Web Links
Free teacher resources
11-14+
Linguanet is the most comprehensive European resource site for modern languages. Its multilingual resources centre supports
language teaching and training and provides an impressive amount of information and links on language matters, including a
section devoted to the use of the Internet in language teaching. Also includes many links to a huge variety of external websites
dedicated to teaching and learning materials and reference resources in the target language.
Gut! provides interactive activities for German teachers and learners from Years 7 to 12, featuring more than 500 exercises
and including audio samples of native German speakers. It also offers exercises for the interactive whiteboard.
The Association for Language Learning (ALL) is the major subject association for those involved in teaching foreign languages
at all levels. An invaluable first-stop portal for all teachers of MFL.
The website of the only dedicated television channel for teachers. MFL teachers can access many video clips of real MFL lessons
and watch the series ‘Hennings Haus’ which introduces young learners to the German language.
German TV programmes on BBC2.
Paid-for teacher resources
The Chalkface project is a well-known publishing brand in secondary schools whose mission is to make the best teaching ideas
available to every teacher in the most practical way. Chalkface produces detailed lesson plans (available in electronic and
paper format) complemented by photocopy-master worksheets across the secondary curriculum. There are free downloadable samples
available too.
Linguatique has been established to promote the teaching and learning of languages by introducing a range of interactive resources
that can be used independently by young people in play. Primarily a site selling language games that could be used in a number
of ways in language lessons.
Teach languages with Talking Dice. An innovative site claiming to make language teaching (especially in mixed-ability classes)
easier and more fun. Talking Dice were the brainchild of language teacher Emily Daly, who created them as a novel way of teaching
her students German & French. Using just pictures, they are suitable for any language.
Revision sites
BBC’s GCSE Bitesize revision site including practice exercises in all four skills plus an exam skills section, mock exam,
and revision checklist.
A authoritative site for learning about German Language and culture. Includes ‘Talk German’, a video-based online resource
with activities plus TV series and book, ‘Deutsch Plus’, a longer TV course with book and website, and ‘German across Europe’,
a historical and geographical profile of the language.
Although not MFL-specific, this site is a study portal offering revision-based live chat, daily chatrooms, interactive quizzes,
and study tips/advice pieces.
Succinct but useful site for German and other subjects.
Portal for many and varied links to German revision sites and books in the UK.
Business German websites
14-16
The official Euro website gives essential background information regarding the European Union's official currency in all EU
languages. The English section contains a good selection of activities and games for children.
16-19
The official website for the European Central Bank supplying all the data required for business in the European Union.
Fantastic site covering statistics on everything from the national census to agriculture, foreign trade, and the hotel industry.
Official website of the German Federal Government.
The media
TV
All you need to know about every possible German TV station. Includes hyperlinks to all channels listed.
NEWSPAPERS/MAGAZINES
An interesting site based in Berlin that translates outstanding articles by non-English language speaking authors and bringing
them to a worldwide audience. signandsight.com gathers voices from across Europe on a variety of topics, aiming to foster
trans-European debates and the creation of a European public space.
Berlin-based newspaper with a conservative bias. It’s also published in a compact edition, ‘Welt Kompakt’, a 32-page cut-down version of the main broadsheet.
Der Spiegel is Europe’s biggest and Germany’s most influential weekly magazine. Published in Hamburg with a circulation of
around one million per week, it is known in Germany for its distinctive, academic writing style and its sheer size.
Hamburg-based, this weekly German newspaper is highly respected for its quality journalism. With a circulation of nearly half
a milion and an estimated readership of almost 1.5 million, it is the most widely read German weekly newspaper.
National business newspaper.
German version of the international women's magazine.
RADIO
A comprehensive overview of all radio networks in Germany.
An interesting site which promotes the music of modern German bands. It is aired by numerous college radio stations across
the US and Canada. Listen or download the latest show, read interviews with musicians, and find links to German bands on the
website. Site also available in English.
History, culture, and tourism
News, information about Germany, radio, tv, e-Learning, newsletters, and much more.
Information on all aspects of German life from politics to culture.
Explore Germany’s history and culture with this official site from the German tourist board. Links to hotels, museums, castles,
etc. plus German maps.
An in-depth guide to Berlin. All major German towns and cities have their own websites, and the addresses take the form above:
www.the name of the town.de.
The German language
See Goethe Institute above.
Providing information on German language and literature at home and abroad, youth exchange programmes, exhibitions of German
art worldwide, and much more.
A service for students and even potential teachers of German, with multiple links to additional related websites.
An authoritative site from the Institute for the German Language. A society dedicated to the scientific documentation and
research of the German language in everyday use and in more recent history.
