Introduction | Whole class teaching | Resources | Find answers
Developing your own resources
Working with the Internet
- The Internet is a goldmine of authentic materials and resources which can be accessed live in lessons or downloaded and used offline.
- In many countries sites have been created for very young children who are native speakers of the target language. These can be great fun to use and of value for those teaching languages at Primary level. However, at Key Stage 3 they can also be used to good effect.
- For those working in the 14-19 area the Internet offers authentic materials to cover any number of relevant themes. Job adverts and online CVs bring the world of work into a sharper more realistic focus. Social themes and current affairs can be covered with materials from many sites. For a very useful set of downloadable PDF documents detailing useful online resources go to Key Stage 4 Resources on this site.
- Simple cut and paste skills enable you to produce your own resources using authentic materials found on the Internet, but pay attention to copyright rules. For useful advice on copyright consult ICT4LT.
- Video online is increasingly common. You may find useful video clips posted on the Internet at TeacherTube or YouTube.
- Departments often share resources on the school network. You can use or adapt these for your classes and then return them to the shared area, thus contributing to resource development.
- The Internet is also a place where increasingly teachers share resources, which they have created. This is true in the case of interactive exercises. There are many websites where you will find a wealth of such material free to use. You can, of course, create your own activities and make them available for others to use. Find out about some of the sites which offer these materials at Key Stage 4 Resources on this site.
Using authoring software
Use authoring software to develop your own interactive resources. You can use them on the interactive whiteboard or place them on the network or VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) for pupils to use in the computer room, multimedia suite or from outside of school.
Authoring software gives the teacher control over the content and type of activity created. Activities such as multiple choice, text or text-picture matching, text salad, word scramble, gap fill, and dialogues can all be created by you and tailored to your pupils' specific needs and ability.
You can often create multimedia activities, incorporating audio or sometimes video files into the activities.
Popular products include Fun with Texts, Task Magic and Hot Potatoes, which is available free of charge under certain conditions. See the CILT library catalogue and information pages for a fuller list of software available.
Working with images
Bring a visual emphasis to your teaching. Many pupils learn more easily if they can make a visual association with a word or phrase. Many images can be obtained from the Internet. It is possible to purchase images, especially photos. Printed photos can be scanned into a digital format. However, the advent of digital cameras has enabled teachers, and pupils, to load digital photos directly to a computer’s hard drive. Basic editing software is often given with a digital camera, allowing the user to edit images in many ways, such as to crop images, improve appearance and re-save as separate files. Image editing software is available and varies in price. Images can be integrated into applications in many ways by you and your pupils.
You can incorporate images and also sound effects in presentation software to make customised animation sequences. When you build your presentations in PowerPoint go to Custom Animation (under Slide Show) and see how easy it is to bring your work alive.
You can use special effects to control exactly how you wish to present information. A slide show can proceed automatically by setting its timings to suit your needs. If you prefer, you can still create a Custom Animation but controlled by the click of the mouse so that you stop and start the show when you are happy that pupils have understood what you are teaching.
Working with multimedia
Use audio or video to create more diverse activities and appeal to a range of learning styles. Multimedia truly brings a new dimension to your teaching. Audio or video files of a native speaker, perhaps a Foreign Language Assistant or colleague, bring authentic materials directly to the pupil and develop listening skills.
Sound recording can be done direct to your computer using a microphone and Windows Sound Recorder, which is standard with Windows operating systems. You can edit in Windows Sound Recorder or use sound editors to tailor the recording to suit your purposes.
Sound editing of speech is fairly straightforward at a beginner’s level and appropriate software is readily available. Try Audacity, a free downloadable audio editor, which allows you to be more adventurous with sound editing. You can add many special effects such as Fade In or Fade Out. Editing is easy to learn and files can be saved in mp3 format, which makes them smaller and also more easily transferred to devices such as mp3 players.
You can create audio files and place them in electronic worksheets, presentations or interactive materials where pupils might be asked to match what they hear to text or images. Such activities lend themselves as much to whole class work as independent study by pupils.
Making video clips for teaching purposes is relatively straightforward. Camcorders are reasonably priced and it is simple to transfer video to a computer prior to editing with Windows Movie Maker, which comes with Windows XP, or other common editing software. Many makes of mobile phone also permit you to make short video clips, some with sound track. These can be transferred to a computer, often using wireless Bluetooth technology.
You can insert video or audio into presentations quite easily. Click on Insert > Movies and Sounds and you are given a range of options.
Video can also be inserted into some interactive materials. See the interactive resources made available for general use by Ashcombe Language College.
Working with commercially produced ICT resources
A good place to start looking for suitable ICT resources is the CILT library catalogue where you can search by title or by using the Power search functions to bring up a list of software titles for your language. CILT information sheets (PDF downloads) list language learning software and publishers’ contact details. For specific information or queries contact the CILT library Enquiry Service.
If you want to read a teacher review of a product, try a software evaluation service such as Teachers Evaluating Electronic Media (TEEM).
If you cannot find any reviews for the product you are interested in, try posting a message with your query to a teachers' forum, such as the Linguanet Forum. This and other routes for making enquiries are described in the Got a question? area of this website.
Ask your software supplier for an evaluation copy of software in which you are interested. CILT has prepared a useful evaluation checklist, which can be downloaded within Module 3.7 of the ICT for Language Teachers (ICT4LT) website; in this section you will also find detailed guidance on evaluating software.
You can search for suppliers of educational software for languages on the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) website. All suppliers listed adhere to the BESA code of practice.
Download a set of links, including those listed above, to assist you when investigating both software and hardware for use in teaching and learning modern languages.
Software and hardware (pdf, 123 KB) 
