The Issues: Listening and Critical Thinking Skills Series

Each of the twelve units is based on an authentic radio broadcast taken from National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" and "Morning Edition." By using material produced for native speakers, students are presented with unedited everyday speech, including hesitations, redundancies, and various dialectical patterns. Exercises develop essential listening strategies such as predicting, looking at language, understanding main ideas and points of view, and focusing on details.

Raise the Issues helps advanced students develop critical thinking skills as they gain insight into American Attitudes and values. It combines original broadcasts from NPR® with authentic articls from publications such as The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, and the International Herald-Tribune to present dffering viewpoints on contemporary topics. Each of the ten units provides stimulating content that integrates listening, reading, speaking, and writing. As students clarify, interpret, and evaluate ideas from the material, they improve their command of sophisticated vocabulary and complex structures. The third edition features five new units on topical issues such as international adoptions, immigration, alternative energy, and the place of sports in higher education. See also: Face the Issues, Third Edition Consider the Issues, Third Edition

The Issues Series Audio Program provides the audio for all listening exercises. This academic listening and speaking series uses original National Public Radio broadcasts to provide a context for listening comprehension and discussion. As students develop listening strategies and critical thinking skills, they also learn to integrate grammar and vocabulary activities into their everyday speech and writing.

Consists of ten authentic radio commentaries from National Public Radio, and articles or essays excerpted from a variety of magazines, journals, and newspapers. Designed for very advanced students of English as a Second Language, the program presents an integrated skills approach to developing critical thinking skills.