Deplit's article addresses an issue I think will be challenging to deal with as a teacher. The difficult part will be to balance how much of the mother tongue to incorporate into the lesson. Yes, I agree that as a teacher one should respect the home language of students and use it when teaching SAE, but if one overuses it then the students might not excell in SAE as expected.
While going to school in Norway, I did not experience Ebonics. However, I've experienced discrimination due to differences in dialect. I'm from the northern part of Norway, where we speak what some might categorize as "uneducated". When I served in the Air Force, I noticed how my peers were prejudice and I consequently changed the way I spoke to fit in with the rest. It also had practical advantages in the way that I would not have to repeat myself as often.
My research paper is on the differences between Norwegian and English and how to use the Norwegian language and culture when teaching English as a second language. I further discuss the role English plays in Norway and why it is important to master. Through my reading on the topic I came across an article THAT talked about how children through learning their mother tongue have a good understanding for language, which brought me back to the Deplit article. She encouraged readers to use the students’ abilities rather than forcing them to only learn SAE. If students can see the connection and similarities between two languages they will hopefully become curious and want to explore other languages.
