"Kaleidoskop" is essentially two books in one: a cultural and literary reader with a comprehensive review of grammar. This allows maximum flexibility for instructors to design their own programs. The ten topics of the Lekture section contain a variety of texts and activities among which the instructor can choose. The ten Kapitel of the self-contained grammar section (Grammatik) are designed so that instructors can work with the grammar topics in whatever order they choose; the grammar chapters may be treated independently of the reading chapters or used concurrently with the Themen of the same number. "Kaleidoskop" features a flexible four-skills, learner-centred approach that promotes communication and focuses on the literature and culture of the German-speaking world. Reading plays an important role in this text. Exercises for listening, speaking and writing revolve around the reading texts. These texts are authentic and include advertisements, charts, newspaper and magazine articles, letters, e-mails, forum mails, polls, interviews, biographies, songs, poems and fiction.