Quote:
Originally Posted by speeder
If I was a school teacher teaching kids from various backgrounds in the USA, I would stress standard English like Sydney Poitier in "To Sir With Love" but also tell them that there is nothing wrong w slang as long as you know that you are speaking in slang. If it's the only way that you know how to speak, it will severely hold you back in life.
I don't think that accents are important, just the ability to speak and write standard English. I find regional accents interesting and charming if the person is well spoken. I believe that being fluent in your native tongue is among the biggest indicators of success in any business imaginable. And I include being a rap musician in that list.
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We moved from Pearl City, Hawaii to Montgomery, AL when I was in grade school. First day of school the teacher gave us a pop spelling test. She said the word, and we had to spell in. I made a ZERO, not one word spelled right. I could not understand her very think southern accent. I remember one word was quarter. She pronounced at ka-wat-a and I had no idea what that was but that is how I spelled it. Another word was library, she pronounced it li-barry.
My parents were called in for a parent-teacher conference, and the teacher was afraid I was mentally challenged. My dad figured it out fast, he said ma'am I cannot understand 1/2 of what you are saying as you are speaking with such an thick southern accent that is is like a foreign language. My parents got me moved to a different teacher that could speak clearly. She had a slight accent, but it was understandable.