Non-English speaking students of average intelligence experience extreme frustration when learning to read. The frustration is partly a result of simultaneous requirements to speak, read, listen, and write in the new language. It also is possible that the teaching methods and strategies employed by the teachers could be harmful to non-English speaking students' academic success and self-concept development. If teachers are to work effectively with non-English speaking students, they must begin with an English-based, cognitively oriented program of some type. By developing cognitively oriented programs, teachers can be assured that students can understand concepts in English prior to being directed to read and understand those concepts. Weikart's cognitive curriculum may be useful for developing such a program. Content areas focus on classification, seriation, spatial relationships, and temporal relationships that are taught through providing motor and verbal experiences. Three levels of representation (index, symbol, and sign) are then integrated into the curriculum. For example, Weikart's model can be used to teach students about the four main food groups. For the classification index level, the teacher would exhibit many different real foods from the food groups; for the spatial relationships index level, the students would discuss size relationships of the foods, and so on. By using the model, a teacher can take advantage of a non-English speaking students' nonverbal abilities, learning styles, and verbal concepts in their native languages to move them progressively toward the language-related skills in English. (HOD)