Tools & ideas
Inclusion in this list does not imply endorsement or personal recommendation. Always start with the task, then choose your tools. You can read here about my favorite tools and how I choose them.
This list is a constant work in progress, and the content is subject to change (e.g., pricing, features, etc.). Tools have been grouped by their main functionality, but in many cases, they can have multiple purposes, so you may want to check more than one category.
Screencasting
What can you do with it? Create video explanations, stories, readings, give feedback, etc.
Comments: Chrome extension, free version is limited to 5 minutes, saves to Google Drive (which is convenient for sharing).
What can you do with it? Create video explanations, stories, readings, give feedback, etc. You can also take screenshots and share them.
Comments: Easy to use, download video as MP4. Free account has a 15-minute limit and a small watermark on the lower right corner. The free version of Panopto might be a better alternative if all you're looking to do is a straightforward screencast.
What can you do with it? In addition to recording videos, you can edit them, create interactive video quizzes, share them and get viewing stats.
Comments: Free account is limited to 5 hours of video storage total. But they also have "Panopto Express", which is a completely free, no-account-required version that allows you to screencast and save your video. Easy to use, nothing to install. No frills: record, save, no editing.
What can you do with it? Create video explanations, stories, readings, give feedback, etc. You can edit your videos and add all sort of fun annotations.
Comments: Very easy to use with lots of neat features, but not free. You pay one time and can install it in up to 2 computers. The free trial results in a video with a large watermark in the middle, so it's not worth it other than to get a feel for it. You can save locally, post in YouTube, or save in Google Drive.
What can you do with it? Create video explanations, stories, readings, give feedback, etc.
Comments: The cheaper version of Camtasia! :)
What can you do with it? Record explanations using a whiteboard (annotate, doodle, narrate). This could be a good tool to explain syntactic trees (linguistics classes), for instance.
Comments: Free version is very limited: only 1 slide, 1 minute max, and only up to 3 projects. Best to use on a tablet. If your handwriting or doodling abilities are not very good, it might not be worth it!
What can you do with it? Record annotated videos (e.g., doodle on an image)
Comments: Very similar to Explaineverything. Free account has a limit of 1 hour of cloud storage (good to try it but not enough for long-term use)
What can you do with it? Record annotated videos (e.g., doodle on an image)
Comments: Very similar to Show Me, but starting July 15, 2020, you can only use the iPad app to create new lessons. If you don't have an iPad, this isn't the tool for you.
What can you do with it? Record videos of your screen & webcam. You can share your videos with a link, and it is posted in a YouTube-like platform where viewers can post time-stamped comments or reactions with emojis.
Comments: Free and paid plans. Loom Pro is free to all verified teachers and students at K-12 schools, universities or educational institutions who are using Loom for classroom work. You need to install a desktop app or a browser extension. Very easy to use. An advantage over Screencastomatic is the ease of sharing and inserting time-stamped comments. Biggest drawback for PC users: full screen recording only.
Interactive videos
What can you do with it? Insert comprehension or discussion questions throughout a video. When a question pops-up, he video stops and students answer; they can also go back and review the last segment if needed. You can set it up so that they cannot skip questions. You can also insert notes (not a question) if there is extra info or something you want students to know as they watch the video. Students can create their own interactive videos as well.
Comments: Free and paid versions, very easy to use, lessons can be public or private. Free version is limited to 20 videos. You can import and modify lessons created by others.
Learn more: FLTMAG Review of EdPuzzle
What can you do with it? Insert comprehension or discussion questions throughout a video. Very similar to EdPuzzle.
Comments: Easy to use, limited free version. Many teachers prefer EdPuzzle mainly because there is so much content in there already created, which can be easily adapted and re-used.
What can you do with it? Create video lessons or assign already existing lessons
Comments: Free, easy to use, but unlike EdPuzzle the questions are displayed while the video plays (and the video doesn't stop).
Learn more: How to get started and create TED-Ed lessons
What can you do with it? Interactive video activities that mostly target sound recognition and spelling (e.g., matching, fill in the blanks). Translation and/or transcript plays alongside video.
Comments: You can create up to 5 interactive videos with a free account. Activities are also limited if you don't have a paid account.
