Sign In
Sign In
Register for Free
SecondaryEnglish

6 of the best speaking and listening resources for KS4 English

Get ready to debate, persuade, agree, disagree and of course empathise with some excellent ideas for boosting communication skills…

Teachwire
by Teachwire
DOWNLOAD A FREE RESOURCE! Year 7 English worksheets – Jungle descriptive writing lesson plan and resources
SecondaryEnglish

1 | Teaching talking

Getting pupils to engage and participate in group and class discussions in the secondary English classroom is a difficult and often undervalued teaching skill.

Drama offers obvious opportunities, but this first video shows that it’s not just set-piece performances that can help.

The second video follows NQT Kate Bomford, as she plans and delivers a speaking and listening lesson based on Louis Sachar’s novel Holes.

Find part one here and part two here.


2 | Big Brother

Big Brother? What is this the year two-thousand and… er… when was Big Brother popular?

Anyway, you’re only watching it for educational purposes. Never thought you’d hear that did you?

For this activity you’ll need to find some clips of the show online (probably best to check them first for inappropriate content) to play in class.

Students are then tasked with looking at how things like the voiceover are used to persuade viewers, and debating how the show uses settings, tasks and contestant choices to create arguments.

Sorry! I mean drama. How the show creates drama.

Download the PDF here.


3 | Are graffiti artists criminals?

Yes. By definition they are. Debate, and lesson, over.

This one is probably best not to take too literally, as it makes for a better ethical debate than the one I just had in three sentences.

Is it art that adds to a culture and a community? If so, who gets to judge that? Where is the line between art and nuisance? Where, if anywhere, might it be acceptable to do it?

There are two PowerPoint presentations for this resource, one featuring 20 slides, the other, seven.

Download both files here.


4 | Gossip columns

This excellent idea puts students in the role of journalists for a celebrity gossip magazine, and they must pick a cover story from four potential options, then choose which will be the secondary and tertiary articles.

Will they go for the controversial fashion designer’s new fur range, a rare and exclusive Madonna interview, a famous footballer’s possible affair or a celebrity couple’s first interview since their engagement?

Start the debate here.


5 | Room 101

You’re no doubt familiar with the TV show format, where contestants attempt to persuade the host that their item should be banished for all eternity into Room 101.

Well, it makes for a great speaking and listening activity.

If you want to see it in action, here’s a school that filmed their effort and uploaded it to YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/embed/lxEkyWn6FUo

And here’s a free PowerPoint lesson plan for you to download.


6 | Analysing famous speeches as arguments

This extensive resource spans five 50-minute lessons, covering these areas:

  • Analysing a speech for rhetorical devices and their purpose
  • Identifying an author’s purposeful manipulation of language
  • Identifying elements of argument within a speech
  • Writing an analysis of a speech with in-text documentation

Check it out here.

You might also be interested in...