Extra is an enjoyable sitcom (modelled on American examples of the genre, such as Friends, with canned laughter to encourage the audience), which is now available with basically the same plot in French, German and Spanish. In the Spanish version, set in Barcelona, flatmates Lola and Ana are surprised by the arrival of an American friend of a friend, who turns up on the same day as his letter announcing that he wants to stay with them for a few days; or rather: “Quiero dormir contigo.”

Sam’s imperfect command of the language provides the chief teaching strategy of the series. Every so often, the story pauses while we go over the language points with key phrases on screen. The scripts may not be quite up to the standard of your Friday evening sitcom, but are good enough to engage the attention of a GCSE class, who will find this a painless way of revising for the oral part of the exam.

Programme notes and a video of all four programmes are available.

Citizenship: Minorities BBC2 from Friday, April 19, 12.10-12.30pm A new series of three programmes for primary schools which uses drama, documentary and personal testimony to focus on minorities, refugees and disability, including stories of children who have been victims of discrimination.

The series is backed by a resource pack (with a teacher’s book and photocopiable materials), and by a website (www.bbc.co.ukeducationid) which features interactive stories about a group of school friends and includes quizzes, role-plays and discussion forums.

Espana: Campo y Ciudad C4 video pound;17.99 These two films (screened earlier this week) for A-level Spanish are now available on video. Originally designed for the geography curriculum, they have been remade for modern languages as documentaries with Spanish-language commentary (and programme notes, available on the 4Learning website: www.4learning.co.uksecondary).

The two 20-minute documentaries look at contemporary life in Bilbao and Almeria. The first visits the Guggenheim museum, learns about the cleaning of the river Nervion and studies the city’s transport system. In the second, we discover a traditionally impoverished region in the south of Spain which is among the most prosperous areas of the country, thanks to its production of fruit and vegetables.

The level of language is quite advanced, but the presentation is good and the adult approach will be appreciated by students at this level.

Full educational programme schedules can be found online at: www.bbc.co.ukeducationlzoneguide.shtml www.channel4.comlearningmainprogrammessummer2002.cfm