In terms of grammar, Metas focuses on key grammatical structures (los puntos clave) critical to the seven communicative goals (las siete metas comunicativas) that are central to intermediate-level study. The seven communicative goals are:

1. Description (Descripción)
2. Comparison (Comparación)
3. Reactions and recommendations (Reacciones y recomendaciones)
4. Narrating in the past (Narración en el pasado)
5. Talking about preferences (Hablar de los gustos)
6. Hypothesizing (Hacer hipótesis)
7. Talking about the future (Hablar del futuro)

Here are some additional features of this innovative new program for Intermediate Spanish.

• Storyline and video animations: The basic storyline of Metas revolves around the lives of five friends (los cinco amigos), their relationships, their studies, and their work, and their aspirations for the future. The Cara a cara (in Para empezar) and La historia dialogues that appear in “A” chapters of the main text are rendered as exciting video animations on the ActivityPak. These animations bring the five friends and the storyline from the main text to life for students. In the La entrevista section of “B” chapters, Sara, who works at a local radio station, interviews one of the other five friends or a special guest regarding their impressions of living in the United States as a Hispanic. Audio recordings of these interviews are available on this Online Learning Center.
• Contemporary and inspiring vocabulary: The Vocabulario del tema section in each chapter presents the active vocabulary that students will use to complete activities throughout the chapter. There are several communicative activities to help students learn this vocabulary.
• Focus on key grammatical structures: The Puntos clave section of each “A” chapter presents the key grammatical structures for one or two of the seven communicative goals. In the Puntos clave section of “B” chapters, students work the communicative goal(s) presented in the preceding “A” chapter, but also the others not stressed in the preceding “A” chapter.
• Grammatical explanations in the yellow pages: Key grammatical structures, as well as presentations of some additional grammar points not included as part of the seven communicative goals but still common to the intermediate level, appear in the yellow pages near the back of the main text.
• Rich cultural content: Each Unidad in Metas focuses on a specific country or region of the Spanish-speaking world. In the Vocabulario del tema section of “A” chapters, a short Nota cultural reading presents a unique cultural point of difference and comparison between Hispanic and North American culture. The Rincón cultural section in “A” chapters presents four fascinating places (Lugares fascinantes) from the featured region and an aspect of Hispanic culture in the United States (Lo hispano en los Estados Unidos). In “B” chapters, the Rincón cultural section features two short readings with activities on a historical point (Un momento histórico) and an artist (Un artista hispano) and a La música section that can be used as an advance organizer for Estampillas musicales, a music CD created especially for McGraw-Hill World Languages.
• Readings: The Lectura section in each chapter offers an authentic text from the geographical region of focus as well as pre- and post-reading activities and background information on the author.
• Writing activities: Each ¡A escribir! section (“A” chapters only) guides students through the brainstorming, writing, and post-writing follow up with a classmate on a topic related to what they have been studying in the chapter so far.
• A Para repasar section between Unidades 3 and 4 reviews the seven communicative goals and the storyline of the five friends for students starting the second term after a long summer or winter break.
• Music CD: The music CD, entitled Estampillas musicales, contains one song from each of the six Spanish-speaking regions featured in the Metas program. Pre- and post-listening activities to accompany each song are available in the main text and elsewhere in the Metas program. Although Estampillas musicales was created for with the Metas program in mind, it can easily be used with any other McGraw-Hill Spanish text.
• Additional readings: The literary reader for the Punto y aparte program, Lecturas literarias: Moving Toward Linguistic and Cultural Fluency Through Literature, can easily be used with Metas. It contains two readings per chapter. Each reading is accompanied by pre- and post-reading activities that incorporate the seven communicative goals, thus reinforcing the recycling methodology of Metas.