Religious Diversity, Walking and the City in Ruins
  Mehnaz M. Afridi

Teaching religion, especially Islam or Judaism, in America today is challenging, but the exciting aspect for a teacher is whether one can overcome institutionalized images of religion and recreate personal narratives for each faith. My goal as a teacher of religion is to exfoliate, deconstruct, and reconstruct the minor literatures within each religion that lay in ruin due to the dominant voices of major religions and silencing of the less dominant ones. For example, we learned that Orthodox Judaism was much more prominent then Reformed Judaism in Rome through our visits to both synagogues and the services we attended. We wondered whether Orthodox Judaism was drowning the voices of other significant Jewish Movements. Although, my students gave voice to the new and old forms of religion and spirituality, they were essentially giving voice to who they are through the study of religious experience. My vision, therefore, lies in my students' own understanding of who they are and how they see themselves rather than "others" critically. This pedagogical style is one that I was able to fully employ during the past summer in Rome, Italy where I taught a course entitled: "Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: Reconciliation, Faith, and Justice."     full text >>>

American and British Educational Practices for Gifted and Talented Students
  Theresa Monaco

The legal foundation for practices in America and England is based on legislation that came about from parental advocacy to meet the education needs of their "gifted and talented" or "able" children. The parallel process of getting services to children at both ends of the continuum ... handicapped and gifted is noted in Public Law 94-142 for the handicapped student and in Public Law 95-561 for the gifted student. In The United States, both laws are the result of parental initiatives and resulted in programs for able or gifted students. In England, there was a greater emphasis on the total curriculum and the classroom environment. Both countries achieved their goals through similar legal and educated processes.

This article presents thoughts and excerpts from written statements made by ten teachers about practices in British and American education. Teachers, working on their master's degrees in Curriculum and Instruction with a major in the education of gifted students, visited eight schools located in London, Windsor, and Bath.     full text >>>

My Teaching Efforts Based on My Personal Observations in China
  Duo Jie

In many schools students try to burn into memory the structure, vocabulary, and sound of another language, only to graduate unable to converse in that language. Lessons that emphasize fine points of grammar over conversation are recipes for failure, according to some educators, and so are classes that do not place language in a cultural context or make it relevant to students' lives. Students must be taught in an environment where they can take risks when learning a new language and speak it without worrying about making mistakes.

College is an exciting place for many students, and such is the case for the English Salon goers as well. The Salon is a place where people go to practice their English skills. Students are ready to learn and are not deterred by the unfamiliarity of the English sounds. At the English Salon students can use their English with other speakers from all over the college or the city. Foreign and Chinese staff move around the groups providing assistance, answering questions, making useful suggestions, but not taking over the groups. The aim is to encourage students to develop an interactive (and hopefully proactive) learning environment in an informal setting, where they can improve their English speaking fluency and increase their confidence.     full text >>>