This is the first of a two-volume basic course designed to help students reach a level of proficiency which will enable them to participate effectively in most formal and informal conversations. The dialogues, drills, situations and narrations have been tape-recorded unless otherwise indicated in the text. For beginning students, the twenty-four units (of which twelve are presented in this volume) are designed for a six-month intensive training program of six hours of class per day, plus outside preparation. Each unit presents a situational topic introduced in a dialogue, and usually five grammar points. Each grammar point is preceded by grammar notes. Other units include materials of the following kinds: (1) dialogues; (2) useful words; (3) vocabulary awareness; (4) lexical, learning, practice, question, answer, and review drills; (5) situations; (6) narrations; and (7) written exercises. (Author/CFM)