Some great contributions to English literature come from the other side of Offa’s Dyke. The Library of Wales is a series of reprints of 20th-century books that are undeservedly hard to obtain; copies are being placed in all Welsh secondary schools and principal public libraries. The first five titles are attractively produced and reasonably priced (from pound;6.99). They include Border Country, Raymond Williams’s autobiographical novel about cultural displacement; Gwyn Thomas’s bitterly comical The Dark Philosophers and Lewis Jones’s political epics Cwmardy and We Live. A teaching resource pack will soon be available. Books are published by Parthian.

www.libraryofwales.org

Fussballweltmeister?

From the Anpfiff (starting whistle) to the hoped-for shout of Tor! (goal), the Fussballweltmeister 2006 (World Cup) in Germany will be attracting millions of viewers this summer. The “Learn German” campaign is sending all secondary schools a set of 12 postcards and a poster to promote the appropriate vocabulary. Words like cross, chip, through ball and sliding tackle are translated and displayed with little tactical diagrams.

The Learn German football cards are being sent to secondary schools in the UK. Further copies can be ordered from the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) and the Goethe-Institut.

london.daad.de www.goethe.deenindex.htm

Two-wheeler advice

It’s a long journey from your first moped to the world of Easy Rider. Get the Message: Act Your Age is an amusing and informative DVD that explores some of the challenges. In the 16-minute video, a responsible teenager and a day-dreaming adult learn to ride scooters. As they find out about riding in traffic, protective clothing and the security of pillion passengers, they realise that safety on the road is a matter of attitudes as well as of skills. Get the Message: Act Your Age is being distributed free to secondary schools. Further copies can be ordered for pound;1.99.

www.mcia.co.uk

Child Safety Week packs

This year Child Safety Week (June 19-25) is focusing on the theme “Avoid the worst - put child safety first”. The Child Accident Prevention Trust will be building on the success of last year’s Child Safety Week, and offering new materials for planning activities, discussions and events. The charity will be publishing a free ideas booklet and poster to support the message “the smallest things can make the biggest difference”. A copy of the pack can be ordered from the Child Safety Week page of the trust’s website.

www.capt.org.ukcsweek