Written Task 1 Part 1

Rationale

In class we studied a few texts about talking about Ebonics which is linguistic term for Black English, while studying part 1 of the course we also investigated the history of Ebonics and how the history and culture of black people has shaped the language. The articles discussed the history and the status of Ebonics around the world. Out of the many articles the one I found very intriguing was about a controversy of teaching Ebonics to black children in a school from Oakland California. After a few arguments and pressures the school ended up demolishing the idea, which is exactly why I intend to compose a formal letter for the Oakland School, taking on a persona of a black teenager during the 1990’s. In my letter I attempt to inform the school board how their approach to teach Ebonics to black children can prove to be beneficial to me and other kids my age. I plan to give evidences such as statistics and interviews of people that support my approach of persuading the board. My letter will relate to the following learning outcome from part 1 which is to” Demonstrate an awareness of how culture and content shape the language and meaning”. In order to compose the letter from the context of the black teenager I will have to research the typical life of a black teenager during that time, also just for the emphasis I intent to add some AAVE (African American Vernacular English) words, which is another word for Black English.   I will also make sure to use typical conventions of a letter such as; addresses, date, salutations and conclusions.

Written Task.

Shattuck Avenue

Oakland

California- United States of America.

Board of Oakland unified school district

35th Avenue.

Oakland

California- United States of America.

January 13, 1997.

Dear Board,

I am a student, from Castle Mont high school Oakland. I am a hard working student, but I still cannot manage to compete with the other white students in my grade, the teacher...