Developing Oracy Skills: Speaking and Listening within the Classroom
Setting Ground Rules:
Confidence in speaking and listening for purpose is vitally important in the development of these
life skills. Setting ground rules that ensure the physical and emotional security of each student,
where the students are consulted in the devising of these rules, will go a long way in establishing
an environment of productive engagement in speaking and listening for purpose.
In order to support the development of group ground rules, the students and teacher might
consider the following prompts:
 What is a good listener? What does good listening look and sound like?
 What is a good speaker? What does good speaking look and sound like?
 What makes a partnership work best?
 How do I work best within a group?
 How should we share our information, so that everyone benefits?
 What are the roles within the group (chairperson, mentor, recorder, observer, time-keeper,
questioner, etc.)? Who will undertake each role? How will these roles be rotated?
Personal ground rules might include:
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Speak clearly (aim for the furthest point in the room)
Interact with and involve your audience
Use gesture but do not fidget
Try to ensure that everyone can see you
Emphasise the most important points you wish to convey, vocally, physically, etc.
Listen to others with respect
Ask a question if you do not understand
Why Warm Ups?
Team-building activities can help to develop a sense of classroom unity and community
New members can integrate with the class
Warm up activities can decrease stress and build confidence in listening and speaking, through
game-playing
All learning styles / abilities can be utilised in warm up activities – visual, aural, kinaesthetic
Warm up activities can energize and focus a group
Higher level thinking and critical skills may be stimulated through game and metaphor
Ice Breakers / Quick Warm Ups
Review Questions post-activity:
 What worked well? What did not work well?
 How did it feel to be in the role assigned?
 What important skills were needed for everyone to carry out the task successfully?
(listening, sharing of ideas, planning, asking and answering questions, negotiation,
justification, taking turns, use of specific language, logical / critical / lateral thinking,
clarification, etc.)
 What are the important learning points to take forward?
A. Group Memory
Purpose: To test communication, organisation, establish clear roles
1. Divide the class into teams consisting of three or more students. Each team has access to an
area of the room, where resource materials (paper, markers, etc.) have been provided
2. Attach a picture, photograph, map, graph, poem, etc. to a flipchart. (If using a piece of text,
try to use a text with a pattern or sequence which will make it easier for students to
remember)
3. The whole class looks at the object for one minute
4. The flipchart is then turned away from the class and the students are told to recreate a
perfect copy
5. Each team member may only make three visits to view the object, each visit lasting no more
than 25 seconds. No drawing / recording instruments may be taken to the viewing area
6. When the time is up, the activity is reviewed and the skills required to carry it out
successfully are discussed.
B. Chinese Whispers
Purpose: To listen and speak carefully, to convey clearly stated messages
1. Get at least five people, preferable 10 plus people. The more people involved, the better,
because the message being passed around is likely to become distorted and even funnier.
2. Write a few messages down on paper that consist of at least ten words. The message can be
serious or downright silly. Be sure it is legible.
3. Sit the players down on the floor in a circle or a line. This can be played in teams or as a whole
group.
4. Give the first player the message note. Have that person whisper the message into the ear of
the next person. They cannot pass on or show the message; that must go back to the organiser
/ monitor. The message must be repeated quickly from person to person. No one else must
hear.
5. The last person reveals aloud what he / she heard to the group.
6. The activity is reviewed with the group.
C. Birthdays / Oldest, Middle, Youngest / Tall to Small
Purpose: to see how quickly students can process data and arrange themselves in a particular order
1. Ask the students to line up according to birth date (year or month or day in the month) /
position in the family / height (e.g. shorter people at the front of the line and taller people at
the back).
2. Students are allowed to ask each other questions in order to establish their position in the
line.
3. Review the activity with the group.
D. Warm Up Charts
Purpose: To assist students in getting to know more about the members of their group and foster
individual / group identity and unity
Self
Place where you were
born
Country you would like
to visit
Favourite holiday spot
Favourite ice cream
flavour
Best school memory
Favourite time of the
day
Favourite recreational
activity
Your hero/heroine
A special friend
Favourite food
Team Member
Team Member
1.
Divide the
class into groups
of three
2.
Ask
the
group to record
information about
themselves on the
chart
(the
suggestions below
are
not
prescriptive)
How are you all alike?
E. Scavenger Hunt (Jill Spencer)
Purpose: To access student prior knowledge, introduce new concepts / vocabulary
1. Each student receives an index card. On one side is the piece of information specific to
themselves.
2. Teacher calls out the instruction: ‘Find someone who…’
…can explain the difference between…
…can tell you…
…can name…
…can show you…
…can share….
