Supercharge English language learning with Rosetta Stone and IXL

This article was updated on February 4, 2025

Educator Insights, In the Classroom, IXL Updates

Ben Pittman is an IXL Professional Learning Specialist with more than a decade of experience as a teacher and department chair. Carmen McCotter is an IXL Professional Learning Specialist with years of experience as an ESL teacher. 

When English language learners arrive in the classroom, they come with varying levels of English language proficiency. To help them succeed, teachers need to be able to individualize and personalize instruction in order to meet the needs of all learners. At IXL, we create innovative products that help you do just that. And, give you more time to do what you do best, teaching! That’s why IXL has teamed up with Rosetta Stone (part of the IXL Learning family!) to create a solution that increases the efficiency and effectiveness of the English learning process no matter where a student is on their language learning journey.

Rosetta Stone is a world-class language learning program with a proven track record of helping people to learn new languages. Its immersive, conversational-focused curriculum  combined with the personalized, adaptive skills in IXL enables learners to achieve huge advancements in their English language proficiency. Plus, IXL’s in-depth reports and real-time feedback ensure that teachers know exactly what students know and where they need extra assistance.

Ready to find out how it works?

Table of contents:

Getting started

IXL and Rosetta Stone’s English language learning solution uses what’s called a Structured Immersion approach. This means that students are surrounded by English from their first minute on the platform. Through scaffolded speaking, listening, reading, and writing activities, students develop deep and lasting proficiency in the English language. 

To start, collect your students’ scores from their state’s language proficiency assessment. Then, consult the Rosetta Stone Placement Guide that corresponds to your state’s assessment to put students in the correct starting unit.

Place students at the right level

The Rosetta Stone Placement Guides offer a suggested starting point within Rosetta Stone’s Foundations English Curriculum. For students in grades K-5, we recommend they begin with Unit 1. For learners in grades 6-12, we’ll recommend a unit in our curriculum based on students’ assessment-specific English Language Proficiency scores.

While these guides serve as a recommendation to support placement, teachers can always use knowledge of the student’s English language proficiency, as well as other data points, to adjust the ideal starting unit or lesson.

Rosetta Stone Placement Guides

You can find the full list of our placement guides below, or on Rosetta Stone’s Resources for English Learners page. 

Practice the 4 domains of language with Rosetta Stone

Once you’ve gathered your students’ scores, compared them to our placement guides, and found each learner’s starting unit, it’s time to use Rosetta Stone! Each unit in Rosetta Stone’s curriculum will help your students build their English language proficiency through immersive speaking, listening, reading, and writing activities.

Inform each of your students which unit you would like them to begin. If they’re starting at Unit 1, they can jump right in to learning! For students starting at a higher level, direct them to manually select the correct unit when they first sign on.

Accessing the right unit

To manually access units, direct your students to click on “Show Menu” from the main lesson page of their account.

Rosetta Stone English Unit 1

This will take students to our complete Unit Menu, which shows all the different lessons they can learn in Rosetta Stone. Have your students click on the unit you’ve selected for them, and they’re ready to go!

Rosetta Stone Unit selection menu

Recommended usage

For faster language acquisition and better retention, we recommend students work on Rosetta Stone’s immersive activities for short intervals every few days. For the best results, students should work in the Rosetta Stone program at least 3-5 days a week. They should aim to work on English language learning for 15-30 minutes each time they practice.

Personalize learning with IXL Skill Plans for Rosetta Stone

Once students are progressing through their Rosetta Stone lessons, you’re ready to complement their immersive learning experience with adaptive IXL skill practice. 

IXL has specially created a skill plan to support dual-immersion learners. The IXL Skill Plan for Rosetta Stone Foundations covers grades K-12 and features hand-picked IXL English Language Arts skills that complement and enhance what your students are learning in each unit of the Rosetta Stone program.

Check out the skill plan: 

Choosing the right skills

Just like the Rosetta Stone program, each skill plan has a list of units that correspond to Rosetta Stone’s units. To get started in IXL, students should select the matching unit number and begin working on IXL skills. 

Teachers can easily recommend the accompanying skills for students by clicking the small star icon next to the skill name. 

Recommended usage

In addition to spending time on Rosetta Stone activities, we recommend that students aim for proficiency (a SmartScore of 80) in at least 2 skills from their plan each week. 

To improve their language development independently, students can check out their personalized Recommendations wall and choose from additional IXL skills selected just for them.

For more information on how to best use IXL and Rosetta Stone together, check out this unit by unit guide.

Ready to supercharge English language learning? Check out Rosetta Stone and IXL for schools and get a quote today.

Written by:

  • Carmen McCotter

    Professional Learning Specialist

    Carmen McCotter brings her years of experience in education, administration, and professional development to her role as a Professional Learning Specialist with Rosetta Stone. Carmen previously worked as a university Spanish teacher, ESL teacher to international students, and a training associate leading professional development sessions in the nonprofit sector. After teaching for a number of years, she transitioned into administration as an International English Language Testing System administrator and later the director of an international English language school. Carmen is passionate about an immersive and communicative approach to language learning. She strives to make the classroom an engaging and inclusive place for everyone. Carmen earned her bachelor’s in Spanish from Western Washington University and her master’s in Iberian Linguistics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

  • Ben Pittman

    IXL Professional Learning Specialist

    Ben Pittman brings more than a decade of education experience to his role as a Professional Learning Specialist. Prior to joining IXL, he worked as a department chair for world languages, director of blended learning, curriculum developer, and classroom teacher at both the high school and middle school levels. Ben is passionate about student social-emotional health and wellness and driven to facilitate learning for those dedicated to improving the holistic student experience.

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Supercharge English language learning with IXL + Rosetta Stone