What can you do with it? Interactive video "games" in Spanish, French, Chinese and English
Comments: Different question types, play "live" for free, but you need a paid account to assign videos to your students.
Learn more: FLTMAG Review of FluentKey
What can you do with it? It offers 4 activity types, and one of them is "Clip", which allows you to insert comprehension or discussion questions throughout a video.
Comments: Free. You can also create quizzes or collaborative spaces within it.
Note: if your institution has a Kaltura or Panopto subscription, you can create video quizzes there!
Video/Speaking assignments
What can you do with it? Create speaking assessments, especially good for spontaneous asynchronous responses
Comments: Easy to use, free account is now unlimited, paid accounts have more features (e.g., integration with LMS, small group assignments, etc.). Best feature: recording starts automatically as soon as students see/hear the prompt, so they cannot prepare a script. Highly recommended!
Learn more: FLTMAG review of Extempore
What can you do with it? Video response boards: post a prompt and students reply, or students can post questions for others to reply
Comments: Free, very easy to use, students can respond to other videos but not to responses (only to the initial video), account required to post video (not to view videos), various privacy settings, has a new screen-recording feature.
Learn more: FLTMAG Asynchronous Webinar: Using Flipgrid in World Language Classes
What can you do with it? Create speaking or writing assignments
Comments: Free version is limited to 20 students and 10 assignments. Easy to use. It doesn't have timer options, like Extempore.
What can you do with it? Create video assignments, give feedback, have learners comment on each other's videos
Comments: Paid only (you can request a free trial just to check out the platform, but you need to contact them). Comments are time-stamped as you watch the video, you can leave written, audio or video comments. Easy to use.
Learn more: Overview of the platform
What can you do with it? You record the prompt; students respond with video (you can set it so they only have 1 attempt). This site is better known for drawing activities; for instance, you describe something in the target language, and students have to draw it.
Comments: Free, requires an account for the teacher; students join with a room code.
Learn more: Student Engagement & Charlala.com in the WL Classroom (blog post)
What can you do with it? Upload, share, and discuss presentations, images, audio files and videos. Students can comment with text, audio, video. It ends up creating a "thread" that can be played from start to finish. Students can also annotate the slide while they record their comments.
Comments: Easy to use, free account is limited to 5 VoiceThreads and no video commenting. Many of the things you can do with Voicethread can be replicated in a regular discussion forum or other free tools (Flipgrid, Perusall, etc.). The main advantage is the ability to add oral comments on a specific visual (e.g., a painting, a picture) with convenience and ease, particularly when coupled with annotation. That is difficult to replicate.
Collaborative boards / spaces
What can you do with it? Collaborative virtual board: good for brainstorming, crowdsourcing, curating resources, gallery walks, backchannel discussions, etc. Students can comment and/or "react" to other students' posts (e.g., vote for their favorite). You could use it for a "meme contest": students create their own memes, post them, and the others vote for their favorite (anonymously).
Comments: Very easy to use, free account is limited to 3 boards (you always have the option of reusing them by deleting content; it even has the option to delete all content with one click!). Students can post and comment without creating an account.
Learn more: FLTMAG review of Padlet
What can you do with it? Voting, posting, commenting on a collaborative virtual board
Comments: Easy to use, free account is limited to only 1 board (but you can delete it and start over as many times as you want), layout is similar to Padlet, students don't need an account to vote or add content. The main difference with Padlet in terms of voting is that you can limit it to only 1 vote per person.
What can you do with it? Bookmark, organize, and share multi-media resources. Students can collaborate and contribute to the "board" or collection. They can even post Flipgrid videos (recorded directly within Wakelet). It can be a good site for portfolios.
Comments: Similar to Padlet. Easy to use, free, no limits. The instructor needs an account but not the students (or any other collaborators). If you use it to organize teaching resources, it's better than Pinterest (no ads, and others can see your collections without having Wakelet accounts), and much more visually appealing than Diigo!
Learn more: FLTMAG review of Wakelet
What can you do with it? Draw and tell, explain handwriting (non-Roman-alphabet languages), syntactic trees (linguistics). You can create collages by adding pictures. You can do activities involving sticky notes (e.g., classifying, putting in order, etc.).
