For this discussion you will need to read How to Tame a Wild Tongue Download How to Tame a Wild Tongueand Learning to Serve Download Learning to Serve. For this discussion, I want you to focus on one of the readings for your Initial Post.
Your posts can be a mixture of your personal experiences and thoughts as well as direct quotes and examples from the readings. I will expect at least two quotes in your Initial Post and one quote per follow up post.
Below are some prompts to help you think about ways to approach your Initial Post. (Don’t respond to multiple prompts. Some of these prompts are interconnected, and some are not.) You may also use these prompts as inspiration for your responses to classmates, but you do not have to.
Prompts (use one or two of the following prompts):
So what is the relationship between language and identity? What exactly is identity and why is it important? Is identity fixed? Or does it change and develop over time?
What situations—work, school, travel—have you be in when you have been forced to learn a new “language” or adjust your style of communication—writing, speaking etc—to fit in and succeed?
What about the different languages you speak and write in?
What situations can you use some languages in, versus others? Are any of these languages in conflict with each other?
In terms of literacy, what are some of your formative moments? Where did you learn to write and read in certain languages?
Where did these moments seem in harmony with your self-identity? Where did they seem in conflict?
Consider the relationship between authority/power and identity and literacy/language. Who determines what is the proper way to speak or write?