Blog 9: The Four Most Annoying U.S Accents

Everyone is different. Everyone was raised differently, taught differently, and speaks differently. Therefore, everyone prefers or likes the accent from where they are from because that is what they are most comfortable with. There is no such thing as a superior accent. All U.S accents are equal. Yet, people still classify some accents above others. I found a list of what people believe to be the top 4 most annoying U.S accents. The list is from divinecaroline.com. 

The first most annoying accent was the upper-midwestern accent. Second is the New Jersey (Joisey) accent. Third was the classic Boston accent. And the fourth most annoying accent was the deep south country accent. 

The article explains that people often feel a dislike to accents because it is very hard for them to understand the person speaking. They may feel like because they can't understand the person speaking, then that person is most likely uneducated. To me, an accent is part of the experience of visiting a different state or region. You wouldn't go to Germany and think everyone is uneducated because they speak a different way. Why would you think that way in your own country then? 

This is a clip from the TLC show Long Island Medium. She has a very strong Long Island accent, but after a while of listening, it doesn't even phase me. 

Blog 8: Early Childhood Teachers and Language Acquisition.

I found an article from www.scholastic.com that discusses the importance of early childhood educators to language acquisition in children. I found this article really interesting for myself because I am majoring in elementary education. The article basically gives teachers advise on how to help children learn a language and speak it well. One of the pieces of advise tells teachers to encourage parents to read with their children. Children need to hear words and sentences. This can be done by actively reading, talking, and singing with a child. If a child hears few words, if a child is rarely read to, sung to, or talked with, they will not have normal language development. The article also instructs teachers to encourage their students to talk with other students. Assign the students conversation buddies and everyday ask to students to talk with their conversation buddies about various topics. I feel as a future educator it is my responsibility to help students in every way I can. Language acquisition may be thought of as a parents job, but its a teachers responsibility to make sure a child is on the right path.