ACADÉMIE FRANÇAISE
Wikipedia describes l’Académie française as ‘the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language.’ Furthermore, the members of the Académie are known as les immortels!
In keeping with its reputation for ‘stuffiness’, the Académie does its best to stem the infiltration of French by English. Les immortels are the people who encourage us to refer to un courriel rather than un e-mail, and so on.
The site of the Académie française is not for the faint of heart but has a great deal of very interesting French language-related information.
LAROUSSE (DICTIONARIES)
There are many dictionary resources now available on the internet. For French students and teachers, larousse.com is highly recommended.
Not only are the dictionaries comprehensive, but audio playback is also possible. Maybe you didn’t know that the ‘p’ is not pronounced in the French word sculpture, or that the ‘s’ is pronounced like ‘ss’ in the French pronunciation of Israël? With larousse audio playback, you’ll be able to find out.
LE CONJUGUEUR
This site does what it says on the tin, and lots more.
No amount of modern-day technology and gadgetry alters the fact that learners of foreign languages must study – and absorb – vocabulary. That’s what it’s all about: increasing the ‘bank’ of vocabulary at one’s disposal.
When it comes to verbs, well… that’s where the action is, so to speak. If your students can’t find their dictionaries (or never had them in the first place), Le conjugueur is a worthy replacement.
SCOILNET
Portail de ressources du Department of Education and Skills.
WORDREFERENCE.COM
wordreference.com is a very busy site aimed at interpreters, translators, teachers, students, and anyone else interested in foreign languages.
If you need to know how to say something in particular, you can subscribe and post your questions. It is not, however, a place to go and get someone to translate material for you. The custom is that you have a go, yourself, at formulating whatever expression is posing difficulty and then others will chime in and set you right.
Highly recommended.