Contributed by high school English teachers from across the United States, the activities contained in this booklet are intended to promote the effective teaching of English and the language arts. Activities described in the first section of the booklet focus on language exploration and include familiarizing students with dictionary information, using a tape recorder to communicate with another class, taking and defending a stand on a controversial issue, and exploring the powerful and pervasive influence of the media on people's thinking. Activities in the second section are designed to stimulate an appreciation and understanding of classical and contemporary literature, and to suggest techniques for introducing literary works to students. Specific activities in this section deal with familiarizing students with emotions or themes prior to reading, stimulating analytical thinking about a literary selection, having students recreate a theme or plot in a modern setting, and suggesting alternatives to the traditional book report. Activities in the third section are intended to produce clear, concise student writing by focusing on point of view, preparing exact descriptions, creating dialogues between characters, and correcting frequently made errors. Several poetry writing assignments and two year-end activities conclude this section. (EL)