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I have attempted to organise the following web tools according to a number of categories. Please note that rankings such as usefulness and ease of use are subjective. If you do not agree with what I have written please let me know! Click on the hyperlinks in the list below to jump directly to that section.
Web 2.0 tools - vocabulary tools
Vocabulary games
Quiz makers
Flashcard makers
Vocabulary trainers
Word cloud makers
Other vocabulary tools
Quiz makers
Flashcard makers
Vocabulary trainers
Word cloud makers
Other vocabulary tools
Vocabulary games
There are a number of interactive learning objects housed on Scootle in Chinese, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese and Modern Greek. To access Scootle, teachers require a login provided by their school. With Scootle, teachers can develop a set of learning pathways for sharing with students, giving them access to specific resources.
Free
All students
5
Easy
The Languages online Victorian Education Department resource enables students to make their own interactive games or select from some ready-made activities in Chinese, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Macedonian, Spanish, Turkish and EALD.
Free
All students
5
Easy
Quia provides templates for creating 16 types of online activities, including flashcards, word search, battleship, challenge board, and cloze exercises and gives users access to shared activities that have been created by teachers from around the world in a range of learning areas, including languages. In addition Quia includes a classroom management system that enables teachers to assess student performance.
$49 per annual subscription
All students
5
Easy
Make your own interactive game at What2Learn or search for a game to play.
Free
Primary, junior secondary
5
Easy
Parade of Games in PowerPoint from the University of Winconsin, gives teachers access to some great games, but sadly for Mac users, they only work in a Windows environment.
Free
All students
3
Easy
The MFL Sunderland Student Zone gives users access to language games for French, German and Spanish.
Free
Upper primary, junior secondary
3
Easy
Tools for Educators offers teachers a free crossword puzzle maker using either pictures or text as hints.
Free
Teachers
3
Easy
Dave Regan’s “Armored Penguin” site enables you to generate your own Word search puzzle.You might also like to try out the Ultimate Word Search Maker and see which you prefer.
Free
Teachers
3
Easy
Language Games gives students access to ready-made word search, crossword and hangman games in French, German, Italian and Spanish.
Free
Primary, junior secondary
3
Easy
To generate your own game of Hangman with vocabulary you want your students to rehearse, click on the yellow button Create a Hangman Game and fill out all the boxes. Hint: When you enter your list of vocabulary, separate individual words with a comma OR a space, not both. Once you have created your hangman game, click on play and you can then access the HTML code which you can embed into a wiki or Moodle. Look at the following French example for practising adjectives to give you the general idea.
French adjectives hangman game » hangman creator
Free
Primary, junior secondary
3
Easy
Instructions from Clare Seccombe, a languages consultant in the UK for making puzzles, dominoes and follow-me cards.
Free
Primary, junior secondary
4
Difficult
The Digital Dialects website features free to use online flash based games for learning languages. Language resources include games for learning phrases, numbers, useful words, spelling, verb conjugation and alphabets. The games for some of the languages include an audio element.
Free
Primary, junior secondary
4
Easy
At WordLearner you can create printable worksheets, puzzles & flashcards and give your students access to online exercises & games for learning vocabulary.
Free or $20 for all features
Primary, junior secondary
4
Easy
With LinguaZone, you customise games and word lists for your students to use at school or home. There is an annual fee, which varies according to the number of features you select.
Basic and pro plans
Primary, junior secondary
4
Easy
This Free Technology for Teachers post, lists links to 7 resources for learning a new language. A couple of these would just be of use to tourists looking for phrase-book type expressions but other links contain some useful games for language acquisition.
Free
Quiz makers
The Hot Potatoes suite includes six applications, enabling you to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web. There is also a clipart library, described as being useful to teach vocabulary in a variety of languages.
Free
Teachers
5
Medium
to hard
Explore a range of ready-made ProProfs language quizzes or make your own.
Free for teachers & a paid plan for extra features
Teachers
4
Medium
Use Quizdini to create your own multiple choice or click and match quizzes. Teachers register with Quizdini by paying a small donation.
$10
Teachers
Kuizza offers a simple way to create multiple choice quizzes. The quizzes can have questions with single or multiple correct answers. Any quiz that you create can instantly be viewed as a set of flashcards by simply clicking the "flashcards" button displayed along with each quiz.