3. Students move around the room, on the instructions of the teacher, questioning and
informing each other until everyone has built on the information they know and filled in the
gaps, using the information on each other’s index cards.
Four Corners / Take a Stand (Spencer Kagan (http://kaganonline.com)
Purpose: It can be used as a pre-assessment, a discussion starter, to deepen understanding of a
topic, or discover mis-conceptions, a formative assessment.
1. Students are asked to move to a corner of the room whose label best matches their opinion,
their knowledge level, their skill level, or represents something they like. (Corners may be
labelled in relation to learning outcomes).
2. Once there, each corner group is given a specific task, and must work together to accomplish
it. (e.g. ‘I understand and can utilise volcanic terminology’ – group task is to create a visual
display of key terms relating to volcanoes). Alternatively, each corner group must could work
together to justify their position in that corner of the room.
3. Each corner group presents the results of their specific task / justifications to the rest of the
class.
4. Review process will consider all four corners of the room, so that students will be able to
discuss and identify areas that may require further investigation.
I see, I think, I wonder…
Purpose: to stimulate and share creative ideas and opinions around visual aids, asking and answering
of questions, listening to others, hear and use specific descriptive language.
1. In pairs / groups, students study an illustration (painting, photograph, cartoon, diagram, map,
etc.) or object, without speaking, for one minute.
2. Each member of the team makes three statements about the visual aid, describing what they
see, what their opinion of it is, and one question they would like to ask about it.
3. These statements are shared with, and discussed with, the rest of the team / partnership, and
recorded on paper.
4. The team / partnership decide on a group statement about what they see, think and wonder
about the visual aid. This is shared with the rest of the class.
5. The activity is reviewed and all recorded work is collected and noted.
Brainstorm
Purpose: To gather ideas, share prior knowledge, formulate a plan, develop teamwork strategies,
listening and speaking skills.
1. In teams, students will think about the requirements and goals of the task and record all their
ideas (wish list). Mind maps may be a useful tool here.
2. Students will then think about the task from a number of key perspectives, which may
generate further ideas.
3. Students may categorise their ideas into three main areas: easy ideas, tough ideas, and crazy
ideas.
4. These ideas will be evaluated and refined, in the light of roadblocks – i.e. resources,
capabilities, the limitations of the task, etc.
5. The team will continue to ask questions around the task, exploring every avenue.
6. The team will review, and decide on, the key features of the task, as a result of the
brainstorming process.
Just Like Me
Purpose: To develop group unity, listening and speaking skills, share ideas, distinguish areas of
strength and areas that might need more input
1. Arrange the whole class in a circle, if possible.
2. Teacher models the activity by saying…’Just like me, who…finish the sentence with a
statement such as ‘likes to kayak’ or ‘loves rugby’ or ‘hates chocolate’?
3. Everyone who fits that category stands up.
4. Encourage others to start the prompt.
5. As students become more familiar with the activity, they can incorporate content ideas /
topics for discussion into the activity, e.g. ‘Just like me, who needs to read more about
volcanoes…is good at clay modelling…still doesn’t understand the theory of plate tectonics?’
6. Class review after the activity can help to identify key areas that may need more work.
True / False Statements (similar to myths and realities activity done in Literacy Link Seminars)
THINK
Purpose: To support team problem-solving, while keeping in mind that alternatives are possible;
sharing of, and listening to, other ideas, group discussion, negotiation, activating prior knowledge
T – Talk about the problem
H – How might the problem be solved?
I – Identify a strategy that might work in solving the problem
N – Note how the strategy is working / issues that may arise
K – Keep thinking? What might we be doing wrong? Might there be a better way of doing this?
Read and Explain Pairs
Purpose: To support students in active reading, comprehension, reflection and explanation, where
students work as cooperative partners.
1. Divide material into sections/paragraphs suited to class-group.
2. Students form pairs A and B, and both read a section of the material.
3. Students assign roles: A is SUMMARISER, whose job is to turn page down and summarise the
contents of the paragraph in one's own words. B is CHECKER, whose job is to listen carefully
and correct any mis-statements and add in anything omitted.
4. Both read next section.
5. Reverse roles.
6. Continue until all the material is read and the general meaning agreed and understood by the
pair.
7. The teacher ensures individual accountability by randomly asking students to summarise what
they have read so far. The teacher reminds students that there is intergroup cooperation
(whenever it is helpful they may check procedures, answers, and strategies with another
group or compare answers with those of another group if they finish early).
