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The study examines four adolescent multilinguals' engagement with religion, as well as outcomes of that engagement, in an out-of-school book club. The qualitative analysis of participants' talk in book club meetings, writing responses, and individual interviews revealed that multilinguals tap into their religious knowledge and identities in making sense of secular literature. Engaging with different religious identities in literature discussion inevitably led to conflicts and tensions, but the ways in which the multilinguals dealt with the conflicts varied. In spite of tensions, they gained academic and social competence as learners of English as an additional language (EAL). This investigation contributes to the scarce body of literature around the interconnectedness among religion, identity, and literacy. It also adds to the field by depicting interactions of EAL learners from diverse religious backgrounds, nonbelievers and believers in Hinduism and Islam.

In this article, the author describes her preparations for the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) professional presentations in Haiti. As a cultural worker, (after Paulo Freire), she was very conscious of the need for care in working with "the Other" especially when the Other is known only from second hand experiences and mainly through superficial lens. How presumptuous it would be on their first visit to assume the needs of the people they had never met. It would be better to become familiar with the needs and then decide upon the best course of action later. Similar to what she does in her TESOL practicum in working in the homes of unknown refugee families, she knows that it is important for an ethnographer to clarify his or her own thinking and purpose before venturing into unfamiliar territory. She wanted to be sure that she was not operating under a false assumption or deficit perspective. How was she to be in Haiti? What lens would dominate seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and feeling? What does poverty really look like? From her readings she learned about the evils and corruptions of life in an impoverished state. Described herein are her preparations and her work during her time in Haiti. (Contains 1 table.)