Amount of Time 90 Minutes

Prior Knowledge -Have Read ​Beowulf

-Speakers of Black Language
-Seniors in high school

Lesson Objective(s) Debunk the ​myth​​ of “Standard English”

-Have students understand the politics of language/social power
structure
-Help students understand the origins/history of AAL
-Learn that BL is more than slang; it is a language
-Gain a sense of pride in BL
Emphasis on creativity/avoid “dry” instruction
Ensure students understand how language and race are intertwined
Students given opportunities to talk/write about experiences

Lesson Assessment

Standards

Materials Needed -Handout/Worksheet

Time Portion Learning Task/Planning

20 min Introduction Proper or Improper Game

● Student responses will be used during an activity to gauge the
students’ impression of proper versus improper English.
Sentences that are grammatically correct in both Black
Language and IEE will be displayed and students will pick a
side of the room with one side being improper and the other
side being improper. They will then go to side that they believe
each sentence goes with.
● This game will lead to a discussion of what proper English is.
This will spur a conversation about the myth of standard
English and allow for a brief introduction to how Black
Language is rule-based.
Video
● 3 ways to speak English by Jamila Lyiscott
● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9fmJ5xQ_mc

50 min Body First group

Procedure
Step 1: Slavery / Language Planning
Introduce history of slavery and the ways in which it connects to
language.
Vast array of African languages
Didn’t speak the same languages as each other or as masters
Then...Explain what language planning is
Slave traders introduced simplified English…
Intended to prevent rebellion and isolate individuals from the
language they were familiar with
People need to communicate.. *transition*

Step 2: Main Activity

Language planning ennaction
Interactive language demo
Probe students on how they would communicate without a common
language through activity
Create a language
Break students into groups of 3, give each student in the group a
different language and have them “create a language”
Explain that this is a pidgin
Ask - What about when you begin to communicate effectively in this
shared language?
Explain this is a creole
Bring students back together to discuss…
How did this work?
Was it difficult or easy?
How do you think this would play out with bigger groups of people?

Step 3 : Slavery & Schools

How does labeling African American Language as wrong benefit
White Supremacists culture in schools?

Step 4: THUG
Transition - This can be seen in current times within THUG…..
How does language oppression in schools connect to issues seen in
THUG?
What parallels do you see between THUG and slavery? What other
kind of historical connections can you identify?

Step 4: Ending Transition

So what does this have to do with language? Slaves developed
African American Language on their own and intentionally included
coded language as an act of rebellion against slave owners. By using
this, slaves were able to communicate with one another and because
of this coded language slave owners didn't understand what they
were saying. This language has roots and grammar as consistent as
other Englishes.

Step 1 -
- Sit Down Stand Up Activity (8 min)
- In this activity we will pose several questions to the students.
This will prompt the discussion through follow up questions.
Questions:

1. “If you have ever been corrected for speaking /writing in Black
Language stand up.”
a. “If so, where?”
b. “How did that make you feel?”
2. “Stand up if you feel that your language and culture is
incorporated into your classrooms?” (In what ways?)
3. “Stand up if you have been taught the importance of Black
Language and the historical aspects of the language in my
classes.”
a. Why do you think that is?
Recap of our conversation/hear student responses. Reinforce that
Black Language is a language, and a teacher’s decision to opt out of
these conversations reinforces a system of white supremacy.
Step 3-
“What Makes Language a Language” (5-6 min)
Phonology/Pronunciation
● Sounds represented as t, d, f, and v…
○ “They” can sound like “Dey”
○ “These” can sound like “Dese”
○ “Them” can sound like “Dem”
○ “With” can sound like “Wit” or “Wif”
○ “Smooth” can sound like “Smoov”
○ “Bath” can sound like “Baf”
Lexical/Vocabulary
● Words and phrases: general words and phrases can cross
generational and geographical boundaries
○ Ashy
○ Saddity
○ Hustle
○ Fam
● Slang: typically understood by speakers in a specific age
group and are short-lived
○ Swag
○ Real talk
○ Fleek
 ○ Turnt
Step 4- Gallery Walk (6-8 min)
Terms for the posters
● Bin (Been)
● Zero Copula
● Habitual Be
● Den (Done)
● Steady
● Optional Possessive “s”

All around the room will be posters that have a grammatical term and
an example from either “THUG”, popular culture, poetry, scholarly
articles, etc.
Questions at stations:
We will be walking around and asking student volunteers to express
what they find interesting about the posters/grammatical elements,
elements that they find themselves using, comments, questions, etc.

There will also be markers at every station to allow students to write

personal messages on each poster.

“Around the room we have put up six different posters, each with a
rule or regulation of black Language defined on it, along with an
example from ‘THUG.’ We are going to count you guys all off by six
and then you will go to the poster corresponding to your given
number. There will be markers at each station for you to write
anything that comes to mind. You will be given 1 minute at each
poster and when you hear the timer go off you and your group will
rotate to the next poster.”

Step 5: (If time allows) Quick Wrap Up

Come together as a class and discuss things we shared in small
groups during the gallery walk. “What did you find interesting about
the posters? Do you find yourself using these grammatical features?
What did you think about the examples?” We will also read over what
students wrote on the posters, and ask if students would like to
expand on this.

20 min Conclusion ● Step 1:

○ Read highlighted section of THUG in Chapter 5 (pg.
46) and read the poem “We Wear The Mask” by Paul
 Laurence Dunbar to discuss code switching and how
they view it.
○ Have them talk about the similarities they saw.
● Step 2:
○ After talking about code switching in THUG and the
poem, we will ask the question “Do you guys code
switch when going to school/a restaurant/work(if
applicable)/etc.
● Step 3:
○ Use padlet as an exit slip by asking the question “If you
could rename Standard English, wheat would you
rename it?” and have them discuss in groups and post
their replies on the padlet.