It probably won’t be too close to home, but if you want to be warned about volcanoes erupting anywhere on Earth, then this Web site is the place to look. Provided by NASA, this educational Web site will e-mail your school (without charge) with details of volcanoes as they begin to look like becoming very bad neighbours.

Once alerted, you can check on the site for pictures, video-clips and various facts and figures about any volcanic activity, including photographs taken from orbiting space craft.

There is also an archive of volcanoes that have recently rumbled, including sites in Hawaii, Indonesia and Italy’s Mount Etna.

The site is shaped around project material and there are plenty of illustrations and explanations (including a glossary) of the geological factors underlying volcanic activity, complete with on-line lesson plans for teachers.

If you want to find out more, teachers or pupils are invited to e-mail questions to professional volcanologists in the United States, Australia and Hawaii who support the Web site.

France a la Carte

www.campus.bt.comCampusWorldpubFranceALC

This regularly updated Web site, which might be of particular use to those studying or teaching French, is produced by the French Embassy in Britain, with the aim of promoting a greater understanding of the language and culture of France.

As well as material aimed directly at school students, such as files of information for A-level French essays, there are links to other areas of French life, such as Internet editions of French newspapers, and information about contemporary films, the arts, science and technology.

You can also see the results of language-teaching projects, including a series of poems written by British schoolchildren in French.

If you want to set up exchanges or make contact with schools in France, the site also holds a list of those with Web sites, so that you can make your own e-mail introductions.

Sean Coughlan

https:www.tes.co.uk