Across the Straits is a powerful program for intermediate to advanced students of Chinese specifically designed to hone listening comprehension skills and encourage discussion in Chinese. These three cassettes total 160 minutes of material; the recordings are unscripted conversations between a speaker from Taiwan and one from mainland China, focusing on social and cultural issues in the two regions and in the U.S. Also included in the Across the Straits series are students' books in traditional or simplified characters, and transcripts of the audio portion. Pre-listening activities prepare students for what they are about to hear with vocabulary and background, and post-listening activities integrate listening skills with speaking and writing.

