For more than three decades, there has been a paradigm shift in approaches to the teaching of world languages in the classroom. The shift has been influenced heavily by the literature on second language acquisition and teaching as well as the development and implementation of the national standards for teaching and learning. The purpose of this article is to discuss the national standards movement and the impact of second language acquisition research on classroom teaching practices before presenting essential pedagogical techniques that lead to moving language learners up the proficiency ladder. Afterward, recommendations to world language teachers are presented from a secondary school language learner’s perspective. The article has implications for language teachers, program coordinators, and researchers.