Academic Listening Encounters: Life in Society develops students listening and note taking skills using authentic interviews and classroom lectures. The Students Book develops students' listening and note-taking skills using a variety of recorded materials. It introduces them to stimulating topics within the field of sociology, including high-interest topics such as peer pressure, gender roles, and the influence of the media. Listening materials include a variety fo warm-up activities, informal interviews, and a formal academic lecture for every chapter. Students practice crucial listening skills, such as listening for main ideas, listening for examples, and listening for organizational phrases. The materials also serve as stimuli for discussion and note-taking activities. Pre-listening tasks expose students to vocabulary they will encounter in the interviews and lectures, and help them build background knowledge of the topic. Topics correspond with those in Academic Encounters: Life in Society, and these books can be used together as a four skills course; however, they function equally well as stand-alone texts. An audio CD of the academic lectures, an important part of the audio program, is included with the Student's Book to provide students with additional listening practice. A Life in Society 2-Book Set is available (ISBN 0-521-546702). It includes one copy of the Student's Reading Book and one copy of the Student's Listening Book at a discounted price.