5. Back to School with Tech: Top 6 Digital Tools for ELT Classrooms

by Tamara Trías

If you’re anything like me, you have probably spent the last few years getting into Wordwall, Jamboard, Quizlet, Padlet, Kahoot!, and GarticPhone. These are the digital aids I use in many lessons, and I know I’m not alone. However, Jamboard is now being closed down, Quizlet, Padlet, and Kahoot! aren’t what they used to be, and there’s only so much you can do with rest.

At the start of the school year (assuming you’re at a school that doesn’t offer classes year-round!), it’s always useful to check out new tools and see what the latest crop of offerings can do to make your digital classroom feel fresh. In this article, I’ve chosen seven digital tools that I don’t think everyone yet knows about - hopefully there’ll be a couple here at least that you’ll want to add to your digital toolkit!


1. ClassroomScreen

This website is one of my favorites and one I use daily. It’s an online whiteboard, but not a regular one; you have a wide variety of widgets with which to personalize it. These widgets include a timer, notepad, dice, calendar, stickers, group maker, and random name picker, among many others. Having seen teachers using YouTube videos of all things as a timer, I can see the advantage of bringing a more professional offering into your classroom!

It also includes a widget to create the daily schedule and display it throughout the day so students know in advance what’s next, reducing anxiety and providing a sense of security (readers of Stephen Tarbuck’s article on Whiteboard Management in Issue 52 will know just what I mean!).

The website also offers templates created by teachers, such as daily check-ins, games, and exit tickets.

It has a free version with all the features and a premium version that lets you save the screens you’ve created.

2. Twin Pics

  • Tweens, teens, and adults
  • Good for: vocabulary, prompt engineering, describing pictures
  • Price: free
  • Website: https://twinpics.ai/

This website is a hidden gem and another one that I use regularly - anyone who has played games like Dixit will appreciate how much fun this can be. Powered by AI, it generates a different picture every day, and students have 100 characters with which to write a prompt to match the picture. Then, it generates a picture with that prompt and gives it a score.

With this tool, students learn new vocabulary, practice describing pictures, and learn about prompt engineering. And the best part? It’s 100% free!

Suggested idea: Use it as a weekly bell ringer to get students actively using the language. Get them in groups to write the prompt, generate all the pictures, and see who gets the highest score. To end the activity, discuss why one prompt scored higher than the others.

3. Neal.fun

  • Tweens and teens
  • Good for: fun, vocabulary, numbers
  • Price: free
  • Website: https://neal.fun/

Are you looking for some fun and easy-time fillers? Neal.fun is your answer! It offers lots of mini-games to play as a whole class.

There are some games you can use to practice specific things. For example, in The Auction Game, you are presented with different art or historical objects and have to guess the price they were sold for—perfect for practicing numbers!

Suggested idea: Use it if you have finished your lesson and have some extra time before dismissal. My class’s favorite is The Password Game, where they have to create a password following certain crazy rules like the numbers must add up to 25, including the solution of that day’s Wordle, and more! It might seem like it only involves one person at a time, but if you put your students into teams and make solving each ‘clue’ into a race, you’ll find the game can expand and expand.

4. Khan Academy: Refresh

Kickstart your lessons with these fun warm-up activities from Khan Academy. This website offers a series of questions and simple activities to engage students in speaking and sharing their thoughts. You can use the randomizer or browse the three categories: heart, hand, and head. Heart prompts are related to social-emotional learning and mindfulness; head prompts help stimulate minds; and hand prompts are hands-on activities. Some example prompts are: “Write down your top hashtag for today,” “Share the best and worst moments of the week,” and “Draw a flag that represents your neighborhood.”

Suggested idea: Use it as a warmer to get your students into the lesson or as a five-minute brain break.


5. Once Upon a Picture

This wonderful website has tons of incredible pictures and illustrations to spark conversation and be used as writing prompts. Using visual cues can help students understand the setting and context, making it easier to generate ideas and vocabulary related to the pictures.

Each picture comes with questions and prompts to make it easier for you to use in your lessons.

Suggested idea: use it as a weekly discussion point, as a writing activity, or even as a whole lesson using the questions that come with each picture.

6. Twee

  • All ages and levels
  • Good for: lesson planning and creating tasks
  • Price: freemium
  • Website: https://twee.com/

This AI tool has the potential to be a game-changer for EFL teachers! With a vast variety of tools sorted by skill, you can create tasks for your lessons in just seconds and gain back your free time!

Among the various tools, you can create a fill-in-the-gaps exercise based on any text, create a multiple-choice quiz based on a YouTube video (you only need to copy and paste the link to the video), create a dialogue based on a specific topic or vocabulary list, and so much more.

All the tasks generated come with the key, and as you create each task, you can continue adding more tasks. For example, if you created a multiple-choice exercise, then you can add a true or false exercise or a task where students have to choose the best title for the text.

This website is truly amazing - though with anything amazing, there comes a price. The free version limits you to 20 runs a month for text and 10 for video, and after that it can get a little pricey. However, if your school has a budget for digital tools, I think it would be well worth putting some of it towards a subscription.


As I said before, we have to adapt to new technologies and know that integrating digital tools into our ELT classrooms can enhance student engagement, help with classroom management, and create a more dynamic learning environment. My advice for this new school year is to explore the tools mentioned in this article and incorporate at least one into your teaching practice. Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone; that’s where growth happens! Remember, though, to always explore the tools yourself before presenting them to your students to avoid surprises.

Let’s ensure that this school year becomes a period of discovery and self-improvement for our students as well as for us. Have a happy teaching experience!

Author Biography

Tamara Trías is a teacher from Uruguay and is now pursuing a specialization in EdTech. She teaches English at Life School in Uruguay and has delivered webinars and workshops for teachers about EdTech and AI tools. She also runs @techtools.uy, an Instagram account where she shares tips and tools to help teachers incorporate digital tools into their lessons.