Top five tips for encouraging talk, with practical examples

This resource outlines ways that teachers can encourage talk in their secondary classroom, along with downloadable activities to put the ideas into practice.

The resource covers:

1. Designing tasks that encourage talk
2. Building confidence in a safe and respectful environment
3. Scaffolding tasks and skills
4. Creating speaker roles and listener roles
5. Engaging and hooking pupils through purposeful and up-to-date tasks, with examples including:
   - The culture of celebrity
   - Theatre trips
   - Research topics in the media
   - Poetry presentations
   - Rehearsing speeches for group debates

The resource has been created by Christine Thomas, a former Head of English and now an English Consultant, with a proven track record of improving results in schools. She attributes much of this success to encouraging talk in the classroom.