RECOMMENDED ON-LINE RESOURCES AND APPS

DICTIONARY   

• http://www.wordreference.com (available also as an app).

GRAMMAR

• Royal Grammar School High Wycombe’s (UK) excellent and attractive Languages Onlinesite has a wide range of Hot Potato and Spell master exercises for all levels.
• You may appreciate the accuracy, humour and comprehensiveness of the well-established Tex’s French Grammar site, from the University of Texas, USA. The site includes mp3 files exemplifying grammatical structures.
• Didier Accord (USA) has a mine of interactive exercises for beginners through to advanced level.
• Bescherelle (Fr) has verb tense guides for reference, but also interactive dictations, a few games and some interactive grammar “quizzes”. Good for intermediate and above.
• Le point du FLE (Fr) is not only a long-established links site by Hélène Weinachter, but also has its own interactive grammar exercises. Good for general advanced grammar revision.
• RealFrenchPlus.net (UK) is from Chris Dawson at Manchester Metropolitan University. It is the Realfrench site pitched at high school level. There are grammar notes, exercises and games, plus vocabulary sections too.
• Ortholud (Fr) is aimed at primary French children, but this section has useful grammar revision exercises for intermediate/advanced level learners of FLE.
• The French About (USA) site by Laura Lawless has lots of explanations with accompanying exercises.
• There are useful, graded exercises at the ABCFrançais (Fr) site.

LISTENING, READING AND WRITING.

• Bonjour de France (Fr) has a large number of interactive tasks and lesson ideas, searchable under various headings including grammar, comprehension, worksheets and games.
• ielanguages.com (Fr) has podcasts with gap fill exercises. All generously offered free by Jennifer, an American expat in France.
• Text to Speech (USA) is one of several sites which allow students to type in text and hear it back in French. This is a great help if you are preparing for oral presentations or conversations. Make sure your spelling and accents are all correct!
• The Languages Online (Aus) site has a lot of material, some interactive with good sound, some to be printed off.
• Français Extra (UK) has various activities including listening tasks with virtual characters.
• French Games (UK) has simple games such as pelmanism and hangman for beginners and near beginners. A wide range of basic topics is covered.
• The About (USA) site has good advanced listening resources.
• PubsTV (Fr) has archived TV commercials from around the world.
• Europe 1 (Fr) has podcasts for advanced listening.
• RFI(Fr) has radio extracts in easier French for learners along with interactive exercises.
• Euronews has TV news clips with transcripts (perhaps more for advanced learners but still great exposure to the target language).
• France 24 has archived video clips from the news.
• France 2 has its own TV news clips to watch and listen to.
• La Réclame has French adverts along with others from around the world.
• The GABFLE (Fr) blog has good listening material.
• Frenchtastic (USA) has a collection of Hot Potato exercises covering simple vocabulary themes. There are also downloadable lessons – (it’s free, but you need a Word Press logon).
• French Podcast has archived listening material and lessons for the MP3 generation.
• DailyFrenchPod (UK) has a selection of podcasts, spoken at a slow pace. (A subscription is needed to access the full site).
• 20 Minutes Video Portal (Ch) has a searchable archive of news reports from Switzerland.
• PodcastFrancaisFacile has podcast lessons.
• TF1(Fr), a major French TV company, has archived news clips you can stream, as well as live news, weather forecasts and so on. There is a good search facility.
• Carmen Vera Pérez (Sp) has produced a fabulous range of hotpot activities for various levels. Great practice site!

RECOMMENDED IPHONE AND IPAD APPS

• With the lite version of iTooch bases du français you get to trial 12 chapters of the full program (78 chapters). The 5000+ activities are organized into grammar, conjugation, spelling and vocabulary with explanations and inbuilt support. The program is written entirely in French.
• With the app Learn French with the news, two French media outlets, RFI and TV5 Monde, offer audio and video content on two levels: Beginner: Bilingual audio detective series, completed with a quiz. Advanced: Three blocks of audio sound and video accompanied by scripts and listening exercises. Thanks to a network called Open Feint and Facebook connections, the application also allows you to communicate and exchange ideas with other users.
• Téléloisirs – watch various French TV channels and programs.
• France24 – watch both French and International news live.
• With the La conjugaison app you can check the conjugation of over 9,000 French verbs in all tenses and moods.
• Duolingo - You have fun while you learn, leveling up and competing with friends. You have the opportunity to translate real-world texts in the language you are learning.
• French gender is a useful tool for any beginner student of the French language, and a helpful one for intermediate study. Easy to use, with clear instructions, its intuitive interface will have you mastering the gender of nouns in no time.
• Use the French word of the day app to improve your French vocabulary (verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs).
•  Musée du Louvre - Twice as many artworks for your enjoyment, with a selection of masterpieces from the museum
• 100 Fromages de France  - the title says it all!