International Scholars, Practitioners, and Students of Multicultural
Copyright © 1999-2006 by
Electronic Magazine of Multicultural Education
(Spring 2005: vol. 7, no. 1)
Curriculum for Language Arts
White-Clark & Lappin
Call for Papers
Call for Reviewers
About the Editors
Heewon Chang, Ph. D.
Stine, Ph. D.
Caruso, Ed. D. & John Caruso, Jr. , Ph. D.
Art Review Editors
Leah Jeannesdaughter Klerr
1300 Eagle Road
St. Davids, PA,
Electronic Magazine of Multicultural
2005 (Vol. 7, No. 1)
for Language Arts
| Articles |
Instructional Ideas |
Reviews of Resources
Language arts is the third curricular area
EMME focuses on, following math and science in the
2004 Fall issue and social studies in the
2004 Spring issue. Multicultural literature has grown
significantly within the last decade, but a multicultural
curriculum for language arts is still often construed as simply
the inclusion of multicultural books in student reading lists.
While multicultural literature plays an important role in a
multicultural curriculum for language arts, multicultural
education can be applied not only in content, but also in
pedagogy and discourse. In terms of content integration,
Janet Hecsh’s essay in
presents a way of incorporating multicultural literature in a
secondary social studies curriculum, promoting an integrative
curriculum model. Three articles in the
Articles section discuss poignant issues of language and
literacy education in broader multicultural contexts.
White-Clark and Lappin promote building
home-school partnerships so that the language issues and
learning styles of multilingual students and their homes can be
understood and considered in reading literacy development of
these diverse learners. Like White-Clark and Lappin's article,
Landis' article touches on the broader
issues of honoring and appreciating the home culture of
students. Critiquing the hegemony associated with mainstream
literacy practices and language instruction in the U.S. urban
context, she advocates intentional listening to student
perspectives, African Americans in this case, in order to break
the hegemony and deliver effective instruction to urban students
of color. Makinde introduces to the
reader a Nigerian effort to reach multilingual students by
acculturating future teachers in a Yoruba language and culture
The theme of "multicultural curriculum for
language arts" is carried over to the Book
Reviews and Multimedia
Reviews sections. Six juvenile and five professional
books are reviewed in this issue; the multimedia reviews include
five videos (four pertaining to Native American novelists are
reviewed together) and five websites. In the Art
Reviews section, co-editors Hwa Young and John Caruso
review Kehinde Wiley's portraits of young urban Black males
exhibited in the Brooklyn Museum. Three sample paintings of the
artist included in this section illustrate vividly the
significance of the artwork.
Several individuals have contributed to this
issue. First of all, authors and book reviewers deserve my
acknowledgment. I appreciate their fine scholarship, dedication
to the teaching profession, and patience in the publication
process. In addition, our editorial staff, Hwa Young and John
Caruso as Art Reviews Co-editors, Linda Stine as Copy Editor,
and Leah Klerr as Assistant Editor, have again added the
ingredient of excellence to this publication. Without their
assistance, this issue would not have seen the light in a timely
fashion. Although I cannot name reviewers, I also express my
gratitude for their invaluable comments.
Abstracts of the articles and the
instructional ideas are provided below. Full texts are
accessible from the abstracts. Please enjoy the issue of
multicultural curriculum in language arts and send your comments
to the editorial staff at
Heewon Chang, Ph. D.
LISTENING TO AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERACY
Jean M. Landis
U. S. A.
ABSTRACT: Mandates such
as the No Child Left Behind legislation silence
cultural and social issues when implementing
curriculum, even though it is well established in
the multicultural literature that culture is a key
force in learning. This article focuses on the
literacy perspectives of urban African American
children during their literacy practices at school.
