Oracy Framework popular at Haute Vallee
We have just started oracy here in Haute Vallee. Oracy helps us with our sentence structure, tone of voice and pace.
Oracy has helped my talking and listening skills tenfold. In my eyes, I see the Oracy framework as a support technique to help people speak up, improve confidence, and give students a chance to have the tools to allow them to become more vocal in lessons.
It is a chance to let all students speak and listen, not just one or two people in class who could potentially rule the conversation.
We can use instigate to start a conversation by using ‘I would like to start by saying …’ .
We can probe people to dig deeper in their explanations to find out what they mean and what they are saying ‘what do you mean by that…’ .
We can also build on other people’s ideas by saying ‘Building on (person)’s idea…’ . We can challenge other people by saying ‘I disagree and think that …’ .
We can also clarify what others are saying by saying ‘So you were saying?’ as a refreshment or enforcement of what they were saying.
We can then summarise what the person was saying but in a shorter version.
I would encourage you to use Oracy because it helps you use numerous skills. It can help your language skills, your pace of speech or just talking in general.
It helps you and other people with listening and speaking to each other one at a time. One person speaks, the other listens. It is as easy as that.
Oracy’s main goal is to help various schools throughout the UK with 4 columns.
These columns are:
Physical– your voice and body language,
Linguistic – your chosen vocabulary and language,
Cognitive – your reasoning, structure, clarifying/summarising, content, and self-regulation,
Social and Emotional – which is our awareness of the audience and working with others.
Oracy has reached out to many schools throughout the UK. Here is a comment from a student from the UK:
“I think that I am sometimes ignored when I speak and when I am listened to, my opinion is sometimes forgotten however the school makes up for this because when I am listened to and my opinion is not forgotten, it gives me a great feeling inside.”
But here are some comments about Oracy from students here in Haute Vallee:
Joe: “Oracy has helped me and others because it gives us the confidence to speak in front of groups and to agree and challenge.”
Alex: “Oracy helps to level up our conversations when you’re in groups or even in front of crowds to even agree, build or challenge.”
Mrs Gilbert is in charge of Oracy at Haute Vallee. Mrs Gilbert believes that “Oracy is important because it allows everyone in the room to have their say and to grow in confidence at speaking. Oracy teachings provide students with the tools to do this successfully.”
Derek.
