Culture, culture, culture! In Pura vida: Beginning Spanish, Spanish is more than vocabulary and grammar, and Spanish-speaking cultures are more than products and practices. Pura vida is the discovery of a Spanish-speaking world through the experiences of real people that students can relate to, who share anecdotes and reflections on their experiences. Students make deeper, more meaningful connections between language and culture than in other programs and acquire Spanish with an unparalleled sense of personal engagement. Students dont only learn Spanish for real life, but also from real life, discovering that there is not just one homogeneous Hispanic culture, but rather that each Spanish-speaking country has its own rich, unique culture and that the people who live in these countries speak one common language with different accents, characteristics, and idiosyncrasies. This first-edition program offers truly seamless integration of cultural notions and language instruction, and features 100% contextualized and personalized activities.