The readings both literary and contemporary authentic serve as the basis for each of the chapter's vocabulary development, grammar, and many of the communicative activities. The real-life materials are interesting to students and effective for building language skills. Reading strategies help students understand the most important aspects of the readings. Pair and group activities, integrated with the grammar sections, encourage meaningful communication. The communicative nature of the vocabulary activities in the Hablando del tema section has been enhanced.
Many vocabulary activities are completely new.
Over a third of the readings have been replaced by shorter, simpler sections. The readings in the first unit in particular have been completely revised to help ease the transition into second year. A new pre-reading section, Comentarios preliminares, allows students to practice vocabulary from the reading as well as talk about the reading's topic. Every unit and chapter is established around a set of proficiency functions that are spiraled throughout the text, giving additional practice to the more frequent functions. Authentic materials are used to practice all four skills listening, reading, speaking, and writing.