Comments: Free, easy to use, part of Google, can be shared like any other Google doc (e.g., "anyone with the link can edit"). There are tons of Jamboard templates online that you can adapt and use (some can be found in this collection here).
Learn more: FLTMAG review of Jamboard
What can you do with it? Each student gets their own virtual whiteboard to draw, annotate, write, etc. They join a "class" with a code or link, and that way you can see all of their boards in real time, in one space.
Comments: You can use it without creating an account, although they do have premium (paid) extras as well. It is easy to use. The main advantage over Jamboard is that you can have students work individually and not see what the others are doing.
What can you do with it? Create a space for learners to share their projects, post, comment, etc. It can help to recreate the sense of community found in some social media groups (e.g., Facebook) in a much safer way.
Comments: More popular for K-12 than college, probably because it looks like it's meant for younger audiences. Very easy to use. Free version is limited to 10 active classes (but you can delete old ones and keep creating new ones!), other features also limited (e.g., all posts are visible to the other students in the class).
Learn more: Review of Seesaw by Common Sense
What can you do with it? Create assignments and monitor student activity in real time: they can raise their hand to seek help (from the teacher or other students).
Comments: Free and paid options. It seems like the most unique aspect of it is to be able to monitor work in real time, allowing students to indicate where they need help while everyone is completing assignments on their own devices (e.g., a synchronous Zoom class). Some schools might use it as a learning management system.
What can you do with it? Mind maps, drawings, graphic organizers, board games.
Comments: Not too complicated but not entirely easy to figure out either! The free account allows up to 3 boards. For the type of tasks that language teachers do, I would say that Google Jamboard is more convenient than Miro.
Learn more: FLTMAG review of Miro
What can you do with it? Create multimedia storyboards, vision boards, and other creative projects. It can be a great tool to guide creative writing.
Comments: Free and paid options. Free account has some limits, but probably more than enough for what students need. Although it looks great, I am not sure if you can really justify creating an account when you can probably do similar things on Jamboard. To me, the best part of it is the templates they have for inspiration, but I would probably not require students to use it.
Learn more: Review of Milanote by Feetech4teachers
What can you do with it? Create collaborative spreadsheets. A potential use for a language class would be to create a collaborative glossary, to which students could contribute, and you can set it so it automatically displays in alphabetical order. You can insert images just by drag and drop, and you can insert drop-down menus in some fields, so students can select, for instance, part of speech (noun, verb, etc.).
Comments: Easy to use, free account is fairly decent. Are there hacks to do some of these things in Google Spreadsheets? Possibly, but convenience is important! And Airtable is extremely intuitive and easy to use.
Multimedia projects / portfolios
Some of the collaborative spaces mentioned before (Padlet, Wakelet, SeeSaw, and even Jamboard!) could also work for portfolios!
What can you do with it? Create a simple website (like this one!) with images, text, video, maps, links, etc. Creating a website is a great real-world skill.
Comments: Easy to use, free, various templates available, easy to integrate content from Google drive. Privacy settings can be changed as needed, so it is good for school projects that you may not want to publish to the world. The default is "public", so make sure you change it if you only want your class to see the final product. Even though it doesn't have as many bells and whistles as Wix or Weebly, it also loads faster, has less of a learning curve and fewer glitches. I would go with Google Sites over Wix/Weebly for a class project.
Learn more: Ideas, tips, and tricks to get the most out of Google Sites
What can you do with it? Create a web page, video, and other media. Some examples of content students can create would be: a movie poster based on a book, a video showcasing something for sale, a website summarizing study abroad experiences, a portfolio compiling work they have done over the year, etc.
Comments: Easy to use, free, and visually stunning! Account required. There is a "premium" (paid) version. Schools can apply to get an Education account (premium features) for free.
Learn more: FLTMAG review of Adobe Spark
What can you do with it? Create a professional-looking website.
Comments: They are both very similar, and relatively easy to use, but it all depends on how much patience you have! They provide a lot more options than Google Sites or any other platforms listed in this section, but sometimes they can be a little glitchy or slow. Since there are more customization options, it can also be more overwhelming and time-consuming.
What can you do with it? Create a blog or site.
Comments: Relatively easy to use, free version is basic but good for what students need (3 GB storage limit). The ads are a drawback, so I would go with Google Sites instead, unless you are willing to pay.
