World Languages & Cultures - College of Humanities & Social Sciences - Open & Free Materials by Course - Research Guides at Sam Houston State University

General Languages OER Collections

Live Lingua: Language-Learning Ebooks, Audio, and Video
Free, public-domain language learning materials, including thousands of free ebooks, audios and videos for over 130 languages from around the world. Most of the resources are U.S. government-created, coming primarily from the US Foreign Services Institute, the US Defense Language Institute, or the US Peace Corps.
COERLL (Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning)
Use the Materials menu to locate open materials for learning and teaching languages.
FLLITE: Foreign Languages & The Literary in the Everday - Open Lessons for L2 Literacy
Llessons and activities at various levels for Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Persian, Portuguese, and Russian.

Spanish Resources

Trayectos - Spanish Curriculum
An open curriculum for beginning second language learners of Spanish. The program sets itself apart by embracing a learner-centered approach and by integrating multimodal content and texts, communicative activities that bind language form to cultural meaning, thinking tasks that help learners explore the Spanish-speaking world, activities that feature different varieties of Spanish, self-correcting activities as well as resources to broaden student's knowledge of issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the Spanish-speaking world.
- Open License: CC-BY-SA

Let's Chat! Spanish
Over 100 classroom-ready interpersonal speaking activities for novice and intermediate learners. Touching on a range of thematic topics such as free time activities, travel, daily routines, health, the environment, art and so much more, Spanish teachers are sure to find an activity to use in their courses. These activities may be used as is or can easily be revised and remixed to fit the unique needs of individual classrooms.
- Open License: CC-BY-NC-SA
Social and Regional Dialects of Spanish: An advanced undergraduate-level course by Emily Kuder
Publication Date: 2023
Presents an intermediate-advanced level course that employs preexisting resources and materials created by the author, Dr. Emily Kuder, to facilitate the learning of topics related to hispanic dialectology and sociolinguistics through openly available content.
- Open License: CC-BY-NC-ND

Categorized OER for Spanish
"A collection of resources that have been subject to a peer-review process and/or that have been selected for use by faculty in the California community colleges";
Grouped into the following categories: First-year Spanish; Second-year Spanish; Spanish for Heritage Speakers Resources; Spanish Grammar / Linguistic Resources; Spanish Literature Resources; Spanish Video/Audio Resources; Proficiency Assessment Resources and Repositories

German Resources

Let's Chat! German
Over 100 classroom-ready interpersonal speaking activities for novice and intermediate learners. Touching on a range of thematic topics such as school, travel, daily routines, health, jobs, art and so much more, German teachers are sure to find an activity to use in their courses. These activities may be used as is or can easily be revised and remixed to fit the unique needs of individual classrooms.
- Open License: CC-BY-NC-SA

Grimm Grammar
"An online German grammar reference, featuring zany post-modern Grimm’s fairy tale characters, authoritative grammar explanations, self-correcting exercises, online audio and cartoon images."
German Frame-semantic Online Lexicon (G-FOL)
"The German Frame-semantic Online Lexicon (G-FOL) is a prototype of a new kind of pedagogical dictionary. The goal is to help students learn how words are used in modern-day German. This online resource is different from traditional dictionaries and textbooks because it is based on the German FrameNet at the University of Texas at Austin, a digital archive of how German words are used in real life contexts. As such, students can easily access up-to-date information about the syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic contexts in which a German word appears."
Cultural Interviews with German-Speaking Professionals
"Cultural Interviews with German-Speaking Executives is a compilation of brief video clips in which German executives discuss cultural issues that are of interest to North Americans. The objective of the interviews is three-fold: First, provide practical cultural information about business topics. Second, the interviews provide vocabulary in areas within a professional setting. Third, these materials provide non-native speakers of German with multiple examples of natural speech."
Texas German Dialect Project
"One of the primary goals of the TGDP is to preserve the Texas German dialect as it reflects the rich cultural and linguistic traditions of its residents... The TGDA allows its users to listen to portions of interviews in combination with their transcriptions and translations."

Arabic Resources

Arabic Collections Online
"A publicly available digital library of public domain Arabic language content. ACO currently provides digital access to 10,242 volumes across 6,427 subjects..." From NYU Abu Dhabi, et al.
Arabic Language and Arts Resources
OER materials to support Arabic language teaching, from the Saudi OER Network

ARAB 1411 & 1412 Elementary Arabic I & II

Elementary Arabic I by Sadam Issa and Ayman Mohamed
This is an open textbook on Beginner Arabic for undergraduate students who are taking Arabic in their first semester. It addresses letters and sounds of Arabic along with basic skills in reading, speaking and writing. The book can be used as a self-study resource or as the main textbook in beginning Arabic classes.
- Open License: CC-BY-NC
Elementary Arabic II by Ayman Mohamed; Sadam Issa
Publication Date: 2021-01-01
This is an open textbook on Arabic for undergraduate students are ware taking Arabic in their second semester. It addresses language structures in theme-based modules that cover the four language skills. The book can be used as a self-study resource or as the main textbook in beginning Arabic classes.
- Open License: CC-BY-NC

FREN 1411 & 1412 Elementary French

Français interactif: A French Program
The web-based first-year French program developed at the University of Texas and in use since 2004. Français interactif helps you explore the French language and culture by following the lives of real UT students who participated in the UT Summer Program in Lyon, France. The UT students will introduce you to their French host families, their French university, and their lives in France.
- Open License: CC-BY
Français Interactif: Devoirs
This set of ancillary materials for the open textbook Français Interactif contains Google Forms-based online homework activities for each chapter of the text.
- Open License: CC-BY

