Skin That We Speak : Thoughts on Language and Culture in the Classroom

From the celebrated author ofOther People's Children, a fifth anniversary edition of the pathbreaking collection examining the relationship between language and power in the classroom, with a new introduction. At a time when children are written off in our schools because they do not speak formal English, and when the class- and race-biased language used to describe those children determines their fate,The Skin That We Speakoffers a cutting-edge look at crucial educational issues. Now reissued with a new introduction by Lisa Delpit revisiting the politics of language instruction for students of color,The Skin That We Speaktakes the discussion of language in the classroom beyond the highly charged war of idioms--in which "English only" really means standard English only--and presents today's teachers and parents with a thoughtful exploration of the varieties of English we speak and the layers of politics, power, and identity that those forms carry. With groundbreaking work from Herbert Kohl, Gloria Ladson-Billings, Victoria Purcell-Gates, and Lisa Delpit herself, the book also includes classics by Geneva Smitherman and Asa Hilliard III. Hot-button topics range from Ebonics to the creation of a national public policy on making English the official language of our classrooms.