Mime
Purpose: To develop an understanding of context, situation, social interaction, body language and
facial expression as a method of, and an aid to, communication.
1. Students work in pairs / groups to create emotional expression, using facial expression,
gesture and body language.
2. Each pair / group will take on a number of key character roles and explore the development
of the character, using appropriate expression and gesture. Students will be encouraged to
think beyond obvious character traits and to utilise information from textbooks about their
chosen characters.
3. In their groups, the students will improvise short social scenes, built around their chosen
characters, which will reflect character development and decisions.
4. (Use of the ‘Freeze’ technique may be useful in creating a ‘still scene’ / focus the group).
5. Other members of the group will act as evaluators and supporters of the students ‘in
character’.
Role Play / Monologue / Dialogue
Purpose: To encourage engagement in discussion and active listening about a particular issue, to share
information and experiences, foster participation and develop empathy.
1. The scenario should be relevant and realistic, provide adequate information to give students
a comfort zone when acting out their roles and build up confidence by using group simulations
before they are asked to carry out individual role plays or monologues.
2. Students can work individually to create a monologue (one-sided conversation, talk), in pairs
to create dialogue, or in groups of three or more for more extended scenes.
3. Role play allows students to invent relationships between people and to re-create events from
a number of perspectives (e.g. create a café scene to develop language / mathematical skills,
re-enact a scene from history, tell a story from many points of view, etc.)
4. The students try to imagine how each person feels, walks, talks, acts and they act out what
they think is happening and what might happen next.
5. Other class members can then question them in role.
Walking Debate
Purpose: To develop the use of persuasive and descriptive language, to give every student the
opportunity to express their opinion on the issues under discussion, to actively listen to and research
new ideas, to justify choices made.
1. Place agree and disagree signs on either side of the room. Gather all students in the centre of
the room.
2. Invite students to indicate whether they agree or disagree with the following statements by
standing under the agree or disagree signs:
3. Draw feedback from students after each statement is read. Ask why they took the position
they did – note if any students changed position based on the contributions of others.
DRAPES (Jill Spencer)
Purpose: This is a useful strategy to focus a group in the preparation / research stages of developing
a presentation. It can be used as part of a speaking and listening exercise and / or in the reading,
drafting and writing-up stages.
1. In groups, students think about the purpose of, and the audience for, the presentation
2. Using the DRAPES strategies, students will discuss their approach and focus on the key areas
for researching, drafting and writing the presentation:
D – Definition / Dialogue
R – Rhetorical question
A – Analogy
P – Personal experience
E – Examples
S – Statistics
3. The group will decide on where to include a DRAPES strategy at each stage of the
presentation.
4. Teachers could share the responsibilities for teaching the students what each of the DRAPES
terms mean and then the other teachers could reinforce these concepts in their classrooms.
Three - Step Interview (Kagan, 1990)
Purpose: To find information from texts, ask and answer questions, seek clarification, demonstrate
understanding of texts, as members of a team interview one another on a particular topic.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Students decide whether they are A, B or C.
The group reads the piece of text / researches the topic.
A interviews B, while C records observations from the responses.
The roles are then rotated after each interview to ensure that all members of the group have
had an opportunity to the interviewed.
Fishbowl Listening Activity (Adapted from: NCCA ‘Working with Others’ toolkit)
Purpose: To listen actively to the experiences, ideas and perspectives of a specific group, to gain
feedback on the group experiences, to explore challenges and issues which arise from discussion.
1. Divide the class up into small groups. Each group writes down their thoughts and views on the
particular question or topic on a piece of flip chart paper with a marker for about 10-15
minutes.
2. The whole room then re-groups, moving their chairs into 2 circles: one circle is a large “fishbowl” round the outside of the room and the other small circle is the “fish” in the middle of
the room. This is a listening exercise.
3. The small circle contains the fish, and one person from each original group should sit in this
small circle. The fish tell everyone in the room about what was discussed in their group. The
fish are the only ones who can talk at this stage. One person from the fish group volunteers
to write all the main ideas on a flip chart paper in the middle.
4. Students in the large circle are the fish-bowl and they are the listeners – they must listen very
carefully to what the fish are saying, to check that this is an accurate description of the views
put forward by their little groups.
5. Any listener who disagrees with what is being said by the “spokes-fish” of their group, or wants
to add something, can go up and tap them gently on the shoulder. This means that they will
swap places.
It’s a Rap
Purpose: To engage students who feel disconnected from language use, listen to the ideas and
experiences of others, introduce nuances of tone, pitch, pace, rhythm, rhyme, use descriptive
language.
