St Anne's Catholic Primary School

achieving excellence in all our God given talents

Lowe Street, Birmingham, West Midlands, B12 0ER

0121 675 5037

enquiry@st-annes.bham.sch.uk

Oracy at St Anne's

Speaking and listening are fundamental to the teaching of English and through the whole curriculum – cognitively, socially and linguistically. We want our children at St Anne's to develop effective communication skills for the here and now and also in readiness for later life. Our aim is to enable the children to improve their levels of oracy so that they are able to develop into fluent speakers, with rich vocabulary who able to express themselves clearly and to communicate effectively and confidently in front of any type of audience and in a wide range of situations. These skills are being encouraged in all areas of our curriculum.

 

Oracy is the ability to articulate ideas, develop understanding and engage with others through spoken language. (Voice 21)

 

Oracy is…

  • Engaging with others ideas
  • Reasoning together
  • Listening to understand
  • Changing people’s minds
  • Telling compelling stories
  • Developing arguments/debates
  • Expressing yourself
  • Speaking up for what you believe in

A key part of oracy is for children to think carefully about the language they’re using, and tailor it to their subject, purpose and audience. So much in life depends on being a good communicator, so it’s vital that children learn the importance of oracy from a young age. 

Pictures

Coming

Soon...

If you can speak,

you can influence,

if you can influence

you can change lives.

Respectful and productive relationships between all who form part of the school community are crucial aspects of our schools oracy ethos. We place a high priority on supporting the development of good speaking and listening skills amongst our pupils. Correct spoken language and development of vocabulary is fundamental to learning. Speaking and listening play a huge part in a child’s progress across the curriculum areas and our teachers plan to develop these skills in a wide variety of ways.

Through the teaching of oracy, children will be able to:

  • Speak fluently, with confidence and clarity in front of an audience including talking in full sentences
  • Explore ideas through talk
  • Deliberately select gestures that support the delivery of ideas e.g. gesturing towards someone if referencing their idea
  • Recognise the value of listening to what others say
  • Use conjunctions to organise and sequence their ideas
  • Adapt how they speak in different situations according to the audience, including using Standard English
  • Value their own opinions and be able to express them to others
  • Begin to reflect on their oracy skills and identify areas of strength and areas to improve
  • Ask questions to find out more about a subject

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up

and live out the true meaning of its creed:

We hold these truths to be self-evident,

that all men are created equal.

(Martin Luther King)

Oracy Framework
Oracy Framework
Click here to see the Oracy Framework in a pdf document.
Greta Thunberg's Youth4Climate speech: 'The UK is a climate villain | Marie  Claire UK

Once we start to act, hope is everywhere. So instead of looking for hope, look for action. Then, and only then, hope will come. 

(Greta Thunburg)

Top ten ideas to support Oracy at home

  • Discuss a news article – read a newspaper article together or watch Newsround and ask questions about this. For example, what did you learn from reading that article? How did the people feel?

 

  • Discuss the meaning of vocabulary – after reading a text with your child or hearing different vocabulary, ensure you discuss what the vocabulary means.

 

  • Discuss a T.V. programme – talk about the themes of the programme. Ask them what they liked about it or what might happen in the next show.

 

  • Come up with a word of the day – encourage new vocabulary learnt to be used in your child’s writing or in a conversation they have that day.

 

  • Listen to different types of oracy – podcasts, poetry, radio shows, television
    programmes, educational videos, panel discussion, speech, job interview, stand-up comedy or music.

 

  • Interview someone – encourage your child to interview a neighbour, a family member or a family friend. Come up with the questions together and identify what they might learn from this experience.

 

  • Correct spoken English – if your child says, “I’m gonna go to the shop.”
    Correct this with, “I am going to go to the shop.”

 

  • Create a talk box – this is an exciting way to ensure conversations take place in your house. This could be an item that can be collected by you or your child. It can be as simple as a leaf, with the idea that you or your child talk in detail about how you came to have the leaf in your talk box.

 

  • Ask questions to develop answers – ‘why’ is such a powerful word to use with your child, it develops their sentences and thought process as they have to explain further.

 

  • Play a game and discuss the rules – this can be as simple as playing different board games and getting your child to explain the rules or using the games suggested below.

 READ...DISCUSS...READ...

Reading is such a valuable skill which we as adults can take for granted. Books can create such wonderful discussions with children.

Can they retell a story? What does your child include when they retell a story? How can their story improve?

Ask Questions - Use Reading Gems to give you an idea of what type of questions you could ask.

Reading Gems - EYFS or there are questions available at the end of each RWI book.

Reading Gems - KS1 or there are questions available at the end of each RWI book.

Reading Gems - KS2 or there are questions available at the end of each Big Cats book.

Page 13 | Reading book at home Vectors & Illustrations for Free Download |  Freepik

 

DISCUSS...DISCUSS...DISCUSS...


We can improve our children’s oracy skills when they are using computer games. The questions we ask our children can really shape their future. By asking them to explain what they have been doing, when it is something they are passionate about you can begin to see their repertoire of language.

Video Game Cartoon Images - Free Download on Freepik