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The project is being developed at the Institut für Didaktik der Englischen Sprache und Literatur (ESL) at the University of Giessen in cooperation with the Department of Research and Development of the Goethe Institute in Munich. It is aimed at young intermediate to advanced level learners of German and their teachers.

Suitable for the target group of young learners of German, articles are chosen from the online version of the young peoples magazine jetzt.de from the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" (a major German daily newspaper) and prepared as teaching material. Topics are covered that young adults think interesting: for instance growing up, love, school and learning, youth culture, the new media, etc.

The articles are presented either with special language learning tasks or in their original form. The texts are also grouped according to topic. A variety of text types and authenticity are the main characteristics of this collection of texts. prime factors of these texts: there are interviews, interview minutes, essays and authentic texts written by German pupils.

One of the main pedagogical aims of the learning world is to foster the reading skill in the foreign language. Reading styles, such as detailed or global reading, or different reading strategies are taught. With the help of special tasks to help them to do Webresearch on their own, the learners also develop computer skills.

The skill of writing is taught and practised with the help of e-mail correspondence and quizzes. The most creative e-mails are published on the project pages and are rewarded with prizes.

The specific qualities inherent in the World-Wide Web have been taken into account while designing tasks to go with the texts. In the individual teaching units, before reading the text there are interactive, structuring tasks that help the learners to find different reading strategies and reading styles and practice them.

Certain words are marked with green blue and red hyperlinks. The different colors have clearly defined functions to facilitate the orientation of the learner. Green links, for instance, lead to a treasure hunt on the World-Wide Web. Here exploratory learning with the help of Web-specific searching tasks is possible. These are open, tasks that in part use the infrastructure of the World-Wide Web and thus offer a stimulus for real-world tasks. This means research and exploration on German web-sites with area studies or cultural information, e.g. gathering of information on the web presentation of Lufthansa or of a German university. Red links lead directly into the World-Wide Web. There you will find the pages of organizations or private individuals or just pages that explain a word or concept. Blue links show glosses and word fields. The learner will stay within the project "Learning German with jetzt.de" and can always be sure to remain in a safe didactic area that is appropriate to the already acquired language level.

In a moderated chat room students at certain fixed times can communicate with other students or native speakers or each other about certain topics synchronously i.e. with immediate reaction from partners. "Chat" is talking with other users directly by typing text onto the screen and looking at the typed replies of others. These replies can be read by many users. If one wants to say something one types into an entry field and sends with a mouse click. Students can have the script of this communication sent to them via e-mail and a then evaluate it in the classroom together.

Apart from material for their teaching, teachers will find ready-made teaching tips, tips for using on-line materials in teaching and for project work as well as in-depth information on many current topics. The material can either be used on-line using the computer or teachers can use the printed texts and take them with them into the classroom. Participation of teachers is always welcome. Suggestions sent by teachers will be published on the page for teachers. As an additional service one will also find tips and aids for working with the Internet and a link catalogue for German as a Foreign Language.

Teachers also have the possibility of establishing contact with colleagues in an open forum and discussing methodology and didactic questions. There is also a closed forum for teachers interested in using on-line material in teaching. This forum offers a secured zone where teachers can exchange materials and tests without their students having access.

With the many e-mails and the monthly approx. 30.000 international users each month from such diverse countries as Australia and Cyprus, the project is a virtual meeting place for learners of German and their teachers. It offers an appropriate platform for intercultural learning.

The authentic texts, the open tasks and exercises, the use of the new medium Internet and the new communication possibilities can foster or help to enliven the German language class room. In conjunction with a learner that becomes more and more autonomous "Deutsch lernen mit jetzt.de" can help to reduce greatly the artificiality of language learning far away from the country of the target language. (viz. Roesler 1998).

Shortened version from: Oláh, Judit & Stefan Ulrich (2000) The World Wide Web in the German language classroom: The Learning sphere "Learning German with jetzt online" Notos, Volume 2, Number 1. Intercultural and second languages council (ISLC Journal), 2000

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