Internet

The Internet (/ˈɪntə(r)net/) is the global system of interconnected computer networks.

It has placed a vast quantity of authentic materials at the fingertips of English language teachers. While, in the past, topical, authentic texts were almost impossible to obtain unless the teacher was based in an English-speaking country, teachers now find themselves spoilt for choice in terms of both audio and text. Some suggestions about ways in which teachers can use material obtained from the net can be found in our article which describes how to create a topical class.

Although nearly all material on the web will be subject to copyright protection, many jurisdictions give specific exemptions for teaching purposes.

Furthermore, many schools and institutions now use the net as an ancillary (or even primary) teaching resource.

As a word, some authorities mandate that “Internet" should be capitalised and referred to with the definite article. In formal writing, this is often followed — in informal text, not so much, and may be uncapitalised.