Monday, February 2, 2009
Dude goes too far
A finalist for our linguistics search, in conversation with students, stated that while she realizes that it wouldn't fly in Latin America, she prefers students to use "tú" with her. I believe her phrase was "el respeto no está en el pronombre". What do the esteemed readers of this blog think about this? I have to admit that I am of two minds. On the one hand, having gone to a hippie school where students never used anything but first names with profs, my urge is to level frivolous social hierarchies and empower my students. On the other, some might take it as an invitation to be less rather than more serious in their studies (whereas at my alma mater I think it worked in the opposite direction). Then again, the small percentage of my students who have studied in Latin American universities probably could not bring themselves to use "tú" with me. Another consideration is that my teaching style is definitely not as touchy-feely as my undergraduate education was: I want my students to begin developing a pretty clear set of communications and thinking skills, and to take away a personal yet solid understanding of certain texts and contexts. This may mitigate against any greater freedom gained by the use of the informal second person singular.
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2 comments:
As a non-native Spanish speaker, it doesn't register as disrespect with me if a student speaks to me in 'tú,' but I agree that respect is an issue. I want students to be at ease with me, but I don't want them to pull crap with me either. Students occasionally give me gifts, for example, which always makes me uncomfortable. Am I now under some obligation of friendship with them?
Nor do I do the touchy-feely routine with students. I prefer to maintain a relationship of flexible formality, which has them addressing me usually as "Ud" (although I am tempted to have them start using "Vuestra merced"). I think this is a good way for them to get into the habit of automatically addressing native speakers formally until it is mutually agreed upon to use "Tú" (in class students do address each other informally). However, I have never actually requested the students call me anything in particular and they always seem to default to "profe" which works just fine. I do tend to use the informal register with native speaker students whom I see on a fairly steady basis outside of class.
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