Any innovative curriculum to be designed for the training of English teachers in urban schools should consider at least two basic assumptions: (1) Black English is a linguistic system in its own right and, (2) current English instruction fails to motivate the child toward his school subject because of the lack of creative programs in most American schools. A number of descriptive and historical aspects of Negro non‐standard English are discussed, and, in a plea for greater relevancy, various motivational factors regarding current English instruction are examined. Finally, an appeal is made to create more interdisciplinary programs in order to help future teachers acquire appropriate attitudes and gain motivational and methodological insights, in the expectation that this would contribute toward the solution of some of our most urgent problems in urban educatio