These literacy perspectives informed the curriculum
by helping to disrupt stereotypes, demonstrating the
importance of culture in the curriculum and raising
questions about how schools define success. The
student voices helped to expand the boundaries of
the balanced literacy discourse as prescribed by the
National Reading Panel Report (2000)
YORUBA LANGUAGE ACCULTURATION PROGRAM FOR TEACHER TRAINING
Solomon Olanrewaju Makinde
Lagos State University-Ojo
ABSTRACT: To implement the National Policy on
Education, especially on the language provisions for
the junior secondary school learners that every
Nigerian child must learn one of the three major
languages (Igbo, Hausa, and Yoruba) in addition to
his or her mother tongue, colleges of education in
Nigeria have been running first and second language
programs in Nigerian languages. Acculturation is an
integral aspect of such programs. This paper
examines one of the acculturation programs for
second language teacher trainees in the Yoruba
BUILDING HOME-SCHOOL PARTNERSHIPS:
A Way of Enhancing Reading Literacy of Diverse Learners
U. S. A.
Bank Street Graduate School of Education
U. S. A.
confirm that disparities exist in our nation’s
schools in the quality of education experienced by
typically developing students from middle-class
European backgrounds and those students who are
ethnically, culturally, or racially diverse or
has insufficiently prepared teachers to teach in
culturally pluralistic classrooms and collaborate
with parents. However, increasing evidence indicates
that quality home-school partnerships are crucial to
children’s language learning and reading literacy
success. Therefore, educators must be prepared to
engage parents as partners by welcoming families
into the school, especially families from diverse
CHANGING THE CULTURE, ONE STUDENT TEACHER
AT A TIME:
Multicultural Book Clubs in Secondary Social Studies Curriculum
California State University, Sacramento
U. S. A.
ABSTRACT: This article focuses on a set of literacy
activities and strategies adapted from English and
literacy instruction for secondary school students.
The Multicultural Book Club Project assigned in
Methods and Materials in Social Science Teaching, a
fifth-year course in a teaching credential program,
engages teacher candidates in selecting, reading,
and designing learning activities linking literature
and content. The article provides strategies,
references, and ideas for those involved in
secondary teacher education. It also argues for
engaging learners with multicultural literature as a
key element in social studies education and
challenges the highly scripted and codified approach
endorsed by the high-stakes testing environment so
prevalent in contemporary schools.
Reviews of Resources
Wiley's Exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum: "Passing
LITERATURE FOR YOUNG READERS
Argueta, J. with Gomez, E. (Illustrator).
(2005). Moony Luna/ Luna, Lunita Lunera.
San Francisco, CA: Children's Book Press.
Gonzalez, R. with Alvarez, C. C. (Illustrator).
(2005). Antonio's card / La Tarjeta de
Antonio. San Francisco, CA: Children's Book
S. with Downing, J. (Illustrator) (2004). The
firekeeper's son. Brooklyn, NY: Clarion
Shea, P. D. (2003). Tangled threads: A Hmong
girl's story. Brooklyn, NY: Clarion Books.
Smith, C. L. (2001). Rain is not my Indian
name. New York: HarperCollins.
L. (2002). Indian shoes. New York:
Greene, S., & Abt-Perkins, D. (Eds.) (2003).
Making race visible: Literacy research for
cultural understanding. New York: Teachers
Norton, D. E. (2004). Multicultural
children's literature: Through the eyes of many
children (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Ouane, A. (Ed.). (2003). Towards a
multilingual culture of education. Hamburg,
Schecter, S., & Cummins, J. (Eds.) (2003).
Multilingual education in practice: Using
diversity as a resource. Portsmouth, NH:
Schultz, K. (2003). Listening: A framework
for teaching across differences. New York:
F. (Director). (2000). Native American
novelists (4- part Series: N. Scott Momaday,
Leslie M. Silko, Gerald Vizenor, & James Welch).
45-50 minutes (each), color. Distributed by
Films for the Humanities & Sciences.
Suzanne (Director). (2003). The
expanding canon: Teaching multicultural
literature in high school (Section 7: Critical
Thinking). 60 minutes, color. Professional
Development Workshop. Produced by Thirteen/WNET
and distributed by Annenberg/CPB.
Discussing Immigration Through Literature
Multicultural Children's Literature
Multicultural Literacy Section of The Literacy
Multi-Cultural Children's Literature Section of
Frank Rogers' Guide to Children's Literature on
Reading Across the Cultures