Most teachers associate computer technology with email activities and indeed, the Internet serves as an ideal resource for linking students with others beyond the classroom. The most effective exchanges require careful pre-planning. Consult the following sites arranged first by 1. general sites; 2. French language sites; 3. French-speaking schools with online Web sites. Scroll through the individual school sites for use as a source of interesting student-created units and magazines.
Go to Putnam's On-Line Course for Using Internet for FL for guidelines (session three) and specific lesson plans for interactive uses of the Internet.
(IECC) Intercultural
E-Mail Classroom Connections: One of the original sources for keypals, this
site at St. Olaf's College provides information on five kinds of free classroom
pen-pal resources. Click for general information on e-mail for classroom projects
and on partner classrooms. Sign up to list your class on its line or use their search
tools to connect your profile of international correspondents.
Rigby Heinemann's Pen/Key Pals
click on Keypals and Projects to learn all about email projects and
ideas. Heinemann's listings of key pals from all over the world are up-to -the-
minute and vast. K-12 students can match pals by interests and age. Share the
netiquette guide to keypalswith students then pre-plan specific tasks for
your classes, before going on-line.
Keypals click here for an
extensive list of resources and sites dealin with key pals. One of the most
complete collection of sites I've seen.
Kidlink Home page: click
here for information on penpals worldwide, geared to students from 10 to 15
years old.
Kids' Space
Connection Pen Pal Box: this is a fine site for young students wishing to
find key pals. They make it easy to read lists and to sign up, for say, someone
who speaks another language.
Teachnet.Com KeyPals visit this
site for lists of classes wishing to correspond with other groups. Clear
directions too, on how to add your group to the list.
Escale: a
fascinating somewhat hard-to navigate Canadian site for youngsters and teens.
This ought to help! Click on the top of the menu page to access a list schools
and classes seeking pen pals. Bookmark it once you pull up list of
schools.Next, return to home page, scroll and click on Moussaillons to
pull up a new menu page. Click on Ile des Bavards then click on the
image of parrots for a long list of cool Bulletin Board topics (my parents/ how
to be romantic/ likes and dislikes/ scary stories). Bookmark this page and use
topics as themes for future email exchanges. Hit back icon and scroll
then click on retour a la carte de navigation. Click on Club des
moussaillons and then on correspondance for a menu of individuls
arranged by age (from under 4 to 13 years of age) seeking penpals.
Accroche-Toi!
Messages to post and to read in French: a fascinating site for teens
wishing to chat with others their age. Click on Témoignages:sujets and
select a topic to read about others views on love, parents, violence, society,
adults and drugs; click on témoignages: personnnes to read what
individuals have posted on a variety of subjects. Click on Le Babillard
to contribute or read about the topic of the week; then select Parle-moi de
toi from the main menu to voice your concerns. The section La Parole aux
Grands lets adults contribute too!
Premiers Pas Sur Internet:
French-speaking Pen Pals: click on correspondants francophones,
scroll down, read and view photos of young French-speakers requesting pen pals.
It is especially helpful since individuals tell their age and interests. Return
to top of page and click on écoles, classes et groupes link to pull up
French-speaking classes and groups seeking correspondence with other
schoolgroups throughout the world.
Francomédia Forums: over 125
monitored Forums in French, many of interest to young people. Alphabetical list
with descriptions of topics; click on topic of choice.
French Talk: mailing list of
French language discussion groups. Sign up at e-mail address listed at French
Talk or click to read archives in French.
RESCOL Centre D'Informations et
de Projets the excellent Canadian French-language center for On-line projects.
Learn of ongoing projects; how to suggest new or join ongoing projects; and
read guidelines for initiating and assessing projects. Click on Portefeuille
for interesting articles on projects in general or on specific endeavors.
Newsd@ys Europe Projects a
valuable site with summaries , descriptions and details of projects from many European
countries. Select projects by category, by nationality and suggest your own
project.
Les projets télématiques
au Québec: a description in French of six or more projects from Québec
using electronic exchanges as part of their classroom projects. A helpful
framework for teachers seeking to develop electronic exchanges with other
groups of students.
The list of French-speaking schools with Web Pages is growing. Most schools online give backround information on local history and offer images and text about the economy and geography of their locale. In addition, online schools are putting student projects on their page, I suggest that teachers research sites for content-rich authentic materials. I will start by listing mega-sites then attach individual schools, noting interesting features of each for your use. I invite you to email me (Putnam @ea. pvt.k12.pa.us) with additional URLs for inclusion and annotation here.
Yahoo
France link for schools online select Elementary and Secondary level French
schools online (throughout the world) from this constantly updated Yahoo France
site.
Rescol, Canada:
Ecoles en ligne: for French-speaking Canadian schools online, this is the
central site. The clickable map of Canada pulls up French-language schools
arranged by province.
Intern'Aude
primary school site in the Aude region offers images and information about
the town and the Narbonne region. Click on Drog'Non for student artwork
on saying no to drugs. great to print out and post in the FL classroom.
