Kahoot! turns language learning into a fun and engaging experience. What’s the single most important key to learning something new? Practice! And Kahoot turns practice into gamified experiences that help you stay consistent in your language learning journey. Learning becomes an entertaining and enjoyable process. No wonder over a billion people play Kahoot! every year!
These gamified quizzes are called “Kahoots”. You can make your own Kahoot on any topic or use any of the 50 million+ pre-built Kahoots on the site. You can learn (play really) solo or have your friends join in the fun. You just need to sign up on Kahoot.com or install the Kahoot! app and get started on your language learning journey – absolutely for free!
Play pre-existing Kahoots
If you are starting your language learning journey with Kahoot!, it’ll be best to explore what pre-existing Kahoots are there for you. The “Discover” option gives you access to an unlimited number of existing Kahoots. There is even a search bar at the top. Go ahead and type in the name of your target language.
Let’s say I go with French. Now, there might be a few Kahoots that may require a paid subscription to Kahoot!+, but keep scrolling and you’ll find a lot of Kahoots that are accessible for free. These include topics covering French grammar and vocabulary, such as ‘French numbers 100+’, ‘French School Supplies’, ‘French Food’, ‘French -er verbs’, and even ‘World History: The French Revolution’. And these are just a few. You can find many more Kahoots suiting your interests and language-learning needs. You get to learn not just the language itself, but also the culture that your target language is a part of!
Use game modes to practice language learning
Once you choose the Kahoot of your choice, there are several game modes, some of which don’t even require creating an account on the app! It’s that easy and simple.
- Live game allows you to start a fun, interactive lesson. You can host it in-person, with questions on a bigger screen, and others answering on their devices, or you can share it with remote players.
- Single Player gives you the option to play on your own. There is sometimes a YouTube video lesson embedded within the game itself. You can select or come up with a cute nickname for yourself, and you’re good to go! Each question is timed. The faster you choose the right option, the more you score. After each question, you can see your ranking on the scoreboard. It’s so thrilling to see yourself rise to the top as you answer all the questions correctly! After you’re done with the game, you get a summary of all the answers, which helps you learn from your mistakes.
- Assignment allows you to send the Kahoot to anyone as an assignment. If you’re learning your target language from a tutor, they can send you Kahoots as assignments (with a deadline). Or, if you have friends learning the same language, you can challenge them to a Kahoot now!
“Kahoot has been a game changer for me, for my classes with kids as well as adults. It gamifies the quiz experience, and while each learner learns, it also helps me see how much the learners have absorbed in real time without creating a ‘test vibe’.”
Annie, Founder and Educator at Urdu With Annie
Study on the go with Kahoot!
Apart from gamified language quizzes, Kahoot! facilitates you in your learning journey by allowing you to study your topics properly.
The Study feature contains four options:
- Study Group allows you to bring your friends along on the ride. Just make a group, invite members to it, add a game, and have fun!
- Flashcards option is quite self-explanatory but an amazing feature. Whether you’re looking to learn French greetings or basic words and phrases in Spanish, you don’t need to carry a notebook along. Just memorize the vocab using the Flashcards feature. You can learn at your own pace by either choosing Study again or Got it depending on how well you know the answer. Once you’re done with the flashcards, you can directly move on to the practice session!
- Practice allows you to determine how well you’ve studied the topic. The questions are the same as the flashcards so there aren’t any confusions or surprises.
- Test yourself is a little different from and a lot more fun than Practice because the questions are timed and you get to play against bots and win emotes!
Make your own Kahoots
Kahoot! allows you to create your own games. This is a wonderful feature to help you test yourself on whatever you’ve learnt so far. No need to worry if you can’t find an existing language quiz that covers it all. Whether you’re taking a class or self-studying, just gather your textbooks, notes, or your preferred online sources, and turn them all into a fun game! And the test format is totally up to you. You can choose between multiple-choice quiz and true or false game in the free plan. More question formats, including puzzle, type answer, slider, etc. are available in the paid version (Kahoot!+ Study Premium). Kahoot! caters to your individual language-learning needs.
Making a Kahoot is fairly simple, and the app guides you along. Once you’re done, you can use this Kahoot to test your own knowledge, or share it with friends. You and your study buddies can make Kahoots on different topics and host these. The scoreboard will help you figure out where you stand alongside your peers, and how much you need to improve. Plus, who doesn’t like a round of games with friends?
Kahoot! for Language Teachers
Kahoot! can be a wonderful addition to your language class. Your teacher can make a Kahoot, share the game pin with everyone, and quiz you all in real time. No need for boring pen-and-paper quizzes. This will not only be a lot more fun, but will do all of the scoring and ranking for your teacher! The Teacher account type allows them a limit of 30 players per Kahoot in the free plan, but don’t worry. If your class has more students, they can play in groups.
