User manual

The home screen is your launching pad. Teachers see shortcuts to classes, decks, and content tools; students see a quick way back to their assignments and recent decks.

Jump back into work

Use the action cards to go straight to the surface you need — My Decks, Classes, Check-ins, or Assignments.

Search across your library

The search box in the navbar finds decks by title across your entire library. Use it from any page.

Browse the app

Top-level features live in the navbar: AI Tutor, Live Quiz, Public Decks, and the Forum.

Join a class your teacher set up. Once you join, the class's assignments show up on your Assignments page.

Get a class code

Ask your teacher for the class code — a short code unique to that class.

Enter the code

Type the code in the input on this page and submit. If the code is valid, you join the class straight away.

Find your work

Open Assignments from the menu to see what your teacher has assigned. Items appear here as soon as the teacher publishes them to your class.

Settings is where you manage your account — profile, preferences, and sign-in details.

Profile

Update your name, email, and avatar. Some fields require re-verification after a change.

Preferences

Set defaults for new content (languages you teach, default privacy) and notification preferences for forum replies and new assignments.

Sign-in & security

Change your password, manage connected sign-in methods, or sign out from every device.

Classes are how you organize students and assign work. Each class gets a unique join code; students can join themselves or you can create accounts for them.

1. Create a class

Click New Class to create a classroom. Each class gets a unique code students can use to join.

2. Add students

Create student accounts with usernames and passwords, or share the class code so students can join themselves.

3. Assign work

Send flashcard decks, learning paths, check-ins, or speaking exercises as assignments. Students see them on their Assignments page.

Speaking exercises

Create dialogue-based speaking exercises. Students record responses, and you can review submissions with playback.

The Students surface is where you create student accounts, add them to classes, and manage access — passwords, notes, removal.

1. Create or add students

Use New Student to create accounts, or add existing managed students to a class.

2. Organize by class

Open each classroom tab to review members and keep each class roster up to date.

3. Manage access

Reset passwords, update notes, and remove students when needed.

Class progress shows you, at a glance, how each student is doing across the work you have assigned — what they have completed, when, and where they are stuck.

Per-student view

Each row is a student. Hover or click a cell to see when they completed a specific assignment, or open their profile for the full breakdown.

Filter by class

Switch between classes to focus on one cohort at a time. The view scopes to whatever you have assigned to that class.

Spot patterns

Empty cells flag students who have not started; old completion dates flag work that may need a reminder. Use the data to plan your next lesson.

Build your own flashcard decks, study them yourself, or share them with students. Decks live in the sidebar; the right pane is where you edit cards and preview the deck.

1. Create a deck

Type a name in the sidebar and press Enter or click +. Use the icon to switch between a deck and a folder for grouping related decks.

2. Add cards

Type a question and answer in the bottom row of the table. Press Tab to move between fields and Enter to save the row.

3. Study and share

Click Preview to flip through cards, or toggle Public to share your deck with students.

The deck page is where you study a single deck. Pick a study mode, preview the cards, or jump into a game with the deck's vocabulary.

Study modes

Choose Flashcards to flip through cards manually, Practice for spaced repetition, or one of the games to practise in a more playful format.

Preview the cards

Open Preview to see every card in the deck before you commit to a study session.

Edit or share

If you own the deck, edit it from My Decks. Toggle Public on the deck to share it with students or the community.

Topics group your decks, paths, slideshows, check-ins, and speaking exercises into a single unit. Assign a topic to a class and every item in it lands as an assignment at once.

1. Group your content

Make a topic per unit you teach (e.g. Spanish verbs), then add the decks, paths, slideshows, check-ins, and speaking exercises that belong together.

2. Write an intro for students

Use the description to explain the topic. Students see this on their workspace when they click the topic name in the sidebar.

3. Assign to a class

Link the topic to a class and every item in it becomes an assignment for those students at once.

A learning path is an ordered sequence of lessons — decks, slideshows, check-ins, speaking exercises — that students work through in order.

1. Create a path

Click New Path to create a learning path — an ordered sequence of lessons for your students.

2. Add lessons

Open your path and add lessons — mix flashcard decks, slideshows, check-ins, and speaking exercises. Drag to reorder them into the perfect sequence.

