Opening Strategies is a beginners' or false beginners' course for students aged 14 or over and is the first book in the Strategies series - a series which takes students from beginners' level to First Certificate level. Opening Strategies leads into Building Strategies (Strategies 2) and as such is an alternative to Starting Strategies. It introduces new structures more rapidly than Starting Strategies and is therefore appropriate for classes which include false beginners as well as complete beginners.The course offers thorough practice in the four skills - speaking, listening, reading and writing - based on a carefully controlled functional and structural syllabus. A grammatical summary is included at the end of each unit and regular consolidation work occurs in every fifth unit. The Student's Book, in full colour, presents the material in visually exciting and highly motivating contexts. The use of photographs throughout ensures that the language is set in an authentic cultural background. In Opening Strategies new language is presented through lively dialogues. Structures and functions are linked to communicative settings so that the students can see the practical application of the language they are learning. The practice work moues from controlled contexts to situations in which the learners can use their own ideas and experiences. Opening Strategies can be used in preparation for the RSA Communicative Use of English exam. The Students' Book is accompanied by recorded materials, a workbook, a test booklet and a comprehensive teacher's book. The set of 4 cassettes contain the presentation dialogues, open dialogues, listening texts and oral exercises. All are suitable for use in the classroom as well as the language laboratory. The Teacher's Book contains a practical introduction to the principles underlying the course, advice on general teaching procedures, step-by-step teaching notes, transcripts of all the recorded material and a key to the tests.