Ain't

[Twelvetongue]

I introduced 'ain't' to the students today with great trepidation.

I figured that they needed to know what it meant but also warned them that using the word in some situations was socially unacceptable.

I was far too overemphatic about understanding but not using 'ain't' (since its never included in any curriculum). I made the mistake of saying that it was 'bad English' which motivated an older student to say something about African-Americans being 'loud and low class' which, coming out of the mouth of an immigrant benefitting from a free ESL class that I'm teaching pro-bono, offended me. (This is in a community learning center that wouldn't exist without the blessing of the majority African-American community.) Even though I'm white I nearly lost it! I can't abide immigrants badmouthing my fellow countrymen who built America with blood sweat and tears. Americans grow up with 'sensitivity training' their whole lives, but how do we teach sensitivity to an ignorant old immigrant? Shouldn't they have the wisdom to have it already?

[Macavity]

Hello,
you need to take a cooling off period. Try asking yourself how it would be if you were the old immigrant. Put things in a little perspective, afterall your fellow countrymen who , as yo put it, built your country with blood sweat and tears were also largely immigrants. Awareness of our personal attitudes and feelings is a must if we choose to teach as a profession, even when the engagement is pro bono. Perhaps you should reflect on this for a while.

[waitress]

Racism and classism exists everywhere,though the idea of being politically correct ,in other words keeping your ideas to yourself does not exist everywere.Many Americans believe these ideas as well and many immigrants pick up on this not only from their country but living in ours.We are not so sensitive and I hear similar attitudes from Americans as well-maybe more subtly said
Also people are individuals,this person might simply be not so likeable not reflecting their entire country of origin and all other immigrants.Be careful to see this person that way ,when you make generalizations about character you are in effect saying the same thing that your student said.

I have made little speeches at times about not being racist in my classes.
I recently walked into a "discussion" in Spanish between two guys teasing each other saying their grandmas looked like monkeys who speak quechua (indigenous language)I just said we will not talk like this in my classroom ,we respect each other here no matter what we look like or how we speak .They got the point and it was not the entire class only a couple very adolescent 20 year old guys.
The fact the class is free and you are teaching for free is also not really relevant ,avoid feeling like your students owe you
another note---
I am not sure I would bring the word ain't into my lesson unless the students were at a pretty high level or ask you because they have heard it used.Its a bit confusing to stick into the verb "to be" lessons

[Macavity]

Hello again,
you might like to point out to your "old bugger", if I can put it that way, that the use of "ain't" is in no way restricted to any particuilar group, and is quite widely used. A talk about the racist angle might be appropriate, though. Still, I think that the comments could have been( at least in part) generated by the immigrants own feelings of uncertainty and you really shouldn't be too hard on them. Nip it in the bud and leave it at that. If they continue to make stupid remarks then address tzhe issue with them in clearer terms, perhaps pointing out the support your project receives from these "loud and low-class people"

[rusmeister]

How many folk here know that 'ain't' was originally (artificially) introduced as a contraction for "Am I not?" and failed miserably in that capacity?
"I'm an awesome teacher, ain't?"

[Barry3000]

of course you could have just said it was lazy english and not used by people who usually like to speak properly instead of making a big issue of it...