. And I would like to know your opinion or advise on it.
I would put it this way;
Composing of some well chosen “e-Language elements” into my English lessons in front of the class provides an ideal opportunity for me as a teacher of English language as a foreign language here in Slovakia to show my pupils that English language is really something that should interest them. It would show them that those shortenings of capital letters that they may have already seen somewhere, or that they may have been using in their chatting are from English.
Because I came across it in my work. You know I am working as a substitute E.L. teacher at local elementary school. And kids are using those shortenings from English like OMG, ASAP... even in their Slovak speech. Funny thing is that when they are using it in their speech they pronounce it in some kind of mixture of English-Slovak pronunciation. When I asked them if they know what it means they knew more or less the translated meaning. But when I asked them if they know that it is from English, they said they don't...
Hey Jan! I'm so glad you brought up the point you did about the "lifeability of language." I was, indeed, talking about that shorthand, internet-type language (OMG, etc). The only thing that concerns me (and what I was referring to in my original post) is that college students in America now are apparently using things like "u" instead of "you" in academic papers - talk about "OMG!" haha! I think it all comes down to this - you have to know your audience. Professionals don't want to see your shorthand; your friends on Twitter don't mind. :)
ReplyDeleteBut you're absolutely right - language is constantly evolving. There's no way to change that, and no one should want to! In fact, the evolution of language is the very thing that makes it so beautiful.
I think your idea about using shorthand to engage your students is a fantastic one! I'm all for anything that will grab students' attention and keep them engaged.
I'm so excited to swap ideas with you guys. Thanks for responding to my post!:)
Kate
Hi Kate,
ReplyDeletethanks for commenting on my post (quite some time ago). Finally, I got to posting something back to you (I'm an awful procrastinator, you see).
I must say I absolutely agree with your opinion on using shorthand. I never use it personally, even when chatting to the few English language native speakers I keep in touch with. Perhaps I'm just old fashioned but I really find it almost as an act of murder, especially in the most extreme cases. I suppose the change and development (or decrease?) of the language is inevitable, though. Even language "lovers" like me can't avoid typing "LOL" or "WTF" occasionally, these days :)
On the other hand, I'm pleased to hear about teaching English becoming a more creative process gradually. Well, at least in the US. I believe there are some teachers in Slovakia who teach this way, too, but there is probably still a greater number of those just following the curricula and coursebooks blindly. And learning English can be such a creative, enjoyable thing indeed! What we need is definitely more learner-centred teachers in schools. If I end up teaching, I'd like to TRY to be one. It's a challenge, anyway. I guess you Americans are ahead in this regard, and I hope a more radical change will some day come here, too.