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Capergirl
Joined: 02 Feb 2003
Posts: 1232
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
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 Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 4:37 pm Post subject: |
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| Celeste wrote: |
| In my hometown in Northern British Columbia, Canada, we have a local dialect that incorrectly uses the past participle verb form. "I seen him yesterday." " I done my homework before dinner." are quite common and punctuated with plenty of "eh"s and "F***"s. We have quaint local phrases such as "yeah, eh"(to agree with an affirmative stament), "yeah, no, eh" (to agree with a negative statement) and "F*** yeah, eh" (to strongly agree with an affirmative statement). |
Gee, Celeste, I didn't know BC'ers could speak Cape Bretonese!  "I seen" and "I done" are very common here, too. Students often ask me questions about it after talking with people in the community, so I try to include it in a lesson. Generally, I will include it with a listening/speaking lesson on reduction...I just add on a little side lesson about the local slang and the types of things that they will hear (common slang and idioms) in the local area. My students often ask me why I don't speak like the other people they hear in the community. Well, I do a bit, but I don't say "I seen" or "I done". However, if I'm talking with my friends, I'll talk faster and use some local slang...it's just habit really. In the classroom, I use very standardized, "proper" English.
I think the issue of slang is more relevant in ESL than EFL teaching. IMO, students are more likely to hear "proper" (i.e. grammatically correct) English spoken by foreigners making an effort to converse with them in their own countries, whereas they are more likely to hear slang and fast English when they are in an English-speaking country. I find that the local people here assume too much about my students' proficiency and don't make any effort to slow down their speech and/or use more standardized English (omitting the slang and the idioms). Inevitably, the local folks will ask my students if they understand and the students will nod and stare blankly.  So I tell my students that they have to ask people to speak more slowly or to repeat something they didn't understand. The students tend to get discouraged in the beginning because the only people they understand are the ESL instructors. 
Oddly enough, my Emirati students had an easier time catching on to the local slang because they'd had Canadian teachers in the UAE before coming to Canada. My Angolan students find it easier to understand British speakers because all of their EFL teachers had been from the UK. When I play an audiotape with a British speaker, the Angolans understand the speaker quite easily, whereas I have to really listen to grasp the meaning.  |
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Stephen Jones
Joined: 21 Feb 2003
Posts: 4124
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| Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 7:46 pm Post subject: |
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The standard question tag in Indian and Sri Lankan Engish is "No"
"This bugger big problem, no?" |
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khmerhit
Joined: 31 May 2003
Posts: 1874
Location: Reverse Culture Shock Unit
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| Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 8:34 pm Post subject: |
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A funny thing happened to me on the way to the forum, eh? /yeah?/wha? /what? /innit? /no?/ dude ya listening?/n'est-ce pas?/ by golly?/
's a funny olde worlde, yeah?-- innit mahvelous |
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Capergirl
Joined: 02 Feb 2003
Posts: 1232
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
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| Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 8:46 pm Post subject: |
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| khmerhit wrote: |
A funny thing happened to me on the way to the forum, eh? /yeah?/wha? /what? /innit? /no?/ dude ya listening?/n'est-ce pas?/ by golly?/
's a funny olde worlde, yeah?-- innit mahvelous |
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