A few of my Freshman English students are Catholic. The large majority don't attend any Christian domination and would call themselves protestant. Recently, we read an excerpt from Angela's Ashes, the section of Frank McCourt's memoir during the time he suffered from Typhoid fever. I found myself looking for concrete ways to explain the Catholic references such as the fever hospital, nuns, confession, rosary, Eucharist, communion on the tougue, extramunction, for just a few.
I was somewhat surprised that the students didn't ask about any of these concepts, and I was prepared to provide detail in as much as I could gather straight from the Catechism. I also have a dictionary widget - that I use as my screen-saver, which came up with "Eucharist" floated across my computer screen. This is a great way to "sneak" vocabulary into the instruction!
We also read Truman Capote's "Christmas Memory," which permitted me to leave this message on my teacher website. I was hoping to instill in the students a sense of tradition and need for thanksgiving during the Christmas season and holiday. In addition, we read O'Henry's Gift of the Magi, which gave me reason to explain Ephipany and who the Magi were. There was only one student in 100 who volunteered an answer, or who had the courage to speak up that she knew something about MAGI.
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