Published: February 1, 2000

City Slickers

Intern James Heffron can't use English to teach the concept of surpluses in his 6th grade social studies class at Josiah Quincy Upper School in Boston—half his students rely on Chinese as their first language. So, instead, he works with a currency known to nearly all 11-year-olds: M&Ms. A visit to the 27-year-old Heffron's class finds him distributing handfuls of the rainbow-colored chocolates to each child, encouraging them to trade with each other by pantomiming an exchange. Some of the students end up eating their stash, but others get his point, swapping oranges for reds and greens for blues.

Intern James Heffron can't use English to teach the concept of surpluses in his 6th grade social studies class at Josiah Quincy Upper School in Boston—half his students rely on Chinese as their first language. So, instead, he works with a currency known to nearly all 11-year-olds: M&Ms. A visit to the 27-year-old Heffron's class finds him distributing handfuls of the rainbow-colored chocolates to each child, encouraging them to trade with each other by pantomiming an exchange. Some of the students end up eating their stash, but others get his point, swapping oranges for reds and greens for blues.

"It's been difficult," Heffron confides after class. "In all the activities, I have to use props. At first I relied on dialogue, but I quickly...