Resources for Educators

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About Language Variation

• The Linguistic Society of America:  Frequently Asked Questions about Linguistics
• The National Science Foundation: Dialects – What They Are, Why They Matter
• Center For Applied Linguistics:  Dialects
• Language Log posts on issues related to language variation:
• Dialects
• Language variability
• Discrimination
• Language and the Law
• Language and Politics
• Language and Social Life
• Language Attitudes
• Language Teaching and Learning
• Sociolinguistics
• Variation
• Actor Stephen Fry talking about variation and change in the English language
• “Language Rules ‘Stay in the Family’”: An ABC Science article describing the use of evolutionary biology to study the evolution of language structure
• Downloadable and Streaming Podcasts from The Five-Minute Linguist on various topics:
• What’s Special about Language?
• How Many Languages Are There?
• Do All Languages Come from the Same Source?
• Why Should Americans Learn Languages?
• Where Did English Come From?
• And many more….
• Popular Linguistics Online magazine
• Our Valuable Voices YouTube Channel
• “‘It’s a Language Variation, and It Has Its Own Structure”:  Our podcast features the voices of 14 pre- and in-service teachers talking about what they have learned about language variation in the classroom and how it has positively impacted their teaching and helped them better communicate with their students.

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About American English and Other Languages in the U.S.

• The Open University‘s series of 10 short and funny videos, called “The History of English in 10 Minutes” — topics on American English, Internet English, The English of Science, Shakespeare.  For a list of all 10 videos, click here.
• Listen to speakers from throughout the U.S. and Canada on the Speech Accent Archive
• PBS Documentary and interactive website, Do You Speak American?
• Opening Scene from the documentary, American Tongues
• High School Teachers’ Manual/Guide on Language Variation for the PBS Documentary, Do You Speak American?
• “The Diversity of English in America,”  a blog post by Dr. Simanique Moody on the structure of African American English
• Modern Language Association’s Map of Languages in the U.S.  
• Dictionary of American Regional English
• National Map of Dialect Regions of the U.S.  gives detailed discussion of language variation in U.S. English
• Professor’s Research Allows Audience to Hear Shakespeare’s Words in His Own Accent
• The North Carolina Language and Life Project YouTube Channel
• Our Valuable Voices YouTube Channel

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Language and Culture in the South and Appalachia

• “Do All Southerners Have the Same Dialect?” Listen to this podcast.
• “Southern Accent in Danger?” An article on the changing Raleigh, NC, dialect.
• “Where Did Cajun Come From?” Listen to this podcast.
• Center for the Study of the American South
• The North Carolina Language and Life Project
• The Appalachian Regional Commission
• Affrilachian Poets
• Spanish Voices: Spanish and English in the Southeastern United States, a documentary from the North Carolina Language and Life Project
• Watch a Speaker of the Cherokee Language from the “Voices of North Carolina” documentary from the North Carolina Language and Life Project
• Southern Education Foundation provides information about education in the U.S. South
• The North Carolina Language and Life Project YouTube Channel
• Our Valuable Voices YouTube Channel

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Language and Culture in African American Communities

• Center for Applied Linguistics: African American English
• Linguist List: African American Vernacular English: An article in which linguists discuss this variety, providing information and expressing reactions to the Oakland Ebonics controversy
• “If Black English Isn’t A Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” Essay by James Baldwin (1979) in The New York Times
• “The Diversity of English in America,” a blog post by Dr. Simanique Moody on the structure of African American English
• Affrilachian Poets
• Phonological (Sound-Related) Features of African American English
• College Teachers’ Manual/Guide on African American English for the PBS Documentary, Do You Speak American?
• The Black American Sign Language (ASL) Project from Gallaudet University describes “the linguistic features of a variety of American Sign Language (ASL) used by African American signers and usually known as Black ASL.”  See also the Black American Sign Language (ASL) Project’s Facebook page
• Black ASL:  A Post on Word. The Online Journal of African American English
• Word. The Online Journal of African American English
• “Word on the Street, Blogging about African American Linguistics”
• Dr. John R. Rickford’s Website, “Writings on the ‘Ebonics’ Issue”
• Dr. Peter Patrick’s “Bibliography of Works on African American English”
• University of Massachusetts-Amherst Center for the Study of African American Language
• The North Carolina Language and Life Project YouTube Channel
• Our Valuable Voices YouTube Channel

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About Multicultural Education

