Foundation

ESB Teacher Guide: Foundation

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Contents

About ESB

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Message from our Chief Executive

The Foundation Suite of Graded Examinations in Speech Guidance for Activity 1: The Talk

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Guidance for Activity 2: Speaking by Heart

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Guidance for Activity 3: Reading Aloud/ Reading to Listeners Guidance for Activity 4: Open Exchange of Ideas

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Suggested choices

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Setting up the assessment

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Marking the assessment

Final thoughts

© 2018 English Speaking Board (International) Ltd.

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About ESB English Speaking Board (International) Ltd. is a national awarding organisation offering accredited qualifications in speech and language. With over 65 years of experience, ESB offers a wide range of flexible, Ofqual regulated qualifications which promote clear, effective communication skills in the UK and internationally. Founded on a philosophy which values the worth of every individual, ESB strives to stretch the most able and support the least confident through the development of speaking and listening skills.

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Message from our Chief Executive, Tina Renshaw

Thank you for wanting to put Oracy and its assessment into your teaching and learning. ESB has been assessing communication skills for 65 years and we're passionate about the impact we know Oracy has on the lives of children and young people. ESB considers Oracy or speaking and listening as a set of key life skills that unlocks potential and is central to work and life. Our assessments provide benchmarks for achievement with speaking and listening. They outline what learners should be able to demonstrate in line with National Curriculum Spoken Language / Spoken English standards. By using an external assessment model we provide an ‘expert’ validation of your work with your learners through their assessment outcomes. We also provide training and feedback to you to support your preparation of your learners to achieve their potential.

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Whatever our route to employment, employers consistently tell us that teamwork and communication skills are central to their success and need to be of a higher standard when our young people enter the workforce.

Our assessments develop and validate those skills:

 Confidence in formal communication settings;

 Audibility of voice, choice of vocabulary and use of pace to communicate a message or information effectively;

 The practice of engaging your listeners with eye contact;

 Listening and asking questions to demonstrate your engagement with the subject or to secure your knowledge;

 Ability to research a topic and present your research outlining different perspectives;

 Cognitive skills to read out loud published pieces of English written in a form that is less familiar to you and being able to convey their meaning;

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 Facilitating a small group to discuss a topic, play back and sum up the viewpoints in the room.

Central to our assessment ethos is that of personal, social and emotional development and choice for the learner – finding their voice through structured activities, building on their interests. Wouldn’t it be great if all our learners’ experiences of assessment contributed to their confidence and sense of achievement, self-respect and respect for the views of others? We have the evidence from our centres and learners to say that it does. Why don’t you watch this short clip to see our showcase of achievement?

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The Foundation Suite Our Foundation suite of Graded Examinations in Speech promotes Oracy and is designed to build students’ confidence in self-expression by developing their presentational and communication skills. The suite contains the following three qualifications:

 ESB Level 1 Award in Speech (Grade 1)  ESB Level 1 Award in Speech (Grade 2)  ESB Level 1 Award in Speech (Grade 3)

The Foundation suite of Graded Examinations in Speech is predominantly aimed at students between Year 6 and Year 8. These qualifications are mapped to National Curriculum requirements in Spoken Language at Key Stage 1-2 or Spoken English at Key Stage 3, and support the teaching of national curricula in English and Literacy in Scotland , Wales and Northern Ireland . This suite of qualifications can also help you embed Oracy in a wide range of Key Stage 3 curriculum topics. For example, students can choose to give a talk that supports learning in subjects including:

 History (for example, The Norman Conquest );

 Geography ( Weather and Climate );  Mathematics ( Pythagoras Theorem );

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 Biology ( The Structure and Functions of the Human Skeleton ) ;  Chemistry ( The Properties of Different States of Matter ). Our portfolio of Graded Examinations in Speech can help you to promote Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) education and British values, which is an Ofsted requirement. By encouraging students to plan and give a talk on a subject of interest, as well as participate in a discussion, these qualifications can help students to: reflect; use imagination and creativity; offer reasoned views; use a range of social skills; appreciate different viewpoints; and understand, accept, respect and celebrate diversity. In addition, these qualifications have been designed to inspire students to engage with poetry and prose, which can help them to: explore beliefs and experience; respect faiths, feelings and values; investigate moral and ethical issues; and engage with the British values of democracy, the rule of law, liberty, respect and tolerance. Each qualification can also be flexibly taught. They can be delivered during the classroom study of a curriculum topic or as a standalone activity as part of a lunchtime or after school group.

