As a teacher myself, I’ll start this one off with a short story about an experience I had in my classroom. I recently walked into one of my classes about 5 minutes early, and there were about 20 students there already. They all had their eyes down, staring at their phone screens. I walked in[…]

Last Updated on 2019-01-11       If you teach a language and your institution uses Canvas, you can now integrate Extempore assessments into Canvas directly. Starting today, your school’s Canvas Admin can request a Consumer Key and Shared Secret to connect both platforms. This integration allows you to connect an Extempore Assessment to a[…]

We hear this question sometimes: you are using Extempore as a language lab alternative, assigning oral homework and doing oral exams on it. You’ve set up really good questions, with timers and one-attempt parameters. You are saving a lot of time, enjoying grading on your couch with a nice glass of Pinot Noir instead of[…]

Last Updated on 2018-12-12 Extempore is proud to support the 5th Chinese Innovation Forum, a two-day conference (Oct 25-26, 2019) hosted by the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. The Forum is a new initiative, spearheaded by a group of K-16 educators, whose objectives are to jumpstart the conversation on Chinese language and culture[…]

Last Updated on 2018-11-20Extempore was just at ACTFL 2018 in New Orleans. While the team got plenty of Speaking Practice doing demos for three days straight, we thought some payback was also due, so we roped in a few customers and asked them to do a quick video for us. It’s only fair that the[…]

Last Updated on 2018-10-15In the very near future, Extempore will be updating our mobile apps with a brand new look and feel as well as new features. As part of these changes, the mobile apps will become student only and all the instructor work will be shifted to either you desktop of mobile browsers. Today, we[…]

Last Updated on 2018-09-16Great article on Procedia about Speaking Anxiety. Abstract There is a great deal of research focusing on speaking anxiety and yet there are relatively few studies suggesting ways how teachers can help learners cope with this problem. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify whether the integration of spontaneous speech[…]

Last Updated on 2018-08-25Extempore 4.7 will be made available to users starting Wednesday, August 29th. A full redesign of the grading screen is being made, consolidating all information in one place and requiring less clicking. Main changes include: New look and feel of the assessment grids and question grading screens. A new left panel in[…]

Last Updated on 2018-08-20Whether you use it for summative assessments just for regular speaking practice, Extempore is designed to save you time, and one of the best ways to do that is to avoid rework from one term to the next. Here are the four simple steps necessary to reuse a class: 1.- Copy the[…]

Last Updated on 2018-05-17Priddy Learning Academy is one of Extempore’s favorite partners. After a few months of development and successful pilots, they will be rolling out a ground-braking online program, aimed at the Asian markets. Needless to say, Extempore will be a key part of their English classes. We wish them much success and look[…]

Last Updated on 2018-04-23The newest version of FireFox has changed the default security setting from previous versions. In some cases, these settings will interfere with some Extempore functions. If you experience issues while using Extempore on FireFox, please add an exception to the “Tracking Protection” feature in FireFox so Extempore can function successfully. You can[…]

Last Updated on 2018-05-19As you know, in Extempore, you can use multiple types of prompts for your student’s speaking activities. Whether you use the app for oral assessments, or as replacement to a language lab, having a variety of prompts enriches your students’ experience, and allows you to assess different aspects of their oral production.[…]

Last Updated on 2018-04-12New research from the University of Wisconsin–Madison shows that the students should spend more time talking. “If traditionally favored, comprehension-stressing teaching practices were better at teaching students comprehension of their new language, the group that practiced through listening would do best on listening comprehension tests. However, the researchers found the opposite. On[…]

Last Updated on 2018-04-03Read the full blog post here.

