DEVELOPING TWO-WAY BIDIALECTAL EDUCATION

Instructions to Task 4

Working with Student Writing

  1. Work in pairs (one Aboriginal person and one non-Aboriginal person).
  2. The handout provides two examples of student writing.
  3. A teacher has brought these to you asking for help with getting the students to write in Standard English.
  4. Discuss how you would respond to the teacher.
  5. You may want to refer to the books Solid English and Two-Way English to help you prepare your advice for the teacher.
  6. Write down your responses and take them to the group for comparison and discussion.
Objectives - this task should help you to:
  • Give advice to teachers who do not understand the importance of Aboriginal English or other dialects of English,
  • Give advice to teachers about student writing, and
  • Develop skills to address problems at the classroom level.

Ways that participants responded to this task