Skip to Main Content

Open Educational Resources: Modern Languages

Open educational and open source resources

Attention Modern Language Educators: Unsure where to start? Let the librarians help. 

Complete the OER Search Request form and we'll start searching for you!

Text resources

Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning

The Center for Open Educational Resources & Language Learning (COERLL) is one of 16 National Foreign Language Resource Centers (LRC's) funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The overall mission of these federally-funded centers is to improve the teaching and learning of foreign languages by producing resources (materials and best practices) that can be profitably employed in a variety of settings.

World Language Resources

List of resources (for mostly French, Spanish and German) compiled as part of a federally funded grant to identify open educational resources for World Language teachers in Maine.

World Languages Community Portal

An educational resource for teaching and learning languages. Free materials for for many different languages.

Languages Open Resources Online

LORO contains resources for language teaching available to download and reuse, including those used by the Department of Languages at the Open University, UK.

Culturally Authentic Pictorial Lexicon

The CAPL project seeks to explore this idea through a collection of authentic photographs arranged by language and context.

Open Learn - Languages

Open Learn is an initiative of The Open University, UK. It provides supplemental materials for educators, including articles, podcasts, videos, games, and much more. In addition, it offers more than 700 free online classes.

MIT Open Courseware - Language

MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) is a web-based publication of virtually all MIT course content. OCW is open and available to the world and is a permanent MIT activity.

Resources by Language

MERLOT

MERLOT is a curated collection of free and open online teaching, learning, and faculty development services contributed and used by an international education community.

Open Stax CNX - Spanish

Several open textbooks on topics related to learning the Spanish language.

Spanish Literature (OpenStax)

Modules in English and Spanish including lesson plans, reading passages, and resources that emphasize the Spanish language using cultural and historical material.

OER Commons search for Spanish

Includes Acceso, a complete project out of the University of Kansas

Elementary Spanish I - Carnegie Mellon Open Course Initiative

Project Gutenberg - Language Education Bookshelf

Project Gutenberg provides a Language Education Bookshelf with a list of free and openly accessible Spanish books.

Spanish Grammar In Context

Online textbook developed by the Spanish In Texas project covering Spanish grammar.

Future Learn - Spanish

Learn how to ask for directions, shop for clothes, and order food and drinks in the sixth Spanish for Beginners course. Join us on a journey across the Americas and learn the basics of the Spanish language as you discover Latin American culture.

Open Learn - Spanish

Open Learn provides seven Spanish courses ranging from beginners to advanced Spanish, such as "Beginners’ Spanish: food and drink", "Spanish: Perspectivas porteñas", and "Spanish: espacios públicos."

Open Yale - Spanish and Portuguese

The course facilitates a close reading of Don Quixote in the artistic and historical context of renaissance and baroque Spain. Students are also expected to read four of Cervantes’ Exemplary Stories, Cervantes’ Don Quixote: A Casebook, and J.H. Elliott’s Imperial Spain.

SpinTX - Authentic Spanish Videos for Language Learning

Spanish language video clips with subtitles for teaching. Part of the Spanish In Texas Corpus project.

Audiria

Free Spanish podcasts arranged by level of proficiency, with exercises, textbook, personal stats, and other learning resources.

BBC Languages - Spanish

Lessons, phrases, vocabulary, tests, and links to news sources in 40 languages.

LangMedia

A collection of target language videos done by international students from the Five Colleges of Massachusetts in their home countries. Includes: Arabic, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Greek, Italian, and Portuguese.

LibriVox - Spanish

LibriVox contains recordings of literary classics, autobiographies, plays, and poetry among many other genres all recorded in a variety of languages. English, French, Germain and Italian are just a few of all languages represented on LibriVox.

Lingu@net World Wide

Comprehensive resource for a wide range of languages. Search by language, proficiency level, and source language. Each language has a large number of resources.

Memrise - Spanish

Uses images and audio to help memorize vocabulary. Interactive site that saves individual progress.

