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A site from the BBC where teachers can find international partners for cooperative projects. There are also resources and ideas for activities to do with your class. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Languages%2C+Culture+%26+International+Projects

"What kinds of questions make for good inquiry-based projects? As we said, they must first be questions that the kids truly care about because they come up with them themselves. In addition, good questions share the following characteristics: The questions must be answerable. "What is the poem 'Dream Deferred' based on?" is answerable. "Why did Langston Hughes write it?" may be answerable if such information exists, or if the students have some relevant and defensible opinions. "Why did he choose this particular word in line six?" is not answerable because the only person likely to know such a specific answer is Hughes himself, now deceased. The answer cannot be a simple fact. "In what year was Lincoln killed?" doesn't make for a very compelling project because you can just look it up in any number of books or Web sites. "What factors caused the assassination attempt?" might be a good project because it will require research, interpretation, and analysis. The answer can't already be known. "What is hip-hop music?" is a bit too straightforward and the kids are not likely to learn much more than they know already. "What musical styles does hip-hop draw from and how?" offers more opportunity for exploration. The questions must have some objective basis for an answer. "Why is the sky blue?" can be answered through research. "Why did God make the sky blue?" cannot because it is a faith-based question. Both are meaningful, valid, real questions, but the latter isn't appropriate for an inquiry-based project. "What have people said about why God made the sky blue?" might be appropriate. Likewise, "Why did the dinosaurs become extinct?" is ultimately unanswerable in that form because no humans were around to know for sure, but "What do scientists believe was the reason for their extinction?" or "What does the evidence suggest about the cause?" will work. Questions based on value judgments don't work for similar reasons. You can't objectively answer "Is Hamle

A nice project site that enables schools to swap postcards with other schools in other countries. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Languages,+Culture+&+International+Projects

A vast French language resources site with links to useful sites, lesson plans, games and a great selection of PowerPoints to download. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Languages%2C+Culture+%26+International+Projects

A really interesting site that explores how world languages have developed, what they are related to and fascinating facts and trivia. A great background resource for any MFL student. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Languages%2C+Culture+%26+International+Projects

Find hundreds of audio files to listen and download language files in English, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, and Mandarin. Record sentences in your own language and upload to this useful project. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Languages%2C+Culture+%26+International+Projects

Looking for partners for a global project? Global School net allows you to search for partners from all around the world. Volunteer your class for projects and look for other classes to work with you.

Online books for all languages

The mission of the International Children's Digital Library Foundation (ICDL Foundation) is to support the world's children in becoming effective members of the global community - who exhibit tolerance and respect for diverse cultures, languages and ideas -- by making the best in children's literature available online free of charge.

A huge collection of projectable childrens books in many different languages. Would be great as a resource for parents to continue L1 development at home or in a mother tongue class

iEARN (International Education and Resource Network) iEARN is a non-profit organization made up of over 30,000 schools and youth organizations in more than 130 countries. iEARN empowers teachers and young people to work together online using the Internet and other new communications technologies. Over 2,000,000 students each day are engaged in collaborative project work worldwide.

A fab collection of Primary French flash games from the BBC. Practise numbers, time, weather and more. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Languages%2C+Culture+%26+International+Projects

A fascinating site that explores endangered languages. Read information and the demographics of the remaining speakers and watch video clips of some phrases. Why not try something different for your 'language of the week'. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Languages%2C+Culture+%26+International+Projects

A good, simple browser translation tool from Microsoft. The bookmarklet sits in your bookmark toolbar and translates foreign pages into your language with one click. Choose a language from the drop down menu to translate into other languages. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Languages%2C+Culture+%26+International+Projects

Ensure your French pronunciation is 'parfait' with this comprehensive French language learning site that has embedded audio files to listen to. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Languages%2C+Culture+%26+International+Projects

Learn Spanish by watching these Spanish TV videos with captions. The site is designed for older and adult students. Choose your level from beginner, intermediate or advanced. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Languages,+Culture+&+International+Projects

A fabulous language site with sections for French, Spanish, German and Chinese. Learn language topics and play quizzes to test what you have learnt. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Languages%2C+Culture+%26+International+Projects

This is a "field-book of tools and processes to help readers in all fields develop as researchers, writers, and agents of change." For more details and how to purchase: http://bit.ly/TYS2012. (Printing and distribution in Australia and Europe begins end of March.) Comments on the influence of this book's approach "I was able to get engaged in a project that I was able to actually use in work, which was extremely satisfying. The whole process encouraged me, and I felt very empowered as a change agent, which could be an exhilarating feeling." a healthcare professional and story-teller "I really had not been used to thinking about my own thinking, so learning to do that also helped me to slow down and start to look away from the career path that I had been taking for granted." a biologist-turned-web designer "I found that the experience helped me to accept feedback from other professionals. I am more comfortable with listening to why my own ideas might not work or need further evaluation. This even happens to the point where I find reasons now to seek out this kind of feedback." a teacher "I had viewed research as a process of collecting information into a sort of database and reviewing it effectively. I have now revised my notions to include a more broad understanding of interconnectedness between people and ideas. An important part of research is to keep relationships going." an adult educator "One of the most useful ideas was the use of dialogue, which helps to slow down the procedures used by the company. There's a tension between management's need to make quick decisions and desire to have real dialogue around proposed changes-changes to the internal company operational procedures as well as to evaluating the quality of what the company is doing with its publications." a teacher, currently working in publishing "I was asked to pay attention to what I actually could do instead of what I could not. This enabled me to (1) step back and let go of a huge technic

Play hangman in ten European languages, including English, French, German and Spanish. You can choose the level of difficulty. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Languages,+Culture+&+International+Projects

Tonguetide is a social networking site for people looking to improve their foreign language skills. Find a language partner or use the site's learning tools to help you. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Languages,+Culture+&+International+Projects

A great site where you can find songs with cloze text of lyrics from songs in many languages. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Languages,+Culture+&+International+Projects