The Jamaican Corner in a Virginian Classroom

Abstract

A Jamaican teacher recruited to teach English in Virginia, USA reconstructed her childhood and adolescent experiences, which had nurtured sensitivity towards place and space in her own acquisition and learning of English. This sensitivity to place and space later gained pedagogical significance as she recognized that she had to reckon not only with geographical distance from her homeland but the cultural divide in her classroom with Hispanic and Chinese students who spoke mono-syllabic English and the American students who faced challenges with her Standard Jamaican English accent. There was, however, one thing that everyone in this multi-cultural classroom had in common: the concept “Bob Marley.” This thirst for more information about the Jamaican Reggae icon gave birth to the Jamaican Corner. From this corner, the students and their teacher, the researcher, navigated cultural borders through language and developed respect for the cultural diversity in their classroom.