My brother (and I) would spell using standard English because our dialect is vernacular and not generally a written form. I only change spelling from standard when I am trying to emphasise the accent/dialect. I live in a different part of the country to where my accent and dialect come from, but I haven't needed to change it in order to be understood - only slow down my speech a little - as Geordies are notorious for the speed of their speech.

Most of my teachers used the local dialect to varying degrees - that doesn't mean I was unable to learn the standard English form and that they were unable to teach it.

I notice the general tone of this thread is that dialectal variations in grammar are "incorrect". They are only incorrect in standard English. And that dialects are *inferior* to standard English.

I wonder if some of this is a US/UK difference in the status of "yous". For example in a semi formal situation I probably wouldn't change *yous*, but I would avoid using other dialectal words that tend to be used only in very informal situations - eg *divvent* instead of don't. Maybe *yous* in wherever you are in the US is a much more informal use compared to UK (more comparable to divvent).

Bagpuss