There is nothing revolutionary about the notion that combining language practice with a meaningful task heightens motivation. Why should pupils care what time the train comes in for a textbook reading comprehension? Ask them to plan a journey using an online timetable that is bang up to date, and the same exercise comes to life. And with a little judicious planning, the internet can take the onus off the teacher and put it fairly and squarely where it belongs - with the student.

“Wann fahren Sie ab? Wann kommen Sie an? Muessen Sie umsteigen? Wo? Wann?” These questions are taken from a collection of online exercises with appropriate links compiled by Anne Green of Carnegie Mellon University, USA. Her site http:ml.hss.cmu.eduFacPagesamgreenprojectswebex.html covers a variety of topic areas and caters for several levels of ability. Even if you do not teach German, her ideas are worth plundering. At advanced level, for example, she sends students to the front pages of the German magazine Focus and the American magazine Time and, through a series of structured exercises, asks them to compare the two. To encourage independent learning, she provides links to two wonderful online dictionaries: http:search.tu-clausthal.deWebTrans and www.wortschatz.uni-leipzig.de

These simple principles can be applied to a range of other topics.

Horoscopes

An engaging way of practising adjectives and tenses. Students define their personality according to their star signs, add their own evaluation and explain what their horoscopes predict, returning later to record how things really turned out.

French

www.libertysurf.frhoroscope

German

http:de.horoscope.yahoo.com

Spanish

www.eltimon.comhoroscopos

Accommodation

Focusing on two very different hotels, compare prices and facilities, choose one, write a booking letter, plan a visit including activities (future tense) and write it up afterwards (past tense). French http:objectif-thalasso.chFhotelsfrance monacomonaco.htmNoNo www.guideweb.comprovencehotelpontillard

German

www.iden.deSchwarzwaldSWD1.php www.iden.deErzgebirgeDRES001.php

Spanish

http:members.es.tripod.dehotelhontoriaindex.htm

www.hotellosbronces.com

Postcards from abroad

Using the official tourist office site of any town or region as a stimulus, students describe what they have seen and done.

This last theme is equally appropriate for in-depth class projects. Take a look athttp:curriculum.becta.org.ukdocserver.php?docid=1618 for two case studies, including a “virtual” cycle tour ofNormandy, which prompted one pupil to comment: “I think I would like to take my bike and do the tour for real. It was a really usefulexercise, you really wanted to get the French right. I wouldn’t have been bothered if it had been in a book.”

Story time

The internet also provides a rich source of material for independent reading provided that the text is not too dense or linguistically sophisticated. Fairy tales Peter Pan or Goldilocks may not be cool, but when they are imaginatively presented and well illustrated, they provide light relief; and the fact that the storyline is familiar helps students to hit the ground running.

Spanish

http:cuentos.itgo.com

http:prodigyweb.net.mxxe1befcuentos.htm

French

www.momes.net

Some tales are interactive. For example: Il etait une fois un petit chaperon (rougeorangevert) qui habitait avec (son onclesa grand-m reses freres).

German

Sites tend to be crammed with text. Try this one instead for something more digestible www.ika.commaerchenmenu.html

Plug into teenage culture

Visit sites devoted to popular television series.

For Friends in German visit www.klausef.defriendsindex.html

for French, www.fanfr.com, which includes episode scripts in French and English.

The Spanish site www.friendsespanol.com offers a wide range of material from biographies to the characters’ favourite recipes.

Harry Potter

J K Rowling’s hero has a huge web presence. Steer clear of the Warner Brothers site linked to the forthcoming film - there are plenty more imaginative unofficial pages to explore.

Students of Spanish will find portraits of key characters, the low-down on the rules of quidditch and other magical stuff at: www.lsf.com.arharrypotter and http:ar.geocities.comharrypottermagicohome.htm

The German site www.harrypotter.deindexneuindexneu.html contains summaries of each book and a “Leseprobe”, offering readers the chance to sample the opening pages.

www.hp-fc.de (German) is a fund of information on characters and plots, translates essential words such as witch and broomstick into numerous languages and provides links to press articles. It also offers a good templates for ID cards: Name: Hermine Granger Haarfarbe: rotbraun Augenfarbe: braun Eltern: (Muggel-)ZahnArzte

French students have a wide choice

www.harrypotterfrance.comlivres.html summarises each book in relatively simple terms. “Harry Potter est un orphelin eleve par Vernon amp; Petunia Dursley: un oncle et une tante qui le detestent.”

www.edres74.cur-archamps.frcollegescorumclepotterfirst.htm is a work of love by schoolchildren from the Haute-Savoie.

This site contains a study of the first book together with colourful illustrations and 17 quizzes, one for each chapter.

www.ifrance.compotterharry.htm is a brilliant resource for practising personal ID and description. “Bien... comment me decrire? Je suis grand, mince et tres vieux. Mes robes de sorcier sont generalement vert fonce et brodees d’etoiles et de lune... J’ai une tres grande barbe et des cheveux argentes. Non, non, je ne suis pas le Pere Noel, voyons! ... Je m’appelle Albus Dumbledore, retenez bien ce nom.”

It is equally good for letter writing in different registers, from the formal tone of official communications from Hogwarts to the friendly style of Hagrid’s invitation to tea. “Je sais que tu es libre le vendredi apr s-midi. Est-ce que tu aurais envie de venir prendre une tasse de the avec moi aux alentours de trois heures? Reponds-moi en m’envoyant Hedwige. Hagrid.”

Fascinating facts

Who invented the microphone and why? How do oysters make pearls? What attracts bulls to the colour red? Many pupils (and their teachers too, perhaps) will have no idea and setting them off to investigate gives language work a real purpose. The answers to the questions above can be found by clicking on Cher Prof at www.lesdebrouillards.qc.ca Describing itself as “le rendez-vous des passionnes de science”, this site is full of interesting material explained in a straightforward way. On hurricanes, for example: “Le tout dernier-ne s’appelle Allison. Il est arrive le 5 juin 2001. C’est le premier ouragan de l’annee! Il s’est cree dans le nord du golfe du Mexique. Il a frappe en premier le sud des Etats-Unis, au Texas o il a cause des inondations. Il a dure jusqu’au 11 juin pour finalement mourir pres des cotes du golfe du Mississippi.”

Another source of interesting titbits in French is http:www.momes.net Designed for children and young teenagers, the site contains recipes, songs, jokes, fashion tips and stories.

Students of German can satisfy their curiosity at http:www.wasistwas.de Click on Erlebniswelt for a pot pourri of general knowledge, covering everything from dinosaurs to the history of stamps, the story of Elvis and the first moon landing.

The level of language varies, but as the target audience is young, able pupils will follow the gist. For example: “Am 16. Juli 1969 startet das Raumschiff Apollo 11 am Cape Kennedy in Florida. An Bord: die drei US-Astronauten, Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin und Michael Collins. Zieleihrer Mission: der Mond.”

On the same site, Aktuell reports on the week’s news stories and Spiele includes a testing geographical quiz on Europe against the clock. There are also sections on history, science and nature.