Thanks, Robin
I am aware of Ebonics only in a theoretical way, having never lived in the 
US. From movies and TV, however, I'd say that Ebonics is not quite the same 
as actual Creoles in the West Indies. There are some similarities, however. 
I agree with you that the important thing is to help the learners value 
their own language first and foremost, acknowledging its importance and 
helping them note differences between the Creole and the Standard. I was 
hoping, however, to find some materials that actually pinpoint some of those 
differences. The books I have found, in case anyone else is interested are:
"The Knots in English: A Manual for Caribbean Users" by Merle Hodge, 
published by the School of Continuing Studies, University of the West Indies 
(UWI)
"Language Proficiency for Tertiary Level" by Paula Morgan, published by the 
Distance Education
Centre, UWI

A couple of the more salient challenges of Standard English for 
Creole-speakers are the markers 's' (for plurals, possession and 3rd pers 
sing pres tense), and '-ed' (both as past tense and past participle). I will 
certainly be having the workers do "translations" and lots of analysis. The 
difficulty in the Caribbean is the amount of code-switching that goes on; it 
is hard for most speakers to be aware of when they are using Creole and when 
they are using Standard! I'll try a search on Ebonics as you suggest, 
thanks!
Marian




>From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com

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>

>I know from having worked with some of these learners that treating

>Standard English as another/second/foreign language is helpful --that

>is, if the learners are helped to realize that they do not have to

>abandon their own version of English to acquire standard English and if

>they can then do cross-language comparisons and "translations"-- here

>is how we say it in standard English--how do you say that in Jamaican

>(or Pidgen or whatever) and vice versa they get a much clearer idea of

>what is being "improved"--which is really learned as an alternate form.

>

>

>Many of these learners have gone to school in their version of English,

>so must learn Standard English grammatical patterns and word usage

>literally as another language.

>

>The  issue has been addressed in many places in the US where schools

>find that students' use of African American "Ebonics"  collides with

>standards set for writing or speaking standard English.   If you google

>Ebonics you may find some of the research and discussion on this topic.

>   I am sorry that I do not have any particular literature at my

>fingertips.  I know that a San Francisco area school district did quite

>a lot of work on the topic in the last few years.

>

>Robin Lovrien Schwarz

>

>-----Original Message-----

>From: ylerew at aol.com

>To: englishlanguage at nifl.gov

>Sent: Thu, 21 Sep 2006 11:45 AM

>Subject: [EnglishLanguage 688] Re: materials for Eng Creole-spkrs/going

>rate for in-house programmes

>

>     I would second the request for books/material/and other ideas to

>work with students who speak forms of Engllish that are non-standard

>  from a North American English point of view.  Other examples are

>students from Liberia and other parts of Africa.

>  Thanks

>  Yvonne Lerew 

>  Â 

>  Â 

>  -----Original Message-----

>  From: mcazabon at hotmail.com

>  To: englishlanguage at nifl.gov

>  Sent: Wed, 20 Sep 2006 10:55 PM

>   Subject: [EnglishLanguage 683] materials for Eng Creole-spkrs/going

>rate for in-house programmes

>

>   If anyone can help with the following, I'd appreciate it:

>I hope to undertake very soon an in-house programme for clerical and

>administrative workers in a large, successful law firm with a view to

>helping them improve their written English. I have been following this

>week's discussions about curriculum and materials development,

>assessment

>and accountability with interest. One big difference, however, between

>my

>prospective learners and most of yours, is that my learners are not

>exactly

>non-native speakers of English. I live in the Caribbean and they are

>all

>speakers of a range of English-lexicon Creoles! Does anyone know of any

>useful materials or texts out there? I know that some US high schools

>make a

>special effort to help Caribbean immigrants improve their standard

>English.

>I have already purchased a couple of texts produced by the University

>of the

>West Indies.

>My second question is - what would be an appropriate billing rate?

>Thank you for any help you can offer!

>Marian Cazabon-Blok

>

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