This publication reports on Communities in Crisis, a resource and adult education program designed to encourage local community leaders and volunteers to reflect critically upon their experiences and exchange ideas across different towns, cities, and regions in the United Kingdom. Part 1 describes the program and its three aims: sharing…

Five card games for use in beginning to advanced level Chinese language classrooms or outside the classroom are described. The games require a flat playing surface, the prescribed deck of cards, and three to five students. Instructor supervision is minimal for all but one of the games, and all provide healthy competition and fun with a purpose.…

A double cloze activity, designed to use the cloze procedure to create a realistic context for the exchange of information in the classroom, uses two versions of the same text with different words deleted in each. The administration of the double cloze can be divided into four parts. First, the students listen twice to a reading or recording of…

This second grade teaching unit outlines 18 activities intended to teach children safety measures in the event of an encounter with strangers. The unit knowledge goals cover: learning what a stranger is, knowing how to prevent an encounter with a stranger, and knowing what to do if an encounter occurs. The skill goal focuses on decision making,…

A collection of 56 classroom games to be used in grammar instruction in English as a second language includes five game categories: (1) traditional, competitive games modified to allow students to work in small groups and show themselves and the teacher how much or how little grammar they know; (2) Silent Way or Silent Way-inspired exercises in…

This paper describes how the Appalachia Educational Laboratory (AEL) operated the first study groups, what topics they investigated, what fruit they bore, and what the study group members and AEL staff later said they would do differently or the same way next time. Major topics discussed in the paper are: how groups were initiated and organized,…

The importance of the grandparent-grandchild relationship can be used effectively in group work with the aged by using pictures of grandchildren to stimulate personal interaction. Participants are asked to bring pictures of their grandchildren, great-grandchildren, or surrogate grandchildren to a two-hour training session on grandparenting. During…

A collection of 25 games, some illustrated, for English language instruction includes information exchange games for pairs and small groups (Describe and Draw, Describe and Arrange, Construct It, Describe and Construct, Find the Difference, Complete It, Ask the Right Question, Compare and Check, Rescue), linking and matching games (Use It, Picture…

Gerontological research appears to indicate that a relatively small percentage of the elderly population of the United States attends any of the nation's senior centers. In order to identify the correlates of senior center participation for a sample of elderly living in a small urban community, elderly male and female center users (N=97) and…

This paper presents the thesis that pair problem-solving serves as an aid to students in developing their metacognitive skills. Metacognition has been defined as knowledge and cognition about cognitive objects and as any kind of monitoring. The ability to monitor one's thoughts and actions is greatly facilitated through the pair problem-solving…

The teaching activities presented in this article focus on a bookmaking party, which gives children a format in which they can publish and share their activities in a formal way, provides them with books for recording their writing, and involves students, parents, and the community with children's writing. The paper describes the steps for…

Fifty-four elementary school children previously identified as consistently inattentive were involved in an extraclassroom treatment program comparing three conditions. Changes in behavior did not transfer to regular classroom, and training for teachers did not affect in-class attention scores of subjects. (Author)

Describes the use of group dynamics in a junior high school science classroom as a means of dealing with problems associated with the heterogeneous nature of the student population. (JR)

A study focusing on the development and maintenance of peer groups was undertaken at South High School in the San Joaquin Valley (California). The central purpose of the study was to determine if a school culture existed at this school. Ethnographic and field observation methods were employed to examine the phenomenon of the "cowboys," a…

On the basis of Soviet experience, types of work are sketched which are designed to develop the ability of the learner in dialogue and in group conversations. Russian and English examples illustrate the presentations. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)