Presents five curriculum guides for music, reading, language arts, science, and social studies. Each activity identifies library media skills objectives, curriculum objectives, grade levels, resources, librarian and teacher instructional roles, activity and procedures for completion, activity samples, guidelines for evaluating finished activities,…

Video-recorded seven demented Finnish immigrants during morning care together with bilingual and monolingual Swedish-speaking caregivers. Showed bilingual caregivers communicated more multidimensionally with patients. Found that even if monolingual interaction started in a positive manner, it became negative when parties realized they could not…

The word-learning ability of 12 school-age subjects with moderate or severe mental retardation was assessed. Subjects used the System for Augmenting Language with visual-graphic symbols for communication. Ability to fast map novel symbols was found to relate to symbol achievement status. Implications for vocabulary acquisition by youth with mental…

Examines the scope of pedagogic discourse, which involves the operation of a set of principles by which persons are apprenticed into ways of working valued in a culture. A pedagogic discourse is realized in two sets of language choices: (1) those connected with the goals of the teaching-learning activity, and (2) those concerning the content to be…

Reports on teaching strategies employed to teach Spanish to eighth-grade students with learning disorders, such as auditory problems, attention deficit disorders, and dyslexia. The teacher, who became her students' personal support system, conducted a structured, multisensory, and "alive" class and used many visual aids, such as flashcards, books,…

Second-language teachers dealing with teenagers face a task of imparting communicative language skills to learners who think and speak in terms of a language of their own making. It is important that these teachers familiarize themselves with teen language in order to make their teaching relevant by making their classrooms more responsive to their…

Analyzes five cases related to challenges to public school textbooks. Five different U.S. Courts of Appeal have considered the objections of parents to textbooks, and all five found for the defendant school districts. Reveals that what began as a grassroots parental movement evolved into a nationwide crusade that has embroiled communities. (129…

Cross-cultural communicative competence requires more than learning the language; social cultural competence also is necessary. Challenges beyond semantics (word connotations), beyond phonology (significance of subtle pronunciation differences), beyond pragmatics (relating to cognitive style), and beyond translation (the cultural imperatives of…

Advocates adapting the structural and pedagogical principles of whole language learning to social studies instruction. Specifically recommends focusing on the meaning of citizenship instead of its component parts, allowing students to make choices, and connecting citizenship education to developmental growth. Briefly discusses approaches to avoid.…

Describes an introductory segment of a preservice course on teaching and learning in mathematics and language arts, highlighting a project using multimedia materials to explore the integration of the two. Examples of teacher candidates' insights about mathematics discourse are discussed. The larger implications of classroom discourse for…

Follows whole-language-instruction students into second-grade classrooms that either used a skills-based (transition group) or a whole-language approach (continuing group). Finds the transition group experienced a loss of literate behaviors; differences in writing favored the continuing group; and no between-group difference in reading growth. (RS)

Draws on ethnographic observation to describe internal social structuring of Botswana primary schools; social hierarchy among teachers, staff, and students; and the cultural distance between schools and their communities. Argues that teacher training practices do not challenge trainees' previously internalized teaching concepts related to teacher…

This article discusses how parents can use the Language Experience Approach and Scaffolded Writing in the home environment to teach their children literacy skills and to prevent school failure. The benefits of parent involvement in influencing the quality and quantity of a child's literacy experiences is stressed. (Contains references.) (CR)

Discussion of synchronous computer mediated communications over the Internet focuses on the opportunities and pitfalls of using graphical chat programs in education. Topics include two-dimensional and three-dimensional chat programs; distance education; problem solving groups; exploring cultural differences; language skill development;…

Describes how the author and her middle school students created the Writer's Club Web Site, a forum for information, creative expression, interaction about writing, and publication. Notes how writing, revising, editing, and publishing this web site promoted student ownership of information, collaboration, and audience awareness, and a genuine…