This exercise will make you consider how Pidgin and English are different in sound and grammar. What considerations about language differences between Pidgin and English does this raise? What challenges did you face in figuring out how to write these words in Pidgin?Ĭonsider how you would write the following excerpt of Darrell Lum’s story “No Pass Back” (Bamboo Ridge Press, 1990) in Pidgin. So, the jury is still out! Nevertheless, the fact that Pidgin does not currently have a single agreed-upon system is an interesting starting point for thinking more about language, representing speech in writing, and the politics of writing a language which many people think of only as a spoken language.Ĭome up with ways to write the following words with your own invented Pidgin writing system: a. One answer is that it really depends on the audience and the purpose of the writing. People who write in Pidgin also have different perspectives about this.

The truth is that there is no easy answer for this question.

Many people wonder how they should write Pidgin. Come up with five ways that Pidgin benefits society. Many people think Pidgin is a detriment to society. Each group must take a PRO or CON side and develop an argument with a set of points to present to the opposing side.ĭEBATE 1: Is Pidgin a language? Why or why not?ĭEBATE 2: “Everybody still tawk broken English.” True or not true?ĭISCUSSION: In small groups, ask students to take on the following task: Any of the lessons on language awareness in Section 1 can also serve this purpose, but these activities provide very simple and straightforward tasks that can be accomplished in a short amount of time.ĭEBATES: For each debate, divide the students into two groups and then write the following sentences on the board. These activities are designed to warm students up to the following lessons involving Pidgin. Lesson 1: Classroom Debates and Discussions

Pidgin english examples