Foreign Language Teachers' Toolbox

To the User

Languages of the World: An Enrichment Unit

Text To Speech Tools in Language Instruction

Accessibility of Language Instruction Sites: a report

Professional Organizations

• The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
  This is an excellent organization that serves the needs of all foreign language teachers, regardless of the language they teach. Some of the resources provided are the Virtual Exhibit Hall, a Download Library, and a list of superb Links containing extremely useful information.
  
• The American Association of Teachers of German
  Web-based resources, exercises, activities, learning scenarios, and Web projects. Also, there is information on a variety of programs, including the German On-Line Distance Education Network, Summer Study for Secondary School Students, Summer Seminars for Teachers, Student and Teacher Stipends, Testing, and the Work Immersion Study Program for Community College Students, to name just a few.
  
• The American Association of Teachers of French
  A superb Web site with a gold mine of links for teachers and students. There is outstanding information on teaching with technology, as well as links to professional organizations and institutions, and an entire section devoted to discovering French culture on the Web. The links to "Guides for Creating Pedagogical Applications" is exceptional, as is Dr. Jayne Abrate's "Self-Study Guide to the Web." We believe this resource is a "must" for all French teachers.
  
• The American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese This site provides information on a large number of professional development workshops both in the U.S. and abroad, and links to their Video Resource Library and a reprint of Deborah Sharp's article "Those who don't speak Spanish may be left behind," which appeared in USA Today on May 9, 2001.
  
• Less Commonly Taught Languages Associations
  This site, prepared at the University of Minnesota, lists organizations, with contact information, for both specific languages (30+ including American Sign Language) and LCTL teaching in general. A valuable resource.
  

Resources at The University of Texas at Austin

• Center for Instructional Technologies
  The mission of UT's CIT is to help educators integrate technology into instruction. The Center provides training, consulting, and Web and lab resources.
  
• Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services
  Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services (ITS) is a department in the University Of Texas College Of Liberal Arts which provides computer and multimedia support for faculty and& students in the College & beyond.
  
• Digital Audio Catalog
  These audio materials, produced by Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services at The University of Texas at Austin, were designed primarily to help students taking foreign language courses on our campus.
  
• Index of Course Web Sites
  This link will take you to a list of courses that were developed in cooperation with Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services. Some of these courses are listed below.
  

French

• Français interactif
  Learn first-year French on the Web. Check out the superb videos and other materials prepared by Professor Carl Blyth and Karen Kelton.
  
• Tex's French Grammar
  Tex the armadillo learn lots of French. A team from the Department of French and Italian led by Professor Carl Blyth and Karen Kelton prepared these materials.
  
• Professor Jane Lippmann's Web Site
  While Professor Lippmann originally designed this Web site for students taking her classes in Accelerated First-Year French (FR 604), Advanced French I: Written Emphasis (FR 320E), Advanced French II: Oral Emphasis (FR 322E), and Getting the MOST out of College (Freshman Seminar 301), she has uploaded materials that would also be of interest to other teachers. The section of 40 links that cover a myriad of subjects, the 100+ photos she personally took from 1998-2001 in Paris, Giverny, Brussels, and Montreal, and the photos of several groups of students actively engaged in classroom activities could generate ideas and set the stage for communication in the foreign language classroom.
  

Hebrew

• Hebrew Language at The University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Esther Raizen's site.
  Materials for Professor Raizen's Modern Hebrew for Beginners (UT Press, 2000), and Modern Hebrew for Intermediate Students (UT Press, 2001) are included in the Tutorials and Video Clips sections of this site. Be sure to check out The Hebrew Language Teacher Toolbox in the Tools section. Not-to-be-missed links include: virtual tours in Israel puzzles and other games that will keep students happy, other Hebrew instructional sites of interest, and short documentaries about the Hebrew language and related subjects.
  

Spanish

• Spanish Grammar Exercises
  Students answer questions on the Web and submit their answers for immediate correction.
  
• El Cid Online
  Instructor: Professor Matthew Bailey
  

Yiddish

• Yiddish Culture in America
  Instructor: Dr. Itzik Gottesman. Dr. Gottesman teaches American Yiddish culture through links to the Literature, Education, the Press, and Theater. This is an unusual site that introduces students to a culture not often studied in colleges and universities.
  

Other Resources

• Quia Corporation
  Quia is a privately held e-learning technology corporation. "Quia.com has become the Web's largest collaborative educational resource, attracting over 400,000 unique visitors and 14 million page views monthly. Around the globe, educators and learners in over 120 countries use Quia.com on a regular basis." With all the tutorials and other information Quia.com makes available online, I believe that it provides the support and resources most teachers would welcome.
  
• Hot Potatoes
  Developed by Half-Baked Software, this suite includes six applications enabling the user to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer. jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/oredering and gap-fill exercises for the web. Requires very little programming, free for non profit educational users who make their pages available on the web.
  
• Questique by David English (commercial)
  Questique is a unique strategy crossword board game that can be played in a home, school or further educational environment. Rare amongst skill based games, it is suitable for children, families and adults. Play is possible from elementary to advanced levels. A simple handicapping system allows players of mixed abilities to all compete as equals. This could even be a highly educated language teacher and a below average ability child of eight! It is an excellent language teaching aid, especially in relation to spelling and vocabulary development. The game includes many options, one of these being "fast play". This is ideal for active minds and impatient players of all ages --- no need for an egg timer here to keep the game moving! Questique is fun, challenging and educational and can be played solo or by up to four players.
  

Technology in the Language Classroom: Theory and Practice

• The Information Technology section of the Chronicle of Higher Education
  It requires paid subscription. Good for information about policies and general technology-related issues.
  
• CALL Courseware Development: A Handbook. Edited by Francoise Blin, Nicole Chenik and June Thompson, 1998.
  Published by the European Association for Computer Assisted Learning. A good source for questions one should ask when planning a CALL project. Handbook on line (PDF format), may be downloaded here.
  
• CALL and ESL links by Jim Duber-- an extensive page with multiple resources.
  
• Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum (LLTI)-- a general site which may be of interest, and a listserv which provides insight into many issues of technology. Out of Dartmouth College.
  
• Untangling the Web : Nonce's Guide to Language & Culture on the Internet by Carl S. Blyth. Published in paperback by John Wiley and Sons in 1998 (ISBN:0471392472) . This book is full of helpful information. Even teachers who are learning to incorporate technology into their lesson plans will quickly start up their personal computers without fear.
  

Music Sites and Resources

• National Anthems
  Listen to national anthems from many different countries. Links to anthems in MP3, Real Audio and Windows media are on pages for each country. Instrumental and vocal anthems plus information on the countries are provided.
  
• Midi Melodies
  Learn a variety of songs from all over the world. This site provides lyrics, and most melodies may be heard.
  
• Musical Skills for Classroom Teachers, 9th Edition, by Robert W. Winslow, et al. Published in Sept. 2000 by McGraw-Hill, and available in both paperback and spiral-bound editions (ISBN: 0072426926). According to the reviewer on Amazon's Web site, this book is designed to give teachers with little or no knowledge of music "the skills they need to make it a vibrant and engaging part of their daily classroom activities."