Free
Teachers and students
5
Flashcard makers
Check out Flash Card Flash - A search engine that enables you to locate flashcards from a wide range of providers
With Quizlet you can access the ready-made cards in a range of languages/topics or make your own. Saved lists can be shared across mobile devices.
Free
Upper primary, secondary
5
Easy
StudyStack gives you access to ready-made flashcards in a range of languages or you can make your own. Use them for matching, hangman, crosswords, word search and scrambled word.
Free
All students
4
Easy
With Word Dynamo you or your students can create personalised vocab lists that you can rehearse with flashcards or matching games . You might like to check out the Spanish lists that others have created but be wary in case they contain errors.
Free
All students
3
Easy
Byki (Before you know it) is downloadable language-learning software presented in a flash card interface. The system tracks everything you learn, automatically presenting the appropriate material at just the right intervals – ensuring that the material you've covered is successfully locked into your memory. The free version gives access to a limited number of flashcards. The deluxe version ($69.95) provides access to a whole suite of extra and advanced features, including MP3 audio, advanced pronunciation practice, and engaging language-learning games. There is also an iPad/iPhone app. Check out this link for an independent review of Byki.
Free or deluxe version
Vocabulary trainers
Popling is avocabulary application for Windows or Mac. Selected vocabulary items pop onto your screen at regular intervals. You can choose from vocabulary sets in a range of languages.
Free
Provoc is a free and easy-to-use vocabulary trainer for Mac that will help you quickly learn your vocabulary.
Interlex is a free Windows application that helps you learn vocabulary in a foreign language quickly and easily.
Word cloud makers
Wordle clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and colour schemes. You can use accents in Wordle but unfortunately the program does not recognise Asian fonts at this stage. Finished Wordles can be printed, saved to your computer or to the Wordle gallery. Click here for a great hint that lets you use groups of words in Wordle. Click here for 23 ways of using Wordle in a languages classroom or here for 45 ways of using it in a range of learning areas.
If you feel like a change from Wordle check out Richard Byrne's post in which he outlines an additional four Word Cloud tools.
Tagxedo is another word cloud maker. This tool gives you the option of using shapes (apple, dove, heart and star) in your word clouds.
ImageChef is a wordle-like tool that allows users to make calligrams (an image of a word made up with the word) that can be adapted, embedded and/or downloaded. The Word Mosaic and the Poetry Blender tools seem to have the greatest application in a languages classroom.
Other vocab tools
How to learn a foreign language: Using mnemonics to learn words.
There are a number of interactive learning objects housed on Scootle in Chinese, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese and Modern Greek. To access Scootle, teachers require a login provided by their school. With Scootle, teachers can develop a set of learning pathways for sharing with students, giving them access to specific resources.
Free
All students
5
Easy
The Languages online Victorian Education Department resource enables students to make their own interactive games or select from some ready-made activities in Chinese, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Macedonian, Spanish, Turkish and EALD.
Free
All students
5
Easy
Quia provides templates for creating 16 types of online activities, including flashcards, word search, battleship, challenge board, and cloze exercises and gives users access to shared activities that have been created by teachers from around the world in a range of learning areas, including languages. In addition Quia includes a classroom management system that enables teachers to assess student performance.
$49 per annual subscription
All students
5
Easy
Make your own interactive game at What2Learn or search for a game to play.
Free
Primary, junior secondary
5
Easy
Parade of Games in PowerPoint from the University of Winconsin, gives teachers access to some great games, but sadly for Mac users, they only work in a Windows environment.
Free
All students
3
Easy
The MFL Sunderland Student Zone gives users access to language games for French, German and Spanish.
Free
Upper primary, junior secondary
3
Easy
Tools for Educators offers teachers a free crossword puzzle maker using either pictures or text as hints.
Free
Teachers
3
Easy
Dave Regan’s “Armored Penguin” site enables you to generate your own Word search puzzle.You might also like to try out the Ultimate Word Search Maker and see which you prefer.
Free
Teachers
3
Easy
Language Games gives students access to ready-made word search, crossword and hangman games in French, German, Italian and Spanish.
Free
Primary, junior secondary
3
Easy
To generate your own game of Hangman with vocabulary you want your students to rehearse, click on the yellow button Create a Hangman Game and fill out all the boxes. Hint: When you enter your list of vocabulary, separate individual words with a comma OR a space, not both. Once you have created your hangman game, click on play and you can then access the HTML code which you can embed into a wiki or Moodle. Look at the following French example for practising adjectives to give you the general idea.
