This article explores the ways in which the language of the hero's journey can serve as a heuristic for teachers at all stages of their professional experience. Teachers in Canada and the United States were interviewed via Skype about their experiences around writing and literacy. Four teachers are profiled here, two from Canada and two from the…

The role of the English language, used around the world for international diplomacy, aviation, health, economics, technology, education, and research, cannot be overstated. In places where English is not the first nor an official language, the task for second language teachers in elementary schools through college to perfect students' language…

As part of the "Bridging the Language Gap" project undertaken with 86 State and Catholic schools across Queensland, the language competencies of Indigenous students have been found to be "invisible" in several key and self-reinforcing ways in school system data. A proliferation of inaccurate, illogical and incomplete data…

Language is the essence of humanity and the backbone of early childhood education. Academic content clusters on it. Math, science, and social studies, for instance, are best taught through "content area language." Critical thinking and other key math, listening, and reading comprehension skills are mirrored in language. Not surprisingly, spoken…

Christensen discusses why teachers need to teach students "voice" in its social and political context, to show the intersection of voice and power, to encourage students to ask, "Whose voices get heard? Whose are marginalized?" As Christensen writes, "Once students begin to understand that Standard English is one language among many, we can help…

Describes the Nigerian (Yoruba) storytelling tradition and the techniques employed to perpetuate it in the home and in the school. (DD)

Language arts teachers cannot handle the problems of the disadvantaged children of the ghetto because they cannot understand the language of the children well enough to evaluate the abilities of the children or create activities which would improve the quality of language experience for the child. It is possible to provide language arts teachers…

Discussion in this paper is given to some studies and texts devoted to the study of general semantics, which is defined as the study of language operations in real human contexts with emphasis on the human consequences of these operations. Mentioned are (1) books by S. I. Hayakawa, Wendell Johnson, Irving J. Lee, and Stuart Chase; (2) lesson plans…

A review of Language and Learning" (University of Miami Press), by James Britton, Reader in Education and Head of the Engligh Department at the University of London Institute of Education. (RY)

Describes a language arts project which used students' own first names as the project theme. (DD)

Describes a three-week "Introduction to Language" unit for seventh graders. Notes that students feel ownership of the unit because of the amount of choice and sharing involved. Describes the unit's mini-lessons: human language; origins and development of language; symbols and words; meaning in context; and growth and change in language. (RS)

Defines language awareness, examines shifts in meaning which words undergo, and discusses how this topic can be applied in education. (DD)

This collection of essays is concerned with the relationships between language and education. It is intended to be used in an undergraduate course but may also be used by many others interested in language in an educational context. A variety of approaches to the subject are considered, including the philosophical, psychological, sociological,…

Every day in so many ways, children are surrounded by language: from the language of home and family, to the never-ending bombardment of environmental print, to the clash between school admonitions to use "standard" English and their peer groups' specialized and invented speech. According to the author of this book, students love to…

Appears in "The Florida FL Reporter special anthology issue "Linguistic-Cultural Differences and American Education. (AMM)