Speaking and Listening

The National Curriculum outlines the following objectives for all year groups in Spoken Language.

Pupils should be taught to:

  • listen and respond appropriately to adults and their peers
  • ask relevant questions to extend their understanding and knowledge
  • use relevant strategies to build their vocabulary
  • articulate and justify answers, arguments and opinions
  • give well-structured descriptions, explanations and narratives for different purposes,
    including for expressing feelings
  • maintain attention and participate actively in collaborative conversations, staying on topic and initiating and responding to comments
  • use spoken language to develop understanding through speculating, hypothesising,
    imagining and exploring ideas
  • speak audibly and fluently with an increasing command of Standard English
  • participate in discussions, presentations, performances, role play, improvisations and
    debates
  • gain, maintain and monitor the interest of the listener(s)
  • consider and evaluate different viewpoints, attending to and building on the contributions of others
  • select and use appropriate registers for effective communication.

At Saint Patrick’s we interweave these skills in all aspects of the curriculum as part of our core values to develop:

Independent Learners who are confident, questioning and reflective.

Confident Contributors who communicate, participate and evaluate.

Global Citizens who respects, understand and are proactive.