I know full well the opposing arguments.
It’s outdated.
It’s subjective.
It’s discriminatory.
It’s discouraging.
It’s culture-denying.
But with the right touch and spirit of compassion, you’re only helping your students by encouraging clear and universally understood spoken language.
Here’s why:
It gives them a leg up.
Once in the real world, the ability to communicate well—no matter the profession—is an employment advantage. Clarity and brevity equal more success and better pay.
In fact, there are few professions where it doesn’t make a big difference. But it takes practice, lots of practice, almost like learning a second language.
It garners respect.
People judge. They judge harshly, unfairly, and based on superficials. Just the way it is. Therefore, we should arm our students with the ability to earn instant respect.
Speaking ability is immediate and impactful and the most critical factor in getting a yes or a no. It’s a tool they can use in any context or environment to their benefit.
It’s influential.
Communication marked by clarity and efficiency will make students more influential. This can be applied when getting job, arguing a point, securing a business loan, or selling anything.
It’s absolutely necessary for leadership positions, irrespective of career, community, athletics, or even just among friends.
It boosts confidence.
There isn’t a more profound confidence-builder than improving the ability to speak, whether publicly or in small-talk settings. The transformation can be life-changing.
It can also help overcome shyness, which affects up to 40 percent of students. It can open a rich world of diverse friendships and experiences.
It improves writing.
The way we speak forms the foundation of how we write. If you’re unable to speak using proper grammatical structure, then doing so in written form is impossible.
Writing improves with better speaking skills, which can often be easier to develop. It’s the key, in fact, that opens the door to good writing.
The World As Is
There are teachers who don’t agree with me for the reasons stated at the top of the article. I think they’re wrong and doing a disservice to students.
Understand that I’m not making an argument about how I believe the world should be with everyone speaking the King’s English. ‘Tis not thy intent.
I’m arguing that this is how the world is and we shouldn’t pretend that the way that many of our students speak in professional settings, like the classroom, isn’t going to affect them.
The idea is to equip them with another arrow in the quiver, nothing more.
The timing of this article is because communication skills among students is getting worse, I believe, by every measure. Furthermore, I’ve discovered that more and more teachers believe it’s wrong and even hurtful to try and fix it.
As far as how best to teach and encourage better spoken communication skills, I’ll save this topic for another day. In the meantime, if you have your own ideas, please share below.
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Hi Michael,
At the beginning of the year I demonstrated and explained how to write an email to a teacher. Properly, with all of the components I would expect, and then they had to compose and send me an email.
Hi Ms. Meisels,
Would it be possible to meet with you at lunch tomorrow to go over the test?
Your student, xxxxxx
I teach math.
Needless to say, the emails I have received this year have been a pleasure to read!
Thank you for all of your posts, I read weekly.
Susan.
That is so great! Good for you – for teaching reading and writing in a math class!!!
I’m a fifth grade teacher for 25 years, and I support this practice wholeheartedly. Students need to know how to communicate, verbally and in written form. It is the key to their futures.
Fantastic idea!
Love this response to this week’s great post Thank you for sharing your template.
Totally agree!!
As a trainee teacher a few years ago I went on a course on ‘Teaching English as a second language’ I spent quite a lot of time each day “arguing” with the tutor. She wanted to make us teach what I call street language, and only this. My argument was that we spend so much time murdering our own language and if we don’t teach the proper language first we are adding to its demise. By all means inform “you may hear it said like this” afterwards but learn the correct way first. She refused to take on board anything that I said. I was so sad that every student of hers was going to lead by her example
Tell her “Peeps who use fako language are too sus.”
I taught at a school for 22 years that became predominantly African-American the last 10 years. When I would correct a student’s words in a respectful way, they would still scream racist.
I told them the story of when Will Smith got famous and moved from Philadelphia to California he began his acting career. He studied acting including correct pronunciation of words. Then his friends back home accused him of “talking white”. He told them, “speaking correct English isn’t the white thing. It’s the right thing.”
Ghandi wasn’t white.
I totally agree as well! I am a substitute teacher, and when I “guest teach” I find many students can’t communicate clearly!
Dear Michael,
As I have stated in previous posts, Saturday mornings, coffee, and your writing are a treat. I completely agree with your points about properly spoken language in schools. We have been told that proper language is discriminatory, but the business world wants proper language. We ARE preparing students for the future. Requiring proper language DOES give students a leg up in the real world. If someone is well spoken, they are not speaking the King’s English. A well spoken person is well educated. Every employer wants that person. Thank you for your wisdom!! Best, Beth
“We have been told that proper language is discriminatory”
It absolutely is a discriminator – it’s how educated people quickly and reliably figure out who else is educated.
What it is not … is prejudicial.
Please start a podcast!! Your articles are the best and I know they would translate well to the podcast format!
I wholeheartedly agree. There are teachers on our faculty who present very poorly to parents because they were never encouraged to use language purposefully and appropriately. It reflects badly on our profession and is difficult to witness. We must model what we desire to see and hear from students. I have my students push their chair in every time they leave their desk for similar reasons. I worked in HR for a group of businesses in Alaska and was directed to take note at the interview of whether or not candidates pushed their chair in when they rose to leave. It may seem like a ridiculous thing to note, but we consistently hired people who were considerate and respectful of others.