What can you do with it? Create an interactive presentation or portfolio. Great for choice boards, games, interactive stories, etc.
Comments: There is definitely a learning curve. Not entirely intuitive, although they have several templates you can edit. Free version is limited to public projects only. With the paid version, you can make it private or download it. They have an almost overwhelming amount of features! It does not record students' scores.
Learn more: FLTMAG review of Genially
What can you do with it? Create a multimedia online magazine. It could be great way to feature student-created content. You could have one for your entire class, or you can put groups in charge of creating their own magazines, with each group member in charge of a different aspect of it (stories, interviews, opinion columns, videos, comic strips, etc.).
They have a free plan but it's very basic, and it has large ads displayed alongside content, even in full screen. If your institution or you can afford a paid plan, it looks much nicer without the ads! It can be a little slow to load content. As cool as it may seem to create a magazine with pages people can flip through, the ads are a big drawback, so I would personally go with Google Sites instead.
Learn more: You can see an example here.
What can you do with it? Create e-portfolios focused on language learning: students can set their goals, track their progress, upload examples of their work, etc.
Comments: $2.00 per student per academic year, no free option.
Learn more: Training modules to show how to implement LinguaFolio
What can you do with it? It can be used as a course space or to create multimedia projects and portfolios. They also have a "reading log" template that would be great for free voluntary reading. You can create your own template assignment that students copy.
Comments: Free and paid options. Easy to use, but the free account is limited, probably best for students to create portfolios, rather than for active learning (e.g., you can't insert quizzes). When you sign up, it automatically registers you for the free trial of the paid account, so you think you can do a lot more without paying than you actually can.
What can you do with it? It can be used to collect and share resources with students, and they can also contribute to collections. Students can also use to create their own portfolios or journals. Other students can comment or "like" their classmates' posts (you can also turn comments off if you want).
Comments: Very easy to use. Account required. Free account is limited to 10 pages and 2GB of storage. You can insert images, video, audio, and links. Content can be public, shared only with some people, or shared through a private link. The distinction between pages and collections is a little confusing at first: essentially, you are just creating pages that can be then added to collections.
Social bookmarking
What can you do with it? Bookmark, organize, and share multi-media resources. Students can collaborate and contribute to the "board" or collection. They can even post Flipgrid videos (recorded directly within Wakelet). It can be a good site for portfolios.
Comments: Similar to Padlet. Easy to use, free, no limits. The instructor needs an account but not the students (or any other collaborators). If you use it to organize teaching resources, it's better than Pinterest (no ads, and others can see your collections without having Wakelet accounts), and much more visually appealing than Diigo!
Learn more: FLTMAG review of Wakelet
What can you do with it? Bookmark, organize, and share multi-media resources.
Comments: Free, with some extra paid features. It used to be displayed as "trees" but it's now a grid like Wakelet, Pinterest, etc. You upload your own files or store web content (with a browser extension)
What can you do with it? It is a social bookmarking site: organize content with groups and tags, and others can comment.
Comments: Free and easy to use, but not very visually appealing (essentially a list of URLs/websites). Personally, I find it cumbersome overall. Wakelet seems like a much more efficient and organized way to curate resources. The "diigolet" (browser extension to bookmark things as you find them) is convenient, but beware that every time you double-click any word or highlight a phrase online, a little Diigo pop-up is activated, which can become a bit annoying.
What can you do with it? Save and organize web-based resources. You can also create "learning paths," where students are guided through curated sites (pages, videos, and even Padlet) and questions in a specific order.
Comments: More visually appealing than Diigo (it organizes sites as tiles), fewer ads than Pinterest, but the free account does have ads even for the "learning paths." Unless you have a paid account, you'd probably b better off using Wakelet for content curation (no ads and more ways of organizing your content).
Infographics, flyers, etc.
Some of the collaborative boards mentioned above can also work for portfolios!
What can you do with it? Create infographics, flyers, cards, posters, social media ads, presentation slides, etc.
Comments: Easy to use, free. Account required. There is a "premium" (paid) version. Schools can apply to get an Education account (premium features) for free.
Learn more: FLTMAG review of Adobe Spark
What can you do with it? Create infographics, flyers, cards, posters, social media ads, presentation slides, GIFs, etc.
