Black English

on Contemporary Media
Amanda de Brito Folla
Patricia de Souza Leite
Universidade Federal de So Carlos UFSCar
Centro de Educao e Cincias Humanas CECH
Departamento de Letras - DL
Habilidade Oral em Lngua Inglesa 1 - Prof. Igor Maciel Vida

LESSON PLAN
Target Audience: Second year students of public high school.
Number of Classes: 3.
Standard Material: Blackboard, printed pictures, lyrics and videos/musics.
Alternative Materials: blackboard and exposure.

GENERAL OBJECTIVE
Present to the class students theEnglishdiversitythrough modern media
focusing in African American English (AAE) ocurrencestroughtits distinctive
grammatical features andvocabulary. To bringawareness to registers in English
in a way that students could beable to understand it in order to comunicate in a
much more effective way.

PRE-ACTIVITY
Objective: To introduce the theme and get attention of target audience.
Materials: Blackboard and exposure.
Methodology: To present the students pictures and memes withBlack Englishcontent
theycould possibly be already familiar with and showing them some examples of
slangs and vocabulary used in social media that are originally from AAE.

Activity:Look atthe examples in next slide and try to identify the meaning of the
words and expressions in each picture. Discuss with students next to you the
words you don't know.

PRE-ACTIVITY

PRE-ACTIVITY

ACTIVITY 1
Objective: To present to students the main grammar structure of AAE and their uses in
conversational situations, indicating differences between Standard English (SE) and
AAE.
Materials: Datashow, selected music lyrics.
Methodology: UsingmusiclyricswithAAE features and asking the students to identify
allof itsoccurrences.

Activity: Read the lyrics in thenext slide and underline all words and structures
that are not familiar to the Standard English (SE) form.

ACTIVITY 1

No Scrubs - TLC

A scrub is a guy that thinks he's fine

And is also known as a buster
Always talkin' about what he wants
And just sits on his on his...
So (no)
I don't want your number (no)
I don't want to give you mine and (no)
I don't want to meet you nowhere (no)
I don't want none of your time and (no)
I don't want no scrub
A scrub is a guy that can't get no love from me
Hanging out the passenger side
Of his best friend's ride
Trying to holler at me
I don't want no scrub
A scrub is a guy that can't get no love from me
Hanging out the passenger side
Of his best friend's ride
Trying to holler at me

Source: http://www.metrolyrics.com/no-scrubs-lyrics-tlc.html

But a scrub is checkin' me

But his game is kinda weak
And I know that he cannot approach me
Cuz I'm lookin' like class and he's lookin' like trash
Can't get with no deadbeat
So (no)
I don't want your number (no)
I don't want to give you mine and (no)
I don't want to meet you nowhere (no)
I don't want none of your time (no)
I don't want no scrub
A scrub is a guy that can't get no love from me
Hanging out the passenger side
Of his best friend's ride
Trying to holler at me
I don't want no scrub
A scrub is a guy that can't get no love from me
Hanging out the passenger side
Of his best friend's ride
Trying to holler at me

Activity 1 - Negative forms and Uses in SE and AAE

STRUCTURE - Standard English

STRUCTURE - African American English

Subject + [ain't] + base verb

Subject + [do/does + not] + base verb

Subject + [ain't] + no + adjective/noun + base verb

Examples:

Examples:

I do not (don't) like pizza.

It ain't no way for me to give you my pizza.

She does not (doesn't) play baseball.

It ain't no sunshine when is rainin'.

They do not (don't) want to go watch a movie.

They ain't want to go watch a movie.

Uses: 1 - Aint - aint, aint got not and aint no

Aint is used usually as a negative indicator. It is mostly used in place of the forms:
am not, isn't, aren't, haven't and hasn't. Some speakers of AAE use ain't
instead of don't, doesn't or didn't.
Examples:
I aint gonna sleep now, its too early.
She aint eated nothing until now.
He aint your roommate, is he?
I aint got no money, so I had better stay home!

Uses: 2 - Double (or triple) Negative

AAE uses double or even triple negative in each sentence, to
emphasize negative form.
Examples:
I ain't saw no movie yesterday.
He aint clean nuttin yet in tha room.
I aint know yall didnt know each other.

ACTIVITY 2
Objective: Exercise students skill to recognize the use of AAE throught music.
Material: Selected music, radio, printed lyrics or blackboard to transcript the lyrics.
Methodology: Play selected music in class and ask the students to recognize the uses
of AAE and complete the selected lyrics.

Activity: Listen to the music and identify the words used on the lyrics filling the
gaps with the correct AAE use.

ACTIVITY 2
Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Marvin Gaye

chorus:
Now if you need me call me
_____ [because] baby there
no matter where you are,
_____ [there is not] no mountain high enough
no matter how far (don't worry ____ [baby])
_____ [there is not] no valley low enough
just call out my name.
_____ [there is not] no river wide enough
I'll be there in a hurry
To keep me from getting to you ____ [baby]
you don't have to worry

Source: www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/marvingaye/aintnomountainhighenough.html

POST-ACTIVITY
Objective: To evaluate the student's level of engagement on Black English and their
acquired ability to identify the difference between SE and AAE.
Material: Printed lyrics or blackboard.
Methodology: Presenting the use of AAE in daily contexts through black music
previously selected.

Activity: Read the sentences in thenext slide and try to identify the SE and AAE
sentences according to the previous activities.

POST-ACTIVITY
It Ain't Necessarily So - Aretha Franklin
It ain't necessarily so
It ain't necessarily so
The things that you're liable
To read in the Bible,
It ain't necessarily so.
Now David was small but oh my
Little David was small but oh my
He fought big Goliath
Who lay down and dieth
David was small but oh my.
To get into heaven, don't snap for a second
Live clean forget your faults
I take the gospel whenever it's possible
But with a grain of salt
Oh Jonah he lived in a whale
Oh Jonah he lived in a whale
He made his home in
That fishes abdomen
Oh Jonah he lived in a whale

To get into heaven, don't snap for a seven

Live clean forget your faults
I take gospel whenever it's possible
But with a grain of salt
Methuselah lived 900 years
Methuselah lived 900 years
Who calls that livin'
When no gal will give in
To no man what's 900 years
It ain't necessarily so
It ain't necessarily so
The things that you're liable
To read in the Bible,
It ain't necessarily so.
Ain't necessarily so
Ain't necessarily so
Ain't necessarily so

Souce: https://www.vagalume.com.br/aretha-franklin/it-aint-necessarily-so.html

EVALUATION

Assimilation of the content (grammar topic and theme of the classes);

Evolution on engagement within the presented topics;
engagement level throughout the discussions;

All activities add up to a total of 10 points. Participating during class discussion

and solving the exercises will be worth 2 points for each class meeting, adding up
to a total of 6 points. The grammar exercise will add up 4 points.