Lesson Plan

LESSON 9- LANGUAGES OF POWER

Grade Level:
High School: Ninth Grade through Twelfth Grade
Subject:
Literacy and Language Arts,Social Studies
Lesson Duration:
90 Minutes
Common Core Standards:
9-10.RH.1, 9-10.RH.2, 9-10.RH.3, 9-10.RH.4, 11-12.RH.1, 11-12.RH.2, 11-12.RH.3, 11-12.RH.4
Additional Standards:
National Council for the Social Studies: Ia, Ib, Ic
Thinking Skills:
Remembering: Recalling or recognizing information ideas, and principles. Analyzing: Break down a concept or idea into parts and show the relationships among the parts.

Essential Question

How is language a means of exercising power?
In what ways do powerful groups use language to maintain and increase their power?
How can marginalized groups use language to protect themselves?
What does this say about the movement to make English the official language of the United States?

Objective

Improve reading and text analyzing skills.
Learn how speakers of French and English engaged in a power struggle between the languages and the social systems they supported.
Learn how other languages, including Kréyol and those from Africa, were suppressed.
Learn how suppressed languages can be means of resistance.
Learn how suppressed languages survive.

Background

OVERVIEW: 

Students will read the text and engage in discussion to examine how language can be a source of power and resistance. They will fill in a summary sheet on the reading.

NOTE: This lesson uses an interactive map. The information on the map might have changed since the creation of the lesson. It would be best to double check the data before proceeding.

Preparation

Previous lessons should have prepared teacher and students for the lesson.
NOTE: This lesson uses an interactive map. The information on the map might have changed since the creation of the lesson. It would be best to double check the data before proceeding.

Materials

This is a handout for students that subdivided the reading and asks for specific information

Download LESSON 9-TEXT QUESTIONS/HANDOUT FOR STUDENTS

Teacher key to questions for the subdivided reading.

Download TEACHER KEY- LESSON 9- subdivided Reading

Lesson Hook/Preview

INTRODUCTION TO CONCEPT OF LANGUAGE AS POWER. 

Time required: 15 minutes
(Keep an eye on your time. Some classes might engage in extended discussion. If so, decide whether to devote the extra time to the discussion.) 

Discussion: Language in America. 

This can be done as a quick write to prepare students for discussion. Have students respond to these questions. Alternatively, you could ask the questions and take oral responses. You should keep a record of responses to share with other classes. This can best be done on a projected computer document. 

  • What languages do you know? 
  • What languages are known in your family today? 
  • What languages do your friends speak? 
  • What languages, other than English, are spoken in your community? 
  • What languages did your ancestors speak? 
  • What languages were spoken in the US in the past? 

Procedure

1. Continuation of Discussion:

Have students jot down some notes to help them with a closing assignment.

Project this map for whole class discussion:

https://www.census.gov/hhes/socdemo/language/data/language_map.html

  • Have students choose a language from the drop down menu on the upper left of the map. Discuss what sections of the country speak those languages.
  • Choose FRENCH CREOLE. Where in the US do people speak that language?

Have students go to the site below, or project it for a whole class discussion:

https://statisticalatlas.com/United-States/Languages

  • Based on the information from the site, what are the top Non-English languages in the United States? (SPANISH, CHINESE, TAGALOG, VIETNAMESE, FRENCH, KOREAN, ARABIC, GERMAN, RUSSIAN, HAITIAN)
  • What percentage of Americans speak HAITIAN (a form of Kréyol? -0.3)
  • Have you heard of all of those languages? (Many will not have heard of Tagalog, which is a language of the Philippines.)
  • Scroll down to the STATE MAP. Have students choose a language from the drop down menu. Run the curser over your state to discover what percentage of residents speak the language. Have students note those facts. (You might want to choose languages spoken by some of the students or by their ancestors.) 
  • Click on your state. Have students use the map to discover the three languages other than English most commonly spoken in your state.
  • For some areas, you can search your immediate local area for information. 
  • Ask students if the facts surprise them.

2. Ask students if this is a new situation in the United States, or a continuation of a long term situation.

After student responses, show them the site below.

Census on languages spoken in US 1910-1970: https://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0029/tab06.html

In reviewing the chart, students should see that there have been many languages in the United States for many years.

  • The main difference is a shift from European languages to non-European languages.

Vocabulary

  • AMERICANIZATION: The process of adopting the laws and customs of the majority English peaking culture of the United States.
  • CAJUN: Ethnic linguistic group numerous in Louisiana consisting of the descendants of French settlers exiled to Louisiana from Canada after the French and Indian War. Many speak a form of Louisiana French.
  • CODOFIL: Council for the Development of French in Louisiana.
  • ETHNIC/LINGUISTIC: An ethnic group or ethnicity is a category of people who identify with each other, usually on the basis of a presumed common genealogy or ancestry or on similarities such as common language or dialect, history, society, culture or nation.
  • MARDI GRAS INDIANS: New Orleans African American social and pleasure clubs/organizations that base themselves on Native American motifs. They are known for their chants and their complex hand sewn “suits” of beads and feathers.
  • SHARECROPPER: In the late 1800’s and the early to mid 1900’s, a farmer who owned no land and paid rent by “sharing” a preset percentage of the crop with the land owner. Generally mired in poverty and deeply in debt.

Supports for Struggling Learners

Given the high level of the reading, struggling readers will need to work with a partner, or in a group.
You could also provide a copy of the key at the end of the lesson for the student to use in the end of unit assessment.

Contact Information

Email us about this lesson plan

Tags: language creole ethnic linguistic kréyol power

Last updated: August 19, 2019