Last Updated on 2018-08-28Today, we bring you the best speaking practice activities to be found in the web. Most can be done with Extempore! From Teachers Pay Teachers “Simple future speaking prompts for ESL“ From Teachers Pay Teachers “Spanish Places Partner Speaking Practice“ eBook by Christiene Lee – Speaking Practice for the Canadian English Language[…]

Last Updated on 2018-02-15One of Extempore’s founders has recently published an article in the popular Educational Technology blog EmergingEdTech. You can read it in full here, but today we want to highlight the main lesson from this analysis: that technology always moves on, that there is always resistance to its adoption, but that overall, the trend[…]

Last Updated on 2018-02-09Once again, Extempore is proud to support our friends at the Language Learning Summit on their endeavors to make language learning, online or face-to-face, better and more collaborative. Please read more about it below. We encourage you to register and attend as many sessions as you can! About

Last Updated on 2018-01-16Oftentimes, one of the hardest aspects of learning a language is choosing which one to learn. With over 6000 languages spoken in the world today, we are spoiled with choice! Students may have multiple interests depending on which countries and cultures they love, how much of a challenge they’re looking for, and[…]

Last Updated on 2018-01-10Extempore is proud to participate in the Language Flagship Technology Innovation Center’s Blended Learning Pilots program, whereby Flagship institutions can apply for a grant to use Extempore in their blended learning projects. Click on the image below to learn more about this fascinating program, and feel free to email Extempore for more[…]

Last Updated on 2018-01-17Extempore 4.6 is now available with two highly sought-after features: Archiving Classes You can now archive old classes. Archiving a class will remove it from your Classes tab, unenroll all students and delete all attempts. The content of an archived class can be restored from the “Archived Classes” page, but students and[…]

Last Updated on 2017-10-24Here’s something you probably haven’t thought about – how much time does it REALLY take you to perform oral exams with your students? Here is some simple math that we can use to explain why one of our most common tasks, oral assessments, are so frustrating. Let’s use this simple formula: (SS*Mns+SS*Log)*Cl=[…]

Last Updated on 2017-10-15 As I’m planning a potentially-rich, definitely-logistically-challenging activity in my university-level Spanish classes, I’m realizing how much easier this could be with Extempore. Let me explain. I’m an assistant professor of Spanish language and linguistics at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. If you’re familiar with San Antonio, you know that[…]

Last Updated on 2017-09-27Extempore is built using the latest technologies, and it’s constantly updated to take advantage of new features and security other developers offer. For that reason, we strongly recommend that you only use Extempore on Chrome or Firefox, and that you set your browsers to update automatically. Please visit this page to learn[…]

Last Updated on 2017-09-24Being multilingual is an amazing skill to have. It opens up many doors from travel to friends to job opportunities. Knowing another language is also becoming increasingly valuable in today’s job market, so if you speak a foreign language you’re ahead of the game! There are many jobs available including translation or[…]

Last Updated on 2017-09-22The nation’s largest statewide entrepreneurial contest is heading into the final stretch as the thirteenth annual MN Cup competition today announces the eight 2017 division winners. Extempore is prod to have finished second in the High Tech Division, and as always we are thankful for the support of our schools now more than never![…]

Last Updated on 2017-09-14Extempore se enorgullece de colaborar con la Conferencia De Profesores Online, una iniciativa de Paulino Brener (fundador del Online Teacher Summit) que consiste en una conferencia completamente online y de inscripción gratuita que se llevará a cabo del 17 al 23 de septiembre. En la misma encontraréis información y herramientas para aquellos[…]

Last Updated on 2017-09-12This week, Extempore will be making some look and feel updates to the Student Web Experience. The new version is easier to use and has a cleaner interface that matches the overall look and feel of Extempore’s brand. Additionally, some new features are included that will make navigation easier for students. We[…]

A recent report by the Commission on Language Learning of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences calls for increased attention to foreign language education in the US, as “proficiency in English is not sufficient to meet the nation’s needs in a shrinking world”. According to US Census data, only about 20.5% of the population[…]

Last Updated on 2017-09-03 There are 142M registered students in the US and the European Union (all grades). Of those, 47.5% are registered in at least one foreign language (over 95% of all students in the EU are registered in one or more foreign languages). This results in 67.5M foreign language students in the US[…]

