Lingt is a web based language learning tool for teachers. It is being beta tested, so there are a few bugs. Lingt allows you to make assignments that incorporate voice, video, images, and text. Students can then complete the assignments (oral and/or written); the teacher can then review student responses.
I signed up to demo Lingt and created a listening assignment and a speaking assignment, both in Russian, here. The editor is easy to use, but doesn’t allow for much flexibility in formatting. Recording audio prompts is simple as well, but there is no sound editor, so I had to record my prompts over and over many times until I was satisfied. The assignment editor allows you to embed YouTube videos, which is great for listening exercises. The text editor leaves much to be desired; font, text size and other formatting options can’t be changed from the default. Also, it would be nice if there were more response options besides just writing and voice (e.g., multiple choice).
Still, Lingt is a better tool for creating speaking exercises than anything I’ve seen. Here are some of the possibilities beyond what I explored in my example assignments, given in the Lingt FAQ:
- Dialogs: Follow your voice recordings with voice prompts to simulate dialogs that you invent yourself or that you take from your textbook.
- Pronunciation: Record your pronunciation of key vocabulary or phrases and prompt students to repeat what they hear. Encourage them to listen to their recording and compare with your own.
- Dictation: Record your voice and prompt students to type what they hear.
- Video commentary: Have students react to a video in real-time to approximate real immersion.
- Translation: Prompt students to translate to or from the foreign language. Use any combination of text and voice to have students speak their translations or type out a translation to your inserted text.
- Reading: Insert a short story or primary source and prompt students to read it.
- Culture exercises: Use maps, menus, signs, or other primary sources in the foreign language and prompt students to interpret and give their opinion. Insert videos to introduce students to songs, commercials, or TV shows from a foreign country.
- Visual interaction: Present images and videos to students and prompt them to interpret or describe what they see and hear.
To open a demo account, sign up on the Lingt homepage; I received my login information within a week.