Throughout the world, women mediate between cultures as bilingual and multi-lingual speakers, teachers, translators, and interpreters. They may be seen as the guardians of minority languages or be perceived as 'good at languages'. However, very little has so far been published on women and language use in bilingual or multi-cultural situations. There is a considerable body of work both in bilingualism as a general phenomenon, and on language use and gender; in this collection of papers, these issues are combined. The authors are, in the main, practising social anthropologists; language teachers, interpreters, and writers have also contributed. The papers in this volume cover a wide variety of geographical and linguistic situations: from the death of Gaelic in Scotland, to the use of Spanish by Quechua and Aymara women in the Andes. Certain common themes emerge: dominant and subdominant languages, women's use of them (in Bolivia, Chile, Zaire, Mongolia and Goa); ambivalent attitudes towards women as translators, interpreters and writers in English as a second language; and the critical role of women in the survival (or death) of minority languages such as Gaelic and Breton.

Every writing teacher needs a toolkit of good lesson plans and inspiring assignments. "The College Writing Toolkit: Tried and Tested Ideas for Teaching College Writing" is just such a practical resource, offering practical tools for both new and experienced teachers seeking to expand their professional repertoire. The Toolkit provides a collection of tried and tested methods and techniques for eliciting and working on students' writing in a college or university environment. Contributors from all over the world reflect on best practices for teaching writing and for generating writing assignments that help college or university students to learn and to express themselves with confidence, clarity, and originality and in a range of genres. Each contribution is written in a format specifying the theoretical and conceptual framework of the pedagogical activity, its purpose, audience, and intended outcomes. Contributors also describe the situations in which the activity has been tried, what the results have been, and how the activity has been modified accordingly. An important aspect of the descriptions is the contributors' reflections on the value of the activity and their recommendations for applying it for best results in the same and different types of contexts, such as for different types of institutions and audiences of students. Those who incorporate the practices of the Toolkit in their own teaching can therefore benefit from another practitioner's understanding and experience gained from refining an activity over time to enhance its effectiveness. College and university writing teachers can use and creatively adapt these activities to help their students improve their writing process, use writing as a mode of thought and reflection, master writing genres, and write effectively in their course assignments. The Toolkit is a resource for both novice and experienced writing teachers looking to try something different or new in their classes with a knowledge of a previous context in which it has been successful. By using the practical tools in "The College Writing Toolkit", college/university writing teachers can expand their repertoire while gaining experience that connects them to the practices of others in the field in the ongoing expansion and refinement of the tools of the writing trade.

This book studies women's language use in bilingual or multi-lingual cultural situations. The authors - social anthropologists, language teachers, and interpreters cover a wide variety of geographical and linguistic situations, from the death of Gaelic in the Outer Hebrides, to the use of Spanish by Quechua and Aymara women in the Andes. Certain common themes emerge: dominant and sub-dominant languages, women's use of them; ambivalent attitudes towards women as translators, interpreters and writers in English as a second language; and the critical role of women in the survival (or death) of minority languages such as Gaelic and Breton.