|
Explanation (and Warning):
Over the years, some of the topics in The
ESL Miscellany have been limited or removed from the printed paper
edition. This
has been done for a variety of reasons. In
some cases, we felt that most of those using
the book might want a limited or focused topic while others would
want more. Examples
are the Nursery Rhymes and the information
on Native Peoples of North America. The
material though interesting in itself seemed
to be of limited usefulness for most teachers
and students. Another topic, the illustrated
page “Human and Animal Body Parts” in the topic The
Body and Its Function, didn’t fit the general format of the
book, so it was cut. It is
offered here because it is fun and useful.
We have always encouraged teachers to let us know what they find
useful in The ESL
Miscellany and what they feel could be improved. In response,
some teachers have very
clearly let us know that they have considered
a couple of the topics to be both offensive and
in bad taste. They disapproved of the topics
and of they “bad language.” It was, of course,
never our intention to offend anyone. The
|
ESL Miscellany is a teacher resource, and
we have always assumed that teachers will be
careful and sensitive in choosing material to be
shared with their students.
Nevertheless, in the new fourth edition, we
have not put these pages back in the book.
It seemed best to leave them out so that we
wouldn’t offend the concerned teachers. However, this presented
us with a dilemma. Many other teachers have told us how much they
have valued having these difficult materials in the book. For
their sakes, we are putting them
on our website, giving permission to anyone to
print them and photocopy them for classroom
use.
If you find any of the pages in this website supplement offensive,
please forgive us.
If on the other hand, you find them helpful and wish to use them,
please make it clear to your
students that this information, this language is
offensive to many people. For some students it
may be important to understand what is said
to them, but we encourage you to make it clear
that it is probably best for them not to use this
language themselves.
|