1. In groups of three, students decide on a topic / experience that they wish to share with the
class.
2. As a team, they create a speaking ‘rap’, incorporating appropriate description and expressive
language.
3. The group ‘perform’ the rap as a team, or take turns to perform individual sections.
4. The rest of class act as the critical audience and discuss the merits of each piece.
Phone Calls
Purpose: To promote careful listening and speaking, use of appropriate expression, discussion of
formal and informal language, step-by-step instruction
1. Students divide themselves into A, B, C.
2. A and B sit back to back.
3. In pairs / groups of three, students have imaginary phone conversations with each other,
where A is the caller, B answers the phone and C listens to, records and reports back on the
conversation.
4. Depending on the task (e.g. giving a step-by-step instruction on how to do a recipe /
experiment, speaking ‘in-character’ as one character to another from history, making a
complaint in another language, etc.), the students must use the appropriate tone and pace of
voice, choice of vocabulary and expression. While A speaks, B listens, but may also prompt A
during the conversation. B may not interrupt A.
5. Working with C, the students review their conversation and make note of areas for
improvement.
Think-Pair- Share (Square)
Purpose: to clarify and articulate the thoughts of the students on a topic, deepen understanding,
practise skills of speaking, listening, agreeing, disagreeing, rephrasing and working in groups, to
increase confidence, to move through the stages of individual work, paired work and group work, to
provide feedback in a ‘safe’ environment.
1. Ask students, on their own, to spend several minutes thinking and writing down own ideas,
thoughts, etc. on a topic (THINK).
2. Put students into pairs to share their individual ideas with a partner (PAIR).
3. The pair group decide on a common agreement and share their thoughts with either the whole
class (SHARE) or another group, where two pairs work together to agree on a group response
(SQUARE).
Placemats
Purpose: To focus group attention on a task, to share and record individual and group ideas, to ask
and answer questions, to negotiate and justify choices, to activate prior knowledge / summarise
topics, to reflect on learning and provide feedback.
1. Students are divided into small groups of 4 and gathered around a “placemat”.
2. The “placemat” is organised with sections for each student to record their ideas and a central
section for students to summarise their individual ideas.
3. Each member of the group thinks about a question and writes down ideas on his/her own
section of the placemat.
4. Ideas are shared among the group and a common answer is decided upon, which can be
written in the centre of the placemat.
5. The group answer is shared with the rest of the class.
Thinking Triads
Purpose: to promote higher order thinking, pose questions, stimulate ideas and answers to questions,
take turns, actively listen, use key terminology and concepts.
1. Students form groups of three. As a group, the students read / research the topic or problem
to be solved.
2. Each member of the group takes on a role – researcher / recorder / questioner – where the
problem / content is analysed, ideas gathered, answers recorded and questions asked, to
ensure individual and group understanding, share ideas, check back on information and agree
on the key points / concepts.
3. As a team, the triad explains their findings to the rest of the class. Each member of the team
must be able to justify their group findings.
Extension:
Here are some different ways to ask your students to THINK about things:
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How are things alike? Students look for similarities between items, events or ideas. How are
fractions and decimals alike?
How are things different? Students look for differences between items, events, or ideas.
How do things look differently from inside or from the outside? Students imagine what it
would be like to be an observer inside or outside an item, event, system, etc.
What is your estimate or prediction? Students must make an educated guess or an
inference using given information and their own general background information.
Justify their stance or thinking.
Devil's advocate--students respond to another's points with views that are the opposite.
Let's look at this from an opposite point of view.
Ask groups to pair up with another set and have both groups share their ideas. Ask each
group to choose one or two ideas to share with the entire group. Chart and discuss.
Hot Seat / Ask the Expert
Purpose: to develop interview techniques, encourage more detailed discussion about an issue, to
share information, to explore motivation and interpretation of events, to develop empathy / deepen
understanding.
1. Ask the students to generate challenging questions that they would like to ask a character
from history, literature, science, etc. or an expert on a topic / event. A discussion of the
context / character / event beforehand would be helpful.
2. Teacher will place a ‘hot seat’ facing the group and will model either being the expert in the
hot seat or being the questioner.
3. Students are allocated a particular character, or alternatively they think of a role themselves
relevant to the issue in question. The role can be researched by a group or individually.
4. The character / expert is put in the hot seat and questioned by the other students.
5. A mystery game could also be played out using this technique, with class members having to
guess the identity of the person in the hot seat.
6. Discussion afterwards will focus on new information gathered, new understanding of the
character / topic, questions left unanswered.