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Moreover, you can teach each qualification at a pace that works for you. It could be taught in a full dedicated week as part of a literacy or oracy focus. Alternatively, it can be taught more slowly as part of a project. For example, Black History Month or the commemoration of the First World War. Qualifications in our Graded Examinations in Speech portfolio can be made more accessible for students with additional educational needs. You can make a reasonable

adjustment application for a student. Reasonable adjustments can include, but are not limited to:

 Changing usual assessment arrangements such as giving extra time to complete an activity (e.g. a talk);

 Re-organising the assessment room, so that a student with a hearing impairment can sit closer to the assessor;

 Choosing a pre-selected reading passage.

For further information, please see our Reasonable Adjustments and Special Considerations Policy .

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Each qualification contains the following four assessment sections:

 A Talk – Structure and present a talk on a particular subject (4 minutes).

 Speaking by Heart – Introduce and perform a piece of poetry or drama from memory (2 minutes).

 Reading to Listeners – Introduce and deliver an extract from a book (2 minutes).

 Open Exchange of Ideas – Participate in a group discussion, answering questions about your own work, and joining in with comments and ideas about others’ work.

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This guide is intended to support teachers in preparing their students for these qualifications and it contains a number of tips on how to help them with each of the four assessment sections. In the guide, you will find information about how to help students to structure and deliver a talk, introduce and present poetry and drama, introduce and deliver an extract from a book with enthusiasm, and actively participate in a discussion. The guide also contains a series of short bite-size videos from ESB specialists in Oracy. Here, they will provide you with tailored advice in key areas of assessment. Below is the introductory video:

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Teaching Guidance Activity 1: The Talk

Learning to deliver a talk helps to develop life-long skills. It can support students in the organising and structuring of information, allow them to express their own ideas confidently, and provide factual detail to support points made. It is important to allow students to speak about subjects and topics that are of genuine interest to them – the process of preparing and giving talks should be an enjoyable one, so that learning is exciting and rewarding.

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To help your students make the most of this section, see our top tips below:

 Encourage students to create a scrapbook or folder, which can act as a springboard for their talk. A scrapbook or folder should contain own thoughts and ideas, as well as information from different sources. Dissuade students from filling their scrapbooks solely with information downloaded from the internet.

 Advise students to time their talks when practising. This will ensure that introductions are not rushed and

that there is the necessary time for a proper conclusion. Practising to time also helps build confidence, which encourages spontaneous delivery.

 Students should not feel they need to apologise for being nervous. It is perfectly natural to feel some nerves, but apologising can draw attention to that fact – it is much better to just carry on.  If students use presentation software (such as Prezzi or PowerPoint) as a visual aid, ensure that they do not read their talks from slides, or face the screen, as this will limit their communication with the audience. Students should stand to the side of the screen, facing the audience.

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 When referring to an image, encourage students to talk about the ‘hidden’ and little-known details, which cannot be seen by an audience. For example, if there was an image which showed the Statue of Liberty, the student might say something along the lines of: ‘The Statue of Liberty was built by the French architect Gusteve Eiffel and it was given by France to the United States of America in 1886’ .

For further guidance about structuring talks, please watch this video:

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For further guidance about how to speak spontaneously, please watch this video:

For further guidance about using visual aids, please watch this video:

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Activity 2 : Speaking by Heart

Speaking by Heart gives students an opportunity to develop a real appreciation of poetry and drama, and to express themselves in a way that builds confidence. Presenting poetry or drama has important educational benefits – it can expose students to new and exciting vocabulary, figurative language and text structure. Most fundamentally, poetry and drama allow us to connect with words in a way we can't do with other written forms of language. To help students make the most of this section, see our top tips below:  Ensure that students are genuinely interested in their selected poem or monologues. The more students feel connected to their choice, the more they will be able to interpret it with confidence and creativity.  If students are struggling to make a choice, consider selecting a small number of poems and monologues that contain the opportunity for vocal variety. Allow each group (for example 6 students) to read and pass the pieces round. Each student might then select one or two to read aloud to their group. You could then ask students who have chosen the same piece to work together.

