Teacher & Student Resources

Web Bibliography

Teacher & Student Resources

"Actualites En Direct Et Info En Continu - LeParisien.fr." Leparisien.fr. Web. 05 Mar. 2012. <http://www.leparisien.fr/>.

This website is the official newspaper of Paris. It is updated throughout the day with news stories written by professional journalists. This source is very reliable for factual information because it is the national newspaper of France. The topics of articles range from various aspects of life and culture. This website can be very useful in the classroom. The level of difficulty may be too advanced for beginner students but it is a great tool to practice reading comprehension. It is also great for students to stay up to date on what is happening currently. Current events are a great way for students to practice reading for content. The site is very easy to find when using Google. On simply has to key in the title of the newspaper, “Le Parisien” and it is among the top few links available.

"Apprendre Le Francais En Ligne." Apprendre Le Francais – Cours Et Exercices Gratuits Avec Bonjour De France. Web. 05 Mar. 2012. <http://www.bonjourdefrance.com/>.

Bonjour de France is a very useful and reliable source for interactive language learning. This website has twelve different categories in which one can learn. Each category is then divided into difficulty level. The differing difficulty levels allows for the website to be used in every language classroom. The site not only has exercises in topics like grammar and vocabulary but also topics such as civilization and culture. It is very easy to navigate and easy for students to use. Bonjour de France could easily be used in the classroom as review or for homework assignments. The information provided on the site is very reliable because the Bonjour de France site is partnered with the FIPF (Fédération Internationale des Professeurs de Français/International Federation of French Professors) to provide credible information. I also really liked this website because it has a separate section for French teachers. It provides different resources and even blogs on new ideas and ways of teaching.

"Audiocite.net: Livres Audio Gratuits Mp3." Audiocite.net: Livres Audio Gratuits Mp3. Association Sans but Lucratif. Web. 05 Mar. 2012. <http://www.audiocite.net/>.

Audiocite is a website that is fully comprised of digital recordings of famous books, poems and documents in French. The recordings are gathered from accredited sources (listed on the partners/references page) and compiled onto one website. I found this to be a really unique site because it has so many different recordings for free. Often, recordings are either hard to find, or one must pay for a CD or cassette of the audio. Granted, not all works are published on this website that may be being studied in the class, it is a great way for students to listen to a native speaker speak. When it comes to learning a language, the more one hears it, the better the understanding and comprehension becomes. Whether it be a particular literary work that the class is studying or just a short clip of something, Audiocite can be incorporated into the classroom in a number of different activities.

"Cours FLE Pour Apprendre Etudier Le Francais En Ligne." Polar FLE. Web. 05 Mar. 2012. <http://www.polarfle.com/>.

This website is perhaps the most unique French website available for students. The entire website consists of a mystery that the students must solve through different exercises. The levels of difficulty vary so that it can be explored by any French student. Although the exercises are great for students, the reading comprehension is another key component to this website. Being able to understand meaning and context clues is key for understanding language. The site also provides printable worksheets so that the website can become a class wide adventure and project. The site was produced by Manon Gadbois et Prisca Fenoglio both professors of French as a Second Language at McGill University in Montréal, Canada. After reading their short description, I believe this site to be a reliable and accurate source to use in the class room.

"Des Outils Pour Mieux Comprendre L'info." Monde. Milan Presse. Web. 05 Mar. 2012. <http://1jour1actu.com/rubrique/monde/>.

This website is produced by the popular news magazine, Les Clés de l’Actualité Junior. The site hosts current and authentic reading material for teens. All the articles available vary in length but are challenging. Every day, the new articles are placed into different categories from topics such as culture, science and sports. The articles are a great way for students to stay updated and current in France and stay interested at the same time. A special feature of the website also allows visitors to review past articles dating back several years. This site can be easily used in the classroom for discussion topics and current event assignments. The website also provides a special section for teacher with educational activities to be used in the classroom. This is a great website in any French classroom because reading material can be used in so many different ways. 