Couldn’t agree with you more on the importance of proper and effective communication in speaking and writing, especially when texting has become a major means of communicating. With my 6th graders, I work on greeting them by name and stating a general welcome as I see them in the hallway and as they enter the classroom: “Good morning, William, how is your day going?” Now I don’t always get a response, but many students will acknowledge with a brief “good morning” or smile. And the day that I am greeted first is an opportunity for me to express my appreciation and encouragement. One young man in particular came down the hallway after spring break and said, “Good morning, Mrs. Hopkins, how are you?” I made sure to let him know that I appreciated and respected his greeting and that it was going to serve him well with adults in life. This particular student has his 18 yr old sister as his caregiver. All of our students, no matter their background or family situation, benefit from the soft skills we teach along with the academics. I believe we have a responsibility to teach them how to navigate the world outside the classroom.
I love the article as always, and the email idea. I’m going to try that.
I ask students, “If you learned Spanish, would it erase, or disrespect your English? Or would it add to it? Would it make you weaker or stronger? Would it make you more valuable to employers, or less? Make more money or less? Create more opportunities for you, or less?”
I am a retired educator who recalls when we were discouraged from correcting a student’s poor grammar usage. I have unfortunately witnessed professional educators and other professionals who do not speak standard English.
Yes, I agree that students who do speak standard English likely grew up at home and in their close community hearing incorrect subject/ verb agreement, incorrect use of direct object pronouns, as well as sloppy diction, and use of slang in informal settings. However, they also did not likely grow up hearing facts about western civilization, art history, computer science, music theory, mathematical equations and trigonometry, chemistry, and journalism, to name a few.
That is the reason we have schools….to educate.
We have failed a student when we fail to teach them standard English, the English form that most other countries teach their students, so they can communicate with anyone who does speak English.
We have foreign trained teachers who come to the US to teach to make a better life for themselves. Without fail, those teachers speak standard English with an extensive vocabulary and understanding of English concepts, better than a segment of our own US educated teachers.
Yes, in English classes, students are exposed to Olde English as they study Shakespeare, and exposed to Gullah (English) as they study the low country of SC, and exposed to evolution of English dialects from around the globe. That is part of their education, along with many other areas of study in other fields. Standard English needs to be part of all students’ requirements.
We need to stop worrying about hurting a student’s feelings when we kindly correct their poor English usage. We are ultimately hindering their job possibilities. Would a math teacher deliberately send a student out without correcting their concepts of fractions, etc? Would a chemistry teacher ignore students’ confusion? Would a biology teacher let a student confuse a muscle group, or let the answer be “close enough” because they are confused by a large part of the population? Would a music teach allow students to repeatedly name or play one note for another? In all cases, Absolutely Not.
People in the public sector who do speak standard / proper English won’t tell them that they are privately wondering why they did not learn how to speak correctly after going through the school system.
So far the answer is …….it is not being taught, and a standard English-speaking test is not required for graduation from high school or college.
USA school systems need to wake up so our students have a competitive edge.
I agree whole heartedly with you!
As a language arts middle school teacher, one of my classroom expectations was to “use appropriate language in the classroom”. Naturally, I had to explain that rule. So I taught it. Years, if not decades ago, California required all teachers to complete SDAIE instruction. My training included an introduction to Language Registers. For me, these registers became a powerful tool to prepare a lesson to then teach this rule: use appropriate language in the classroom. The bi-lingual Spanish speaking students easily understood the difference between the Formal and Casual registers as they are embedded in Latin-based languages. I’d follow up with a paired activity where students had to take casual language phrases and rewrite in a formal language register. As with any rule/expectation, appropriate language (Formal vs. Casual) was reviewed throughout the year.
I like the differentiation between “Formal” and “Casual.” There is no value judgment, simply clarification of setting.
It’s important to emphasize that “Black English” and “Standard English” are both valid and “correct” ways of speaking. They serve different purposes. Being able to switch effortlessly between the two is pure power.
Racial English is what people us to keep themselves on the plantation aka segregated.
All those in favor, please raise your hand.
Anyone?
Anyone?
Thank you.
What is your position on student’s preferred pronoun usage such as They for a singular person instead of he or she?
Pilots, astronauts, marine captains, scientists, nurses, lawyers, mathematicians, musicians, and doctors have taken steps to keep their language clear and precise for literally centuries.
Homeless folks, slave-owners and crappy teachers… think it’s pointless.
I completely agree with the need to be well-spoken. I often make my students give answers (either orally or written) using 10 words or less. Their answer still has to be correct, complete, and courteous, in spite of being concise. This requires them to think carefully about the words they choose, because none can be wasted. Once they get in this habit, their writing and speaking improves, less words are used, (so less spellling errors happen) and their oral answers sound smoother and more professional. Plus it shortens what I have to grade!
I use your advice in everyday communication. Speak clearly. Listen! I am laughed at for being a grammar person. Nevertheless, I continue.
I am always employed, indeed, as a relief teacher, I am the ” go to” person”.
I employ your classroom strategies wherever and whenever I can.
Thank you.
We also need to somehow incorporate the 52 remaining Australian Indigenous languages into our teaching…
Not a plan in site.
No body has any idea.
We don’t speak these languages unless we are on country and within the group.
Pigeon English is all we really have universally.
Ideas anyone?