Analysis Of Lisa Delpit's The Skin We Speak

Lisa Delpit’s book, “The Skin We Speak”, talked about language and culture, and how it relates to the classroom. How we speak gives people hits as to where we are from and what culture we are a part of. Unfortunately there are also negative stereotypes that come with certain language variations. There is an “unfounded belief that the language of low income groups in rural or urban industrial areas is somehow structurally “impoverished” or “simpler” than Standard English” (Delpit 71). The United States is made of people from various cultures and speak many different variations of languages. As teachers we must be aware of some of the prejudices we may have about language and culture. As a result of many negative stereotypes associated with certain variations of English many students have adapted codeswitching. When this concept came up in the book it made me think about my own language. I realized that I code switch quite often between what is seen as Standard English and African American English or Ebonics. Usually with family or other friends that speak Ebonics I use that Ebonics to communicate, but when I am in school, in a

Usually, if you speak anything other than Standard English, it is looked upon as negative thing. One topic the books looks at is if there should even be a divide between the “professional world” and someone culture. I think in the classroom we should help student become culturally aware and embrace their culture, but it is also out job to prepare them for what society is right not. Right now there is a very large divide between culture (if your culture is not the dominate one) and the professional world. We should let student embrace and explore their own language but also encourage them to learn Standard English. As teachers we should also teach students when and where Standard English is more appropriate versus their own language