From 1989 to 2000, the K-12 population of English language learners doubled in the United States and more than tripled in 12 states. When small rural schools first enroll children whose first language is not English, there may be no teachers endorsed specifically to meet linguistic needs, and special educators may be called on for advice. Special…

This dictionary of collocations was compiled by an English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teacher in Saudi Arabia who teaches adult, native speakers of Arabic. The dictionary is practical in teaching English because it helps to focus on everyday events and situations. The dictionary works as follows: the teacher looks up a word, such as…

This book, one of four in the Teaching Reading Collection, presents the "best of the best" classroom-tested ideas, approaches, and practical applications for helping students learn about words. The articles have been drawn from the journal "The Reading Teacher" from 1993-1999. The ideas and strategies are intended to provide possible building…

The Texas Reading Initiative began in 1996 in response to Governor George W. Bush's challenge to all Texans to focus on the most basic of educational goals--teaching all children to read. This booklet describes important aspects of effective reading instruction, as well as elements of classroom and campus support for effective instruction. The…

Based on an 18th century poem (actually, a song originally) about the Boston Tea Party, this lesson plan presents activities designed to help students understand that taxation of the American colonists by the British led to the American Revolution; all eras have protest poetry or songs; and students can perform and analyze old literature. The main…

Based on William Golding's novel "Lord of the Flies," this lesson plan presents activities designed to help students understand that, on a literal level, the novel deals with what happens to a group of boys stranded on an island; and that on a symbolic level, it investigates what happens to civilized people when the structures of civilization…

Based on short stories and novels, this lesson plan presents activities designed to help students understand that in the 19th century, the American frontier brought both solutions and problems; and fiction writers as well as documentarians have portrayed the American frontier. The main activity of the lesson involves students writing essays…

Based on H.G. Wells' novel "War of the Worlds" and the reaction to Orson Wells' 1938 adaptation for radio, this lesson plan presents activities designed to help students understand that literature originally created in one medium is often adapted to another medium; and that technology can make the unreal seam real and can otherwise confuse…

Content area reading instruction includes two elements: the information presented in subject matter text, and the plan that teachers use to help students understand the content. According to research and interviews with social studies teachers, there is a high failure rate in the social studies content area because children have problems…

This book provides 108 activities to stimulate students to think about their own involvement in their education. Students must be able to think about and apply the information they acquire in the classroom to their lives outside of school. It presents practical information on metacognitive theory and reading and studying skills. The ready-to-use…

This paper examines the growing literature on pedagogical lexicography and the growing focus on how well the learner uses the dictionary in second language learning. Dictionaries are becoming more user-friendly. This study used the writing task to reveal new insights into how students use a CD-ROM dictionary. It found a lack of dictionary-using…

The use of three new handbooks to study Russian classics in advanced college Russian classes is described. The handbooks are an effort to help students with vocabulary, cultural information, and idioms found in the original texts. (MSE)

Describes a summer remedial reading program for first-grade students. Includes discussions of the activities and strategies used to promote comprehension, fluency, and vocabulary development. (FL)

The results of a word recognition study are compared to those of a sign recognition study in order to determine which aspects of lexical access are comparable in speech and sign, and which are specific to each of the two language modalities. The "gating paradigm" was used in both studies. (Author/AMH)

Compares the effects of DISTAR, Action Reading, and a cognitive development approach on the reading readiness and mathematical achievement of kindergarten children. Concludes that DISTAR was superior to the other programs on all variables. (FL)