1. In her article, Baker shares her belief about the three types of English "that most Americans need to learn in order to lead socially fulfilling and economically viable lives at this time in history" (51). She notes that the first is a "home" English, which I am not sure I agree with. I feel like the type of English she described is more of a "social" English, especially given the fact that many families do not speak any English at all in their homes. I might be reading this too literally, but I thought it would be interesting to hear what you all think of (agree/disagree with) her "forms of English."
2. Do you consider Baker's approach to teaching English all-inclusive? How would you incorporate students' non-English languages into this approach without violating the Massachusetts Question 2 law?
3. Baker uses these methods in high school English classes. Can this way of teaching/learning "formal English grammar and speech" be adapted for use in elementary school? Has anyone had experience with this in their own classrooms?
4. Dowdy article - "The war will be won when she who is the marginalized comes to speak more in her own language, and people accept her communication as valid and representative" (13) - this quote reminded me of what a student said in Baker's article: "I think people should respect you for your ideas, not for how you sound" (58). Thinking about our experiences and our society today, do we see this as realistic? How does Dowdy's quote fit in/not fit in with Baker's belief that "formal English" is one of the forms of English necessary to lead a successful life? How do you see this playing out in your future classrooms (i.e will you encourage use of students' "own language"?)?
5. In his article, Kaplan talks about English paragraph structure and development in comparison to paragraph development in other languages and how knowing these differences will enable us to teach more effectively. Do you agree with the way Kaplan suggests teaching this? Have you seen this done in a classroom before? If a student from another country has no formal education in the language of that country but is orally proficient, would you still consider teaching similarly to the way Kaplan outlines? Do you think it's necessary?
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