Free account includes several great templates. Paid account has more options (e.g., re-sizing, transparent background, etc.). They offer a free Pro account for K-12 teachers! Very easy to use. No watermark when you download the final product. Pulls in free media from Pixabay and Pexels.
Vista Create (formerly known as Crello)
What can you do with it? Create infographics, flyers, cards, posters, social media ads, presentation slides, etc.
Comments: Almost identical to Canva, but sometimes the site gets slow and it crashes. Free and paid options, easy to use. If you get tired of Canva templates and want to explore something new, it can certainly be an option. Otherwise, I would probably just stick with Canva, especially if you're a K-12 teacher and qualify for Canva's free Pro account.
What can you do with it? Create infographics, flyers, cards, posters, social media ads, presentation slides, etc.
Free version is limited to up to 5 active visuals (i.e., saved in your account; you can delete them and create new ones), and with a small watermark at the bottom (not intrusive at all). Download as PNG only. Templates are fairly easy to customize but depending on what you're trying to create, it might require some time and patience, especially with infographics.
Creative writing
Some of the portfolio sites mentioned above can also work as spaces for creative writing!
What can you do with it? Create an illustrated online book (individual or in groups) or report.
Comments: Easy to use, free (unless you want to buy the book), you can insert audio (read aloud), account required, import student list from Google Classroom or send students link to join
Learn more: FLTMAG review of Story jumper
What can you do with it? Create an illustrated online book or report.
Comments: Easy to use, free version limited to 1 library with 40 books, includes AutoDraw, you can also embed Google Maps, YouTube videos, etc. Students join the teacher's library with a code.
Learn more: Webinar by Joe Dale on how to use Book Creator
What can you do with it? Create a 6-page illustrated book. You could have one group select the illustrations, and another group writes the story.
Comments: free, very easy to use, drag-and-drop images and background. You can get started without an account. It's quite simple and you're limited to the illustrations they provide (can't upload your own). All stories have to have 6 pages. No option to insert audio. Download as PDF. But the simplicity of it could be a plus!
What can you do with it? Create an illustrated online book.
Comments: Very easy to use, free and unlimited ($5 to buy printed stories), no account required to get started but you need one to save your story and then you can share it (with a link), you can use the illustrations provided, draw, or upload your own images.
What can you do with it? Create comic strips, graphic novels
Comments: Lots of features and beautiful design but paid only; the free version is VERY limited, only to give it a quick try, with just a handful of elements.
What can you do with it? Create comic strips
Comments: Easy to use and free, very basic graphics and options, created by an ESL teacher, additional resources and ideas provided
What can you do with it? Create comic strips, graphic novels
Comments: Relatively easy to use, free version is limited, no account required to start creating: https://www.storyboardthat.com/storyboard-creator
What can you do with it? Read and create digital stories (text, illustrations and audio recordings) in multiple languages
Comments: Free, developed by Simon Fraser University, geared towards children
What can you do with it? Write interactive fiction ("choose your own adventure")
Comments: Free. More user-friendly than other platforms for interactive fiction, but there is a learning curve. You can start writing without an account. Share your story with a link. More visually appealing than Google Forms!
What can you do with it? In addition to surveys, you can use it to create interactive fiction stories ("choose your own adventure") using the "logic jumps." Basically you set the form up so that the reader is directed to a specific page depending on the choice they selected.
Comments: Free, very easy to use. When creating interactive stories or personality quizzes, you need to take some time to plan and set up all the logic jumps correctly, but it is a simpler solution to other interactive fiction platforms out there.
What can you do with it? Add text to eye-catching images (postcards, poems, quotes, definitions, etc.)
Comments: Free and easy to use, but the same could be done with any of the platforms listed under "Graphic design" (or even PowerPoint/Google Slides) and free stock images. The only difference is their word bank interface (drag and drop from word lists, based on parts of speech), but that's only available in English.
What can you do with it? Create a texting dialog between two people; the end product looks like a screenshot taken from an iPhone. You can have students create their own dialogs between two characters or two famous people, for instance, or you can create one for them to interpret (understand + make inferences).
Comments: Free, no account required; if you don't feel safe downloading the image, you can just take a screenshot of it.