If your teacher doesn’t want to make their own Kahoot, they can find existing ones and test the students using the Live game option. For example, if you’re learning Urdu, there are Kahoots available in Urdu script and English transliteration. Your teacher can use those to quiz you in real-time or assign them using the Assignment option (and just like usual assignments, they can set a deadline). Or, if they share that Kahoot in advance, students can even use the Flashcards feature to study for the quiz!
Urdu educator, Annie, uses Kahoot! in her classes with kids (as young as four to six year olds), as well as adults. So, you see, there is no limit to the age of language learners who can benefit from Kahoot! Let’s take a closer look at her approach.
Her Kahoots for kids are more pictorial, while for adult learners, they are more textual. Kahoot! basically allows you the flexibility to make the quizzes suited to different age groups. When making Kahoots for younger learners, Annie adds questions with one-word answers, or even images in the answers (for example, identifying colors and their names, or objects in the images). For teens, the questions can require translating short sentences or identifying tenses, but Annie makes these more exciting by turning them into rapid-fire questions. For adults, the questions can be made even longer and detailed. She also adds slides in between questions as they transition from one mini-topic or concept to another.
Now, you might be wondering, ‘That’s all well and good, but how would students react to the addition of Kahoot! to the classroom?’ Annie has received amazing feedback! Even adult learners appreciate Kahoot! in their reviews. Although through Kahoot!, Annie quizzes students, it doesn’t come with any feelings of test-anxiety. It’s gamified, it has music, and it’s so in-the-moment that you don’t feel you’re being tested. And younger learners look forward to it so much that they often ask at the beginning of class, ‘Are we going to play Kahoot! today?’
Annie also believes that it helps with learning because it allows for the repetition that’s necessary for retention. Before using Kahoot!, she found it tricky to judge how students respond to the material, especially quieter students who participate less in classes. Kahoot! now makes it easy for her to keep track of student progress and understanding.
If you’re wondering whether she makes her own Kahoots, yes, she does. She also repurposes them for different classes by making adjustments. It’s quite easy to keep them organized in folders, and it’s not much different from making a standard quiz, in fact much more fun. If a teacher intends to use Kahoot! in different classes for different age groups, Annie recommends investing in the paid version because it’s definitely worth it! Gives you many more options and truly adds value to your classes.
With respect to frequency, Annie makes sure to use Kahoot! in her classes at least once per week. Often, students play Kahoot! as soon as they finish a topic, before moving on to the next. With Kahoots, teachers obviously have the flexibility to adjust the difficulty level of the quiz. Annie recommends keeping them at a lower difficulty level for younger learners to make the quizzes more inclusive for all learners, and to ensure all learners stay motivated. For older students, the difficulty level can be increased.
There is one important point that Annie would recommend language teachers to be mindful of. Kahoot! is a wonderful tool, but it’s better to keep the focus on learning instead of quizzing or scoring. If the focus is on scoring only, some learners are bound to be left behind, which can make them feel quite discouraged. But, if the focus is on learning together in an engaging and interactive environment, Kahoot! can allow all students to feel included in the language-learning process. It is a fact that every individual learns at a different pace, teachers need to be mindful of the intention behind making or hosting Kahoots.
By the way, here’s another quick idea for using Kahoot! in the classroom. Your teacher can assign one topic to each student (or you all can choose topics yourself) and make a Kahoot on it. Now, if your class has 20 students, you have 20 different Kahoots to see where you stand in your language-learning journey. Even standardized tests in your textbooks can be turned into Kahoots!
For advanced language learners
This isn’t a specific option in Kahoot! but it’s a great approach for advanced learners. On the home page, click the profile icon on the top left, go into the settings, and change the language to your target language. You can access Kahoot! in 15 different languages, including Arabic, Dutch, Italian, French, Spanish, Turkish, and many more! Now, you can play Kahoots on different educational topics such as Science, Math, Humanities, etc. in that language. This is a great way to practice and actually use the language you’re learning. The best part is, as you scroll down in Discover, you will find Kahoots on all these different domains by Kahoot! ’s own verified educators. So, you’re basically learning from experts!
It’s totally okay if quizzes on Literature or Chemistry are not up your alley. You might find other interesting Kahoots in your target language. For example, I found Turning Red trivia in French and Italian, and Kahoots by Angry Birds Official in Turkish!
So, what’re you waiting for? Install Kahoot! on your devices, and embark on your language-learning journey today!
