Dialect Project Thoughts

I thoroughly enjoyed this dialect project.  I had never even heard of Hinglish before this assignment so I had the chance to dive into an entirely new language.  I find language differences fascinating.  Learning about differences in pronunciation and grammar makes me question why we speak the way we do, and what makes us so sure our way of speaking is the "correct" way.  This assignment taught me some of the nuances and rules of a different dialect, which was fascinating.  However, I think the more important lesson was making me question how many other dialects are out there and how important these are to various functioning societies.  Hinglish is spoken by millions of people in multiple countries.  That's sort of mind blowing considering it's not the internationally accepted form of proper English.  Living in Montana, it's easy to forget how many other languages and dialects infiltrate most of the world.  As a teacher, I am sure I will face these differences in my students and their families.  Hinglish seems so far away and therefore it's easy to assume I will never encounter the dialect personally.  However, in doing research, I discovered a video of a little girl in America telling her sister a story in Hinglish.  We didn't have time to show that video in class but here's the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB2fKbx8yLY&feature=related  This video helped me realize that I may quite possible encounter ANY dialect in my classroom and I must be prepared to deal with them appropriately.  I am still figuring out how to go about doing this but right now I think the most important aspect is to keep an open mind and never count a different dialect as wrong just because it's not the language I use on a daily basis!