On Language -

In my family, we speak in Standard English, so I feel closest and most familiar to it. I grew up in a suburb of Chicago (Glen Ellyn) where Standard English was what was spoken everywhere. There weren't any alternatives so it's pretty much just what I grew up hearing/and learning. From Kindergarten to 12th grade, Standard English was what my teachers instructed me in, and expected I respond with. There really wasn't much thought put into the emphasis of code-switching as we had been using Standard English for our whole school career. It was second nature to us, so when we were asked to do something it was automatically assumed we would use Standard English. So, overall you could say that I'm aware to some extent that I'm using Standard English in my assignments here at school, but really its just a norm to me. Whether it was spelling, grammar, or speaking itself- Standard English was what was always used for me, so I suppose I just expected that was the "right" thing to do.