1. Memrise is a site I have just recently started using with students, but I am really liking it. We are reading Las aventuras de Isabela by Karen Rowan and the set up of the levels makes it handy to use one level for each chapter. See sample course here: http://www.memrise.com/course/238452/las-aventuras-de-isabela/ Elena and I have selected key vocabulary from the chapter to pre-teach and Memrise allows students to interact with it by hearing user-created audio, putting language chunks together in order in various ways and to create Mems (visual aids to help them remember). Since I love Duolingo, Memrise is great because I can personalize the vocabulary to our in class course content. Users can also add multimedia (YouTube videos and slide shows to the course they create for added richness of experience.) Creating a course on Memrise is very user-friendly. Another way I used it today was to create a course for students to review topics from previous material this year. This was on student request because they like the site so much! I also today created some Spanish to Spanish practice activities. Although the site is set to be English to your language you are teaching, it accepted putting in a Spanish context cloze clue in the English side.
2. Lesson Paths- (formerly Mentor Mob) http://www.lessonpaths.com/ The Lesson Paths site is great as it allows users to create a path or playlist of activities for students to engage in to learn a topic. It is flexible in that via the playlist you can link to any website, including video sites like YouTube, create text for students to read for tasks and make quick check quizzes. I like it because for a unit I might take all of the key links and put them in the playlist and then embed it in my website page for the unit. I can also reference the activities in the playlist on worksheets students use as homework and they always know where to look. Here is a sample: http://spanishnsms.weebly.com/las-compras.html There are many existing searchable playlists available for people with a free account.
3. Quizlet- Quizlet is not a new site, but is has been an absolute staple for vocabulary practice for me for 4 years. It is flexible in that you can use picture or text prompts and now the audio can also be user-created, rather than computer-based. I have seen Quizlet continue to evolve and improve over the years I have been using it. For the last unit I had students make a copy of my clothing flashcard set and choose 15 of the 30 clothing terms that were in there so they were more invested in the vocabulary and could choose what they found to be most relevant. By copying it they then were able to delete what words they did not plan to use and then create their own set. I gave students the option to print a list from the site, which is very easy to do, write their own list down with drawings or just leave the vocabulary digitally. Here are a couple of sets that go with Chapter 1 of Las aventuras de Isabela. http://quizlet.com/35528008/las-aventuras-de-isabela-capitulo-1-esencial-flash-cards/ and http://quizlet.com/35639283/aventuras-de-isabela-capitulo-1-en-contexto-flash-cards/
4. Duolingo- https://www.duolingo.com/ I love that students can work at their own pace on Duolingo and it seems to engage most students. I have not formally assigned students to practice on the site this year because I wanted it to be a student choice activity based on interest in it for use independently or during choice time in class. I am however contemplating building in 15 minutes or so a week of time in class to practice and/or assigning it as homework once a week based on how well many students are doing with it. I would look at having students complete 1 learning module as an assignment and they could continue where they leave off each time or I could assign a particular one and then do a review activity on the content of the module as a whole class to see how they are doing with the concept outside of the context of the website/app. See my previous post on Duolingo for additional information.
5. Padlet- http://padlet.com/ has also been around for awhile. It used to be Wall Wisher. I have used it with students before to allow them to post responses to a question on a wall that everyone can see. However, I have most recently been using it as a fast and easy way to collect visual aids for writing prompts that can be used from year to year. While I collect a lot of my lesson materials on Pinterest, it is nice to have a spot as I am finding nice visuals so they are ready to go for student use. There is a space for a title and then text for me to give student directions on what to do with the pictures. While I have mostly been collecting them for writing prompts, I plan to start making use of the same visuals so students can have oral discussions as well. Here is an example from the clothing unit we are working on. Scroll down on the page just below the Lesson Paths embedded links. http://spanishnsms.weebly.com/las-compras.html
6. Google Docs- In my efforts to use less copies, more and more I am assigning homework digitally and Google Docs has been great for allowing students to access my document from a shared folder and then copy it for themselves. Students can then easily click on links for any textual or media-based interpretive activities I am asking them to do. A few students have still been printing the document, some will write answers in a notebook, but most are coming in and showing me their work from the iPad. It also works great when assignments have been assigned collaboratively.
What are your favorites?