Just a Minute
Purpose: to encourage speaking aloud / sharing of ideas and experiences, to promote active
listening, to use key vocabulary / phrases, to summarise a lesson or activate prior knowledge.
1. Teacher uses a stopwatch and gives the students a topic / issue / experience to think about
for one minute, or asks students to focus on the main points of the lesson, or on questions
they still have about a topic.
2. Using the stopwatch, each student has one minute to speak on their chosen topic, without
hesitation, deviation or repetition.
3. Other students can challenge the speaker if the rules are broken, or can add points missed at
the end of each student’s speech.
Question and Answer
Purpose: to gather further information about a topic, break down a topic into smaller parts, activate
prior knowledge, summarise a lesson, differentiate between literal and inferential questions,
develop critical thinking skills.
6 W questions – Who, What, Where, When, Why, Which
1 H question - How
1. The teacher asks an initial comprehension question starting with How or Why. The teacher
then continues with a series of connector question stems, where the question must always
start with either the How or Why.
2. Students will be encouraged to develop their own connector questions.
3. Teacher can also stimulate further critical thinking through the use of:
Inverted questioning
Changing the question to a challenging statement.
Backward Testing
Purpose: To ask and answer questions, use key vocabulary / terminology / concepts, justify choices,
provide a safe zone in which to explore assessment, provide feedback.
1. Teacher gives the students either the test questions in advance, or the answers to a test.
2. In small groups, students prepare the answers to each question, or formulate the types of
questions needed to generate these answers.
3. Students will teach each other how to answer the questions. The group should take turns in
the role of Explainer (explaining how to answer the question) and Accuracy Checker
(verifying that the Explainer is correct and seeking help as needed). The roles can be rotated
until everyone understands the material on which they will be tested. They could also agree
the marking scheme for each question.
6 Thinking Hats (Edward de Bono)
Purpose: To examine issues from a number of important perspectives, to develop empathy and a
clearer understanding of various points of view, to explore new styles of critical thinking.
1. Each group is given one of six coloured hats. They have to view the problem from point of
view of that coloured hat.
2. In a group setting each member thinks using the criteria given for the group’s coloured hat.
The group focuses on the same thinking challenge—this is called focused parallel thinking--a
tool that facilitates creativity and collaboration. It enables each person's unique point of view
to be included and considered.
The six hats:
White hat - This is the information seeking hat. The focus is on pure facts, figures and objective information.
Questions that this group should ask could include:
• What are the facts?
• What information is available? What is relevant?
• When wearing the white hat we are neutral in our thinking.
Red hat - This is the emotions and feelings hat. It focusses on hunches and intuition. Questions include:

•
•
•
What do you feel about the suggestion?
What are your gut reactions?
What intuitions do you have?
Don’t think too long or too hard.
Black hat - This hat plays devil’s advocate. It focuses on logical and negative judgment - on why it won’t work.
This is the caution hat. Questions include:
• What are the errors or pit-falls?
• What are the risks or dangers involved?
• What difficulties and problems can be identified?
Yellow hat - This hat promotes sunshine, brightness and optimism. It is the hat of positive constructive thought.
The traits of this hat are that it is positive and constructive. It is about effectiveness and getting a job done.
Questions include:

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What are the benefits, the advantages?
Logical reasons for decision making given
Green Hat - This is the creative mode of thinking. This hat is creative and is open to new ideas, movement and
provocation. In the green hat we look to new ideas and solutions. Questions include:
• What are the ideas and alternative solutions?
Blue Hat - This is the control hat. It is cool and controlled. It tries to rule over other hats. It sets the focus, calls
for the use of other hats. Blue is for planning.
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Let us reflects on the thinking processes used.
What plan can we put in place?
Exit Pass
Purpose: To allow the teacher to assess student learning of the lesson, to develop further critical
thinking skills, to encourage students to admit points of confusion/ ask for clarification, to share
understanding.
1. Towards the end of the lesson, index cards / post-its are given to the students.
2. Students are encouraged to describe a part of the lesson which they particularly enjoyed, as
well as a part of the lesson which they may have found challenging, or questions which remain
unanswered for them.
3. The student responses are noted on the index cards / post-its and handed to the teacher as
the students leave the class room.
4. Further feedback will be provided by the teacher during the next lesson.
References:
Paul Ginnis - The Teacher’s Toolkit
Education Bradford – Talk across the Curriculum
Miriam Hamilton – Co-operative Learning Strategies
Jill Spencer – Classroom Learning Strategies that Support School Improvement