The special problems of teaching Standard English in the officially English-speaking Caribbean are reviewed. It is argued that these problems are characteristic of situations where the vernacular of learners differs significantly in grammar from the standard language that is to be learned, but where at the same time, the vernacular derives a large proportion of its vocabulary from the standard language. General principles are suggested for the preparation of language and literacy teachers in such situations, and the immediate results of a workshop specially designed to familiarise teachers with those principles are presented.