There’s a moment in every classroom when you ask a perfectly reasonable question and 30 young faces stare back at you like goldfish at feeding time; mouths slightly open, eyes glazed.
Cue the familiar teacher monologue: “Come on, you guys must know this…” Five awkward seconds later, you roll your eyes and start answering your own question (again).
Welcome to life before oracy.
Now, I know you might be about to click off this article, thinking 'here we go again, another post about speaking and listening' but this is no mere call to action to instruct your pupils to 'talk more'. So often, we misinterpret what oracy actually is and we completely underestimate how important it is in our classrooms and beyond.
Think of oracy as the lost sibling of literacy and numeracy ; it's the “third wheel” at the education family reunion. Yes, it’s all about speaking well: being able to express ideas clearly, reason aloud and even disagree without declaring verbal war but it is also about listening actively and developing vocabulary, using manners, developing empathy and deepening thinking.
Voice 21 calls it “learning to talk, through talk, and about talk.” Translation: talking isn’t what happens after learning, it’s how learning happens.
Students who can explain ideas aloud end up understanding them more deeply. Those who can listen attentively pick up social and emotional cues that textbooks can’t teach. It’s language, learning, and life skills all rolled into one.
Why you should care about Oracy
1. Because “they don’t talk” isn’t just a teenage thing
Often it’s not that students won’t speak, it’s that they don’t know how. Oracy gives them the sentence stems, the structure, and the safety net. (“I agree with …”, “I’d like to build on …”, “I’d like to challenge that by …”) Oracy maps are particularly useful for this and you can find one I've designed and used with classes to download at the bottom of this post.
2. Because writing starts with talking
If they can’t say it, they usually can’t write it. Oracy unlocks vocabulary, flow, and sentence structure before a single pencil hits paper.
3. Because listening is not passive
Active listening teaches empathy and patience (rare commodities among both students and staff by Friday last period amiright?!) Listening can often be hard to gauge so I've designed a Listening Ladder, a criteria to judge how actively students are listening. You'll find this available to download below.
4. Because it levels the playing field
Structured talk sessions give quieter students, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, a platform. Often, our disadvantages students haven't encountered the same levels of reading and writing skills at home as those who are not disadvantaged. Oracy levels may also be weaker, and we must be especially mindful of EAL students who may not have the same accuracy of vocabulary at home, despite massive skills in accruing languages. Oracy then, is an easy win in class as we can model easily, assess immediately and feedback instantly.
How to Sneak Oracy into Any Lesson Without a Whole New Scheme of Work
1. Think, Pair, Share 2.0
Yes, it’s basic, but this time, make it purposeful:
- Give each partner a clear speaking turn.
- Use a timer (30 seconds each).
- Require them to summarise their partner’s answer back to the class.
Boom! Listening and speaking: job done.
2. The ‘Basketball Not Tennis’ Rule
In a good discussion, talk bounces between players, not back and forth with you.
Not “teacher → student → teacher → student” rallies.
Encourage “student → student → student” conversations.
Result: they think, they reason, they own it.
3. Sentence Stems on Display
Stick up some “Talk Tactics” or a 'Talking Classroom' display that feature sentences to help discussion that everyone can see. The English and Media departments feature these in most classrooms, with some even having 'The Graveyard of Banned Words' displays.
Examples that you could display:
“I’d like to challenge that because…”
“I’m not sure I agree, can you explain…”
“Building on what ___ said…”
Soon it becomes natural classroom language; academic and polite.
5. Silent Summoner
One brave volunteer must summarise the class discussion in one minute. Have a different student summarise each lesson. It trains them in listening and that notoriously difficult skill: briefly summarising.
Quick Teacher Wins
- Model the calm tone you want. Sarcasm and yelling are contagious. Oops.
- Praise process, not just performance (“You built on that idea really well”).
- Make talk visible in displays or on learning mats or worksheets; post stems, sentence frames, and an oracy progress chart.
- Record short discussions for self‑assessment. Students love hearing themselves… until they don’t! Then they improve.
We spend so much time teaching students to read and write that we forget: most of the world runs on talk. Interviews, relationships, leadership, conflict resolution... these all depend on how well you speak and how actively you listen.
Oracy isn’t extra; it’s essential. And once you get it going, those silent goldfish moments start to disappear, replaced by actual conversation. Sometimes too much conversation. (Pick your battles.)
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