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I set it up so that I would, on the Rush tape, I would play a little section of the Rush tape,
and then I had two things in mind.
First of all, I would ask students to describe what's going on.
What dimension are we looking at here?
It might have been, for example, phonetic variation, it might have been a definition of language function.
Languages have different functions in society.
They can function as the official vehicle of communication of the state.
Or they can serve to show the identity of a group.
So that's an easy cognitive level, it doesn't really involve much critical thinking.
All they have to do is identify the dimensions to which Rush is attending.
What's he talking about? What is of interest to him at a given moment?
But then I want them to apply that,
I want them to identify what it is that he's talking about using the terminology that we've used in the course.
That's part of the standard terminology of the science of Sociolinguistics.
But I want them to go beyond that.
Then what I want them to do is either describe their reactions, what their own opinions are,
and I do want them to evaluate whether they think Rush is right or wrong about what he's saying.
This lecture took a long time. It took several weeks actually.
I just came in here and I had another version of this lecture.
It was just the tape and then a handout with all of the questions.
So I would play the tape, and I left spaces on the tape so that I could stop it easily,
and be able to go on with the next.
And the lecture worked fairly well.
I think it has been successful in the past.
The technology definitely helped.
First of all, I was able to, in the past I've shown them the slides with the cartoons.
I have a whole series of Ebonics cartoons, I guess we have permission for one of them.
And again, part of the cartoons, it's interesting, when you see humor, you laugh, it's funny.
And yet you need to understand what you're laughing about and what's being said.
It's "moron plus phonics, equals Moronics."
And of course the analogy is with "ebony plus phonics equaling Ebonics."
So all you need to do is substitute ebony for moron,
and you have the implicit statement that African American Vernacular English is spoken by idiots.
So it's funny to see Beavis and Butthead going to the Department of Education and asking for support for Moronics.
Until you realize that what they're saying is that the individuals who were asking for help
with African American Vernacular English in the Elementary Schools in Oakland were idiots.
So underneath the humor is a pretty vicious message.
And a heavily partisan message as well.
And if anything, that's why that class worked, because I think we did that.
The course gave them the analytical tools. We reviewed those during the lecture.
We presented them the situation to evaluate, and then I let them go with it.
Constantly, over and over again throughout the lecture, there was a question for them.
Something to make them think almost after almost every single slide.
There were a couple of them where we just listened to it and then I moved on.
But for the most part, after every single slide, the ball was in their court. It was time for them to play.
And they did, which was a relief.