The often-heard call for a recourse to "foreign-language teaching methods” for the improvement of English-Language teaching in the Caribbean implies a distinction between the concepts of first language and foreign-language teaching “methods” that must be severely questioned. In one sense, teaching a first language is a contradiction in terms: a “first” or native language is one which is by definition perfectly known to those who speak it. Therefore “teaching" must refer to different objectives in each case.