Open Educational Resources (OER) are freely accessible, openly licensed teaching and learning materials—including full courses, textbooks, lesson plans, multimedia content, software, and interactive exercises—that educators can reuse, revise, remix, redistribute, and retain to support language teaching and learning. Utilizing OER in language education offers numerous advantages, such as reducing financial barriers for educators and students, allowing resources to be tailored specifically to learning objectives and student needs, facilitating global collaboration and sharing of educational materials, and promoting inclusive, accessible learning experiences for diverse learners.

To get started with OER in language teaching, begin by exploring platforms such as OER Commons or MERLOT to identify suitable teaching materials. Next, adapt and remix these resources to align with your class’s specific linguistic and cultural learning objectives. Collaborate with fellow educators by sharing your modified resources through collaborative platforms, enriching teaching practices across the community. Finally, regularly evaluate and improve your use of OER in the classroom, refining your approach based on student feedback and educational outcomes.

Textbooks and Courses

• OpenStax: Provides peer-reviewed open textbooks suitable for beginner to advanced language learners.
• MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching): Offers an extensive collection of peer-reviewed language teaching materials.
• OER Commons: A comprehensive platform hosting diverse language learning materials, including textbooks, syllabi, and multimedia lessons.

Cultural Resources

• Europeana: Provides cultural resources from European heritage institutions, enhancing language learning through authentic cultural experiences.
• Google Arts & Culture: Offers access to artwork, museum collections, and cultural exhibitions globally.

Teacher Collaboration Platforms

• COERLL (Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning): Collaborative platform specifically focused on language teachers, providing professional development resources and opportunities for sharing teaching materials.

Lesson Plans

This section presents a variety of lesson plans for different levels and topics. These are OER and can be modified to suit your classes

• Why Does Mexican Spanish Have So Many ‘X’s? An Activity to Explore the Mexican Spanish Dialect and the Linguistic Richness of Mexico