A program designed to provide students with a fairly good command of English, including some knowledge of scientific and technical English, upon completing the five year middle school is discussed. The five year period is divided into three stages. In the first stage, first and second year students receive training in listening comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing with special emphasis on the former two skills. Listening and speaking training should not be undertaken without subsequent training in reading and writing for the acquisition and development of these skills is interdependent. The second stage concerns individual study and independent work by third year students. Individual study provides basic training and is compulsory for the development of reading skills. The development of skills during independent work improves the effectiveness of classroom teaching. The third stage, undertaken in the fourth and fifth years, provides special training in reading while continuing training in other skills. To train students to read and comprehend scientific English, a series of lessons on electricity was assigned. Students were to read the texts silently and aloud, describe selected passages, memorize technical items, and grammatically analyze sentences. Progress in the development of all four skills is noted. (JK)