• “Race: The Power of an Illusion” Documentary:  Episode 1
• “Race: The Power of an Illusion” Online Companion
• “Race – Are We So Different?”  A Project of the American Anthropological Association
• The National Association for Multicultural Education
• Teaching Tolerance, “a place to find thought-provoking news, conversation and support for those who care about diversity, equal opportunity and respect for differences in schools” — the site includes classroom activities
• Teaching Tolerance:  Everyone Has an Accent
• Teaching Tolerance:  Classroom activity on “Linguicism”
• Teaching Tolerance:  Exploring the Power of the N-word:  A teacher writes a blog post on issues surrounding “the ‘N’ word” in her middle school English classroom in Louisiana
• Teaching Tolerance:  Appreciate the Diversity in Rural Places
• Teachers Against Prejudice, an organization for sharing materials about teaching for social justice
• Test Yourself for Hidden Bias:  Psychologists developed Hidden Bias Tests, also called Implicit Association Tests, to measure unconscious bias
• Culture in the Classroom: A short article and video about incorporating culture into curriculum at a high school on South Dakota’s Lakota Rosebud Reservation, with further resources for addressing cultural myths
• The Teaching Diverse Students Initiative: A short article discusses culturally relevant pedagogy with a short video featuring Dr. Sonia Nieto
• The Bank Street College Library provides a searchable catalog of children’s multicultural literature
• Culturally Relevant Literacy children’s book reading list, downloadable as a PDF
• The MultiCultural Review journal features materials used in multicultural instruction
• The National Center for Fair and Open Testing providesFairTest Fact Sheets, including K-12 Testing Fact Sheets
• The American Sociological Association’s resources for teaching high school sociology

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Information about Language Variation Especially for Teachers and Students

• Language Diversity, School Learning, and Achievement Gaps: A Workshop Summary  A summary and synthesis of reports from scholars who attended the National Research Council workshop on the issues that surround the study of language, academic learning, and achievement gaps in the U.S.
• The Ling Educator Blog, by Dr. Jaclyn Ocumpaugh
• Language Variation in the Classroom:  A Guide for Teachers, compiled by Hannah Askin Franz, formerly at the College of William & Mary
• Linguistics Research Digest: Blogging on Language Issues
• High School Teachers’ Manual/Guide on Language Variation for the PBS Documentary, Do You Speak American?
• College Teachers’ Manual/Guide on African American English for the PBS Documentary, Do You Speak American?
• Professor’s Research Allows Audience to Hear Shakespeare’s Words in His Own Accent
• Teaching Tolerance:  Everyone Has an Accent
• Teaching Tolerance:  Classroom activity on “Linguicism”
• Teaching Tolerance: “Good Morning Boys and Girls” article on language and gender bias in school classrooms
• The English Project:  An interactive website, containing educational activities and exercises, that “promotes awareness and understanding of the unfolding global story of the English language in all its varieties – past,  present and future”
• PBS Frontline:  Testing Our Schools
  

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Information Especially For Literacy Teachers

• The University of Pennsylvania Penn Reading Initiative
• Texas Portals to Reading Instruction
• Introduction to Texas Portals to Reading
• Developing Oral Language Skills
• Web Watch: Internet Resources to Assist Teachers with Struggling Readers, from Dr. Denise Johnson of the College of William & Mary
• The Urban Educator/The Academic English Mastery Program: Site provides information and resources for culturally relevant and inclusive teaching, including multiple intelligences, lesson planning strategies, and more
• Culturally Relevant Literacy children’s book reading list, downloadable as a PDF
• Ship or Sheep: Provides lists of minimal pairs for practicing pronunciation skills
• Florida Center for Reading Research: Provides tools and activities for teaching reading
• International Children’s Digital Library: Provides children’s literacy from around the world

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Information Especially For Math/Science Teachers

• The National Science Foundation’s List of Classroom Resources:  a diverse collection of lessons and web resources for classroom teachers,  students, and families. Arranged by subject area, including Biology, Computing, Mathematics, and Physics.
• Mindrap: A multimedia education program that encourages students to achieve in math and science by combining interactive teaching applications with hip-hop music and culture.
• Dr. Freeman Hrabowski of UMBC discusses student achievement in math and science on CBS 60 Minutes
• Dr. Ron Eglash’s websites on African fractals and Native American cybernetics
• “Studies find Language is Key to Learning Math”: The way we conceive of numbers evolves from language. Toddlers whose parents spoke with them frequently about numbers were more likely to understand the cardinal number principle by preschool age than students who had heard fewer number words.
• “What Are We Doing When We ‘Talk Science’”? When college-level advanced learners of English engage in talk about science, they are extending their abilities to convey meaning and to employ varieties of language for specific purposes.
• “Big, Little, Tall and Tiny: Words that Promote Important Spatial Skills”:  Preschool children who hear parents use words describing the size and shape of objects and who then use those words in their day to day interactions do much better on tests of their spatial skills.
• “Helping Children Understand Numbers: It’s All in How We Speak to Them”: Children struggle to map numbers to words, but crucially, this process can be improved.

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Our Wikis

• The Wiki Site for the Compass Breaking Down Barriers Conference
• The Wiki Site for our VCU Workshops – password protected (available to past and current participants)
• The Wiki Site for our MGP Workshops – password protected (available to past and current participants)
• The Wiki Site for our SURN Workshops – password protected (available to current participants)

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