On-line library

Il était une histoire is a digital library providing access to a collection of stories, poetry, nursery rhymes as well as a small ‘living encyclopaedia’. Created by the educational publishing company Rue des écoles in partnership with the insurance company Maif, the website is aimed not just at children ( three to 10 year-olds) but also parents and teachers. Using a full array of multimedia tools, it offers about 100 different stories – the purpose being to encourage a taste for reading and thus fight against later academic failure. A child can discover the stories in four different ways : reading the text ; listening to the story read by an actor (available on MP3) ; viewing in the form of a video or animated cartoon (the child can watch the drawing being created in real time) ; and accompanied reading à la karaoke. Each week a new story is put on line, and you can now move from Snow-White to the Fables of La Fontaine. Teachers have graded the stories using a system of stars, which gives parents a feel for what is good. One part of the site is open to all comers, and another requires access codes. Alongside the stories, the compliers have added files focusing on themes, facts or personalities. This ‘Documentaries’ section acts as a kind of encyclopaedia, giving information on hieroglyphics for example or the origin of the word feudalism. In the subscribers’ section, there are also games, pictures to clour in, jigsaws, and audio and video quizzes. It also shows fun ways to set up your own personal story collection.