HON 101 Talk to Me Assignment 11: due Monday, Dec 5, 2005
1) I’ve put a copy of Lisa Delpit’s book “The Skin that We Speak” on reserve in the library. Please read “Some Basic Sociolinguistic Concepts”, Chapter 5, pg. 62. Write five comments you have about this chapter and five questions that you don’t entirely understand. Post these on webCT.
2) Please read “No Kinda Sense”, also from Lisa Delpit’s book “The Skin that We Speak” Chapter 3, pg. 33. Write five comments you have about this chapter and five questions that you don’t entirely understand. Post these on webCT.
3) Read James Baldwin’s NYT article that I’ve passed out in class. On webCt, write a short (4-5 paragraph) response. Also include 4-5 questions that you have about what he’s saying.
4) Answer at least one question from another person’s posting.
5) Write a short (4-5 paragraphs) on what you think about the following passage (pass in on paper). Here are some starting questions that may or may not be helpful to you.
Does the passage below speak to you and your experience? Do you sometimes feel silenced and unable to express what is really important to you? Have you ever felt marginalized or belittled when you try to express yourself? Have you ever been so nervous that you can’t speak?
What do you lose when you lose your language? ...[you pay] …the price for it in one way or
another – the remaining, fumbling insecurity when you are not quite sure
whether you have the metaphor right in the expression that you are going to use
and you know the one that comes to mind is not from the language that you are
speaking at the moment.
What does the country lose when it loses individuals
who are comfortable with themselves, cultures that are authentic to themselves,
the capacity to pursue sensitivity and some kind of recognition that one has a
purpose in life? What is lost to a country that encourages people to lose their
direction in life?
-- Joshua Fishman, from “The Skin That We Speak”, L. Delpit and J.K. Dowdy, eds. The
New Press,
6) Finally, look back over the postings for this entire semester. Without pointing any student out (‘cause I think we’ve all done it), what are criticisms a harsh gramatarian (a person who cares a great deal about prescriptive grammar) would make about grammar/ spelling/ style of these posts? Pass in on paper: take one of your own posts and pass in a [potentially cleaned up] version that you would feel fine submitting as a short writing sample for a job interview.