Word lists — teacher's guide

The student opens a list, sees the words with definitions adapted to their own level, and clicks Practice to go straight into the games in Practice. The lists can be the student's own, or lists you have created and shared with the class.

How it works

On /lists there are two collections: My lists are your own, while Lists I follow are lists others have shared. At the top is the My words card, which gathers all words across lists and leads to /words.

You create a list with New word list: fill in Name, optionally Description (optional), and click Create list. The list will be set to the language you are learning.

Inside the list, type a word into the Add a word… field and click Add. If you already have a vocabulary list, use Paste multiple and paste one word per line, up to 100 at a time.

Words not already in the dictionary are generated as you add them, complete with definitions, parts of speech, and examples. If you make a typo, suggestions will appear under Did you mean:. If the word has multiple meanings, Språki will ask Which word did you mean? before adding it.

When pasting an entire vocabulary list

Paste multiple does not add the words immediately. First, click Check words, and the lines will be returned one by one with what Språki has found out about each of them:

• Words already in the dictionary appear with their definition, so you can confirm it is the correct word.
• If the word has multiple meanings, you must choose one — "lue" means both a beanie/hat and a flame in Norwegian, and it is not obvious which one you intended. These are not pre-checked.
• Words not previously in the dictionary are marked New word in dictionary and are created when you add them.
• Lines that are not dictionary entries — full sentences, headings, or page numbers copied from a book — are flagged and left unchecked.
• Spelling errors appear with suggestions you can click to replace the line.

Then, check the ones you want and click Add selected. Nothing is added to the dictionary or the list until you do so.

It is worth spending some time on this step. Many common Norwegian words have two completely different meanings, and it is easy to include the wrong word without realizing it until the student encounters a definition that makes no sense. A few to watch out for:

• Words that are both nouns and verbs: "skje" (spoon / to happen), "tre" (tree / to step forward), "lue" (beanie / to blaze), "egg" (egg / edge of a blade), "hylle" (shelf / to praise), "male" (to paint / to grind grain), "bolle" (sweet bun / to shape dough).
• Words that are both nouns and adjectives: "høy" (hay / tall), "lav" (lichen / short or low), "dyr" (an animal / expensive), "grunn" (ground / shallow), "kort" (card / short), "streng" (string / strict).
• Words where the most common meaning is not the first: "pass" (the passport, not the mountain pass), "rett" (the dish of food, not the legal right), "trekk" (the deduction, not the draft from the window), "rute" (the bus route, not the window pane).

Ready-made lists you can use right off the shelf

Under Browse shared lists, you can filter by category. If you select Work, you will find curated vocational lists for the most common industries — health and care, building and construction, retail and sales, preschool/kindergarten, cleaning services, restaurant and kitchen, transport and logistics, hairdressing, office administration, agriculture and horticulture, workshop and industry, and fish and seafood.

Three of the lists are not tied to a specific profession and are therefore suitable for the whole class at the same time:

• HSE and workplace safety — protective equipment, hazardous substances, fire and first aid, and how to report non-conformities. These are words employers actually require people to know, regardless of the industry.
• Internships, measures, and NAV (public welfare) — internship placement, work training, mentor/advisor, case worker, formal decision, appeal, activity report card. The language that determines whether the student enters the workforce at all.
• Job hunting and working life — CV/resume, interview, contract, payslip, sick leave certificate, union representative.

Each list is structured similarly: job titles and locations first, then equipment and objects, and finally the verbs actually used on the job. If the student is in an internship or entering the workforce, the list for that specific trade is often a better starting point than the vocabulary in the textbook. You can also borrow this structure and make your own shorter version with the 15 words that matter most specifically for your student.

Curated lists for life outside of work

There are curated lists in several categories beyond Work, structured in the same way — around 45–50 words each, sorted from objects and places to verbs:

Health

• At the doctor and pharmacy — symptoms and illness, appointments and referrals, prescriptions and medicine, deductible/copay, exemption card, and sick leave
• The body — head and face, arms and legs, skin and hair, internal organs

Housing and finance

• Renting a home — lease agreement, deposit, rent, notice of termination, viewing, maintenance, and communal work (dugnad)
• Banking, bills, and personal finance — online banking, invoice, due date, reminder and debt collection, loans and interest, budget

