Guest speakers for a class would be not only much more convenient, but could occur much more frequently if done via some form of video conferencing software. Just think if a public official, or local business person could take 15-20 minutes off 2 or three times in a day rather than take off an entire workday to talk to your class about something. Then the teacher and the individual also need not worry about the awkwardness of having the guest speaker around the rest of the day (having to deal with meals, what to do with them before/after they speak etc.)
I would think in my English class, it would be particularly useful to have a number of different professionals in a variety of different fields talk about how they use language/writing in their workplace. Have them elaborate on the expectations of their employees/clients/co-workers on their communication skills and level of professionalism (as well as visa-versa)
Rather than making these visits big, difficult to arrange events, a teacher and a speaker could much more easily manage to clear out 30 minutes of time to create an authentic, engaging educational experience.
ON A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT NOTE-
I was thinking about the importance of the word convention to an English classroom and decided that this is a term/concept I would like to introduce early on in my classes and come back to again and again to re-enforce it’s significance in language studies. It is applicable in units/lessons on language usage (formal standard English, vs. non-standard varieties), spelling/grammar, writing structures, genre, originality/creativity in writing, avant-garde/experimental writing, culture/community rites and rituals, etc.
I started thinking about this issue because I was reading from one of my grammar books, and a particular passage caught my attention. The passage reads:
“One cannot overestimate the importance of being sensitive to these perceptions (the potential of Standard English to be oppressive/discriminatory) and to the admittedly complex issues surrounding Standard English and its usage conventions. But it also is important to recognize that there always is a cost involved when one fails to follow a convention.”
The idea of “the cost” of not following convention is what is particularly intriguing to me. This is not something that just applies to language usage/variety, but really any paradigm one may choose to apply it to: work, culture, film, writing, education, sports, politics, dating, sexuality...you name it. Deviation from any well developed cultural standards, or acceptable practices can be slightly dangerous (with varying meanings of danger) to the rule breaker in question. The tricky thing here is, that while I think breaking those standards is one of the most important things a person can do, understanding and appreciating them is enriching and ultimately imperative to function within any society.
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