Intro
1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.
2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.
A person who is articulate speaks clearly and pronounces words correctly. One who is articulate also expresses his or her thoughts very well. So how could it ever be a bad thing to call someone articulate?
Sometimes, either accidentally or on purpose, people say nice things that can also be insulting. Listen to Marni and Mason talk about how calling someone articulate in the wrong context could be taken as an insult.
3. Watch - Watch the video without reading the dialog.
Dialog
1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.
2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.
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Mason: What is that, the New York Times?
Marni: This is a fascinating article. It’s all about articulation.
Mason: Art…articulation?
Marni: Articulation, and how it applies differently to Caucasians and African-Americans.
Mason: Really?
Marni: Yeah, it’s directly related to Joseph Biden the senator who made the comment about Barack Obama...
Mason: Yeah, I heard that. I know he was like…
Marni: It’s actually quoted in here, and just referring to Barack Obama as being this articulate individual and how that sort of seemed as a rarity…
Mason: It’s kind of a backhanded compliment, isn’t it?
Marni: Exactly, because it’s sort of implying that most African-Americans aren’t articulate.
Mason: Aren’t. And uh yeah…Well there was the whole Ebonics movement, right? And that would send…you know… and credence…
Marni: Exactly, and I think that sort of feeds into it and that’s sort of the pre…the notion that that’s how African Americans speak, and that when African Americans don’t speak that way, that that’s sort of the exception.
Mason: Yeah. But I mean, I suppose it’s sort of a majority rules sort of thing ‘cause, you know English, it’s not even an American language, we descended from a completely different spoken form.
Marni: It’s derived from so many different Romance Languages.
Mason: Uh huh, and accents…really? What is the right way to articulate anything?
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Discussion
Marni is reading an article in the newspaper about how Senator Biden called Senator Obama articulate. Since Obama, who is running for President, is African-American, what would normally be a compliment could have implied that African-Americans aren’t usually articulate.
Ebonics is a form of English used by some African-Americans that differs in slang, pronunciation, and grammar from standard English. Marni and Mason wonder if Ebonics contributed to the stereotype that African-Americans are inarticulate.
Mason points out that Americans took their language from the British and that English has many different forms. He and Marni wonder if it’s possible to say what the “correct” form is.
Have you ever received a backhanded compliment? What do you think Senator Biden meant when he called Senator Obama articulate?
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