When I was teaching elementary and junior high school, there was no easy way to give students speaking-based homework. I had always wished there was some app, preferably one that could integrate into Edmodo (which I used initially) or Google Classroom, but I could never find a simple solution.
Technology has improved a lot since then, and the app I always wished for is now available. Flip (formally FlipGrid) is a video discussion app from Microsoft, and I believe it is perfect for giving students speaking-based assignments in the bilingual education classroom.
According to this article from Weina Li Chen, “Students can post short videos and view and respond to their classmates’ videos … [and] can be embedded in some LMSs as well, including Canvas, Google Classroom, and Sakai.”
In other words, it checks all the boxes for what I had wished for earlier in my career.
For teachers interested in incorporating this app into their classrooms, Chen’s article provides some resources for getting started.
Admittedly, I have not tried Flip yet, but I plan to give this app a try in my bilingual teacher education courses to learn more about how it works and gain a better understanding of its potential in bilingual education.