Best Practice

Case study: Teaching oracy skills

Oracy has been identified as a key post-lockdown priority. One school is working closely with Shakespearean actors to boost children’s speaking skills. Lucy Cherry explains


“Words without thoughts never to heaven go.”
Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 3.

This year the English department at Kings College in Guildford has been working hard to ensure that we have a strong focus on oracy. We believe that it is imperative that students learn not only to express themselves through writing but through speech too.

As English teachers it is our job to ensure that students leave Kings at the age of 16 with the confidence and vocabulary to express themselves no matter what the situation. We need to make sure that they leave school versed in how to communicate, not just in a casual and conversational way – as they may chat with their friends – but in a professional manner, with an understanding on how to use language that is appropriate according to the setting.

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