"If it was this easy for my child to "pick up" at school a new language clearly not her home language, then what was preventing the millions of African American children whose home language was different from the school's from acquiring the dialect of Standard English?" (Delpit, 2002, p. 34).
Students will be encouraged to speak their native language, but will be made aware that there are times and places to speak each language because there will be people "negatively assessing [their] intelligence, [their] competence, [their] potential, and yes even [their] moral fiber" based on the way they speak (Delpit, 2002, p. 38). Therefore, students will be taught the three types of "English" they will need to succeed.
TRILINGUALISM
1. "Home English" or the dialect most students learned in the home or from their peers (in the case of recent immigrants)
2. "Formal English" or academic English which is taught and used in schools.
3. "Professional English" which is learned in higher education and on the job. It contains professional jargon needed to perform one's job.
(Baker, 2002, p. 51).
Teachers: You are expected to make these three variations of English known to your students. Furthermore, you are to accept that these languages are a part of the student, and are all equally respected and valued in different situations. You will allow students to use all varieties of English based upon the task at hand.
Students: You are expected to utilize the correct forms of English given the task at hand. For formal, typed assignments you should be using formal English. For laboratory reports, you should be using formal and professional English. In your journal entries, you will be allowed to use home English to convey your understanding of the material or task at hand.