Author: oracycamb
Upgrading oracy: placing ‘spoken delivery and response’ at the heart of the curriculum
by Alan Howe “I’m boring.” “I sound terrible.” These are two responses from adults when watching themselves speaking on video. I suspect they are fairly typical reactions. Depending which…
How difficult to listen!
by Lyn Dawes Some thoughts on teaching listening in primary schools In a conference workshop, I asked a group of teachers to listen to an excerpt from a poem. There…
Finding the voice to tell our stories
by Ayesha Ahmed In discussing the importance of classroom talk, Douglas Barnes reminded us how important it is ‘for teachers to make it possible for pupils to think aloud even…
Teaching Tone of Voice
by Lyn Dawes Talk is made human by the tone of our voices. The tone in which we speak carries some of the message of the words, and is powerful…
Oracy across the Welsh curriculum
Download the report Last year, Oracy Cambridge was commissioned to write a report entitled Oracy Across the Welsh Curriculum by the Newport Education Achievement Service and the Welsh government, to support…
Leading Oracy in School – Part 1: the enduring potential and the wicked issues.
by Pete Dudley I was privileged to be asked to do some work recently with the first national cohort of ‘Oracy Leaders’ as they neared the end of their…
Talk is for learning
by Lyn Dawes Out with a group of children looking at a local pond, one of them was watching rooks who had made nests and were evidently incubating eggs –…
Oracy in action – conversations on the picket line
by Ayesha Ahmed During the recent wave of strike action by University staff to defend our pensions, many of us have been standing huddled against the cold weather, in…
The Language of Power: a one-day workshop
by James Mannion Last year, I attended a fascinating talk by Simon Lancaster, a professional speechwriter. It was a variation on a TEDx talk he did a couple of…
The Great Oracy Exhibition
by James Mannion A brief summary of an inspiring day at the inaugural Great Oracy Exhibition at School 21 in Stratford, London. Today, I attended what was probably my…
‘Sounding people out’: talk and acupuncture
by Alan Howe As a contribution to Oracy Cambridge’s exploration of spoken communication in the world of work, I discussed the value and role of workplace talk with Janice Booth,…
Oracy education and dialogic teaching: what’s the difference?
by Neil Mercer I am going to distinguish here between oracy education and dialogic teaching, because – as I will explain – I think that confusion between them has created…
How inclusive is Oracy?
| by Wendy Lee | I recently had a discussion with a fellow speech and language therapist about Oracy. They were worried that a focus on Oracy is hugely challenging…
Assessing collaboration: grasping the nettle…
| by James Mannion | Last Friday the University of Cambridge and Oracy Cambridge and AQA hosted a conference on Assessing Collaboration at Hughes Hall, Cambridge. Following the recent publication of…
Assessing Collaboration
by Ayesha Ahmed | A few weeks ago, on publication of the results of the OECD PISA assessment of Collaborative Problem Solving, we discovered that UK students are among those who…
Is narrative an endangered species in UK schools?
| a guest post by Catherine Heinemeyer | The great educationalist Jerome Bruner wrote in 2006 that human minds think and know in two quite different ways. Firstly, there is logico-scientific…
A voice from the chasm: “Please sir, can I have some more (oracy)?”
| by James Mannion | Last month, Hughes Hall College in Cambridge hosted the two-day launch of the inaugural Oracy Cambridge/Voice 21 ‘Oracy Leaders Programme’ (OLP). Cards on the table,…
Walking and talking with children about place
| by Elsa Lee and Richard Irvine | * We are walking with a group of Year 6 students in the East Anglian fens to a copse that they call ‘Dead…
Talk your way out of NQT exhaustion and into better long-term practice
| by Pete Dudley | If you are an NQT and you are currently exhausted, or if you are a school leader who is responsible for NQTs, then you should…
A different lens
| by Wendy Lee | We all see the world from our own perspectives. I’m a speech and language therapist down to my bones and most definitely see the world through…
Elaborate!
| by Lyn Dawes | It’s difficult when you don’t know something that you feel you should, or if you find yourself unable to remember what you thought you knew…
Let’s converse…
| by Alan Howe | I’ve been thinking about conversation. The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines ‘conversation’ as: ‘informal exchange of ideas by spoken words’ from the Latin ‘conversari: to keep company…
Oracy and dialogue: is there a difference and does it matter?
| by Paul Warwick | I have had many professional guises – teacher, teacher trainer, examiner, researcher – stretched over more years than I now care to contemplate. The central spine…
Why oracy is more important than literacy and numeracy put together
| by James Mannion | To be clear from the outset, the title is no click-bait: I genuinely believe this to be true. It’s not that I consider written forms of…
Oracy changing practice in the workplace: a dialogblogue
| by Pete Dudley | Let’s introduce ourselves. I am an ex-teacher – and someone who wants the best from education for all children and young people – and I think there…
Why should schools teach oracy?
This is an extract from Talk Box: Oracy Activities for Learning at Key Stage 1, by Lyn Dawes and Claire Sams. London: Routledge, second edition. In press: publication date May 2017. …
Out of the mouths…
| by Alan Howe | One We’re going on a bear hunt (again). This time my 3 year old grandson is sitting at a whiteboard in the kitchen with a marker…
What should be the scope of oracy education?
by Professor Neil Mercer Director, Oracy Cambridge The development of children’s spoken language skills has, thank goodness, been getting more and more attention in the media recently. Newspaper articles and…
Mind the gap
| by Wendy Lee | Learning to talk is the most complex skill any of us will learn. It’s tricky learning to combine the various language components needed, with speed and accuracy,…
Should we assess oracy, and can comparative judgement help?
| by Ayesha Ahmed | Image: Pixabay As a low stakes classroom activity, teacher assessment of oracy skills can have a positive effect on learning and teaching. Teachers using assessment…
‘It’s a bit like making a Victoria sponge’ – discovering, exploring and using research and other evidence to make the world a better place.
| by Nick Andrews | The popularity of the BBC programme, The Great British Bake Off is proof that everyone enjoys a piece of cake, especially when it has been made to…
Learning to talk in schools
| by Lyn Dawes | Children develop oral language by listening to others and creatively copying and using what they hear to form their own words for their own purposes. Once…
Why teach oracy?
In this article, Professor of Education Neil Mercer argues that ‘talk’ needs tuition; state schools must teach spoken language skills for the sake of social equality. The value of effective…
Children’s talk in education: a potted history
by Alan Howe The recent conference ‘The Power of Talk’, organised by the newly established Study Centre for oracy at Hughes Hall in Cambridge, was oversubscribed and very successful. Speakers…
Full steam ahead for Oracy Cambridge!
by Professor Neil Mercer Director, Oracy Cambridge, Hughes Hall The conference to launched our new study centre, Oracy Cambridge, was held at Hughes Hall on the 22nd of April 2016. Ninety…
Welcome to Oracy Cambridge!
In the world of work, the value of effective spoken communication is almost universally recognised. Job adverts emphasise the importance of being a confident communicator, or a strong ‘team player’.…