Questions about Habla

Habla is a simple tool that lets language teachers assign, collect, and grade student speaking recordings — all from one link, during a normal class period.

Sign in, go to your teacher dashboard, and create a class. Inside the class, click "New assignment," write your prompt, set the point value, and save. Habla generates a student link instantly. Copy it and share it however you share links with your class — Google Classroom, email, or projected on the board.

Every assignment has a "Copy link" button. Paste it into Google Classroom, email, your LMS, or just project it. Students click the link — no account setup required on their end before they get there.

No. Habla runs entirely in the browser. Teachers and students don't install anything.

Yes — students sign in with their school Google account before submitting. This is how Habla knows whose recording it is. Students who don't have a school Google account can't submit. If your school uses Microsoft instead of Google, contact us.

Students open the assignment link, sign in with their school Google account, enter their name, hit "Start recording," speak, stop, play it back, and hit "Submit." The whole thing takes under two minutes.

Chrome and Edge on laptops and Chromebooks work best. Safari on iPhone and iPad works (iOS 14.3 or newer required). Firefox works on desktop. Students should not use the built-in browser inside Google Classroom or other apps — if the mic button is grayed out, have them open the link in Chrome or Safari directly.

First: make sure the student opened the link in Chrome or Safari, not inside another app. Second: the browser will ask for microphone permission — they must click Allow, not Block. Third: if permission was previously blocked, they need to go to browser site settings and reset it. On a Chromebook, check that the school hasn't blocked microphone access in device settings. If none of that works, have the student try on their phone with mobile data instead of the school Wi-Fi.

Habla stores the student's name (as they enter it), their school email address, and their audio recording. No other personal information is collected. Only their teacher can access their submissions.

Students are added to your roster automatically the first time they submit an assignment. You can also add them manually from the Roster section inside your class — just enter a name and email. If your school uses a student information system, you can export a CSV and upload it directly to Habla.

In your class, scroll to the Roster section and click "Upload CSV." Your file should have a name column and an email column — either as "name, email" or "first name, last name, email" with a header row. Habla will tell you how many students were added and how many were already on the roster. PowerSchool, Infinite Campus, and Google Classroom exports work.

Open a class, then open an assignment. You'll see all submissions in one panel. Click a submission to play the audio, enter a score, add optional written feedback, and save. If you set up a rubric, you'll grade each criterion separately and Habla totals the score.

Yes. Inside any class, there's a "Download gradebook" button. It exports a CSV with student names, emails, assignment titles, scores, feedback, and submission timestamps. Drop it into PowerSchool, Canvas, Schoology, or your school's gradebook.

Yes. When creating an assignment, click "Add rubric" and define your criteria with point values. Students see the rubric before recording. You grade each criterion when reviewing submissions.

Stay calm — here's the order to try: (1) Have the student reload the page and try again. (2) Have them open the link in a different browser (Chrome is the most reliable). (3) If they're on school Wi-Fi and getting errors, have them switch to their phone's mobile data. (4) If you're seeing an error across multiple students, contact us immediately at the feedback form — include your class name and what you're seeing. Everything is recoverable.

Refresh the assignment page. If it still doesn't appear, check that the student signed in with the correct school account before submitting — submissions are attached to the email they used. If they submitted as a guest or with the wrong account, they'll need to submit again.

Make sure the link was copied in full and wasn't truncated when pasting into email or a chat. Test it yourself in an incognito window. If the page shows "Assignment unavailable," the assignment may have been deleted — check your class dashboard.

Yes. Students sign in with their school Google account. Audio files are stored securely and are not public. Only the assigning teacher can access submissions — other teachers, students, and outside parties cannot.

No. Every submission is private to the student and their teacher.

Habla is currently in beta and free for all active beta teachers through the end of this school year (June 2026). Individual teacher pricing is $4.99/month or $39.95/year when beta ends in August. If you signed up during beta, we'll be in touch before anything changes.

Everything — unlimited classes, unlimited assignments, audio submissions, grading, rubrics, feedback, roster management, and CSV export. One plan, all features.

Contact us and we'll set up department coverage so teachers don't pay out of pocket.