Group Talk
How and when to use
Group Talk?
• An engaging starter activity using
current topic or random stimulus
• A strategic plenary interactively
demonstrating the progress made
• Or both – the beautiful symmetry of
learning!
How is Group Talk different?
• Only the target language is spoken by
students to students
• Interaction happens between a small group of
students
• Tasks demand opinion, conjecture and
debate
• Language is often colloquial
• Responses are spontaneous
• There is no set finishing line
• You are yourself!
The Launch Lesson
• Establishes social interaction in the
target language
• Presents and embeds basic Group Talk
phrases
• Simply requires previous knowledge of
basic opinion structures and adjectives
Ja, echt?!
Du spinnst!
Weiß nicht.
Das stimmt nicht.
Halt die Klappe!
1 I think ...
2 What do you think?
3 That's right.
4 That's not right.
5 Yeh, really?
6 What?!
7 You're crazy!
8 Shut up!
9 Dunno
Das stimmt.
Ich denke
Was?!
Was denkst du?
Ich denke
Was denkst du?
I think ...
Das stimmt.
That's right.
Was?!
What?!
What do you think?
Das stimmt nicht.
That's not right.
Du spinnst!
You're crazy!
Ja, echt?!
Yeh, really?
Weiß nicht.
Dunno
Halt die Klappe!
Shut up!
Stage 1/2 Group Talk
opportunities
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colours
school subjects
animals
sports
favourite things
food and drink
celebrities
music
random items / pupil-chosen themes
Embedding Group Talk
• Use the Group Talk progression chart to
underpin planning
• Build Group Talk objectives and opportunities
into existing schemes of work
• Display model scenarios to aid pupils’ talk
• Build up and keep centrally Group Talk
resources (stimuli / scaffolds)
• Display and update Group Talk phrases
• Archive pupil talk using Easi-Speak voice
recorders / flip cameras
Extending Group Talk
(Stages 3/4)
• Incorporate more advanced (and
colloquial) language / structures
• Increasingly complex scenarios demanding
more balanced views
• Use picture and text stimuli
• Allow preparation for task / note taking
• Use model dialogues
The impact on learning
• Pupils (boys and girls!) of all abilities
and ages are motivated to speak
• Pupils talk more confidently and
spontaneously
• Speaking and Listening skills are
developed in unison
Ofsted 2011:
‘The skill of listening in order to respond
orally appeared very much in decline.’
• Questioning skills are improved
• Fulfils the Talking Together substrand of the KS3 framework
• Improvement in GCSE Controlled
Speaking Assessments
• Ofsted-Outstanding!
Pupils ‘can use language creatively
and spontaneously to express what
they want to say, including when
talking to each other informally …’
• Some examples used at KS4
STAGE 4
Developing a line of thought
Sharing points of view
Balancing an argument

give a developed response to a
stimulus
Target language response sustained through the use of
connectives, sequencing devices
and time-gaining phrases
 express supposition
Je suppose que…
J’imagine que …
Je me demande si…
Je ne pense pas que ce soit…
Ça pourrait être
ce serait
On dirait que…
C’est peut-être…
Il est possible que ce soit…
 listen to extended talk, then
respond to key points raised
Tu as dit que …
Il a dit que … mais moi, je pense que ..…
 give a balanced view or
summary
of an issue
D’une part... d’autre part ...
Bien que ce soit + adjective, ...
Même si ...