At first children say the pattern in their own dialects. After they feel comfortable with the pattern, the teacher encourages them to use the Standard English form by emphasizing the specific contrast between their dialect and the Standard English form. The teacher may have children do one or two of the following practice activities. Children act out the story and recite the syntactic patterns. Children tape record their retelling of the story and play it back to their classmates.
Children draw pictures to retell the story and dictate or write an accompanying pattern.
Children make and use puppets to practice the Standard English pattern. In the final step, children manipulate the Standard English pattern by inventing new text. This helps children internalize the pattern. Another way of using Ebonics to teaching Standard English involves the use of students' writing or dictation. The teacher begins by having children dictate a passage or story, or selecting one that has already been written.