Peace Education offers topics and issues that touch the lives of our students every day such as resolving conflicts, clarifying values, and understanding diversity. The language classroom also offers us the opportunity to help students address these issues through activities and tasks that are related to the content and that require the practice of language skills, social interaction skills, and critical thinking skills

The content is related to an aspect of building or maintaining a Civil Society— topics that affect students' personal or professional lives on a daily basis. Each chapter has four basic parts, including a brief background on and discussion of the topic(s) presented, classroom activities designed for a lower intermediate class (but which can be adapted to a more advanced level), other resources for authentic materials (internet, books, videos, etc.), and references for what has been presented. Paradigms, theories, and techniques have been developed to aid the instructors in their tasks. Techniques such as scaffolding help to make the content more accessible to the student. Theories such as learning strategies and multiple intelligences help instructors to appropriately design their lessons for maximum benefit to each student's own academic culture. Choices of activities such as reading, discussion, and interviews aid the instructor to focus on strengthening the students' basic language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) in an integrated way that will foster communication and promote the students' self-reliance in the target language.

One of the fastest-growing areas of medical research is that of genetic testing and gene therapy. This chapter introduces students to this area of DNA research and helps them explore the related ethical issues. Scientists have recently completed a preliminary ‰ŰĎmap‰Ű of all the genes in the human body. This is also known as the Human Genome Project and consists of all the sequences of DNA chemical units that tell a cell how to behave. This accomplishment has incredible benefits. However, it also raises new, complex issues that society cannot ignore.

New understanding of human genetics will not only make it easier to diagnose diseases, it will also change how diseases are treated. Scientists and drug companies are using knowledge from the Human Genome Project to find cures for everything from cancer to obesity (see chapter 1: Mapping the Human Genome). This new medicine is called "genomic" medicine. Medicine is changing at a rapid rate as a result of the new knowledge of the human genome. It is important for students to know how drugs and treatments are changing and will continue to change.

Rather than focus on the scientific details of this discovery, this chapter gives an overview of the important concepts related to DNA's initial discovery and later research conducted in this field. Teachers can use the lesson plans and materials to help students understand these fundamental concepts and gain a command of the vocabulary necessary to discuss them. Given the amazing advances in biological research and the new knowledge that has become available to human beings about their own biological makeup, it is important for students to know basic concepts related to DNA research and the human genome project. This following lesson provides a basic introduction to this topic in an interactive fashion.

Biotechnology is perhaps the most rapidly advancing area in science today. The Advances in Biotechnology volume has been created to provide language teachers with resources about breakthroughs in biotechnology. Each chapter of the volume highlights one aspect of research in the field of DNA and genetics along with its applications to and implications for society. The chapters feature relevant background information on each topic, interactive and communicative classroom activities, and a list of related print and Internet resources that will allow teachers to expand the lesson further.

Teaching Pragmatics explores the teaching of pragmatics through lessons and activities created by teachers of English as a second and foreign language. This book is written for teachers by teachers. Our teacher-contributors teach in seven different countries and are both native-speakers and nonnative speakers of English. Activities reflect ESL and EFL classroom settings. The chapters included here allow teachers to see how other teachers approach the teaching of pragmatics and to appreciate the diversity and creativity of their endeavors.