On a February morning, Ms. Nelson (all names pseudonyms) was preparing her eleventh-grade class for a new unit with the goal of crafting arguments about the people and issues present in the classic novel "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe. As, teacher educators Eileen Shanahan and Min-Young Kim were observing in the classroom, it was…

Chosen spaces are community organizations and programs, elective classes, and/or extracurricular clubs that students choose to participate in and have the agency to refuse their membership in. The youth's chosen spaces represent an alternate possibility for what English language arts (ELA) education could look like and how it might better sustain…

Choosing a text that offers students the chance to empathize with a character from a sociocultural background different from their own and that is based on an understanding of universal challenges all adolescents face offers the opportunity to change minds. The preservice teachers who field tested the use of "Moon at Nine" in middle…

In this article, the authors contend that high school English classes are a critical place for teaching democratic ways with words, and they call on and extend the tools of intercultural inquiry for the purposes of teaching democratic deliberation. The authors describe their collaborative engagement with an inventive data-driven genre--the…

Turkey, like many Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cultures, is homosocial. Profoundly intimate, though nonsexual, relationships between members of the same gender predominate. In such cultures it is expected that male friends kiss one another on the cheek when greeting or saying goodbye, and it is common to see men walk arm-in-arm together, hold…

Each year, seventh graders at Woodlawn School in Davidson, North Carolina, learn about Japan through a compilation of literature, history, and art. They are introduced to a wide range of ideas and materials: they study the Heian and Tokugawa Periods as well as modern Japan, the code of the samurai warriors, haiku and its components, and Japanese…

In this article, the author shares her experience and the lessons learned in teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) for a decade. After thousands of lessons, uncountable revisions to those lessons, numerous hours of professional development, access to dozens of talented colleagues, and an abundance of thoughts and insights from…

Maureen Crane Wartski uses the themes like race and ancestry in her writings, as she believes that these themes are important parts of identity. Through multicultural literature it can be shown that there is a great deal to be learned from people who have different cultural experiences.

Yu Ren Dong presents several activities that can give teachers confidence to explore the cultural differences in diverse texts and provide ways to help their students discuss these differences and enhance cross-cultural understanding. The use of cultural-response approach is highlighted.

Provides an account of how one English teacher fosters student appreciation of ethnic and minority literatures by teaching Linda Hogan's poem, "The Truth Is." Shows how students can be encouraged to consider their own cultural heritages. Asks student groups to concentrate on how one word is used within the poem. (HB)

Sketches the way one English teacher used silent film to engender creative writing in a school for American Indian students. Advocates the use of humor in cross-cultural educational settings. (HB)

Presents an informal dialogue on teaching poetry in diverse settings. Shares teachers' success stories in teaching poetry. Notes basic principles--students must write poetry, hear poetry read aloud, and be aware of how people of other cultures express their feelings. (RS)

Criticizes Keneth Kinnamon's advice in his article Afro-American Literature, the Black Revolution, and Ghetto High Schools," English Journal," vol. 5., no. 2 (February 1970), pp. 189-94 (see TE 200 536). (SW)

Provides evidence of students' varying cognitive styles. Notes the implications of these differences for English teachers, especially those teaching students from various cultural backgrounds. (JT)

Encourages modification of teaching strategies to facilitate academic achievement among students from diverse groups. Describes how the author collaborated with professionals from the Folger Library's Teaching Shakespeare Institute to develop a better way to teach Shakespeare to her predominantly African-American students. Describes how her…