One of the biggest challenges of being a world language teacher is ensuring that your lessons and materials are always fresh and engaging. But it can be hugely time consuming to keep producing new material for each lesson and we all have days where our creativity runs a little low!
That’s when the amazing community of your fellow language educators really comes to your aid with some inspiration and guidance. You already know that there’s a wealth of lesson material available online, but it can often be of poor quality. It’s far better to bookmark a range of blogs and websites from other practitioners whose content is tested with students and fit for purpose. You might also learn a new language teaching approach to add to your current teaching practice!
We’ve identified 10 of the best websites and blogs for language teachers that are relevant in the year 2024 and that are written by professional language teachers. These websites and blogs offer a wealth of information and lesson resources for a range of languages.
Let us know what you think of this list and we’d love to hear your recommendations of blogs / websites we should include in a future post. Just email us at info@sanako.com to send in your ideas.
1. Language Resources
Samantha Broom teaches Spanish and French and is currently Head of the Languages Faculty at a school in the North West of England. Her website, Language Resources, does exactly what its name suggests and you’ll find stacks of great resources for teaching French, German and Spanish on it.
Given that she’s a published and highly experienced author and producer of learning materials, you can be reassured that her content is of high quality and suitable for use in your language classroom.
2. Toda-lly Comprehensible Latin
Of course, it’s not just modern foreign languages that have websites dedicated to them! There’s a wealth of expert teaching resources available online for all languages whether they’re ancient or modern!
Toda-lly Comprehensible Latin is run by Keith Toda, who teaches Latin at Parkview High School in the US. His school has over 700 students learning this amazing language, which he suggests is “one of the largest Latin programs in the nation.” Keith is a prolific content creator and sharer, publishing several times a month and does an amazing job bringing Latin to life in the 21st Century.
3. Italiano Automatico
This website and YouTube channel is dedicated to teaching Italian through a natural, immersive approach that exposes students to authentic Italian content. The site’s founder, Alberto, provides a wealth of free content for teachers and students to use. This includes a significant collection of free video lessons covering a wide range of topics, from Italian grammar and vocabulary to Italian culture and history.
This is supported by a regularly updated blog that contains articles on grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and more! There’s a wide variety of content here to supplement your teaching and it all aims to provide practice opportunities and to help learners develop their listening and reading comprehension skills.
4. German with Antrim
German with Antrim is a comprehensive resource for German teachers, offering a wide range of materials and support to enhance their teaching and help their students succeed in learning the language.
It contains a wealth of resources for German language teachers including worksheets, video scripts, grammar charts and detailed lesson plans. This extensive collection of materials allows teachers to diversify their lessons, cater to different learning styles, and address various aspects of the German language. Herr Antrim, a high school German teacher, also incorporates a wealth of cultural insights that help broaden students’ understanding of German society, traditions and everyday life.
5. Talk In Arabic
This is a very user-friendly online Arabic learning platform that offers a variety of resources to help teachers enhance their Arabic instruction. Importantly, it provides a variety of authentic content in 8 of the most common Arabic dialects giving exposure to the full breadth of spoken language. These are backed up by pronunciation guides to ensure that students are making the right sounds.
The site’s blog is particularly useful and offers a wide range of topical content. Articles are regularly posted, highlighting useful resources and providing lots of invaluable authentic vocabulary as well as grammar hints and tips. Everything is grounded in real life experience (e.g food, clothing etc.) exposing students to the natural flow and nuances of Arabic communication, enhancing their comprehension and fluency skills.
6. Bitesize Irish
Everything you need to know about this site is contained in their motto – Gaeilge Gach Lá or Irish Every Day. It’s dedicated to supporting and encouraging learners to build fluency and confidence by regularly speaking Irish.
The blog contains language cheat sheets, how-to’s and pronunciation guides whilst its live Q+A show notes provide topical, contextual content for learners. Creators also provide interviews with other language learners, who share insights from their own learning journeys. Further free resources are available via a regular email newsletter, a YouTube channel and downloadable ebooks.
7. MandarinHQ
Founded and run by Angel Huang, MandarinHQ is based on a simple yet brilliant premise: it aims to bridge the gap between textbook Chinese and real spoken Chinese. The site therefore focuses on developing the key skills that will enable learners to “confidently communicate” in Mandarin in a variety of real-life settings.
Angel has a degree in Mandarin Chinese Language Teaching and more than 17 years of international teaching experience in China and Sweden. Her site caters for all types of paid-for language learners, but there’s also lots of free resources for teachers on her blog. We love its highly topical nature (e.g a recent post on Halloween vocab) and its constant focus on building clear, confident communication skills.
8. EFL Creative Ideas
Of course, there’s no shortage of resources out there for English language teachers, but this one comes with a bit of a twist as it’s written by a passionate EFL educator from Argentina!
What brought this site to our attention are the amazing topical lesson resources at its heart. These all come in the form of a lesson plan with clear learning objectives, reference to key topics and target CEFR levels. Each lesson is based on a piece of authentic English text and most also contain links to additional extension and supporting resources (e.g a newspaper article or further video material).
9. Spanish with Kevin
Argentina is also home for Kevin, who runs this great website for Spanish learners and teachers. He’s a native Spanish teacher with extensive experience of working with a wide variety of learners looking to learn the language.
Most Spanish content, courses and teachers focus on European or Mexican Spanish, which ignores all the different dialects and variations to be found across South America. Kevin’s brilliantly positioned therefore to offer a compelling and different slice of real life.
His blog (and the rest of the site content) is focused on helping students communicate in a variety of real life situations and to “develop fluency and confidence” in their oral skills. Kevin posts regularly and his content highlights grammar, vocab and common language expressions, along with a good measure of Argentinian culture.
10. French Today
With over 600 free lessons, this really is a must visit website for all French teachers. Hosted on the website’s blog, the lessons cover a huge range of topics including hints and tips on learning French grammar and vocabulary along with French cuisine, fashion, travel and culture.
All of the lessons are really topical and students / teachers can easily toggle the English translations on and off to check their answers and understanding. Camille is a highly experienced teacher and her resources are clear, simple and intuitive. She aims to quickly build students’ confidence and competence in using real / modern French language.
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