French adjectives hangman game » hangman creator
Free
Primary, junior secondary
3
Easy
Instructions from Clare Seccombe, a languages consultant in the UK for making puzzles, dominoes and follow-me cards.
Free
Primary, junior secondary
4
Difficult
The Digital Dialects website features free to use online flash based games for learning languages. Language resources include games for learning phrases, numbers, useful words, spelling, verb conjugation and alphabets. The games for some of the languages include an audio element.
Free
Primary, junior secondary
4
Easy
At WordLearner you can create printable worksheets, puzzles & flashcards and give your students access to online exercises & games for learning vocabulary.
Free or $20 for all features
Primary, junior secondary
4
Easy
With LinguaZone, you customise games and word lists for your students to use at school or home. There is an annual fee, which varies according to the number of features you select.
Basic and pro plans
Primary, junior secondary
4
Easy
This Free Technology for Teachers post, lists links to 7 resources for learning a new language. A couple of these would just be of use to tourists looking for phrase-book type expressions but other links contain some useful games for language acquisition.
Free
Quiz makers
The Hot Potatoes suite includes six applications, enabling you to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web. There is also a clipart library, described as being useful to teach vocabulary in a variety of languages.
Free
Teachers
5
Medium
to hard
Explore a range of ready-made ProProfs language quizzes or make your own.
Free for teachers & a paid plan for extra features
Teachers
4
Medium
Use Quizdini to create your own multiple choice or click and match quizzes. Teachers register with Quizdini by paying a small donation.
$10
Teachers
Kuizza offers a simple way to create multiple choice quizzes. The quizzes can have questions with single or multiple correct answers. Any quiz that you create can instantly be viewed as a set of flashcards by simply clicking the "flashcards" button displayed along with each quiz.
Free
Teachers and students
5
Flashcard makers
Check out Flash Card Flash - A search engine that enables you to locate flashcards from a wide range of providers
With Quizlet you can access the ready-made cards in a range of languages/topics or make your own. Saved lists can be shared across mobile devices.
Free
Upper primary, secondary
5
Easy
StudyStack gives you access to ready-made flashcards in a range of languages or you can make your own. Use them for matching, hangman, crosswords, word search and scrambled word.
Free
All students
4
Easy
With Word Dynamo you or your students can create personalised vocab lists that you can rehearse with flashcards or matching games . You might like to check out the Spanish lists that others have created but be wary in case they contain errors.
Free
All students
3
Easy
Byki (Before you know it) is downloadable language-learning software presented in a flash card interface. The system tracks everything you learn, automatically presenting the appropriate material at just the right intervals – ensuring that the material you've covered is successfully locked into your memory. The free version gives access to a limited number of flashcards. The deluxe version ($69.95) provides access to a whole suite of extra and advanced features, including MP3 audio, advanced pronunciation practice, and engaging language-learning games. There is also an iPad/iPhone app. Check out this link for an independent review of Byki.
Free or deluxe version
Vocabulary trainers
Popling is avocabulary application for Windows or Mac. Selected vocabulary items pop onto your screen at regular intervals. You can choose from vocabulary sets in a range of languages.
Free
Provoc is a free and easy-to-use vocabulary trainer for Mac that will help you quickly learn your vocabulary.
Interlex is a free Windows application that helps you learn vocabulary in a foreign language quickly and easily.
Word cloud makers
Wordle clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and colour schemes. You can use accents in Wordle but unfortunately the program does not recognise Asian fonts at this stage. Finished Wordles can be printed, saved to your computer or to the Wordle gallery. Click here for a great hint that lets you use groups of words in Wordle. Click here for 23 ways of using Wordle in a languages classroom or here for 45 ways of using it in a range of learning areas.
If you feel like a change from Wordle check out Richard Byrne's post in which he outlines an additional four Word Cloud tools.
Tagxedo is another word cloud maker. This tool gives you the option of using shapes (apple, dove, heart and star) in your word clouds.
ImageChef is a wordle-like tool that allows users to make calligrams (an image of a word made up with the word) that can be adapted, embedded and/or downloaded. The Word Mosaic and the Poetry Blender tools seem to have the greatest application in a languages classroom.
Other vocab tools
How to learn a foreign language: Using mnemonics to learn words.