For inspiration:
Storydice: it randomly chooses 6 or 9 dice with images that can be used to create a story (free, no account required)
Emoji generator: it generates a string of randomly selected emojis, which can be used as writing prompts (free, no account required)
If you need free images for stories, check out this list.
Media annotation / Feedback
What can you do with it? Collaboratively annotate (i.e., add comments, questions, etc.) websites, PDFs, and videos.
Comments: Free if using teacher-uploaded PDFs or Open Educational Resources. Very easy to use, especially with more advanced learners. If students are novice learners, you could insert the questions for them to respond, or they could comment in the form of images. Easy to assign, delete, extend deadlines, etc. Self-grading settings can be adjusted. It integrates with various LMSs.
Learn more: FLTMAG review of Perusall (although more features have been added since publication)
What can you do with it? Collaborative annotate of web pages
Comments: Free for individual use, but not for institutions integrating it within their LMS
Learn more: Recording of a panel discussion on "Social annotation for language teaching with Hypothes.is"
What can you do with it? Insert questions, media, and discussions to any website
Comments: Chrome extension only; free version is limited to 5 lessons. The extension requires you and the students to allow access to all websites, which might raise some security and privacy concerns.
What can you do with it? Students can read and annotate the text with written or audio comments and even emojis
Comments: Free account is limited to 2 readings. Students don't need accounts to annotate. You can also add questions (similar to "Insert Learning"). You can try a demo here (no need to log in)
What can you do with it? Collaborative annotation of text, audio and video
Comments: Free, works with ePub files or you can create your own reading within the platform. Easy to use: double-click on a word or underline a phrase, and either highlight or add comment.
What can you do with it? Leave audio feedback or annotations on Google docs
Comments: Free, but it requires a Chrome extension that not everyone will be comfortable installing.
What can you do with it? Add voice notes and feedback to documents, assignments and emails.
Comments: Free version is limited to 30-second recordings. It is a Chrome extension.
What can you do with it? Insert written or audiovisual annotations to images and videos. Annotations are minimally intrusive (they don't block the image too much). Good to present information in a different way (e.g., great for paintings, maps, infographics)
Comments: Very easy to use. A free teacher account allows you to create unlimited thinglinks (annotated images and video) but for your students to create their own content, you need a paid account.
What can you do with it? Add written comments to videos (works better with YouTube videos)
Comments: Free, very easy to use. Limited to text comments. Easy to share with others, so they can annotate without logging in. Drawback: sometimes videos don't load.
Learn more: FLTMAG review of Video Ant
What can you do with it? Take screenshots effortlessly and annotate any image with arrows, shapes, and text. You can also blur parts of the image.
Comments: Free, install it and use it whenever you need! Very user-friendly. As of a few years ago, it is only available for Mac.
What can you do with it? Annotate documents (for feedback, to help learners understand a text, for example).
Comments: Free and paid versions. Easy to use. You can use their site or the Chrome extension. Annotations can be text, audio, images (but the free version only allows for text comments). You can also draw, highlight, etc. You can share it so others can annotate as well.
Video editing
Video and picture editor: create montages, add annotations, captions, etc. You can edit your own video or a YouTube video (although not all YouTube videos can be edited)
Free, easy to use, no account required. It can be a little slow depending on the size of your project (some size limits apply). Download as MP4 file with a "Kapwing" logo and watermark on the lower right corner.
Create and edit videos
Free version is very limited: 5 min/month, and none of the "cooler" features. They have a 30-day free trial of their paid account for K-12 teachers.
Quizzes / games
What can you do with it? Create flashcards and game-based quizzes.
Comments: Easy to use, free and paid versions, lots of question types (including picture labeling) and game options.
Learn more: FLTMAG article on Quizlet Live
What can you do with it? Create quizzes and games
Comments: Easy to use, free and paid versions (free version is limited to 50 players, most question types only available in the paid version), easy to play... students of all ages get into it!
What can you do with it? Create quizzes and games
Comments: Easy to use, free (no extra paid features or limitations). Some of its advantages over Kahoot are: better score reports, easier to see the questions and options in the same screen, more question types.
What can you do with it? Create quizzes and games
Comments: Easy to use, free and paid versions (free is limited)
What can you do with it? Students answer questions and earn "cash" by answering correctly, but lose money if they answer wrong. Students can buy upgrades and powerups with the money (e.g., getting a second chance to answer a question costs $15).