Mia Cositas

Resources for Spanish, French, and Chinese. Includes: Videos, thematic curriculum units complete lesson plans, student worksheets and resources, downloadable materials collections with activities, manipulatives and mini-posters over 40 virtual illustrated picturebooks organized thematically, as well as a list of vetted links.

Ojala que llueva cafe

Subjunctive exercises with songs.

Spanish Language and Culture

Has study modules, interactive activities, links to other resources, video with audio.

Online Spanish Textbook

Spanish 1050 Online Textbook contains 5 major units, each with sections on grammar, vocabulary, culture, and discussion topics.

SpInTX Videos

The SpinTX video archive provides access to selected video clips and transcripts from the Spanish in Texas Corpus, a collection of video interviews with bilingual Spanish speakers in Texas.

SpInTX Grammar

Spanish Grammar in Context contains detailed grammar explanations of the Spanish language. Unlike traditional reference grammars, each topic is explained using authentic video examples from the Spanish in Texas project. Accompanying practice quizzes are available on an open Canvas course site.

Hispanic Culture for the Spanish Classroom (Florida Open Educational Resource Repository)

Cultural-themed modules (in English and in Spanish) aimed at the introductory Spanish language classroom (high school and college). Includes reading passages and lesson plans that emphasize Hispanic culture through primary sources (photographs, images, letters, documents, etc.) available for free on the Our Americas Archive Partnership website.

Liberté

Liberté, by Gretchen Angelo, is a first-year college French textbook with a true communicative approach. It has been adopted by instructors at over thirty colleges and high schools.

Français interactif

This textbook of classroom activities and homework accompanies Français interactif, the web-based French program developed and in use at the University of Texas since 2004. It and its companion site, Tex’s French Grammar (2000) are open access sites, free and open multimedia resources, which require neither password nor fees.

Les Conversations Mises à Jour

Les Conversations Mises à Jour is a collection of authentic conversations in French that targets mostly intermediate and advanced learners of French.

Elementary French I and II

Elementary French I is a carefully sequenced and highly interactive presentation of French language and culture in a media-rich course environment including new video shot in France and Québec with young professional actors. It is designed to be used as a full course of study. To successfully use this course, you should be a motivated student with a sincere desire to learn about French language and francophone cultures, and be comfortable with computer technologies. The time commitment will typically average 6-8 hours per week.

French in Action

This program is "French in Action", and on this website, educators and students can partake of all 52 half-hour programs at their leisure.

Project Gutenberg - France Bookshelf

Project Gutenberg's list of French books in the public domain that are available freely online.

Project Gutenberg - Language Education Bookshelf

MERLOT

MERLOT is a curated collection of free and open online teaching, learning, and faculty development services contributed and used by an international education community. 

Beginners' French: In the City

This free course, Beginners' French: in the city, helps you to acquire the basic language to find your way around a French town. You will learn how to understand and give directions, ask about accommodation, book a hotel room at the tourist information office and get information about what to see and do in the local area.

Beginners’ French: food and drink

In this free course, Beginners' French: Food and drink, you will also gain an insight into French societies and cultures through focusing on food and drink. You will listen to French speakers in a variety of situations, and you will be provided with some skills for coping with reading texts.

Coursera

Every course on Coursera is taught by top instructors from the world’s best universities and educational institutions. Courses include recorded video lectures, auto-graded and peer-reviewed assignments, and community discussion forums.

Intermediate French: Le quatorze juillet

This free course, Intermediate French: Le quatorze juillet, is taken from Ouverture, a language module that concentrates on French as a tool for communication, but it also provides some insights into French society and culture through authentic printed, audio and video materials.

Intermediate French: Ouverture

This free course, Intermediate French: Ouverture, is taken from Ouverture, a language course that concentrates on French as a tool for communication, but it also provides some insights into French society and culture through authentic printed, audio and video materials.

BBC Languages - French

Lessons, phrases, vocabulary, tests, and links to news sources in 40 languages. Site is no longer updated, but most resources are still very useful.

Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning

COERLL's mission is to produce and disseminate online language courses, reference grammars, and assessment tools in an open way. Each of the 17 represented languages on COERLL's website features a list of resources each of which is tailored to its respective language.

