It is a pleasure to find web sites which take advantage of simple Internet technology in order to offer an excellent service to language students. You will not have to download large plugins at this site, just answer the questions and look at the answers. The online exercises on the site even do this automatically with JavaScript.

If your English is fairly fluent and you would like to take a number of tests to improve your vocabulary, grammar and general use of the English language, spend some time at this site. Try then out now at English Exercises Online.

If you are learning German but do not receive TV stations in your area of the world, you can now watch the daily news via the Internet. The news program Tagesschau which many exchange students or teachers remember from their stay abroad in Germany, can now be watched in your own living room on your computer.

In fact, watching the news on your computer has advantages over watching news on the TV:

- You can skip uninteresting stories.
- You can read an accompanying text on the same story to reinforce important vocabulary.
- You can watch the video clip as much as you want.
- You can search the video archive with a keyword to find video news clips on topics of interest.

Save Yourself Time
If you have a heavy teaching load, this lesson plan can save you time. With your word processor, you can personalize the lesson plan by copying the text from the lesson plan and article from your web browser into your favorite word processor. There you can edit the text, add exercises, and further personalize it for your specific class.

Professional and Thorough
The topics are up-to-date and targeted to a wide learning audience. The lesson plan is broken down into the following sections: Targeted Grades, Overview of Lesson Plan, Suggested Time Allowance, Resource and Materials, Activities/Procedures, Discussion Questions, Evaluation/Assessment, Vocabulary, Extension Activities, Interdisciplinary Connections, Additional Related Articles, and Other Information on the Web.

Receive it via E-Mail
You can sign up to receive the New York Times Lesson Plan via E-Mail so that the entire lesson plan is in your E-Mail box every morning ready for you to use. The internet is revolutionizing education. Everything is easier and faster, making the world smaller day-by-day as our international communications systems grow. It is no wonder that students of all ages and levels, from middle schoolers to elearners and postgrads are logging on in increasing numbers. Let the internet help you today

Search the Archives
If you are looking for a specific topic, you can search through the archives for topics which are appropriate for your students. Topics include American History, Current Events, Fine Arts, Geography, Global History, Health, Journalism, Language Arts, Mathematics, Media Studies, Science, Social Studies, and Technology.

Articles are Linked to Dictionary and Atlas
If you let your students read the articles on-line, they have the option to “turn vocabulary on” and “turn geography on” as seen in the graphic. When vocabulary is turned on, difficult words are highlighted. When students click on the word, they are sent to the online Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary where that word is automatically looked up. They can then return to the New York Times article. In the same way, many geographical places in the text are highlighted and hyperlinked to the Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia which gives students a map and further information on that particular geographical place.

1. Faster than a book. Babylon is faster than flipping through paper pages of your translation dictionary.

2. Faster than a CD. Babylon is faster than switching into a CD-ROM dictionary program and retyping the word to get the definition.

3. Translates phrasal verbs. Babylon translates phrasal verbs such as “to get on with” (to continue). When I clicked the word “it” in the phrase “He made it to the top,” Babylon showed me the definition for “to make it” (to arrive at a destination). Intelligent software.

4. Users can improve it. If you look up a word or phrase which Babylon does not know, you can send a suggestion to the company to add that word or phrase. These suggestions are reviewed and added to the next version.

5. Always available. Babylon loads automatically when you start your computer and will translate words in any application. It will work in any browser, any word processor, any application you use on your computer. Since Babylon operates on character-recognition technology, you can right-click on any word you see on your screen and it will translate it.

6. Babylon is encyclopedic. Babylon not only translates words and phrases but also proper names and geographical places. When I clicked on the name “Garfield,” for instance, Babylon told me that this name refers to an ex-president as well as a cartoon character. Babylon also had no trouble identifying “Clinton,” “Microsoft,” “Idaho” and “Papua New Guinea.”

7. Babylon is free. You can download Babylon free from the Internet. It will take you 5 minutes to download and another 5 minutes to install. Babylon will remind you in 100 days that you need to download the next version.

Babylon has versions which translate from English into German, French, Spanish, Italian, Netherlands, Japanese or Hebrew.