Actualité Renoir de Marrakech, Maroc this snippet of the school change to winter hours (what are they?) invites FL classes to write to Renoir to learn the other seasonal timetables, n'est-ce pas!
This section identifies useful on-line sources from a variety of curriculum areas, not necessarily Foreign Language learning. Read through the top section on this page then refer to sites below. Please forward your successful email plans and other sites for the interactive use of the Internet to Celi Putnam.
(IECC) Intercultural
E-Mail Classroom Connections: one of the first sites of its kind, this site
at St. Olaf's College provides a good overview with its information on five
kinds of free classroom pen-pal resources. Browse:
1. IECC-HE: for Higher Education mail exchanges.
2. IECC-K-12: to find partners for K-12 class-to-class projects.
3. IECC Projects (for teachers only): to learn about specific cross-cultural or
international e-mail projects.
4. IECC Surveys (for individual students and teachers): to post requests for
help with surveys.
5. IECC Discussions: for general views and implications of e-mail class room
connections.
Schools
OnLine Modern Languages Home page a key site from the United Kingdom,,a
"must read" for planning email projects in FL classes. Click on atelier
for Storyboard activities and more in French, Spanish and German. Read the teachers'
area and visit the café.
Virtual Connections:
this is the table of contents for a text specifying lessons and projects for
on-line language learning activities. It is helpful to note the range of
activities developed and available for purchase in this book. Information on
ordering is included.
L.L. Activities for the WWW: Many types of useful activities for language learning using the World Wide Web, from Rosen and Bowers. Of special note for FL teachers seeking interactive projects with a lag between exchanges (non-synchronic)is Alternatives, a list of 36 project types for groups to share. Teachers can select one type then collaborate to develop specific activities for traffic rules, serialized stories, quotations, local menus, how-to pages, questionnaires and more. Click on specific activities such as Talking heads, Cooks Corner, My Frig is Empty, for details on how to preplan short-term exchange FL projects, then brainstorm others.
International
E-Mail Tandem Network: click here to learn how Universities in many
countries use e-mail as a way to enable students to learn language together in
tandem, hence the title. Select your language of choice for a description of
how tandem operates. Discuss how the Tandem Network might be adapted to your
setting.
Global Schoolnet Network
Projects Registry: read through this vast registry for global projects to
replicate to adapt for your classes, and to join yourself. Scroll down to learn
of on-going projects, to add a project to the registry or to link to other
helpful resources, especially the K12 Opportunities site.
Fast Food
Activities Menu (for e-mail projects): a collection of ten short-term
projects written by members of the Small Schools Telecomputing Network in
Québec. An excellent place to read (in English) about shorter e-mail activities
and projects going beyond the vaguaries of open-ended pen-pal activities. The
format is helpful for teachers planning e-mail projects since each entry
includes a description of the project, a suggested target group, the subject
area, level of technical difficulty, software and equipment needed, and time
line. Projects include Math challenges (easily adapted to a FL); a Québec Rally
(geography lesson format; great for large groups; Puzzles, Jokes and Charades
to share with another school( this is excellent since teachers can monitor the
jokes; I find most L2 jokes sites currently on Internet too scatological for
K-12 students: the few sites clean enough for school settings are in my
newspapers section); an on-line magazine with themes suggested by on-line
readers.
La Chanson du Quebec et
Ses Cousines. This is THE site for artists from France, Québec and the
francophone world. A wonderful project that includes an interactive aspect is
to assign each student or pair one artist: students are to pull up a biography
of an artist available on this site then select two or three of their artist's
songs to print up, research as poetry and to record as a mix in order to teach
to classmates. Students may post questions and seek music information on the
site's babillard. A fabulous project: students enjoy critiquing and
hearing the music; the content has its own value and the reference biographies
are excellent for the past tenses and other linguistic givens.
Nos Activités:
a simple yet effective Home Page written and maintained by French-speaking
elementary school students (7 to 10 years old). The format includes a summary
of the school's events by month as well as a penpal corner where kids write up
short descriptions about themselves!
Ma Région an
excellent French-language guide about a telecommunication geography project,
"My Region". Practicioners wishing to adapt this guide for FL classes
will appreciate the detailed description of activities throughout and will find
the format helpful for writing up variations on this project. In this activity,
student groups share information with groups from afar about their town, their
school and the economy of their region. A fine point-of-departure for planning
FL telecommunication projects.
Ron's Online ESOL Classroom:
click on Ron Corio's Internet Projects: A Slide presentation and Computers
in the Writing Classroom for excellent ideas for FL classes. Having trouble
linking to this for now, but worth a try!
MLA Style
for Online and Printed Citations: click on Parent Directory at Debbie's
Library Help page then on citbook for information on citing books; citcdrom for
citing CD Roms; citwww for making a bibliography using Web sites and so on.
Library help:
Researching Internet for Topics: click on advicengine to go to site
that gives general advice from Debby on how to use the Interent for K-12
research. Check out advicedepth for specialized resources to develop
variety and depth of research and on enganalbib for a a bibliography of
Evaluations of Search Engines.
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