<p>This beginning French text balances a four-skills approach with communicative-oriented instruction. It emphasizes everyday life and culture in France and Francophone countries through explanations, cultural notes, authentic cultural readings, and authentic documents linked to the author web site. Program components are integrated with the student text and are flexible enough to be adapted for a variety of different class schedules.</p><ul><li>Lively new authentic readings from a variety of sources have replaced the author-written readings from previous editions. The new readings represent recent changes in Francophone cultures.<li>The &quot;Lectures culturelles&quot; include new pre- and post-reading activities.<li>Vocabulary has been updated in &quot;Enrichissons notre vocabulaire&quot; and throughout the text, and gender articles have been added to all vocabulary lists.</ul><br>