A systematic cultural plan applied to the second language textbook will not produce riches overnight, but it is a solid beginning that might be expanded when the teacher has the opportunity for further research or an increase in budget for the purchase of cultural modules. The key word in this proposal is "system." Teachers can, and do, add cultural comments on a hit and miss basis as they teach the language, but this is not enough for the student who is thoroughly grounded in his own cultural perspective and, more often than not, has well entrenched negative cultural stereotypes about the speakers of the language he is learning. Teaching a second language can be thought of in terms of three interrelated areas of communication: the speaker himself, the form of dialogue between two native speakers, and the way native speakers describe the world they live in. By applying anthropological insights into the concept of culture, a ten-theme system for developing the sociocultural context of a second language has been devised. The principal value of these sociocultural patterns is that they provide a systematic means for planning themes that can utilize the content presented in the standard language textbook and help to create the sociocultural context for teaching the language. (Author/CLK)