Why we built explayn
A simpler way to get students speaking.
explayn is a revision game for language classrooms. You build a set of the words your class is actually learning; they hold a phone to their forehead and describe those words to each other against the clock.
Built by a language teacher for her own classes. Still used in them.
Get started freeWhy it exists
Your words, not ours
Most vocabulary apps ship a fixed word list that has nothing to do with what your class did last lesson. In explayn you type the words in, so a set matches the lesson it revises.
It makes students speak
Guessing a word means describing it out loud, in English, under time pressure. That is a different exercise from recognising it in a list of four options.
Warmer, filler or cooler
A round takes a minute. Use it to start a lesson, to fill an awkward ten minutes, or to finish on something students enjoy.
In the room or online
Pairs, small groups, or a shared screen in an online class. Students need a phone and a code — no account, no app store, no email address.
How a round works
- One student holds the phone against their forehead, screen facing out, so everyone else can see the word.
- Their team describes it — without saying the word itself.
- Tip the phone down when they get it, up to pass.
- Passed words come round again, so there is a second chance at anything hard.
- When time runs out, everyone sees what they got and what they missed.
No setup on the student's phone
Earlier versions asked students to turn off rotation lock and change their auto-lock setting before playing. Neither is needed now: the game reads tilt in a way that works with rotation lock on, and it holds the screen awake for the length of a round. If a phone has no motion sensor, the on-screen buttons do the same job.
What it costs
Students never pay and never need an account. Teachers can use explayn for free, and a subscription only lifts the limits.
Free
No charge
- 10 sets, up to 50 words each
- Put any set up for a lesson
- Unlimited play, unlimited students
Teacher Pro
£15.00 a month
- 200 sets, up to 200 words each
- Up to 10 sets that stay up, keeping a fixed code you can print on a worksheet
- Cancel whenever you like
Schools
One subscription covering a staff room. The organiser buys a seat per teacher and shares a join code; seats can be added or removed at any time.
Subscriptions renew automatically until cancelled. You can cancel at any time from the plan page, and access continues to the end of the period you have paid for. Payments are handled by Stripe; we never see or store your card details.
Who makes it
Anna
ELT teacher and teacher trainer, Brighton
Anna teaches English and trains teachers. explayn came out of her own classroom: vocabulary revision that gets students talking to each other rather than tapping at multiple-choice questions.
Alex
Product engineer
Alex builds and maintains the app. He has worked on large applications for companies including Microsoft and GE, and freelances internationally as a product engineer.
What teachers make of it
Nothing here yet. explayn is in classrooms now and we are asking the teachers using it what they think — but we would rather show you none than make some up, so this stays empty until real ones arrive.
Used it with a class?
Tell us how it went. Nothing is published automatically — we will come back to you first, and we will never put your words on the site without asking.
Getting in touch
Questions, problems, or something that would make explayn more useful in your classroom — write to alex@ajneil.co.uk.