OLLI101501 - Examining Our Own Language Knowledge and Attitudes [In-person at TUCC]
Course Description
Examining Our Own Language Knowledge and Attitudes
Instructor: Cheri Micheau
Dates: Mondays, Oct 2-Dec 4
No Class: Nov 20
Time: 1:30 PM-3:00 PM
Location: In-person at Center City (TUCC)
This is NOT a technical class focusing on linguistic analysis. Rather, in this course participants will consider their own knowledge of their native (and additional foreign) language(s), attitudes toward their language(s), and ways in which they use their knowledge to make important social judgements. Topics include regional, social and professional variants of English; language change and “grammaticality;” linguistic innovation in vocabulary and style; sociolinguistic “appropriateness;” and purposes for structuring and using language in social situations. Participants will be encouraged to share insights on their own first- and additional-language backgrounds. Small “homework” assignments will involve interviewing family members or observing linguistic phenomena outside the classroom.
Maximum in-person registrants: 25
Instructor’s Bio:
Cheri Micheau, (PhD, educational linguistics, 1990, Penn) taught graduate courses in educational linguistics and language at West Chester, Drexel, Temple, and Penn, and coached teachers of English as a second language (ESL) in the School District of Philadelphia. She taught K–12 ESL in Upper Merion and in Philadelphia, as well as German in York, PA, and at Frankfurt International School in Germany.
Notes
Why when I’m registering do I join the Wait List?
Several of our courses are in high demand. In order to accommodate our members who are not tech-savvy and have trouble registering online, we created a registration system in which there is no advantage to registering early, no disadvantage to registering later.
When registering, you join the Wait List for each course. Don’t be alarmed. This does not mean the course is full. After the registration period is over, we run a lottery on the courses, and it randomly determines who is admitted to each course and who is not. You typically will receive notification regarding which courses you are admitted to, about two weeks before the start of the semester. If a course accepts 150 or more students, you are very likely to get into it.