This article argues that courses in linguistics should be included in all teacher training programs, whether the students are training to be general teachers or language teachers specializing in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) or Foreign Languages in the Elementary School (FLES). Details of lectures and assignments for two topics, kinesics and paralanguage and correctness and acceptability, are provided. The article describes a number of ways in which linguistics can be adapted to give teachers greater insight into the language they use, into children's language and in the ways language is used in the community. Teacher education could improve if linguists provided more information on the language of children acquiring English as a second language and as a first language, on foreign languages that are used daily in our society, on the language of classrooms, on the influence of TV on children's language development, on the nature of communicative competence and on the numerous linguistic problems experienced by migrant children. (Author/CFM)