French Language locations in Second Life

Immersive French-language locations in Second Life, with different themes.

LangMedia

A collection of target language videos done by international students from the Five Colleges of Massachusetts in their home countries. Includes: Arabic, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Greek, Italian, and Portuguese.

LibriVox - French

LibriVox contains recordings of literary classics, autobiographies, plays, and poetry among many other genres all recorded in a variety of languages. English, French, Germain and Italian are just a few of all languages represented on LibriVox.

Lingu@net World Wide

Comprehensive resource for a wide range of languages. Search by language, proficiency level, and source language. Each language has a large number of resources.

Mis Cositas- French

Includes: Videos, thematic curriculum units complete lesson plans, student worksheets and resources, downloadable materials collections with activities, manipulatives and mini-posters over 40 virtual illustrated picture-books organized thematically, as well as a list of vetted links.

The SMaLL Portal

SMaLL is the intersection of social media and web technology researchers and practitioners for the world language classroom. Share and review resources, tools, activities, and research projects in order to increase professional development and collaboration in this vital area.

Memrise - French

Uses images and audio to help memorize vocabulary. Interactive site that saves individual progress.

Gateway to Chinese

A collection of free interactive language learning resources for beginning Mandarin Chinese. Students now have the option to practice pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, listening, and reading skills at their own convenience.

Gateway to Chinese: Dialogues [audio]

This podcast series consists of simple dialogue exchanges. The listening materials are suitable for beginners and help them take the first step toward becoming proficient listeners. The contents of these 72 dialogues are completely based on the beginning level Chinese curriculum.

Gateway to Chinese Grammar Lessons [video playlist]

Grammar lessons for beginning Mandarin Chinese language learning.

Chinese Flashcards (Center for OER and Language Learning/University of Texas at Austin)

Chinese Rhetoric and Writing by Andy Kirkpatrick; Zhichang Xu

A book that provides teachers of writing, and in particular those involved in the teaching of English academic writing to Chinese students, an introduction to key stages in the development of Chinese rhetoric, a wide-ranging field with a history of several thousand years.

Global Textbook Project

Collection of textbooks in business, computer science, education, health, science, and the social sciences. Maintained by the University of Georgia.

Beginning Chinese

This is a textbook that prepares students to learn the basics of the Chinese language.
The electronic textbook has both .doxc format and .pdf format available in the Google Doc platform.

UNC Mandarin Chinese Online Textbook

Learn the basics of the Chinese spoken and written language and to have basic conversations about yourself, your family, school, and daily activities.

Practice vocabulary on the go! This flashcard exercise is an engaging and effective way to review vocabulary terms from the convenience of your mobile device.

Deutsch Im Blick by Zsuzsanna Abrams

This textbook is newly revised and includes all 10 chapters of Deutsch im Blick. It accompanies http://coerll.utexas.edu/dib/, the web-based first-year German program developed and in use at the University of Texas since 2008, and its companion site, Grimm Grammar http://coerll.utexas.edu/gg/. Deutsch im Blick is an open access site with free and open multimedia resources, which requires neither password nor fees. Deutsch im Blick has been funded and created by Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services at the University of Texas.

A Foundation Course in Reading German by Alan Ng and Dr. Sarah Korpi

"Guides a learner who has no previous German experience to gain the ability to accurately understand formal written German prose, aided only by a comprehensive dictionary. Specific objectives include:
Explain enough grammatical and syntactical information about the German language to enable you to read any desired text with the aid of a dictionary.

German Frame-semantic Online Lexicon (G-FOL)

A prototype of a new kind of pedagogical dictionary. The goal is to help students learn how words are used in modern-day German and in real life contexts.

 Grimm Grammar

An online German grammar reference, featuring zany post-modern Grimm’s fairy tale characters, authoritative grammar explanations, self-correcting exercises, online audio and cartoon images.

Learn German with Herr Antrim

Videos and other resources are free. Textbook is available for download for a low cost.