Last Updated on 2017-09-01The Minnesota Cup is the largest start-up competition in the United States. Sponsored by institutions such as 3M, Wells Fargo or the Bush Foundation, every year, the review board shifts through thousands of applications to select the start-ups with the most potential to succeed and make an impact. Extempore is proud to[…]

Recently, we run a quick (and highly unscientific, we admit…) Twitter survey. We were trying to confirm something that our customers tell us all the time: that computer labs are very rarely used. They are expensive, they take up space… yet they are so cumbersome to book, they require so much time and oversight to obtain[…]

Last Updated on 2017-05-30We are proud to share that Extempore has been chosen as a top-10 semifinalist in the high-tech category in the Minnesota Cup, an entrepreneurial competition organized by the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. Keep watching this post for more updates… and wish us luck!

Last Updated on 2017-05-24Dear Extempore, I’m Director of Technology at a K-12 school and I write to you in desperation, please help me! We have a very expensive language lab that we bought years ago. It takes up a large room, 30 computers, microphones and headsets. We pay for the software, and we pay for[…]

Last Updated on 2017-05-03As you know, we have a number of linguists on staff at Extempore, and we have A LOT of linguists as customers. If you are like us, you’re probably in permanent awe at the beauty, complexity and elegance of the human vocal organs. Someone just sent us a link to this speech[…]

Last Updated on 2017-04-10When we launched Extempore, in the summer of 2016, we chose the name as a way to highlight that our app allows instructors to obtain spontaneous speech from their students. Extempore, after all, is Latin for “said without preparation”.  As you know, we were trying to solve the problem of students writing[…]

Last Updated on 2017-02-25We are happy to announce a major upgrade to the way students sign up to use Extempore. Starting today: Students will be able to sign into Extempore with one step: when they click on your class link, they will be taken to a sign-up screen. After filling out the form, a username[…]

Last Updated on 2016-12-31Prof. Irene Domingo is Assistant Professor of Spanish at the University of Saint Thomas, in St. Paul, MN. She has been using Extempore in her class for the Fall Semester and has been kind enough to write about her experiences: This past semester, for the first time, I used Extempore in my[…]

Last Updated on 2016-12-21As we close 2016, we’d like to share with you the highlights of these last 12 months, which have been momentous for our young company. First and foremost, we need to thank you, our users. From those who took a leap of faith and bought a product with no track record (Boston[…]

Last Updated on 2017-05-15Our staff has published an article in the popular page EmergingEdTech. You can read it here..

Last Updated on 2016-07-08The Extempore App: Using mobile technologies to obtain and assess spontaneous speech.

Last Updated on 2016-07-01On June 29th, Extempore’s founders were interviewed by educational celebrity Paulino Brener for his Educators Performers Creators Show (EPCSHOW). The interview was broadcasted live through Google Hangouts and Facebook. During the show, Extempore’s cofounders Susana Perez and Carlos Seoane demoed the Extempore platform and answered questions from the host and the audience. As[…]

Last Updated on 2016-06-01We are happy to announce Extempore’s new major release, which includes some highly requested new features: You can now provide audio feedback: from the “grading” tab instructors can add not only a numeric score and written comments, but also record audio comments as part of the grade (available now in Android, next[…]

Last Updated on 2016-05-02Sarah Beeman Hassouni is a Spanish Instructor at Saint Paul College, in Saint Paul, MN. Sarah has been one of the first teachers to use Extempore during online teaching and the first to use it in a Community College setting. According to Sarah, her objective when she started using Extempore was to[…]

Last Updated on 2016-04-06Minneapolis, MN (April 6, 2016) Deeloh Technologies and SkillFitness today announced the formation of a partnership to introduce the Extempore App, a product that promises to fundamentally change the way students practice and learn foreign languages using their smartphones and tablets. With seventeen million students enrolled in foreign language classes at the[…]

Last Updated on 2016-03-08Extempore has been reviewed by the website AppEdReview, the leading source of information about mobile learning tools. AppEdReview ranked Extempore very high in terms of design and efficiency, and offered a number classroom applications. You can read the full review here.