Comments: Easy to use, free and paid versions (free version is very limited: 5 players or fewer and can't create assignments), some teachers love the competitive edge of Gimkit over Kahoot or Quizzizz
What can you do with it? Create quiz-like games.
Comments: Students can play in small groups or individually. It has different playing modes (Classic, Gold Quest, etc.).
Learn more: Blog post with an overview of Blooket and some ideas
What can you do with it? Create quizzes, polls, exit tickets
Comments: Easy to use, free and paid versions. The free version allows you to create unlimited quizzes, which is very generous. With the paid plan, you have more question types and "anti-cheating tools" (it can detect copied answers... but it's not foolproof!)
Learn more: FLTMAG review of Go Formative
What can you do with it? Create multiple choice questions (graded or survey). Students can answer in class without devices (printed QR codes), or from home.
Comments: Easy to use. Free account is very limited: each sets can have up to 5 questions only. Being able to ask multiple choice questions only seems limiting. This tool might only be useful if students don't have their own devices.
What can you do with it? Turn your PDFs, Word docs, Google Docs, and other files into online activities, which can be automatically scored.
Comments: Free trial is limited to 30 days, more question options than Google Forms.
What can you do with it? Generate questions about key words or details from a simple text based on Artificial Intelligence (multiple-choice, true/false, fill-in-blank)
Comments: Very limited. First, it only works with texts in English. Second, the free version is limited to 2 question sets. Third, it only targets specific information from a text, and not higher-order thinking questions.
What can you do with it? Create an interactive Jeopardy game.
Comments: Free, no account required.
What can you do with it? Create an interactive Jeopardy game.
Comments: Free, but the teacher needs to create an account.
Word games / text-based activities
What can you do with it? Create interactive word games (puzzles, scramble, acrostic, etc.)
Comments: Easy to use, no account required, free with some extra paid features
What can you do with it? Create interactive games based on templates (crossword, matching, hangman, etc.)
Comments: Free and paid options: with the free account, you get 18 templates to choose from, and you can create up to 5 resources.
What can you do with it? Create word games, flashcards, and other activities from a Google Spreadsheet
Comments: Free, easy to use, no account required other than a Google account: you basically download templates and follow instructions.
Learn more: FLTMAG review of Flippity
What can you do with it? Create crossword puzzles, "reveal the image," and other games.
Comments: Most features are free, no account required. Some of the tools, like picture labeling, require a premium account. Share with a link or embed on your site. It doesn't track responses. Somewhat similar to Flippity, but without using Google Spreadsheets.
What can you do with it? Create interactive text-based activities (scramble, matching, etc.)
Comments: Easy to use, but paid only.
What can you do with it? Create online learning activities: matching, fill-in-the-blanks, word search, crosswords, etc.
Comments: Completely free, easy to use (although some activities take a little longer to figure out than others). You can share with a link and students can do the activities without logging in (similar to Flippity or Class Tools) and without tracking their answers. To track answers, you can also create a class and invite students to join (but then, students do need an account).
Learn more: FLTMAG review of Learning Apps
What can you do with it? Create a myriad of online learning activities.
Comments: free to use and to embed in a site, but you won't be able to track responses unless you have it integrated within an LMS (not for free). Three is a learning curve, and some activities are easier to create than others.
Learn more: FLTMAG review of H5P
What can you do with it? Create online interactive activities: matching, fill-in-the-blanks, audio recording, etc.
Comments: not free; they only have a 30-day trial. No need for students to have an account (they write their name to submit answers).
Learn more: FLTMAG review of Teacher tools
Interactive presentations / polling
What can you do with it? Create interactive presentations (e.g., questions embedded within the slides)
Comments: the Peardeck add-on for Google Slides is free. You need to grant it permission to do just about everything in your Google account, so if you are not comfortable with that, it may not be for you. Not all question types are available for free.
Learn more: World Language Teachers’ Guide to Pear Deck by Maris Hawkins
What can you do with it? Create interactive lessons (slides with embedded multimedia, questions, games, etc.)
Comments: Free account is limited to 40 students at a time, other features are also limited.
