19 Resources World Languages Teachers Use to Help Students Learn

World language study enhances communication skills, fosters global awareness, and prepares students for an increasingly interconnected world, among other benefits. That may be the reason most schools in the U.S. require students to complete some sort of foreign language study as part of their middle or high school curriculum. In order to unlock the benefits of studying a second language, teachers must plan learning experiences that move students from passive participants to engaged learners who actively use the target language for communication. That's why New Jersey World Language teachers enrolled with Rutgers Alternate Route are sharing their go-to resources to plan great lessons and enhance their teaching for students in their classes.

ACTFL- American Council of Teachers of Foreign Language 
For World Language teachers - this website provides peer-to-peer learning and networking from the entire world.(Celine C, 9-12) 

The website provides resources for world language teachers, many resources available to non-members (as well as additional resources available to members). There is information about standards, different types of assessments, and professional development. Occasionally, they give access to some books that they publish about second language acquisition free of charge. (Carla S, 9-12) 


Audio Lingua 
Many audio recorded by speakers of that language at many levels from beginners to more proficient. Very good to test students' comprehension. There is no transcript, it is a good option for homework (Elena G, 9-12) 


Blooket 
Again it is a site where teachers can create games based on their lessons and assign to students or host to the group and students compete by answering questions (Angela W, K-5) 


BBC Languages 
It contains tips about how to learn a language and access to authentic resources, it has video lessons developed with some materials that can be used and has different areas according to ages and interest levels make it easy to use (Rita A, 9-12)  


Crehana 
It is a Spanish website that provides multidisciplinary educational resources to Spanish teachers and students. It also has a free blog that is good for finding texts in Spanish that could be used for reading comprehension too (Emine O, 9-12) 


Duolingo 
Bite-size lessons, are tools to help students learn languages both in and out of the classroom (Zongmin E, 6-8) 

Duolingo has free access to an app to learn and practice languages. It also has resources for teachers for example podcasts that are interesting and current for the students. Some of these podcasts even have material developed! (Rita A, 9-12) 


Engaging techniques for effective teaching 
The site might help offer reference tools that are essential in evaluating and adjusting the existing plans and strategies for effective content coverage and delivery. For instance, a 3-2-1 strategy engages learners in a way that requires learners to write down three things learned, two things interesting about the topic, and one issue that needs further clarification (Rolando H, 9-12) 


Empowering Parents 
The site also helps motivate teachers through its captivating weekly videos that simplify complex learning tools for efficient application in the learning environment. We learn why workshops and conferences for parents are essential, as they promote cooperation and encourage sharing experiences from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds (Rolando H, 9-12) 


Kahoot.it 
The site has teacher-created games for specific lessons where the students are assigned a game to play either as an assignment or in class as a group and they compete against each other by answering specific questions to get points or move forward. Student can also create their own games about lessons they have learned (Angela W, K-5) 


La Profe Plotts 
The benefit to this site is that it is created and maintained by a current Spanish teacher and therefore has the most up-to-date teaching strategies to read. In addition, this website is loaded with ready-to-use resources including sub plans and mystery pictures (Kayla D, 6-8) 


Learn Spanish 
Students and anyone interested in learning Spanish can upload this site and learn the vocabulary and pronunciation for different situations. Countries map, Spanish pronunciation, Dialogue in Spanish, Spanish Survival, Days & months, Spanish emergencies, 100 Spanish Survival Phrases, etc. (Angela B, K-5) 


Online Italian Club 
There are 6 level of difficulty. many choices for dialogues and listening comprehension. In each activity, there are also exercises from level A1 to C3 that are very well done. (Elena G, 9-12) 


Quizlet 

Teachers can easily create a set of vocabulary for students to review by flashcards, matching games, reading recognition, and a quiz. Another benefit is since a lot of other language teachers are using this platform with similar textbooks, it's easier for me to find a completed learning set  that consists of the same vocabulary that my students are learning. (Ning Z, 9-12) 


Social Emotional Learning  
The collaborative website focuses on academic emotional and social learning. Very useful for incorporating the emotional and social components in our lessons/way of teaching (Celine C, 9-12) 


Spanish Greeting Song
It is a good morning greeting and bilingual song for children. They would practice greeting pronunciation in Spanish as they sing along with its rhythm. It is played with guitar by a native speaker. (Angela B, K-5) 


Spanish Mama 
The benefits of this site for Spanish teachers are endless. This site offers free lesson plans, activities, and ideas for Spanish teachers. The site is full of ready-to-use resources that engage students. (Kayla D, 6-8) 


Tea with BVP 
This is the website for Bill VanPatten's podcast about second language acquisition. It provides additional resources and recommendations for further reading, as well as links to all of the podcasts. I found his podcasts to be transformative in my world language teaching, as they are humorous and practical in nature (Carla S, 9-12) 


Un profesor 
It is a website from Spain with resources in Spanish for various subjects that would be very helpful to Spanish teachers in planning their lessons. It covers many topics such as Math, Spanish Language, Social Studies, Study Skills, Science, etc.) (Emine O, 9-12) 


Web App of Integrated Chinese  
This is an interactive online version of the textbook that we're using. There are audio and video materials of the vocabulary and dialogues, which are very helpful for students. There are also workbooks providing practices of listening comprehension, reading comprehension, and writing worksheets, which can be either assigned as homework or classwork. (Ning Z, 9-12) 
 

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