IT IS GENERALLY ADMITTED THAT THE VOCABULARY OF A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IS MORE EASILY LEARNED IF IT IS ORGANIZED IN COHERENT SEMANTIC GROUPS AROUND "SITUATIONS" OR "CENTERS OF INTEREST." WHAT IS NEEDED IS A LOGICAL AND NON-ARBITRARY TAXONOMY OF SITUATIONS. WE DISTINGUISH, FIRST, OPEN AND CLOSED SITUATIONS. CLOSED SITUATIONS (FOR EXAMPLE, DAYS OF THE WEEK) REPRESENT AN ANALYSIS OF REALITY THAT BEARS DEFINITE FEATURES RECOGNIZABLE BY ALL THE USERS OF A LANGUAGE. IN CONTRAST, AN OPEN SITUATION (FOR EXAMPLE, THE HOUSE) IS VIRTUALLY UNLIMITED, LACKS PRE-ESTABLISHED ORGANIZATION, AND VARIES FROM INDIVIDUAL TO INDIVIDUAL. WITHIN CLOSED SITUATIONS ONE DETECTS A FURTHER DICHOTOMY BETWEEN POSITIONED AND UNPOSITIONED FRAMES. THE MONTHS OF THE YEAR CONSTITUTE A SITUATION WITH A POSITIONED FRAME, SO THAT BY NAMING 1 MONTH WE KNOW EXACTLY WHAT MONTH FOLLOWS IT. COLORS OFFER AN UNPOSITIONED FRAME, AS THEY ARE GENERALLY USED APART FROM ANY SET ORDER. IN PREPARING VOCABULARY FOR SITUATIONAL TEACHING, IT IS PROPER NOT ONLY TO ORGANIZE SUBJECTIVE "OPEN" SITUATIONS ACCORDING TO AGE AND INTEREST, BUT ALSO TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE FACT OF CLOSED SITUATIONS IN THE EARLY STAGES OF LANGUAGE LEARNING. THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED IN THE "INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS IN LANGUAGE TEACHING," VOLUME 4, NUMBER 3, SEPTEMBER 1966. (AUTHOR)