Society

• The municipality and public services — application, form and decision, caseworker and deadline, ID and passport
• Social studies: Norway and democracy — elections and voting rights, freedom of speech and gender equality, rule of law, welfare state, integration. Useful preparation for the social studies test
• Taxes and tax returns — tax card and deductions, allowances, back taxes and refunds, payslip
• UDI (immigration), residency, and citizenship — residence permit, family reunification, rejection and appeal deadline, period of residence, and Norwegian language test

Everyday life

• Grocery shopping, Clothes and sizes, Bus, train, and tickets, The car and driving licence
• Digital life and internet safety — passwords, email, privacy, scams
• Emotions and mood, Personality and appearance, Friendship and social life, Weather and seasons

School

• Children, school, and kindergarten, written from the parents' perspective: parent-teacher meetings and progress conferences, weekly schedule and homework, absences and leave of absence, drop-off and pick-up

Leisure

• Outdoor life and hiking — trails and tracks, tents and campfires, hiking gear, mushrooms and berries, the right to roam (allemannsretten), and the mountain safety code
• Exercise and sports, Café and restaurant visits, Music, movies, and TV shows, Norwegian nature: animals and plants

Holidays

• Constitution Day (17th of May), Easter, and Christmas

Language

• Connectors and sentence adverbs — fordi (because), dersom (if), selv om (even though), derfor (therefore), likevel (nevertheless), imidlertid (however)
• Prepositions, Irregular verbs, Time and time expressions, Opposites: adjective pairs

These topics apply to everyone regardless of profession, making the lists great as a shared starting point for a whole class. Note that the lists under Language are different from the rest: they belong in writing instruction rather than vocabulary quizzes. Introduce a few connectors at a time, and ask students to use them in the text they write during that same lesson. Opposites work best when students learn the pairs together — if they say "stor" (big), "liten" (small) should follow automatically.

Sharing a list with the class

Open your list and click Share. There are three ways to share:

• Share with link generates a link you can post in Teams, send via email, or write on the board — click Copy link. Anyone who opens the link sees the title, word count, and a preview, and clicks Add to my word lists.
• Share with group posts the list to the feed of one of your groups in Groups, and the members receive a notification. You must be a teacher in the group to select it.
• Public (searchable) makes the list visible to everyone under Browse shared lists. Public lists undergo review and will be marked Pending approval until approved.

Students will find the list under Lists I follow. They can practice with it and view their own progress; you remain in control of the words.

Who it is for

Word lists work from level A1 to B2 and are most beneficial from A2 upwards. At A0 and A1, you should keep lists short and review the words orally first. Definitions automatically adjust to the level the students have selected, but the words themselves do not: you decide what level of difficulty is appropriate. The actual practice takes place in Practice; a word list is the collection, not the exercise. Grammar and sentence production belong in Write and Conversation.

Suggestions for working with Word lists

1. Create one list per topic or chapter, keeping it to 10–20 words.
2. Paste the vocabulary from the textbook using Paste multiple, click Check words, and review the overview before adding them — this is where you catch words with a different meaning than what you intended.
3. Share the link at the start of the lesson and have the students click Add to my word lists while you guide them.
4. Sort the list by Weakest first and use the top ten words for a joint review in the next lesson.
5. Ask students to create their own list of words they encountered in a text, and compare it with your list.
6. Check Mastered and Practice time a few days before a test to determine what needs reviewing.
7. If you have a class going into internships/work placements, have each student follow their vocational list under Work and bring three new words back from their workplace to class.
8. Go through HSE and workplace safety together as a class before placements, regardless of the industries students are entering — it is the one list everyone will need.
9. Use At the doctor and pharmacy, The municipality and public services, or Children, school, and kindergarten ahead of a topic so students encounter the words before reading the text, rather than struggling with them inside it.

Good to know

• Definitions adapt to the student's level. The same list will show A1 definitions for one student and B1 definitions for another, based on the level each has selected in their settings.
• Everyone has a default level list. Every student is automatically enrolled in the curated list for their language and level, permanently located in Lists I follow.
• Lists have a designated language. Under Browse shared lists, only lists in the language the student is learning are shown, ensuring a Norwegian list does not appear for someone learning English.
• Time counts as study time. Minutes spent in Word lists are logged in the practice section of the statistics alongside Practice and Dictionary, and are visible in Progress.

See also

• Words and practice — how students practice words
• Create a group — the groups you share lists with
• Practice — the games where the words are used