3. Share or assign

Share the link with students directly, or assign the path to a classroom to track their progress.

Check-ins are short quizzes and feedback forms you build for your class. Mix multiple choice, checkboxes, short answer, and more.

1. Create

Click New Check-in to build a quiz or feedback form with multiple choice, checkboxes, short answer, and more.

2. Share

Toggle Public in the editor, then copy the link and share it with your students.

3. Review

View responses in real time. See summary charts or check individual answers and scores.

Speaking exercises let students practise pronunciation by recording their part of a scripted dialogue. You write the script; they record their lines; you review.

1. Create a script

Write a dialogue with teacher and student speaking lines. Students record their lines using their microphone.

2. Assign

Send the exercise to a classroom. Students practise at their own pace directly in the browser. No app needed.

3. Review

Listen to recordings, leave written feedback, and score each student's pronunciation and fluency.

Import flashcards from outside Teacher Elf — paste a list, upload a file, or pull cards in from a Google Sheet — and turn them into a deck in your library.

Paste a list

Each line becomes a card. Separate the front and back with a tab, semicolon, or comma. The preview shows you how the rows will be parsed.

From a file

Upload a CSV or TSV. The first column is the front of the card; the second is the back. Extra columns are ignored.

From Google Sheets

Publish your sheet to the web (or share it with view access), then paste the link. Teacher Elf reads the first two columns as front/back.

Save

Give the deck a title and click Import. The new deck lands in My Decks, ready to study or assign.

Generate a flashcard deck with AI. Describe the topic and the languages you want, and the model produces a draft deck you can review and import into your library.

Describe the deck

Pick the source and target languages, then write a short prompt — for example “Common Spanish verbs in the present tense”.

Review the draft

The generated cards appear before they are saved. Edit anything that is off, or regenerate if you want a different angle.

Save to your library

Click Import to save the deck. From there you can study it, share it, or assign it to a class.

The Assignments page is the student workspace — everything your teachers have assigned to you in one place. Pick an item on the left and do the work in the main area.

1. Pick an assignment

Choose one from the list on the left to open it in the work area.

2. Do the work here

Study, answer questions, or record your speaking practice without leaving this page.

3. Track your progress

Assignments tick themselves off when you finish the work. Study the whole deck, watch the slideshow, submit your check-in or recording.

Public Decks is a community library — flashcard decks that other teachers and learners have shared. Browse, study, or copy a deck to your own library to edit.

Search and filter

Search by title, or filter by source and target language to narrow the list to decks relevant to what you teach or learn.

Open a deck

Click a card to open the deck. From there you can preview the cards, study them, or play one of the games.

Share your own decks

Toggle Public on any deck you own to add it to this library so other people can find and use it.

The forum is where teachers and learners discuss ideas, share tips, report bugs, and ask questions. Posts are organised by category; you can subscribe to topics you want to follow.

Read and reply

Click any post to read the full thread and reply. Use the category tabs at the top to narrow the list.

Start a new post

Click New post, choose a category, and write your message. Use this for questions, feature requests, and bug reports.

Subscribe

Subscribe to a post to be notified when someone replies. Manage what you follow on the Subscriptions page. New replies show up in the notification bell in the navbar.

The AI Tutor is a chat partner you can practise with. Link a flashcard deck and the tutor will draw on its vocabulary; ask anything else and it answers like a regular language tutor.

Start a chat

Type a message in the input at the bottom and press Enter. The tutor responds in the same language you wrote in.

Link a deck

Pick a deck from the sidebar to anchor the conversation around its vocabulary. Useful for spaced practice on a specific topic.

Voice input

Hold the microphone button to speak instead of typing. The tutor transcribes your speech and replies in text.

Live Quiz is a real-time multiplayer game played around any flashcard deck. One person hosts; everyone else joins with a 6-digit code on their own device.

Join a game

Enter the 6-digit game code the host shared, pick a nickname, and wait for the host to start the game.

Host a game

Open any deck and choose Live Quiz. Share the game code with players, wait for them to join, then start the round.

Play and review

Players answer questions on their own devices; the host screen shows the leaderboard. After the game, both sides see a summary of the round.