Outlines sample exercises developed in a program designed to teach minimal (threshold level) competencies based on students' communication needs and the concept of a notional syllabus. (AM)

Learning to swim and learning a foreign language are analagous activities, in that both are skills learned for different reasons. Few foreign language students will attain "near-native fluency;" nor will many of them become interpreters or teachers. Foreign language teachers must therefore revise priorities, restructure courses, adjust methods,…