Accent Discrimination and Language Identity!

Activity: 3:2:1 Speaking Activity 

Link to slideshow for entire lesson: 

1. First pull up the slide deck linked above and begin to give instructions for activity.

2. Then do a quick check in: ask students something that they learned from last class, discuss vocabulary definitions from last class (Linguistic Discrimination, Linguistic Ideology, etc.,). Do this first in pairs for five minutes then rejoin as a class and call on students to answer. Review homework if applicable

3. Now that students have reviewed ideas from last class, continue on to the 3:2:1 instructions. 

4. Students will form an inner and outer circle where they will have 3 minutes, then two minutes, then one minute to discuss accents within their own country and within English.

5. If the first three minutes are too long and you see some students struggling to think of things to talk about, walk around and try to suggest some ideas or pose them more pointed questions on the subject (where have you seen different accents in English? How many different accents have you interacted with within your home country? etc.,)

6. When all of the students have spoken, have them return to their seats. Discuss with the class what they had spoken about. 

7. Move on to introducing the new vocabulary set.

CCQ's:

• How many circles will there be?

• Which number is the Inner Circle? Outer Circle?

• Which question will each circle discuss?

• How many minutes will you have to discuss with each partner?

Accent Discrimination: treating someone differently based on the way they speak English (their accent)

Assimilate: accept and get used to new cultural norms/ideas/customs within your new country

Accent Reduction: to work with a specialist to purposely remove/lesson your accent

Language Identity: how you exist/view yourself within your language; your accent/dialect and how you use the language

Identity:  the fact of being who or what a person or thing is

Standard American English: the outdated idea that “proper” English is white American English

Activity: Listening 

Time: 20 minutes

Materials: Video Player, Worksheets, Writing utensils

•  Continue with the slides to the listening activity. 

• Pre-Listening: reflect on what students told you within the first activity about their idea of accents within their own country and within English. Explain to them that accents within English are very normal and even Native English Speakers have very different accents and dialects; Accents are normal and part of everyone’s Language Identity. 

  • Before playing the video, ask students what they think of accent differences in their home country. Prompt students with questions like: Are there different accents in your country? How many? Which ones interest you? Why?

  • Students share in partners, then come together as a class to discuss some answers. 

  • Have students get out a pencil and paper to write notes.

  • Pass out the charts to all the students. Pass out the handouts from the listening activity. 

• Introduce the first video and explain the activity instructions. 

• While-Listening: Students will fill out charts reviewing the differences in American, British, and Australian English 

  • 1. Explain the charts students will use to take notes and that they will be listening for specific differences in accents in English.

    • •  Appendix A chart is differences in Word Pronunciation, so explain short/long vowel sounds. The students will just be looking at the chart and listening for this section.

      • Appendix B chart is word substitutions so explain that different accents use different words for the same object. Students will fill in the missing information.

      • Appendix C chart is different spellings of the same word. Students will be filling in the missing information.

• 2. Play American vs. British vs. Australian Accent video, pausing briefly after each word so students can gather information. Play twice through (if students need).

• 3. Have students take notes on things they hear/notice (intonations, pronunciation, etc) using the charts provided and filling in the missing information from the video.

• CCQ's:

  • Which chart will you NOT fill in?

  • How many charts are there total?

  • What will you be listening for?

• Post-Listening: Understanding differences in English Accents, Introducing differences in American Accents in conjunction with Standard American English Ideology

  • 1. Discuss the video: Have students compare answers with each other, then go over the answers in class. 

  • 2. Class discussion: Ask the class to share out answers to questions such as: “Which accent interested you the most and why?” 

    • • “What were the differences you noticed between the accents?” “What were the similarities?” “Which accent was the hardest to understand?” “Which accent are you most familiar with?” 

  • 3. Explain to students how accents are perfectly normal, even for Native English Speakers, as shown in the video. Explain how accents make people unique and are a foundational element of everyone’s identity.

  • 4. Tell the students that you will now play a video of a famous American comedian demonstrating different accents only within the USA, further showing that different accents are normal and nothing to be ashamed of. 

  • 5 .Play a couple minutes of Fred Armisen video to demonstrate the differences in American accents (for comedic relief). Which accents to show to the students is up to the teacher.

