Addresses the cultural diversity that exists in English-as-a-second-language classrooms. Discusses a Halloween story unit developed to help students bridge cultural differences. (RS)

Since 1993, groups of Connecticut high school students have had the opportunity to explore Russia firsthand, thanks to a program called "Linking Schools Through Language and Technology." Although Russia is an unstable society, schools visited by New Haven youngsters were cozy, child-centered beacons of continuity and tradition. Schools…

Shares some recommendations for teachers in using American Indian literature to dispel myths about American Indians held by teachers and students alike. Describes the author's experience as an adopted member of an American Indian family and community. (TB)

Reviews the personal and intellectual forces that shaped one practitioner's approach to counseling. Reflects on five themes in which culture influences human existence: self-hatred, cultural differences, historical hostility, existential counseling, and traditional healing. (LSR)

Institutional racism has been justified by disdaining non-Western cultures such as the Maori as illiterate. Maori education is focusing on biliteracy, developing literacy in both Maori and English within contemporary Maori cultural values and practices. (SK)

Describes a number of ghost stories from American cultures, all of which, despite their different origins, seek to stimulate horror, escapism, and fantastic pleasure. Suggests that the stories may be used to improve reading and writing and incorporate "rainbow" themes in the classroom. (TB)

Describes, in broad terms, a teacher's experience of teaching at a school for boys in England for a year. Talks about the ways that he had to adjust and the ways that teaching there were similar to teaching in the United States. (TB)

Studied a U.S. middle school with about 240 English-as-a-Second-Language students and documented how Mexicans, Bosnians, and other immigrants were caught in institutional practices that both welcomed and did not welcome them. Findings show motivational patterns of the local community and the immigrants themselves. (SLD)

Discusses resistance in teaching from two perspectives as strategies of action associated with science activities that are not aligned with learning, and the labeling and responses of teachers to student behaviors. Focuses on cultural miscues and resources effective in the classroom environment. (Author/YDS)

Compared school motivation and use of deep processing (an indicator of learning quality) among black and white South African students from two recently integrated secondary schools. Student surveys found no significant ethnic group differences. Both groups considered working hard and having interest in school tasks to be more important than…

Focuses on individual reading practices both inside and outside the classroom. Aimed to reflect trends in the field of new literacy studies that draw on ethnographic accounts of the literacy practices of different groups. Investigated student perceptions of learning experiences in adult migrant English program classrooms. (Author/VWL)

Compared maternal expectations of child development in India (n=50), Japan (n=50), and England (n=70) by asking mothers to indicate at which age they expected a child to achieve competency in 45 tasks. Results show that competence was expected at a slightly earlier age in Japan than in England, and altogether later in India. Differences between…

Considers cultural diversity in the evaluation of instructional programs and products. Suggests strategies for culturally sensitive evaluation, gives examples of cultural insensitivity and cultural bias, and provides a rating scale for multicultural sensitivity in instructional products. (LRW)

Introduces a theme issue that challenges the dominant discourse surrounding pedagogy which is predicated on individualistic accounts of achievement and solutions to enhancing achievement that rarely consider the relationships between thinking and the cultural, institutional, and historical situations in which it occurs. The articles show, through…

Discussion of cultural influences on new technologies focuses on an analysis of full-service national Web portals from different countries that investigated whether the adoption of new technologies resulted in cultural convergence or divergence. Results showed differences in appearance and features offered that can be attributed to cultural…