Our Oracy Curriculum

Oracy  

At Globe, oracy is a whole school approach with every child from Nursery to Year 6 taking part in  oracy  lessons. Our oracy curriculum focuses on developing children’s ability to learn through the essential skills of speaking and listening. 

Our aim is for all our children to enrich their thinking and communication skills, boost their self-esteem, and improve their academic attainment. We want our children to become eloquent speakers and develop the ability to justify answers, arguments and opinions and to be able to apply this to their thinking and learning, thus enhancing their understanding of not only subject content but also of each other and themselves.   

Discussion Guidelines

Discussion guidelines are ground rules for talk, ensuring talk is structured and purposeful.

Oracy Hand Gestures

At Globe, we use the hand gestures ABC to represent Agreement, Building on an idea and Challenging an idea.

Oracy in the Early Years

Oracy at Globe is organised into four Big Ideas:

· Voice and Body Language (what we show through our physical skill)

· Vocabulary and Language (what we express through the use of linguistic skill) 

· Thinking and Understanding (applying discussion and learning to develop our thinking further)

· Teamwork and Confidence (how we work together by considering and respecting our feelings and those of others)

We use child friendly language to talk about the Big Ideas: My Body, My Words, My Thinking, My Feelings and Relationships.

The Oracy Curriculum

 Oracy at Globe is organised into four Big Ideas:

· Voice and Body Language (what we show through our physical skill)

· Vocabulary and Language (what we express through the use of linguistic skill) 

· Thinking and Understanding (applying discussion and learning to develop our thinking further)

· Teamwork and Confidence (how we work together by considering and respecting our feelings and those of others)

We use child friendly language to talk about the Big Ideas: My Body, My Words, My Thinking, My Feelings and Relationships.

Voice and Body Language (My Body)

• Fluency and pace of speech
• Varied tone
• Clear pronunciation
• Appropriate gesture and posture
• Effective facial expressions Understanding of eye contact

Vocabulary and Language (My Words)

• Confidence choosing vocabulary
• Correct use of grammar
• Use of rhetorical techniques such as metaphor, humour and irony

Thinking and Understanding (My Thinking)

Confidence with...

• Choosing of content
• Asking questions
• Summarising Maintaining focus and time management
• Giving opinions and reasons
• Being critical
• Understanding audience and purpose

Teamwork and Confidence (My Feelings and Relationships)

• Confidence managing interactions and turn-taking
• Active listening skills
• Appropriate responses to questions/ replies
• Self-assurance
• Liveliness and flair

Our oracy lessons at Globe build to whole school outcomes that allow the children to perform their oracy skills in a wide variety of contexts and genres.

The Impact of Oracy? 

With Oracy at the forefront of our thinking, children are able to express themselves in a variety of contexts and can share their ideas; listen to those of others; build on ideas; challenge others respectfully and are willing to change their viewpoint. Progression through Oracy allows children to become independent learners that strive to achieve the best of their ability in everything they do

The impact of teaching Oracy:

· Increases pupil confidence in all areas of the curriculum

· Improves academic outcomes

· Fosters wellbeing

· Gives the essential skills for children to thrive in life beyond school.

· Promotes social equity

We aim for our pupils to have proficient oracy skills to be able to use language to communicate confidently, fluently and articulately. With this aspect of cultural capital, our children will be able to positively contribute to their society both now and in the future.

What Children at Globe Say About Oracy?

“We learn about how to call people when there’s an emergency and somebody is hurt. We learn to speak loudly and quietly. It’s really useful because it could save someone’s life to speak up.” – Yarah, Year 1, John Cadbury Class

“I like that this week we are doing poems and our teacher is going to pick someone to go up and perform the poem for the poetry slam. That makes me happy and I really hope I get picked. We’re preparing by learning a poem in 3 oracy lessons. There’s one part of the poem that I know by heart already.” - Eesah, Year 2, Marcus Rashford Class

“I like to learn to speak because it helps me in Geography – that’s my favourite subject because I love to learn about human features.”- Farnan, Dorothy Bishop Class

“I like oracy because you share your ideas with everyone and you let everybody know what you think and why you think it.” – Sabeel, Year 3, Helen Keller Class

“I think learning to talk to people and listen to people is a pretty good skill!” – Lina, Year 4, Malcolm X Class

“I think that it is good because you can learn how to speak well to other people. It is also good for a debate – because of oracy lessons, you know how to talk well so you might win the debate.” - Harrison, Year 5, Malala Yousafzai Class

“Firstly, oracy helps me think properly about the things that I do and secondly it helps me talk to people properly without getting lost. It helps everyone else in the classroom as well because right now I know that there are lots of people who are good at talking and they say it is because of oracy.” – Jamila, Year 6, Amal Clooney Class