Originally published in 1988. Much has changed since then in schools. Mobile technologies, interactive whiteboards, digital texts, class websites, student-authored blogs, social networking and photo sharing sites found integrated into so many classrooms hadn’t even been imagined by most educators.

What hasn’t changed, however, are the developmental needs of adolescents. A sense of competence, opportunities for creative expression, positive social interactions, and opportunities for self-definition remain centrally important. Similarly, print literacy (i.e., reading and writing...

Originally published in 1980. This book is a collection of language learning activities in the area of drama, mime, roleplay, problem solving, group work, music and song – all classroom tested and ready for use in teaching English, no matter the level. The exercises are designed to promote and stimulate real language communication and to involve teachers and students on a personal level. The authors taught on training courses for ELT teachers and developed these excellent techniques and ideas for educators looking for whole-person learning ways of teaching.

Originally published in 1990. This book examines the innovative programs that changed the way reading and writing was taught during the previous ten years. Both teacher and critic of the New Literacy programs, the author gives a perspective that allows educators, parents, and other readers to assess the promise of these programs. Examining the work of educators from the USA, UK and Canada, he compares programs from first grade to college that foster a new level of literate engagement and voice in students while creating a less authoritative place in which to learn. The book opens...

Originally published in 1992. This book advocates and demonstrates the benefits of an anthropological approach that recognizes the centrality of culture in the educational process. This approach encompasses knowledge and understanding of other cultures’ patterns of interaction, values, institutions, metaphors and symbols as well as cross-cultural communication skills. Ethnographic studies of multi-ethnic classrooms and schools in their community context are presented in this excellent volume with a view to informing practice and policy concerning the education of language minority...

Originally published in 1937. This book is ‘an account of the special training necessary for the young boy or girl in letter-making and simple reading’. The book uses ‘Basic English’, the 850 words of which are included specifically for reference, as a suggested starting point for the teaching of reading and writing, and presents a system for teachers to teach letters by pictures. The order of the letters in the main section of the book is from simplest form to most difficult with a later section showing them in alphabetical order. This is a superb insight into educational history...

Originally published in 1992. This book brings together the work of a number of distinguished international researchers engaged in basic research on beginning reading. Individual chapters address various processes and problems in learning to read - including how acquisition gets underway, the contribution of story listening experiences, what is involved in learning to read words, and how readers represent information about written words in memory. In addition, the chapter contributors consider how phonological, onset-rime, and syntactic awareness contribute to reading acquisition, how...

Originally published in 1998. This book presents a model of social-contextual influences on children’s literacy and literate language. Literate language is similar to the language teachers use and to the language used in reading books for young children. Based on a longitudinal study in homes and schools, the authors here present the results of how diverse and close social relationships influence children’s literacy learning as they progress through the first three years of formal schooling, and discuss implications for teaching practice. Different types of reading matter in the home...

Originally published in 1976. How do children learn to write? What stages to they pass through in mastering this skill? What part can teachers play in aiding their development? These are some of the questions that this book sets out to answer. This book offers a perspective on writing which places children's language resources and their development at its centre. It discusses the purpose of writing, ways of classifying its variety, providing contexts for writing, its treatment in schools and methods for helping children to overcome difficulties. A section explores the arguments for a...