Can you afford to spend hours surfing the internet to help your students research coursework or oral presentations? Advance Materials has brought out Text Link, a database of French web links cherry-picked for relevance and accessibility. It takes the hard slog out of sourcing suitable sites, and identifies specific pages, providing an informative description of each one.
The ASA2Scottish Higher collection comes in five versions, tailored to suit different exam boards. Content is organised by topic, a four-star grading system denotes level of difficulty and presentation ranges from informative articles and statistical tables to audio extracts.
For the 12-16 age group, subject matter includes number practice, the alphabet, daily routine, weather and food. Some sites are authentic, others have been developed with foreign learners in mind and offer interactive quizzes and games. There is also a grammar section, two interactive detective stories and a variety of resources for use at Christmas and Easter.
Samples for ASA2 Edexcel
www.actualiteenclasse.comfiches106.html Short text about teenage girls and the influence of TV icons on the way they dress. Follow-up activities include good questions that could fuel a class debate on the subject.
Les valeurs des ados
Very accessible opinion poll results in tabular form (Nov 2002) on Les valeurs des ados (leisure time, what is most important to them, what they consider to be vital to being happy, main worries etc.) www.tns-sofres.cometudes pol 041202_jeunes_r.htm
La pollution atmospherique
Good text - simple and informative. Gives information on what pollution is, whether towns and cities are polluted, what the effects on health are and what the authorities can do about it. Concludes with some practical advice.
www.environnement.gouv.frinfoprat polatm.htm
Samples for KS34 and Standard Grade
The alphabet: listen to how the letters are pronounced by clicking on “L’Alphabet comique de Daumier”. www.peinturefle.ovh.org lexiquealpha.html
Simple introductions
Suitable for pre-GCSEStandard Grade. French-speaking Swiss primary school site where every child introduces himherself giving age, brothers and sisters, pets etc. http:martigny.ecolevs.ch
Sondages
Pupils can fill out a real survey online on topics that are likely to interest them. Results of online surveys are presented and very accessible to GCSEStandard Grade pupils. Excellent source of short, reusable phrases.
www.ecolemartigny.chenfasondageindex.html
Text Link annual subscription with termly update: pound;25 for KS3KS4Standard Grade, pound;45 for ASA2Higher. Tel: 01767 652140 www.advmaterials.demon.co.uk
