The 10 Best Language Apps for in the Classroom

Speaking more than one language increases your chances in the job market. It also lets you learn from different cultures and reduces communication problems.

Then why don’t students want to learn languages? Is it too dull? Is it too hard or not “hot” enough? Don’t they see the benefits, or do they just not care?

Some of these assumptions you cannot change, but others you can. Making learning languages more fun will encourage students to learn. Creating success stories with your students will make them crave more success and learn harder. It’s that easy.

The best way to learn a language can be a fun way. So, how do you do that? In this post, I’ll show you some incredible language-learning apps you can use to teach foreign languages.

The best language learning apps

Language courses

Get your students more active by letting them do fun homework. Not ordinary language worksheets. Instead, let them learn from the apps below! I’m sure their parents will encourage them even more. When your students have finished an exercise early, you can challenge them to level up in these educational language apps. This makes waiting for other students not as dull as it actually is.

1. Duolingo

Duolingo is made for learning foreign languages and was awarded “the app of the year” in 2013. Google invested a lot in the language app. There are 21 languages to choose from.

Students set a goal of 5 to 20 minutes a day and choose whether they are beginners. If not, they have to take a placement test. Duolingo focuses on words and their translation and is very intuitive.

Students even get reminders if they miss a session. The best part is that it’s a free learning app.

2. Babbel

This language app looks a lot like Duolingo, but with a more mature layout. You can choose between 14 languages.

Here, you don’t have to take a placement test. Just choose between a beginner or a more advanced student. This might be the biggest downside to the language learning app.

Nevertheless, don’t turn it down because of that. You can practice wherever you want because it also works in your web browser!

The first session is free, but you must register and pay a monthly fee to continue.

3. Busuu

Just like the two apps above, this app teaches you a language. Choose from 12 languages and choose if you are a beginner or not. If not, you can jump into a lesson further down the road.

The basic version is free and teaches you a language using flashcards.

Busuu also has a community. Help other language learners by exchanging tips in your mother tongue. That way, you are learning a foreign language and also helping someone else grasp your own language.

Language games

Let your students play educational games between short lesson breaks or quiet moments. Some students finish their work earlier than others, so why not reward them by letting them play these fun language apps? If money is a problem, you can ask their parents to buy the app. That way, parents will motivate them even more to play the language teaching game at home.

4. Elevate

This language development gaming app makes learning foreign languages fun and easy. It helps to build your vocabulary but also aids you in strengthening your conversational skills.

The app offers eight amazing games to help you master over a thousand words and phrases. Each language has about 50 lessons designed by Ivy League instructors.

Only the first couple of lessons are free, though. You must pay around 5 dollars to access all fifty lessons.

After learning some words, you practice them by playing a fun game. You keep playing the games until you really know all the words. Then, you level up!

5. Learn with Lingo Arcade

This apps works just like Mindsnacks. The only difference is the layout and the games you have to play.

Level 1 to 21 is free; you have to pay 5 dollars to unlock all levels. You must get 80% on the first set to play another game. This means you have to keep practicing until you understand it!

6. Count to ten

Count to Ten, the International Numbers Game is a game which teaches students how to count from one to ten in whatever language they choose.

Although the only vocabulary words that can be learned are numbers, this is still a handy app and fun game. The game challenges players to compete against others in duels to get the highest score possible.

7. Memrise

You could say this is more like a language course, but it’s not. Because of the storyline and images, it’s more like a game. One in which you travel to a foreign planet as a spy. You score points for correct answers.

Most lessons consist of memorizing specific words and phrases using mems, which are strange sentences or images.

The app’s basic functionality is free, but a subscription will give you access to additional games and an offline mode.

Q&A & social sharing

8. TripLingo

This app teaches you all the basic sentences you need when you take a holiday to that certain country. Keep the app with you and browse through it when you want to explain yourself and ask for something simple.

You can download the basic version for free or pay 5 euros for the complete version. This app might help your students a lot when they visit a foreign country.

The language app is divided into 12 general themes. All themes address topics you’ll need when traveling, so this app can come in handy for you, too!

9. HelloTalk

HelloTalk is the first global language and culture exchange community that connects you with native speakers of other languages.

Search for people whose needs match yours, practice your target language with native speakers via text or audio messages, use the free audio and video call to better practice your listening and speaking skills, share moments with other members and get likes and comments, and use some other specific learning features such as the translation tool, grammar correction, text-to-voice feature, and voice recognition to improve your writing/speaking skills.

This app teaches you to communicate in a foreign language with other people. Start a conversation, and they will correct you. It’s free, and you can make new friends. Let your students start conversations with people as a fun and real-time exercise. That is why this app is an amazing language fluency tool.

Language content creation

10. BookWidgets

If you want to make your own content instead of following every word in these apps, you should try out BookWidgets. Learning languages with BookWidgets is possible, too. Choose between more than 40 different exercise templates to add your own content and make learning interactive. Explore the bingo sheet, a pair matching exercise, the crossword puzzle, the randomness widget, and many more. Your students will love it! Check out this amazing webinar recording with lots of lesson examples for language teachers. It will inspire you to create more engaging language lessons. We added a few language activities created with BookWidgets below. Go check them out! You can duplicate them into your free BookWidgets account, change them if needed and share them with your students.

In this listening exercise, your students listen to a fun podcast and answer the questions within this digital worksheet. .

In this writing and speaking exercise, your students must write and talk about what they think school is for. It’s a creative assignment enacouraging your students to give “Slam Poetry” a try.

In this creative reading activity, your students read road instructions and have to replicate them on the whiteboard next to it by drawing on it!

In this creative prepositions activity, your students must draw a picture while listening to the instructions.

In this Pair Matching BookWidgets activity, your students learn about English idioms.

You can also create a flashcards activity to teach students English Expressions.

Wrap up!

That’s it! I hope this collection of 10 effective language apps. I hope I inspired you to use these digital language resources in parts of your lessons and engage your students. As we said, these 10 language teaching aids go from interactive learning games for your students to hands-on exercises. These activities are designed to spark curiosity and foster a love for learning. Let students solve your exercises on their tablets or computers. You can even make great language games in just a few minutes. Check out these fun examples in this post: 7 creative ways to teach languages.

Want to learn more about creating engaging lesson activities with BookWidgets?

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