Is This English? Race, Language, and Culture in the Classroom (Practitioner Inquiry Series, 28)

Just fine, for a used book. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

I very much disliked this book, because I found it irrelevant and VERY difficult to read. I will not go in the details; I'm sure you can find more reviews online. This is something you can be forced to read once and then you will immediately forget.

As a beginning teacher, I found this book difficult but enjoyable. I disliked the opening chapters because they did not relate to me and suggested no hope for improvement during the first 30 pages. I realized later that this was done because other teachers feel the same way every day in the classroom. I disliked the first few chapters, not because they were poorly written, but because it wasn't what I wanted to hear. These short negative chapters are necessary in order to appreciate the author's transition into new thinking and teaching. That being said I thought the later half of the book was very well done and I can easily see why the author chose to write his book in the way that he did. After reading the whole book, I will have to give it an 8 out of 10 review.The author tries hard to make his text personal and relatable, while also providing content that will help teachers in all stages of their careers. The writing style is enjoyable and written in a way you can feel you are in a discussion rather than a lecture. With these thoughts in mind, I strongly encourage you to read this book and use it to question your own teaching style as you do so.For my full review visit my blog:[...]

Is this English is a tedious journey through one teacher's angst with teaching multicultural students nearly two decades ago. The writing is reflective to the point of self-indulgent. The first chapter offers much more promise than the book delivers. The "educational" concepts presented in the book are locked away in intellectual meanderings that offer little use to current classroom teachers grappling with real issues such as attrition rates among Philadelphia's urban poor.