ChatGPT is a popular and flexible AI chatbot that can be an invaluable tool for Spanish language teachers.

Features: The new GPT-4o model features a new ChatGPT Voice interface, that can handle interruptions and even pick up on a user's emotions! It’s ideal for enabling fluid, human-like interactions that are ideal for conversing in Spanish.

ChatGPT can generate texts on various topics for students to practice and improve their reading comprehension skills. Teachers can also utilize ChatGPT to provide clear and concise explanations for intricate texts, aiding students' comprehension of challenging materials. In addition, ChatGPT can offer tailored feedback on students' writing, pinpointing areas for improvement.

It can also generate examples of good writing, helping students understand how to structure their work. Furthermore, using ChatGPT’s voice feature, students can practice pronouncing words or sentences, role-play with chatbot, or just have a dialogue in Spanish. Finally, ChatGPT can provide comprehensive explanations for idioms, phrases, and intricate concepts.

Tom’s Take: The interactive nature of ChatGPT makes language learning more engaging and less intimidating for beginner and intermediate learners. Its 24/7 availability ensures that students can practice at any time, providing flexibility that traditional classroom settings might not offer.

Price: The newest, fastest, and most advanced model is GPT-4o and is free to use, though some features may not appear immediately.

TalkPal is an AI language mentor that utilizes GPT technology, enabling users to participate in discussions on a wide range of topics in both written and verbal forms.

Features: The TalkPal platform offers unrestricted access to a vast array of captivating subjects, allowing users to learn by writing or speaking, supplemented by messages in a realistic voice.

With TalkPal, users can choose particular areas of interest for conversation. The platform's features are designed not only to make language learning fun but also to immerse learners in real-world situations.

Serving learners of Spanish, English, French, German, and Italian, TalkPal assists in improving listening, reading, writing, and speaking skills. It uses voices that sound authentic to make conversations appear real and includes role-playing to aid in grammar learning.

Tom’s Take: Talkpal is a flexible tool for providing students with various opportunities for conversational writing, reading, speaking, and listening interactive speaking practice outside of the classroom.

I like Talkpal’s various scenarios for discussion and its voices and accents sound authentic. However, I don’t like that the audio mode requires a premium account. Overall, Talkpal’s conversational capabilities and feedback features are helpful for fostering speaking confidence and real-world communication skills.

Price: Talkpal offers a free version with 10 minutes daily use, as well as premium subscription plans starting at $5.99 per month.

Duolingo, the world's most widely used educational app, boasts tens of millions of subscribers who collectively complete an astonishing 1 billion exercises daily. The platform provides approximately 100 courses for learning languages, with lessons encompassing reading, writing, listening, speaking, and more.

Features: The learning environment in Duolingo is driven by AI and gamified, featuring brief, interactive exercises and AI customization in a setting that is both enjoyable and challenging. (The Duolingo Stories are simply hilarious!) Users accumulate points, earn rewards, and vie for advanced levels. Its AI mechanism, Birdbrain, assesses the difficulty of exercises and the proficiency of users. Based on feedback from learners, Birdbrain chooses exercises for future lessons, maintaining a balance between challenging and motivating users.

In August 2023, Duolingo introduced "Duolingo Max," incorporating unique AI features into selected courses and devices. Utilizing OpenAI's GPT-4, Duolingo can provide AI-produced clarifications, assisting users who repeatedly make errors, and allows users to practice dialogues with AI-powered characters, improving real-world conversational abilities.

Tom’s Take: Duolingo is a fantastic platform for world language teachers looking to provide their students with a fun, engaging, and effective way to supplement their language learning outside of the classroom. I’m a huge fan of its bite-size listening, reading, writing, and speaking exercises. (Duolingo Stories are hilarious!)

Duolingo has kept me engaged and motivated to improve my Spanish and Italian with useful features and constant upgrades. Its adaptive, gamified approach increases motivation, autonomy, and self-directed learning.

Price: Free with ads, paid options add extra features.

Memrise is a language-learning app that's available on both Android and iPhone and boasts over 45 million active users across the globe to date.

Features: Memrise is designed to make the process of learning a foreign language fun and exciting. The courses and programs on the app are like different stages and levels of a game. You can progress from beginner to intermediate and advanced levels of learning by completing the various steps. There are 7 levels in Spanish, each with dozens of courses (“decks”).

Memrise uses spaced repetition, which presents the same words at the right intervals to ensure they are remembered. As a Memrise user, you get access to professional video and audio lessons from natives during each course, a great addition to their multimedia lessons.

The new Memrise Discord App allows learners to practice the language they're studying with an Users can have one-on-one conversations with the chatbot, or join a groups and converse collectively.

Tom”s Take: I used Memrise for a few months to learn Spanish and was impressed with its diverse content and effective method.

Price: Free and paid options. But much content is available for free.

Drops is an engaging language learning app that is part of the Kahoot! family.

Features: Drops is colorful and lively app that focuses mainly on teaching vocabulary. Like its inspiration, Kahoot!, Drops is game-based and has a minimalistic design.

Each card contains one icon-based design, an audio file, the vocabulary word, and the English translation. Words are organized under practical categories like Travel Talk, Fun and Recreation, Nature and Animals, and more. The Review Dojo is a special section in Drops to test what you’ve learned using spaced-repetition algorithm.

With Drops, you can learn more than 2,500 words across over 150 topics in minutes a day. The app is available in 42+ languages, and is compatible with mobile devices.

Tom’s Take: Drops is fun — as much fun as Kahoot! It’s a lively and helpful platform that has received a lot of favorable ratings and reviews from users and has been featured by CNET and Forbes.

Price: The free version allows for 5 minutes of practice a day.

Quizlet provides users with the ability to generate flashcards containing terms and definitions or use flashcards created by others.

Features: With Quizlet, teachers have the option to create their own flashcard sets or choose from the millions of sets produced by other users. Flashcards can be utilized in various learning activities and modes to assist students in learning, memorizing, and mastering content.

For example, with Quizlet Test, a teacher can input correct and incorrect responses, and the assessment will be automatically graded. "Quizlet Live" allows teachers to use flashcards in a live, cooperative game-based setting.

Recently, Quizlet launched four generative tools powered by AI: Magic Notes, Memory Score, Quick Summary, and Expert Solutions. With Magic Notes, students can upload their notes and convert them into study aids, including outlines, flashcards, and practice tests. The Memory Score feature enables students to gauge their familiarity with the material and plan reviews. The Quick Summary feature assists students in retaining key concepts from dense readings, and Expert Solutions provide students with step-by-step instructions on how to tackle various homework problems.

Tom’s Take: Quizlet is ideal for students learning Spanish vocabulary, grammar, and idioms. I’ve used it for years to learn Spanish and Italian and am impressed by how Quizlet is constantly updated.

Price: Free plan has limited features. individual teacher plan costs $44.99/year.