Are You With Me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BTr0evZSis (Youtube clip from How I Met
Your Mother: Revertigo)

This *How I Met Your Mother* clip does not fully touch on the aspects of
African American women's speech that Foster discusses, however it does help
initiate one of her main topics: code-switching.  In the clip Lily is
visited by her old high school friends Michelle, and Lily begins to speak
in a type of African American English.  Similarly Michelle speaks in this
way when she is with Lily but when Lily leaves the table Michelle reverts
to Standard English and tells the group she is working on her Ph.D.  This
clip hints at something else Foster's article touches on, that the Standard
English variant is associated with knowledge and intelligence, while the
African English variant is thought to be a sign of poor education.

In her article, Foster studies teacher-student conversation patterns and
finds that often when the teacher needs to connect more closely with the
student or encourage participation in a conversation the teacher reverts to
African American English from the Standard English variant.  Foster
mentions that by speaking in this way with the student, the teacher makes
the student feel more comfortable and encourages them to respond.  She also
mentions code-switching later in the article when she compares interview
data of other African American teachers.  She notes that at the beginning
of every interview the women spoke in the Standard English variant, but as
they became more comfortable in the situation and more willing to speak
about their experiences they switched over to speaking in the African
American English variant.

Foster also mentions the use of metaphors and how teachers use metaphors in
the classroom to teach the children about social ranks based upon the
students' grades in the class.  The teacher will call on the students also
known as the F-troops, to answer more questions, and make them work harder
to get their grades back up to passing.



Kalyssa Eversman