The Problems with World Language Presentations and How to Fix Them--Part 1
You've probably had to walk the plank before. Uh oh. Presentation time. You know, where…
Dear Diary: the Preterite and the Imperfect on Extempore
If you teach Spanish (or French, for that matter), you know how mighty the battle…
Spice up the Classroom with a Cooking Competition on Extempore!
These days you can't turn on the TV without seeing a cooking show. Some of…
The Best of the Best: A Speaking Activity on Extempore
When I was growing up, my hometown newspaper ran an informal column in which the…
Speaking Self-Reflection: It's Not Just For Writing Anymore
If you're a teacher, you probably already know that one of the big pushes in…
Let's Go to the Mall Today: Paired Dialogue Task Ideas
A few weeks ago, we posted about student-centered paired activities meant to develop speaking skills…
6 Tips for Improving Pronunciation with Extempore
Imperfect or non-native-like pronunciation can often be a huge roadblock towards effective communication in a…
20 Fun How-To Tasks to Get Your Students Talking
Although students and teachers occupy the same space throughout much of the day, it won't…
Paired role plays with Extempore: Student-centered in-class practice
If you read our blog, you've probably noticed that we talk a lot here about…
Ditch the Language Lab: Go Anywhere (and Everywhere) with Extempore
We live in a mobile world. We take our devices everywhere we go and do…
Assigning Speaking Practice over the Summer with Extempore
If there's anything that teachers and students can agree on, it's that summer vacation is...what's…
6 Image-based Extempore Tasks to Get Your Students Talking
We've all heard the cliché: a picture is worth a thousand words. But with Extempore,…