Explores the responsibilities of junior high/middle school language arts teachers in the 1980s and reports on the functions of the JH/MS Assembly of the National Council of Teachers of English. (DD)

Suggests that children learning English as a second language will profit more from interaction in meaningful situations with native speakers of English than from separate language instruction with other nonnative learners. (DD)

Relates the shared whole language experiences of a native college student majoring in education and a third-grade Korean student who was learning English, concluding that both learned from the experiencing-writing-reading activities. (DD)

Describes an experiential lesson plan for using garden snails in secondary English. Shows how the observation of snails can be tied into reading, writing, and dramatics activities. (DF)

Suggests practical ways of teaching functional communication on the elementary level. This approach provided opportunities for students to practice communication skills in exercise settings. Recommends a sequence of activities for teachers: observe patterns of child communication, isolate communication functions, design instructional objectives,…

Results of this study indicate that male teachers had no significant effect upon the academic achievement of father-absent sixth-grade boys. (JMF)

Reviews research on the importance of oral language for the child and provides a framework for curriculum design based on talk purposes, talk contexts, and talk planning. (DD)

Describes 11 documents in the ERIC system which describe language activities in the context of music, drama, games, and visual stimuli. (DD)

Suggests ways to enlist parents' support of language arts instruction, to provide parents with materials to develop their children's language skills, and to offer workshops for parents. (DD)

A teacher of gifted elementary students discusses her class's annual Shakespeare project which involves studying his life, reviewing familiar passages, and finally presenting one of his plays. (CL)

A monthly exchange of tips, projects, ideas and resources. (Editor)

A teacher discovers the Teddy Bear as something common to her first graders' backgrounds and uses it as a motivator for a creative language arts program. (Author/RK)

Authors! Authors! Everybody takes a bow for a class-written drama. (Editor)

Building a railroad or writing about it in class takes a lot of organization. (Editor)

Finger-snapping, toe-tapping music is a prelude to penmanship practice. (Editor)