Software that turns textbooks into interactive practice for English schools
Several tools can turn a textbook page or a document into exercises, but they are built for different people. If you want AI-written exercises from your own coursebooks plus class management, look at edio and Language Boss. A tutor or very small school on a budget may prefer MakeLesson. For free, open-source activities inside an LMS such as Moodle, use H5P. For live quiz games in class, Kahoot!; for vocabulary flashcards, Quizlet. Lanki is a self-study app for individual learners, and READU is a K–12 platform whose examples are mostly science and maths.
Side by side
| Tool | Built for | Exercises from your material | Speaking | Class and parent tools | Cost model |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| edio | Language schools, tutors, course creators | AI builds lessons from a topic, a PDF (such as a coursebook page) or an image | Students record answers; the teacher reviews them | Calendar, attendance, grades, live online classroom | Public pricing, 7-day free trial |
| H5P | Anyone making web activities, any subject | Built by hand; AI “Smart Import” on paid H5P.com Premium plans | “Speak the Words” checks spoken answers in Chrome, not pronunciation | Embeds in Moodle, WordPress and LMSs (LTI) | Free open-source plugins; paid H5P.com |
| Kahoot! | Teachers of any subject; live quiz games | AI quizzes from a PDF, a link, a topic or notes, on paid plans | No pronunciation scoring found | Self-paced challenges with reports | Free plan and paid plans |
| Language Boss | English schools | AI writes exercises from chosen textbook pages; a teacher reviews every batch | Spoken answers, pronunciation scored sound by sound | Timetable, attendance, Microsoft Teams, progress reports to parents on LINE | Quoted per school |
| Lanki | Individual language learners | Exercises from photos of textbook pages and from YouTube links | Audio and shadowing practice; no scoring described | No teacher or class tools found | Free daily allowance, paid Pro |
| MakeLesson | Tutors and small language schools | AI lessons from a prompt, pasted text, a photo, a scan or a PDF | Text-to-speech for listening; no student recording described | Students answer by link without an account; the teacher sees scores | Free tier and paid plans |
| Quizlet | Students and teachers, any subject | Flashcard sets from pasted text, a file or a topic | Listen-and-type practice; no pronunciation scoring found | Assignments with student progress | Free account and paid plans |
| READU | K–12 schools (made in Bulgaria) | Lessons from uploaded printed or handwritten material | No speaking features found | Homework, analytics, weekly view for parents | Free core |
edio
The closest match to Language Boss. edio describes itself as an AI platform for language schools, tutors and course creators. It turns a topic, a PDF or an image into an editable lesson, names coursebook pages as a source, and says “the last word is always yours”. It lists 32 exercise types, 17 languages, a school calendar, attendance, grades and a live virtual classroom.
Fits well if: you teach several languages, want lessons and live online teaching in one tool, or want public per-student pricing. Its pages describe speaking as recordings the teacher reviews; we found no automatic pronunciation scoring, parent reports or Chinese interface on its site.
H5P
A free, open-source (MIT) way to build interactive content such as Drag the Words, Fill in the Blanks, Dialog Cards and Interactive Video, with plugins for Moodle, WordPress and Drupal. Activities are built by hand; H5P’s AI “Smart Import” is part of the paid H5P.com Premium plans.
Fits well if: you already run an LMS and want free activities in any subject. See H5P alternatives for language schools for where it falls short on speaking.
Kahoot! and Quizlet
General tools that work for any subject. Kahoot! runs live quiz games and self-paced challenges, and its paid plans can make a quiz from a PDF, a link or a topic. Quizlet makes flashcard sets from text or a file, with study modes such as Learn and Test. Both have large libraries of material made by other teachers.
Compare them in detail: Language Boss vs Kahoot! and Language Boss vs Quizlet and Google Classroom.
Language Boss
Built for English schools that teach from coursebooks. A teacher chooses pages and exercise types, the system writes the exercises, and the teacher reviews them before assigning. Open answers are spoken, and pronunciation is scored sound by sound. It also runs the timetable and attendance, connects to Microsoft Teams for online classes, and lets staff send progress reports to parents on LINE. How it works, and how it fits a cram school.
Look elsewhere if: you need essay marking (open answers are spoken, not typed), you want to upload a book yourself and start the same day (books are added during setup), or you teach subjects other than English.
Lanki and READU
Lanki’s homepage says “Turn your textbook into interactive practice”, but it is built for individual learners: photograph a page and it makes exercises, readings, printable worksheets and spaced-repetition flashcards. We found no teacher or class tools. READU, made in Bulgaria, turns printed or handwritten material into K–12 lessons with quizzes and a class game; its examples are science and maths, and we found no English speaking features.
MakeLesson
For private tutors, online teachers and small language schools. It makes auto-graded lessons from a prompt, pasted text, a photo of a page, a scan or a PDF, and lets the teacher change questions by typing a request. Students open lessons from a link without an account.
Fits well if: you are one teacher or a small team and want something cheap and quick. It has ten exercise types and text-to-speech for listening, and we found no student speaking or pronunciation features.
How to choose
- Who writes the exercises? If teachers will build activities by hand, H5P is free. If you want AI to write them from your books, look at edio, Language Boss or MakeLesson.
- Do students need to speak? Only Language Boss scores pronunciation from the student’s recording among the tools above.
- Do you need class and parent tools? edio and Language Boss include scheduling and attendance; Language Boss also sends progress reports to parents on LINE.
- Do you already have an LMS? H5P and Kahoot! connect to common LMSs; edio and Language Boss are separate systems. See H5P alternatives.
- Budget: Kahoot!, Quizlet, H5P, MakeLesson and Lanki can be tried for free. edio has a free trial. Language Boss is quoted per school.