Internet Resources for the Foreign Language Classroom
Presented by Janel Brennan-Tillmann, University of Maryland, College Park for the Maryland Foreign Language Association Conference, 2001
jb434@umail.umd.edu  Language Media Services: http://www.umd.edu/lms
Personal Page:  http://www.erols.com/jbrennan
To download the PDF version of this document, click here


[Starting Points][Simple Class Pages][Virtual Environments][Online Acitivities][WebQuests][Listening Practice][Planning][Miscellaneous][Digital Texts]


Starting Points for Searches

Eva Easton’s language page
http://eleaston.com
A very well organized site for ESL and Foreign Language teachers.

Google
http://www.google.com
A simple search engine that will also allow you to search in the target language.  Hint for quick searches: put quotation marks around what you are searching for.
 

Simple Class Web Site Creation

Schoolnotes
http://www.schoolnotes.com/
Create a class info page for posting homework and linking to web activities.
Bonus: parents and students can be notified when the site is updated.
 

Virtual Class Environments

Nicenet's Internet Classroom Assistant
http://www.nicenet.org/
A free web based classroom environment.  Provides a class space where you can post discussion questions and communicate with your students.  You must provide a key for your students to register.  Very good option for slower internet connections, very low graphics.

Blackboard.com
http://www.blackboard.com
A free online class management & virtual class space.  Communicate, post assignments, links, discussion board, and chat, upload & share documents, maintain a gradebook.  This can also be upgraded to a pay site.

TappedIn
http://www.tappedin.org
A free professional environment where users can meet for real time discussions, share websites, information and much more.  You can add sponsored accounts for your students and create your own virtual office space.

Yahoo Groups (previously Egroups.com)
http://www.yahoogroups.com
A gathering place on the Internet for your group to send and receive emails, schedule meetings, share files and photos, or have private group chats.  Each participant must have a yahoo id and the majority of the communities are not educational.

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Online Activity Creation

Quia
http://www.quia.com
Create vocabulary games, quizzes and class homepages.  This site now has a fee for the ad free version.  There are also many exercises already created for you.

Funbrain
http://www.funbrain.com
Create and grade quizzes & have results e-mailed to you.  You can also use this site as a gradebook & attendance tracker, class calendar, and also create handouts to print out for your students.

Hot Potatoes Software
http://web.uvic.ca/hrd/halfbaked/
A software program for pc or mac that you can use to create java based multiple choice, short answer, jumbled sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gapfill exercises.  Great online tutorial for help.

Scripts for Educators
http://www.linguistic-funland.com/scripts/QuizTest/
QuizTest v3.0 will allow you to create multiple-choice, or true-false quizzes online. On any given quiz, you may have both true/false questions and multiple choice, and the same program will grade the quizzes and email
you (or other designated instructor) the results.  Must download a program – pc only.

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WebQuests - Guided Internet Discovery

Filamentality
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/
A simple site that guides you in creating your own WebQuests.

Kiko
http://www.kiko.com/
Create an online learning center and store lessons, webquests, and quizzes.

Trackstar
http://trackstar.hprtec.org/
Another site to complete a guided WebQuest or compile groups of internet sites.

Don’t want to reinvent the wheel?  Check here for ideas or use an activity listed.

Foreign Language Resources on the Internet –Mark Davies
http://mdavies.for.ilstu.edu/class/see-projects.htm

Internet Activities for Foreign Language Class
http://members.aol.com/maestro12/web/wadir.html

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Authentic Listening Practice

Scola Insta-Class
http://www.scola.org/insta-class/index.html
Native language audio newscasts with the ability to print out transcripts for your classes.  Uses RealAudio & Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Planning Resources

Media Resources for FL
http://www.furman.edu/~pecoy/mfl195/media.htm
Links to Radio, TV, Newspapers and Magazines for English, French, German and Spanish.

Teacher Aides
http://www.furman.edu/~pecoy/mfl195/aides.html
One-stop shopping for taking the technical out of technology.  This site is set up as a guide to all types of tutorials and resources.  You choose your level (beginning, intermediate and advanced) and the emphasis is SIMPLICITY.

The One Computer Classroom
http://www.furman.edu/~pecoy/mfl195/onecomputer.html
Comprehensive link to sites which reference the various aspects of teaching in a one computer classroom.  (Planning, Classroom management, Tips & Ideas)

Tips on using video in the Classroom
http://www.uiowa.edu/~pics/tips.html
Teaching video sequences, pacing, news reports, & interactivity.

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Miscellaneous Resources

Power Point Presentations for Spanish Class
http://tpduggan.tripod.com/powerp.html
Ready made powerpoint presentations.  You can download and edit them for use with your classes.

Puzzlemaker
http://puzzlemaker.school.discovery.com/
Create crosswords, word searches, mazes and other activities for student handouts.

Intercultural E-Mail Connections
http://www.iecc.org/
A free service linking teachers with partners in other countries for e-mail exchanges.

BLibs
http://www.blibs.com/b/p/create
Create "Mad lib" like stories for the classroom

Worksheet Generator
http://www.mtech.on.ca/windex.html
A free site which will create a vocabulary matching, & word scramble available for printing out or cutting and pasting into a word processing document.  Very low-tech.

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Digital Text Collections

The Online Books Page at the University of Pennsylvania
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/index.html

Project Gutenberg
http://www.gutenberg.net/

Citations du Monde
http://www.citationsdumonde.com/

Bibliotecas Virtuales
http://www.foropoetico.net/bibliotecas.htm

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