Museums, libraries, and science
Comprehensive listing of all museums in the German-speaking countries with full-text search facility.
Everything you need to know about all the main museums and art galleries in Cologne.
Science, transport, energy, materials and production, communication and information, and a children’s museum combine to form
one of the largest and most popular museums in Germany.
A huge art and exhibition space in Bonn with a spectacular website.
Fantastic, detailed site with further links to related sites of interest.
The most important academic research library in Germany.
Dictionaries and archives
A German site, operated by the University of Munich, offering translation in four languages. Enormous range of up-to-date
content, great page layout, huge number of entries in German/English dictionaries, and sophisticated whole sentence translations.
The German Law Archive is a free site which publishes cases, statutes, literature, and bibliographies on German law in English.
It aims to make German law accessible to any interested user of the Internet.
Everything you need to know about German State Archives, city by city.
Useful for students of German history, this US site is succinct and includes famous speeches, visual material and links to
further propaganda sites.
Oxford University Press’ dictionary partner online.
Travel and public transport
Website of the Germany Railway System.
German’s major airline.
Comprehensive listing of all German airline companies plus numerous articles on aviation.
Government, administration, and practical information
German Embassy in London.
With over 1.25 million members, the dbb is the major German union representing civil servants, skilled, and blue-collar workers
in the public service sector and the privatised services.
German Yellow Pages with FAQ, jobs, and shopping section too.
A well laid-out, all-inclusive site for the German Post Office.
Books and music
German Literature Online. A beautiful site initiated by the Federal Cultural Foundation in cooperation with the Goethe Institute
and the Frankfurt Book Fair. It is dedicated to promoting contemporary German literature and translation.
Information for exhibitors, visitors, and the press about the annual event.
Poetry
A good starting point containing links to various poetry websites in German and a few other languages.
World German
GENERAL
A useful article about who speaks German in the world, with a helpful pronunciation guide. There are also links to related
articles on German dialects, and a chart of countries where German is spoken as a majority and minority language, together
with statistics.
AUSTRIA
With facts and figures, famous people, holidays, and even a section on UEFA 2008, this site provides an exhaustive round-up
of everything Austrian.
Online newspaper for the Tyrol region.
This site provides a link to many Austrian tours, including the Sound of Music Tours in Salzburg!
The official website for this magnificent festival of opera, drama, and concerts.
For fans of architecture and culture.
SWITZERLAND
This site is a triumph, and contains everything anyone need know about Switzerland from politics, business, travel, and culture,
to interesting articles on the cuckoo clock, amongst other things. There’s also a link to the Swiss Alpine Music page – with
yodelling and alphorn excerpts.
Useful page about the education system in Switzerland with further links to many academic institutions.
ITALY
Official website of the city of Bolzano in the South Tyrol, northern Italy, where up to three quarters of the population now
speak German. Travel and tourist information can be found at www.suedtirol.info.
LIECHTENSTEIN
An all-inclusive, one-stop portal covering the principality of Liechtenstein. Lots of interesting facts and figures plus topic
of the week, links to embassies worldwide, and FAQ.
LUXEMBOURG
This A-Z site has a very interesting article about the somewhat complicated linguistic situation in Luxembourg. See http://www.luxembourg.co.uk/lingua.html for more details about Lëtzebuergesch, the everyday spoken language of Luxembourg’s inhabitants.
This highly-regarded music festival takes place between May - November 2007.
To quote from this page from the BBC's h2g2 page online (billed as an unconventional guide to life, the universe and everything),
'Luxembourg is one of the world's smallest countries, but it has an importance, especially in European politics and international
finance, out of all proportion to its size.' Read more fascinating facts about Luxembourg here.
OTHER COUNTRIES
A very long entry about German speakers in the rest of the World with many facts and figures. Links lead to articles such
as the Deutschbrasilianer whose various languages comprise Brazilian German, and the Germans of Namibia, Togo, Cameroon, and
South Africa.
Miscellaneous
This is an unmissable website for promoting German on the internet. Hundreds of practical and unusual links to sites dedicated
to everything from the works of Goethe and the German Top 40 to German folk dancing and geneaology. Plus language, business,
travel, politics, culture and much more.
Practical site for students of German.
According to Nielsen NetRatings, About.com is a top 10 Web property used by one out of every five people on the Internet.
The German pages of this versatile website offer a comprehensive guide to the German language and a long list of topics, plus
many links to other sites of interest to the German student. Also includes a Word of the Day, online translation, and jobs
& careers.
A quarterly magazine online for young learners of German (13 - 18).