"Exercices De Langue." Home. University of Calgary. Web. 05 Mar. 2012. <http://www.ucalgary.ca/repsit/exercices-de-langue/>.

This website is a French website geared towards a more beginner level of learning. The University of Calgary has produced a website for its French students to review grammar, vocabulary and culture. It provides timed activities in a number of different fashions. Activities are available in multiple choice, true or false, memory game, flash cards and more. This feature is great because not every student learns to the best of their ability with the same reviewing techniques. What makes this site different from other review sites is the vocabulary section. This University of Calgary has provided a very extensive list of different vocabulary categories with different words in each. The section is then further broken down to provide students with an average of 10 different review games to place. This site can be helpful in a more beginner classroom because of the simplicity of the information. The amount of review available is what novice learners need to further train their brains to think in French. However, this site was not very easily found when searching through different key terms. It took a lot of weeding through not so reliable sites to find this one.

"France.com." France: Travel to France, France Tours, France Vacations and Hotels in France -. Web. 05 Mar. 2012. <http://www.france.com/>.

Learning information about each province is essential to understand culture. Culture is extremely important to learning any language. This site allows students to explore each region in France providing a brief history as well as information on things such as cuisine. The main purpose of this website is for tourists. In a sense, French students are tourists of the French culture. The site provides a brief insight on every region or province in France. The cultures across France range so differently that this site presents just a small portion. Although it is just a small portion, it is just enough information for students to grasp a slight understanding of the differences that range across the country. The information is very reliable because France.com is a member of the IATA and is registered as a seller of travel with the State of Florida. The site has also been acknowledged in the New York Times as well as Le Monde (Paris). The information presented on the site is used to inform tourists free of charge of what France has to offer. When one searches anything about France, this is one of the first websites that appear because generally when France is searched, most often it is tourist related. Regardless of the original purpose, this is still a great source of information for students during any type of research on the region sin France. 

"French   Tags: France, Français, French, Language  ." ELIE(Electronic Library and Information Enviroment). Salt Lake Community College. Web. 05 Mar. 2012. <http://libguides.slcc.edu/content.php?pid=15047>.

This website is produced by the campus library at Salt Lake Community College. The library faculty has composed this website to aid students in their French language study. The websites on this list have credible information for many different topics. In my research, I stumbled across a lot of websites that composed different lists on French related topics but found that many of the sites were not very useful or somewhat repetitive. Through the Salt Lake Community College library resources, I found many of the sites very useful and actually included a few of them within my list of top web sources. The web page is organized by different general topic such as general information on France, grammar and pronunciation as well as reading comprehension. These are all vital parts to teaching and learning French, making this a great composition of sources.

Kim, Daniel, Kyle Bowers, and Anders Froehlich. "French - LanguageGuide.org." Foreign Language Vocabulary, Grammar, and Readings. Language Guide. Web. 05 Mar. 2012. <http://www.languageguide.org/french/>.

Language Guide is a non-profit organization whose goal is to provide language learners a free glimpse into the lives of that culture. Language Guide provides websites for not only French but other languages as well. The French focused page is divided into three sub-pages:  vocabulary, grammar and French readings. For each section, there are audio clips available. For example, the vocabulary page offers many different lists of vocabulary and each list has their own recording of those particular words. This website is great for learning the basics of French. The vocabulary covers many of the beginner lists of words while the grammar offers a bit more complexity.  Either way, the website is a great tool overall for study materials.

"Languages French." BBC News. BBC. Web. 05 Mar. 2012. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/>.

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a very reliable and creditable source of information. The BBC has produced a websites completely dedicated to learning the French language. The site includes different podcasts, videos, exercises and even games for language learners. The website offers different levels of difficulty so there is virtually something for everyone. It is a great tool to incorporate into the classroom because there are so many different aspects to the website. Students could be either instructed on exactly what to watch/read or allowed to explore for themselves because everything on the site would enhance their study in some way.

"Langue Francaise." TV5MONDE. Web. 05 Mar. 2012. <• http://www.tv5.org/cms/chaine-francophone/Langue-Francaise/p-7174-Langue-francaise.htm>.

