AMBASSADORIAL SCHOLAR GOES TO SOUTH AFRICA

Posted by Rotarian John Biggs

on Oct 13, 2013

The Rotary Club of Boise is sponsoring our newest Ambassadorial Scholar, Amber Clontz from Twin Falls. This is a major project of R.I. which funds a one year graduate study course - its worth about $25,000! Here's a message from Amber:

Dear Rotary District 5400,

Not only is the next step in my academic career due to your generous donations, but it is my first adventure since graduating Twin Falls High School in 2007, when you helped with my original leap of the mind was as well. District 5400 sent me to Germany as a Rotary Youth Exchange Ambassador. Learning German answered as many questions about my native English language as it raised. Hooked on Phonics, Semantics, Syntax, and the question as to how humans acquire language-- I wanted to learn as much as possible with the intent to share it with everyone I met.

Continuing with the same excitement, in February 2014, it is my honor to go abroad again under the Rotary International banner to study Linguistics in South Africa. A year in Germany taught me how language empowers, setting me on a track that will eventually lead back to Boise. But as it stands today, I am set to spend the upcoming year in Durban, South Africa at the University of KwaZulu-Natal completing my Master's thesis on 'The Politics of Language'.

This area of Sociolinguistics is concerned with human language as a resource, specifically English as a commodity. My studies address the problems with a shifting global English marketplace, where being a native speaker represents the golden ticket (for now). The question remains how public schools in the US can reconfigure the language paradigm to prepare students for the shift. Bilingual students or non-native English speakers in the United State have more to teach their peers than many may realize, and more than a letter grade or English fluency to gain from doing so.

To use an Idaho analogy- if everyone grows potatoes, it's no longer a cash cow. Liken the native speaker of English to the organic potato, the next question is - how many of us buy organic potatoes? Language education reform is a matter of when, not if. My research looks at how everyone can prepare for the market shift.

Thank you for supporting my studies,

Amber Clontz

(You'll find a link to her blog on the homepage)