[etni] Re: Re. Spik dis vay, etc
- From: Doron Narkiss <doron.narkiss@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lev.abramov@xxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 21 Feb 2010 08:59:07 +0200
I agree with Lev. The point is not, pace the Haifa researchers, that we
should teach this kind of English, but that we as teachers should be
tolerant towards non-native pupils who "spik zis vay", because zey arr
izraeliz, not american or british native speakers, and we cannot (and I hope
don't want to) turn them into little americans or brits. If pupils want to
improve their accents, by all means let them listen to and mimic Britney
Spears - but this is mimicry. Their accents are not the teacher's concern,
whereas pronunciation is. There's a difference between "bed" and "bad", and
even if the pupils cannot produce it, they have to realize it exists. The
same, Laurie, with the b/p mix-up among native speakers of Arabic: since the
distinction does not exist in Arabic, we cannot demand that they produce it;
but they need to be aware of it.
English teachers come from all backgrounds, and we tend to champion our own
way of speaking, although - even among native speakers - there is often no
agreement as to what is "correct". We forget, too, that the global language
is, after all, sub-standard English.
Doron
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