This website is the main page for TV5MONDE in France. TV5MONDE could be compared to PBS Kids here in the United States. The network provides France with different educational programs. The website offers many clips from these programs as well as addition interviews and information. The website also has games and activities that kids can play as well as quizzes on grammar and different literature. TV5MONDE is definitely a great website to incorporate into the classroom whether it is watching a clip or a full program on a number of different topics. It also can be incorporated through the activities it offers. What I find most useful are the different aspects of culture that the website covers. Students would be able to explore films, books and sports that are popular for kids their own age in France.

"Online Language Dictionaries." Welcome. Web. 05 Mar. 2012. <http://www.wordreference.com/enfr/welcome>.

WordReference provides over 250,000 accurately translated words in many different languages. This is especially useful when writing papers and completely homework assignments. It does not allow for full translation so students are not allowed to simply type their assignments into the site and have it translated for them. Another extremely useful tool on the website is the Verb Conjugator. It allows most French verbs to be conjugated in any tense. This is a credible source because it comes from the Oxford-Hachette French Dictionary from Oxford University Press. Being such a well-known dictionary, I feel comfortable as a teacher allowing my students to use this as reference. Frequently, words come up in either homework assignments or readings that students are unfamiliar with, allowing the access to single word translation will allow to better comprehension and understanding of the material. This site also allows students to look up words from not only French to English but also English to French. That way, students are able to use new words in assignments. This website is one of the best online dictionaries available in most languages and is therefore very easily searchable through any search engine.

"Paris - Virtual Tour, Map - France - Arounder." Paris. VRWAY Communication. Web. 05 Mar. 2012. <http://paris.arounder.com/>.

Arounder: Paris is a website dedicated to the virtual exploration of Paris. It allows its visitors to take virtual 360 degree tours of almost anywhere in Paris. The site includes panoramic images from an immense number of Paris’ most well-known sites. It allows to the visitor to immerse themselves in the environment as if they were actually there. In the classroom, this website would be especially useful when learning Parisian culture. Students would be able to partake in a virtual field trip to a number of different monuments and museums completely free of charge. In order to deem this site reliable and creditable, I clicked on the “About” link. The page provided me with valuable information on the creators of the site. It actually is a product of Arounder Online Magazine, an online travel publication featuring different world-class cities each issue. The site has a 2012 copyright date meaning that the information and images provided are very up to date. Finding this website was somewhat of a challenge. It took a few different key terms into the Google search engine to locate it. If a student was to use it for an assignment, it would probably be best to simply give them a copy of the URL.

Speilmann, Guy. "France: A Cultural Primer." Georgetown University: Web Hosting. Georgetown University, 2007. Web. 05 Mar. 2012. <http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/spielmag/docs/france/primer.htm>.

Dr. Guy Speilmann, professor at Georgetown University made this website for students studying French. This is a very reliable teacher-produced source. Dr. Speilmann has provided a list of references in which he used as well as a list of different sites that he deems practical for students to visit. This is the best teacher site that I came across in my research. I actually came across this site more than once when searching different terms in Google. I find the page on the differences between French and American culture one of the more helpful and informative pages for students. It is very rare that sites provide a clear distinction between the two cultures for students to see. The site also offers a break-down of the government in France and different sites that students are able to follow in order to gather more information. Overall, this site would be great for students to use when looking at France and America.

Tex's French Grammar. University of Texas Austin. Web. 05 Mar. 2012. <http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/>.

Tex’s French Grammar is one of the best French study sites on the web. It was originally created for the students at the University of Texas but quickly grew popularity among many French classrooms. The website includes detailed grammar explanations as well as a multitude of different exercises. It also includes a humorous loves story of two armadillos, Tex and Tammy! The site uses the comical story throughout every exercise so that students are engaged while learning grammar. I actually used this site in my own French classes throughout high school in order to practice different grammar structures. It was a way for my teacher to vary the type of homework we had to complete each night. This is definitely a website to keep in mind when including digital tools in the classroom because of the amount of creditable information available.