High school students in vocational education programs can be challenged in their English classes with more than a basic diet of programmed instruction, worksheets, and tests. In between the drill and the practice required to strengthen communication skills there should be activities designed to motivate and encourage students to think beyond their eight-hour days and to develop positive attitudes toward their prospective adult lives. A variety of techniques to develop the basic skills of listening, spelling, and vocabulary comprehension, map-reading ability, and job-finding methods can involve and stimulate student creativity. Poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and drama could also be included in the basic English class. Moreover, being in a basic English class should not preclude students from enjoying the experience of legitimate theatre. (AEA)