It can be hard to give every student enough speaking time in class. With a short recording task, each student can practice before submitting, and you can listen when you have time.
In our September 2026 usage review, language and speaking classes were the largest group by number of Spaces. Teachers used Vivipod for middle school Spanish and French, adult ESL, IELTS prep, ASL, and university language exchange. The prompts below cover several of those activities.
Table of Contents
Speaking tasks students can record
Speaking tasks by type
Copy a prompt and adjust it for your class. Each includes a time limit and suggested settings for review and comments.
Day 190 sec Self-introduction
Introduce yourself in Spanish in sixty to ninety seconds: your name and age, where you are from, and two things you like and two you do not like to do. Use this week's verbs.
Posts appear to the class as soon as a student publishes. No approval step.Members can reply on a post, with @mentions and feedback tied to a timestamp.Weekly60 sec Conversation prompt
Talk about a pet or another animal in your life. What is it, how long have you had it, and what does it do that makes you laugh? One minute, no notes.
Posts appear to the class as soon as a student publishes. No approval step.Members can reply on a post, with @mentions and feedback tied to a timestamp.Pronunciation60 sec Stress and intonation
Read these six words aloud with the correct stress, then use each one in a sentence. Finish by explaining how the stress changes the meaning of one of them.
Posts wait for your approval. Until then only the student and Space admins can see them.Members can reply on a post, with @mentions and feedback tied to a timestamp.Role-play2 minPlus Health coach
You are a certified health coach. Record a two-minute video advising an international client on a balanced week: sleep, food, movement, and one habit to drop.
Posts wait for your approval. Until then only the student and Space admins can see them.Members can reply on a post, with @mentions and feedback tied to a timestamp.Day 160 sec Something within arm's reach
Grab one object within arm's reach. Describe it in the target language: what it is, what it is for, and why it is near you right now. Sixty seconds.
Posts appear to the class as soon as a student publishes. No approval step.Members can reply on a post, with @mentions and feedback tied to a timestamp.Fluency60 sec Read-aloud
Read the passage aloud at a natural pace. Then post a second video saying which sentence was hardest to say, and why.
Posts wait for your approval. Until then only the student and Space admins can see them.Members can reply on a post, with @mentions and feedback tied to a timestamp.Exam practice2 minPlus Long turn
Talk about your favorite place to shop: where it is, how you get there, what you usually buy, who you go with, and what you like and dislike about it. Speak for two minutes.
Posts wait for your approval. Until then only the student and Space admins can see them.Posts stand alone. Students record and submit; nobody replies in the thread.
Name the vocabulary or structure you want students to practice, such as “use the verb to be and this week's words.” Keep one task per Topic so students know what to prepare.
Set a limit you can review
A 90-second limit gives students room for a short speaking task. They can rehearse until it fits. For a class of 25, that is up to 37.5 minutes of listening, before grading or feedback.
For presentations, interviews, or longer monologues, Plus raises the limit to five minutes per post. Only the Space owner needs it. See pricing.
Captions in the language spoken
On Plus, turn captions on for a Topic and every video in it gets a CC button. Captions are generated in the language the student spoke, not translated, so a learner can play back their own response and compare what they meant to say with what was recognized. The first Space member to press CC waits about ten seconds; everyone after that gets the captions immediately. See captions and transcripts.
Point feedback to a moment in the recording
Turn on comments for a Topic to leave feedback on a sound, word, or phrase. Add a timestamp so the student can replay the part you mean, then reply in the same thread. Comments are off by default; enable them where you want that exchange. The comments and feedback tutorial shows how to turn them on and what students see.
When you are assessing spoken language, students can use voice over a screen share, drawing, or slides. Require camera video when seeing the student is part of the task, as it is for sign language.
Frequently asked questions
Can students re-record before they submit?
Yes. The recorder has pause and resume, and students can retake as many times as they want before they upload. Drafts survive a closed tab.
Can responses stay private from other students?
Yes. Turn on Require approval for new posts to show up in the Topic's settings. Posts stay pending until you publish them. A pending post is visible only to its author and to the Space admins.
Does it work on phones?
Yes. The recorder runs in the browser on phones, laptops, and Chromebooks without an install.
Can I use it for a placement or speaking test?
You can use recorded responses for an assessment, with review on to keep them private. Set one Topic per question and explain what preparation and resources students may use. They can retake before uploading, so treat this as a prepared recording rather than a live speaking test.
Start with an introduction
Create a Space for the class, add one Topic that asks for a 60-second self-introduction in the target language, and share the link. Next week, post the first conversation prompt in the same Space.