This article briefly reviews the social, political, and economic context that explains the present status of elementary language education in the United States and addresses the challenges identified by recent reports on the state of language education in the United States. Different curricular models of world language education--exploratory,…

EXISTING FLES TEACHING MATERIALS ARE REVIEWED GENERALLY AND CRITICIZED, AND SUGGESTIONS ARE MADE FOR THEIR IMPROVEMENT. EMPHASIS SHOULD BE GIVEN TO KEEPING UP THE CLASS'S INTEREST AND PROVIDING TEACHING AIDS THAT ARE REALLY PORTABLE. A WELL-ARTICULATED, SEQUENTIAL TEXT SERIES FROM FLES THROUGH HIGH SCHOOL IS ADVISED. THEIR THEMES SHOULD REFLECT…

TWO POLICY STATEMENTS ARE INCLUDED IN THIS BRIEF DOCUMENT. THE FIRST, PREPARED IN 1956, LISTS QUALIFICATIONS FOR FLES PROGRAMS. THE 1961 STATEMENT OUTLINES OBJECTIVES AND POLICIES OF FLES PROGRAMS, AND CONCENTRATES ON SEQUENCE, ARTICULATION, EXPERIMENTATION IN PROGRAMS AND METHODS, AND FLES TEACHERS. (AS)

The success of foreign language in elementary schools (FLES) depends upon the cooperation and effort of administrators, classroom teachers, secondary school language teachers, the community at large, and parents. Having stated this, the author points out five fundamentals for FLES concerning: (1) major objectives, (2) sequential planning, (3)…

Guidelines for elementary and secondary school language programs are presented. Rationale, objectives, and basic principles are discussed. Major attention is directed to FLES and language teaching techniques. Scope and sequence are defined. Descriptions of the administrator's role, testing, electronic installations, and audiovisual aids, and the…