Analysis of Blog talkin'

While doing this assignment I found it very hard to find pieces of writing in actual Black English. However I did find articles and blogs on how and when Black English should be used. I did find a very interesting blog that was posted by someone that was either a teacher or is an education major in college. The blog is done by Christine and there are seven posts by other people responding to what she has to say. They are all discussing a reading that they read about when it is appropriate to use proper English opposed to Black English. The reading aroused many questions that they all had. The big question is when is it appropriate to use Black English opposed to “proper” English in a classroom setting.
All of the teachers thought that it is a good idea to somehow incorporate both Black and Proper English into the class room. However the big question was really how should they properly do this? One idea was to make all of the formal writing and discussions in Proper English while having some of the more informal class discussion in class in Black English. They all agreed that it is valuable for the students to know to code-switch and how to speak in both situations. As one of the posts by John Settlage says “… students to know when to switch avoids the danger of making "proper" English seem better than their everyday ways of talking.” He believes that it is best for students to know both.
One of the questions is how to teach the students to use both Black and Proper English and when it is appropriate. Teaching then how to use it really isn’t that bad. The challenge really comes from when using which is appropriate. Britt posts “I really like the idea of talking to them about when it is appropriate to use their native english, but also give them a chance to use proper english.” One of the ways discussed to use their native English and Proper English is to have them use their native English in classroom discussions but during formal writing and formal presentations to use Proper English.
They believe that if you can be successful in teaching both forms of English it will make the students more rounded. They will be more able to function well once they get out into the work force. Jess Baker posts “Hopefully by helping students to become fluent in both types of English they will be better able to succeed in the working world once they enter it.” The ability to be successful at switching will make the students able to control their switching at work and also make them be able to connect to more people.

“Black English” Weblog posting. Science Blog. 7 Oct. 2008. 15 Feb. 2009.