Let's Chat! French
Nearly 100 classroom-ready interpersonal speaking activities for novice and intermediate learners. Touching on a range of thematic topics such as free time activities, food, daily routines, health, the environment, art and so much more, French teachers are sure to find an activity to use in their courses. These activities may be used as is or can easily be revised and remixed to fit the unique needs of individual classrooms.
- Open License: CC-BY-NC-SA
Français inclusif: An Interactive Textbook for French 101 by Amber Hoye; Dr. Mariah Devereux Herbeck; Brittney Gehrig; Sharon Westbrook; Madelynn Ruhter; Emily Blackburn; Dr. Jason Herbeck; and Hortense Saget
Publication Date: 2022
This textbook provides a remixed version of Français interactif, adding interactivity and new exercises. Instructor materials including slide presentations and IPA assessments are also available.
- Open License: CC-BY-NC-SA
Français inclusif: An Interactive Textbook for French 102 by Amber Hoye; Brittney Gehrig; Dr. Mariah Devereux Herbeck; Madelynn Ruhter; and Sharon Westbrook
Publication Date: 2022
This textbook provides a remixed version of Français interactif, adding interactivity and new exercises. Instructor materials including slide presentations and IPA assessments are also available.
- Open License: CC-BY-NC-SA
Français inclusif: An Interactive Textbook for French 201 by Dr. Mariah Devereux Herbeck; Brittney Gehrig; Amber Hoye; Madelynn Ruhter; and Sharon Westbrook
Publication Date: 2023
This textbook provides a remixed version of Français interactif, adding interactivity and new exercises. Instructor materials including slide presentations and IPA assessments are also available.
- Open License: CC-BY-NC-SA
Français inclusif: An Interactive Textbook for French 202 by Dr. Mariah Devereux Herbeck; Brittney Gehrig; Amber Hoye; Madelynn Ruhter; and Sharon Westbrook
Publication Date: 2023
This textbook provides a remixed version of Français interactif, adding interactivity and new exercises. Instructor materials including slide presentations and IPA assessments are also available.
- Open License: CC-BY-NC-SA

GERM 1411/1412 Elementary German

Grenzenlos Deutsch
"This full-year curriculum is intended as a no-cost alternative to current, more traditional textbooks in the field. It mixes materials rooted in real-world, contemporary communication scenarios, multimedia content, and online learning activities.The Grenzenlos curriculum ensures that the topics of discussion in the language classroom are relevant to and reflect today’s world."
Deutsch im Blick
"A multimedia 1st-year German language program based on videos of native speakers and the University of Texas Summer Program in Würzburg, Germany. The online textbook includes recorded vocabulary, phonetics lessons, an online grammar component, online comparative polls and internet writing activities."

SPAN 3330: Principles of Health Care Interpretation

Para vivir con salud: leyendo la salud y la literatura by Kathryn Joy McKnight y Jill Kuhnheim
Para vivir con salud is not a medical Spanish text: it is an introduction to close critical reading of Spanish-language literary and cultural texts, framed within themes relevant to the concerns of healthcare. Para vivir also responds to calls from the MLA and national humanities organizations to rethink language programs to respond to the changing needs of our students.
- Open License: CC-BY-NC

SPAN 3367 Principles Of Spanish Linguistics

La lingüística hispánica: Una introducción by Ashwini Ganeshan
Publication Date: 2019
Este libro, todavía en desarrollo, se dirige a estudiantes de español en universidades estadounidenses y pretende ofrecer una breve y simple introducción a la lingüística hispánica. Incluye conceptos básicos de la lingüística, brinda ensayos que abarcan temas de interés social conectando la lingüística con la vida diaria, y ejercicios para practicar los conceptos. También hay enlaces a materiales relevantes disponibles en la red. El libro está creado enteramente por textos escritos y materiales compartidos por estudiantes mayoritariamente de pregrado y también cuenta con el trabajo y esfuerzo de estudiantes-editoras en un proyecto a largo plazo de pedagogía abierta.
- Open License: CC-BY-NC-SA

SGNL 1401 Elementary American Sign Language I

American Sign Language 101
"This American Sign Language 101 OER is a Google Doc containing instructional videos of original design. The document also offers media content from ASL instructors and creators across the Web. All materials are meant as a supplement to ASL instruction. These resources are in no way intended to replace the breadth of knowledge acquired from taking an ASL course."
- Open License: CC-BY-NC-ND

SGNL 1402 Elementary American Sign Language II

American Sign Language 102
"This American Sign Language 102 OER is a Google Doc containing instructional videos of original design. The document also offers media content from ASL instructors and creators across the Web. All materials are meant as a supplement to ASL instruction. These resources are in no way intended to replace the breadth of knowledge acquired from taking an ASL course."
- Open License: CC-BY-NC-ND

Subject Librarian

Michael Hanson

Contact:

936-294-1620
hansonm@shsu.edu

College of Humanities & Social Sciences - Open & Free Materials by Course: World Languages & Cultures

General Languages OER Collections

Spanish Resources

German Resources

Arabic Resources

ARAB 1411 & 1412 Elementary Arabic I & II

FREN 1411 & 1412 Elementary French

GERM 1411/1412 Elementary German

SPAN 3330: Principles of Health Care Interpretation

SPAN 3367 Principles Of Spanish Linguistics

SGNL 1401 Elementary American Sign Language I

SGNL 1402 Elementary American Sign Language II

Subject Librarian