  • 6. Have the students pair up, and discuss how seeing different accents within English and American English (in respect to Standard American English Ideology) makes them feel about their own accent.

• Class comes back together.

• Students share their ideas, and a  teacher or volunteer can write down their ideas on the board.

Time: 40 minutes

Materials: Paper for students to write on, Writing utensils, Video Player

Warm up: 5 minutes

1. Make a KWL (Know, Want to know, Learned) chart on the board.

2. Have the students draw it out on paper. 

3. Ask the students: (independently)

   1. ‘what do you know about accent reduction?’, then have them fill it in.

   2. ‘what do you want to know about accent reduction?’, then have them fill it in.

4. The third, ‘What I Learned’ will be finished at the end of the lesson. 

5. Have students share out answers to the K and W categories and write them on the board. 

Watch Accent Reduction Benefits video: 1 minute

1. Instruct students to write down their favorite benefits to Accent Reduction. 

2. Play the Video. 

3. Stop the Video at 1 minute. 

4. Ask students if they got at least 5 benefits written down. If not, play the video again. They should tell you if they did not finish. 

CCQ's

• What will you be listening for?

• How many benefits will you write down?

• If you did not finish the activity, what should you do?

Watch Why You Have an Accent in Foreign Languages video: 2:56 Minutes

1. Instruct students to think about how different aspects of your home language/culture influence how you speak in a foreign language.

2. Play the video.

3. Stop at 2.56 minutes.

4. Ask students again to reflect on the original question of connecting cultural identity with how foreign languages are spoken. Have them write down their thoughts.

CCQ's:

• What will you be listening for?

• What will you be thinking about while you watch?

• What will you be writing down?

Debate: 20 minutes

1. Read the Discussion Questions Below ALOUD to the class:

   1. What are the benefits of Accent Reduction? Should Accent Reduction be encouraged for learners of English?    

   2. How do accents relate to your cultural identity? How does Accent Reduction remove aspects of your home cultural identity?        

2. As a group, discuss question 1, and then question 2. Allow these questions to spark discussion, do not interfere unless to help with vocabulary.   

3. Split the class into two groups, and randomly assign the students to AGREE with Accent Reduction practices and DISAGREE with Accent Reduction practices.      

4. Once in their groups, instruct students to work together to come up with five reasons/facts that support their argument. Encourage them to use the vocabulary learned in this lesson and the previous lesson (Language Identity, Standard American Ideology, Accent Discrimination, Assimilate, Linguistic Discrimination, etc.,)

5. Give the students some time to confer with their group (about 10 mins), then allow turn-taking for each side. Encourage each student from each group to share within the debate, but do not force everyone to debate if they do not want to. However, do not allow two passionate students to solely debate each other. Do not interfere with debate unless debate starts to become too heated, then quickly divert the conversation to a more professional discussion of ideas.

CCQ's:

• What will the groups be assigned based on?

• How many reasons will you need to come up with to support your argument?

• How long will you have to discuss with your group?

• What will you do after your group has done discussing?

Revisit: 2 minutes

1. Revisit the KWL Chart and focus on the last category, ‘What I learned.’ Have students fill in their chart for the L category. 

2. As a group, have the students call out new things they have learned.

3. Write on the board what students have learned under the L category of their chart. 

Time: 20 minutes

Materials: Paper, Writing Utensils

1. Identity tree: On a piece of paper, have students draw a tree with at least seven large leaves at the top. Have them write their name in the middle of the tree. Students will write seven different aspects of their identity that reflects their culture and that they want to maintain during their English learning journey. 

2. When students have finished their tree, have them share their tree with a partner. Then ask the students as a class what they placed in their leaves.

3. As a wrap-up, once again explain to students the importance of maintaining their specific language identity when learning English and the normalization of accents. 

CCQ's:

• What will you draw on your piece of paper?

• How many leaves do you need?

• What do you write inside of the leaves?

• What will you do after you finish your Identity Tree?

For homework: 

Tell students to go out in the world and try to notice accent differences in their own communities, not just different Native-English Speaker accents but also English-Second Language accents. 

Instruct students to note different accents in their communities, how they are different from their own, and how they possibly reflect that specific culture.  Students will bring their notes for discussion for the beginning of next class.

CCQ's:

• What will you be observing in your community?

• What will you be taking notes on?

• What will you bring with you to next class?