1. Conventions: What are three specific conventions associated with the discourse of your topics? 

 

Topic 1: Ashkenazi Jewish Vernacular 

1. Learning different pronunciations of Jewish Holidays 
2. Memorizing different prayers read on a daily basis 
3. Understanding the different pronunciations of certain letters in the Hebrew alphabet

 

Topic 2: Southern African American Vernacular English 

1. Recognizing different pronunciations of English words 
2. Understanding a completely new vocabulary
3. Grasping speech patterns including cadence and rhythm 

 

Topic 3: Cooking and Baking

1. Recognizing different kitchen appliances and understanding when to use them
2. Correctly anticipating heat distribution of each individual oven/heating device to ensure thorough and even cooking of foods 
3. Intuitively know what spices work best with the intended flavor of each dish  

 

1. Discourse community: Can you describe two memories in which you joined in conversation with members of the discourse community associated with these topics? 

 

Topic 1: Ashkenazi Jewish Vernacular

1. As a young girl, I learned to speak modern-day Hebrew. For high school, I attended an Ashkenazi orthodox Jewish school. To my surprise knowing modern-day Hebrew fluently did not translate to me knowing Ashkenazi Jewish vernacular in school. I had trouble following along with readings in Judiacs class and struggled to understand what the teachers were talking about. 
2. I remember one specific time when a teacher asked the class to flip to page two… In Ashkenazi Jewish Vernacular this was said as “Aamid-Base”, however, in modern-day Hebrew, this would be pronounced as “Amood Bet” (Page two). At that moment I finally was able to correctly translate something my teacher was saying into modern-day Hebrew, a language I could actually understand, and this was the start of my acquisition process of Ashkenazi Jewish Vernacular. 

 

Topic 2:  Southern African American Vernacular English 

1. I remember visiting my family down south and having trouble conversing with my cousins my age. I would often ask them to repeat their words and they would often ask me to repeat myself as well. 

 

Topic 3: Cooking and Baking

1. I remember when I was young, speaking to my older cousin for the first time regarding cooking chicken.  My mom is vegan therefore we never had meat in my house growing up. I had to seek outside help from my cousin when I attempted to make a schnitzel (Israeli breaded chicken cutlet) for the first time. We discussed the option of dredging (coating the chicken in flour)  before putting it in the egg. 

 

1. Literacy Sponsor: Can you describe two specific ways in which a literacy sponsor has introduced you to the discourse communities and/or conventions of these topics? 

 

Topic 1: Ashkenazi Jewish Vernacular

• One of my Rabbis in school was instrumental in helping me to understand this dialect by teaching me the Hebrew letters that were pronounced differently and teaching me some of the differences in the prayers that we had to recite every day. 

 

Topic 2: Southern African American Vernacular English 

• I did not have any literacy sponsor to aid with my acquisition of AAVE

 

Topic 3: Cooking and Baking

• My literacy sponsor was my cousin who helped teach me the meaning of various important terms such as the difference between roasting, baking, and broiling as well as helping me to understand the difference between chop, dice, and mince.