Learn more: FLTMAG review of Nearpod
What can you do with it? Create interactive presentations (e.g., questions embedded within the slides), or just use it to ask the audience a quick question (brainstorming, surveying, etc.). The audience joins with a code or link.
Comments: Easy to use, but free version is very limited; you can only import presentations under the paid plans.
What can you do with it? Create polls for feedback, assessing comprehension, brainstorming, etc.
Comments: Easy to use, free version can only accept 40 answers per question. They have several question types, including multiple choice, word cloud, clickable image, etc. The audience joins with a code or link.
What can you do with it? Create simple polls that participants answer online.
Comments: Easy to use, no account required, no limits, multiple choice only (with images!), very simple, no bells or whistles!
What can you do with it? Create simple polls with open-ended questions that participants answer online. Results appear as word clouds.
Comments: Easy to use, no account required. Only one question type: open-ended. Another limitation is that answer length has to 40 characters max (usually more than enough for single-word responses!). Can be great for word associations, brainstorming, and activating prior knowledge, on the spot. For instance, teachers can ask which words students already know about a topic.
Messaging / Back-channeling
Some of the collaborative boards mentioned above can also work for back-channeling (e.g., Padlet has a "backchannel" template).
What can you do with it? Send announcements (text or audio). It can be an effective way to communicate with parents or send reminders that students can see on their phones, as opposed to email messages.
Comments: Easy to use, free account is limited to 150 users (students, parents, whoever you want to receive messages!), you can use the app or the web-based platform.
What can you do with it? Set up a virtual space where students can easily request assistance, and they can also see if you are currently helping someone else.
Comments: Easy to use, teacher account required, students join with a code. Free account allows for unlimited students, but up to 5 in the queue (i.e., max 5 students waiting for assistance at a given time).
Tools to explore the world
I have created this collection of tools you can use to create map-based tours, geography games, platforms that offer immersive experiences, and lots of other map-related sites:
Language exchange sites
Check out the full list here:
Learn more: A few years ago, I gave a webinar on Video chatting with native speakers: Why, What, How
Timers, randomizers, etc.
What can you do with it? Choose randomly by spinning the wheel: form groups, choose the "question of the day", choose a few words students have to use in creative writing, etc.
Comments: Easy to use, no account required, you can set it up so that once a choice is selected, it's removed. There are other options, including PickerWheel and Wheeldecide, but the ads are annoying! If you use Wheelofnames in full screen mode, the ads go away. Flippity can also be an ad-free option (check out their random name selector here)
Learn more: FLTMAG review of Wheel of Names
What can you do with it? Choose 1, 2, or 3 dice to roll.
Comments: Easy to use, no account required, no ads. Click on the link, select how many dice, and roll!
What can you do with it? Customize what you need to display: clock, calendar, picture, announcement, timer, random name picker, traffic lights, dice, etc.
Comments: Easy to use, no account required if you just click on "Launch Classroomscreen." You have the option of creating an account if you want to save name lists and personalized screens (with some limits) so you don't have to start from scratch each time you use it.
What can you do with it? Pick names randomly, set up timers, create games, and even "Fakebook" profiles!
Comments: Most features are free, especially the timers and randomizers, but they do have some premium things like picture labeling.
What can you do with it? Set up all sorts of fun timers. They also have fun random selectors, and even a Magic 8 ball!
Comments: Free, but it has a lot of ads. If you use it in "super full screen", the ads go away!
A few extras just for fun!
A little bit of everything!
What can you do with it? Create animated avatars that say whatever you write (text-to-speech)
Comments: Free, easy to use, different languages and dialects, no account required to use the basic creator platform.
What can you do with it? Create memes and GIFs
Comments: Free, very easy to use, no account required
What can you do with it? Create a fake tweet (you can play "hashtagit" -- where students have to come up with hashtags to accompany the tweet)
Comments: Free, no account required; if you don't feel safe downloading the image, you can just take a screenshot of it
What can you do with it? Create a virtual scavenger hunt game/competition
Free and paid options (free account is limited to 3 teams per games, and you can only have 1 Live game at a time). It can be a fun way to engage learners outside the classroom. But it only works as an app, so if students don't have a smartphone (with a data plan!), they cannot play.
What can you do with it? Create a family tree
Free, easy to use, no account required