Ernest Spencer

Gene is tired and lost. The death of his latest flame, Marilyn has strained and drained him. Ken, Marilyn's son, has now settled in Hawaii with his new love, Leilani. Within days of Marilyn's funeral, several survivors of the Vietnam War appear into Gene's life. Jesus, a severely disabled and now alcoholic 1st Cavalry enlisted man is living on the streets of Richmond, CA. Pipes and B, former Marines now cops in Richmond, are working to make the streets a safer place and to take care of helpless Vets. And Maxine, a R&R weekend fling during the middle of the war and Jesus' nurse in Vietnam, has decided to look for a rekindling of lost soulmates. Upon Pipes urging, Gene agrees to spend some quiet time grieving and rejuvenating in Pipe's mountain cabin near Mt. Shasta. While hiking one morning on the mountainside, he encounters a beautiful, mysterious, white haired, young Native American woman, Cynthia Two Clouds. Love, lust, and duty propel Gene through an impassioned maze of experiences that proves he's a survivor and a hero to his most treasured friends.

Studies of comparative classroom practice in the teaching of secondary English are limited, especially when it comes to exploration of the day-to-day practice of English teachers in the secondary classroom. This book presents a case study analysis of secondary classroom practice in three countries: Canada, England and Scotland. Each country has had different degrees of state involvement within the secondary English curriculum over the last twenty years. England has had the highest degree of state involvement in that it has had several statutory national curricula and a variety of assessment regimes. Scotland has had a non- statutory curriculum and no national tests and Canada has had no national curriculum at all, with education being determined at province level, and each province varying its policies. The research adopts a case study approach involving both classroom observation and interviews with teachers. Through this, the authors explore the impact of state involvement on the reality of what happens in secondary English classrooms. The book invites readers to consider the applicability of the findings to their own contexts, to examine their own practice in the light of this and to consider the nature of the relationships between policy, personal belief and practice in the teaching of English.

Studies of comparative classroom practice in the teaching of secondary English are limited, especially when it comes to exploration of the day-to-day practice of English teachers in the secondary classroom. This book presents a case study analysis of secondary classroom practice in three countries: Canada, England and Scotland. Each country has had different degrees of state involvement within the secondary English curriculum over the last twenty years. England has had the highest degree of state involvement in that it has had several statutory national curricula and a variety of assessment regimes. Scotland has had a non- statutory curriculum and no national tests and Canada has had no national curriculum at all, with education being determined at province level, and each province varying its policies. The research adopts a case study approach involving both classroom observation and interviews with teachers. Through this, the authors explore the impact of state involvement on the reality of what happens in secondary English classrooms. The book invites readers to consider the applicability of the findings to their own contexts, to examine their own practice in the light of this and to consider the nature of the relationships between policy, personal belief and practice in the teaching of English.