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 Poems and monologues need to meet the following criteria for length, language and content. The piece should:

 Be of sufficient length to allow the

student to show their ability to establish and sustain their performance and interpretation;  Contain a variety of expressive vocabulary and a range of sentence structure that allows for interpretation.  Go beyond easily recognisable events and stories;  Give the opportunity to explore emotions, moods and atmosphere outside the student’s immediate experience;  Contain imaginary people (and places for Grade 2 and Grade 3).  Advise students to consider their introduction to their chosen piece. Ask them to write down a list of reasons why they find their choice of poetry

interesting. Explaining these reasons in their introduction will help them connect to the audience and awaken interest in their choice.

 Encourage students to practise their piece often. Practising regularly will help students to feel less hesitant about delivering it. Once a piece is secure in the memory, students can also start to layer it by experimenting with pitch, tone, pace and pause. This will help them to begin to bring the poem or monologue to life.

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Please see the Suggested Choices section for a list of recommended pieces of poetry and drama. For further guidance about choosing poetry, drama and prose, please watch this video:

For further guidance about performing poetry, drama and prose, please watch this video:

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Activity 3: Reading Aloud (Grade 1) / Reading to Listeners (Grade 2-3) Reading Aloud at Grade 1 and Reading to Listeners at Grade 2 and Grade 3 are designed to help students read both

fluently and critically. Reading aloud assists with enunciation, extends vocabulary and develops understanding of the role of plot, setting and characterisation in literature.

To help students make the most of this section, see our top tips below:

 As with Speaking by Heart , students should always be interested in their choice of book. A genuine interest in their choice will help them give an enthusiastic and persuasive introduction, providing the audience with a flavour of the text.  Extracts must contain dialogue, opportunities for vocal variety, and should be from an important or dramatic part of the book. This should also give them opportunities to sustain longer sentences and the opportunity to explore phrasing.  Ask students to work towards developing eye contact - from looking up, to sharing the reading with the whole group. This will help to involve the listening group in the story.

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 Encourage students to think about the different characters in their chosen extract – how they are feeling, and why they feel that way. This will help them to bring the characters to life and convey mood/atmosphere. For example, if a character feels particularly relieved, the student might choose to incorporate a sigh into that character’s dialogue.  To know how to make effective use of pause is one of the most important lessons for the speaker. Encourage students to use pause to separate phrases, renew breath, and for dramatic effect. Pauses can be used to indicate intense feelings to help in building up a climax. Please see the Suggested Choices section for a list of recommended texts. For further guidance about how to read aloud to an audience, please watch this video:

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Activity 4: Open Exchange of Ideas

Open Exchange of Ideas is designed to promote shared learning and expand students’ knowledge and understanding of a topic. Active participation in a discussion can support the development of important life skills, including attentive listening, asking direct questions, making sense of new information, and articulating appropriate responses to queries.

To help students make the most of this section, see our top tips below:

 To promote shared learning, encourage students to provide both factual information and own thoughts when answering a question.  Sometimes, a question can put students under pressure. If they are not sure about an answer, it is completely acceptable to admit that.  Rather than giving a confused response, it is better to say something along the lines of: ‘That’s an interesting question. Unfortunately, I don’t know the answer to it, but I’m certainly going to look into it.’  Always encourage students to ask open-ended questions. Questions should seek additional information or put forward a different viewpoint.

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 Limit students to asking just one question at a time. It can be difficult for a presenter to make sense of, and respond directly to, several questions.  It is vital that any criticism or challenging of a viewpoint must be constructive. ESB assessments promote open, lively, positive discussion that encourages learning and understanding.

For further guidance about asking questions, please watch this video:

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For further guidance about responding to questions, please watch this video:

For further guidance about participating in a discussion, please watch this video:

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Suggested choices ESB aims to encourage and realise the potential of all learners and we recognise the individuality of each learner. Students can choose any pieces of poetry, prose and drama that they will enjoy presenting.

However, if you are looking for level appropriate choices for them, we suggest the following poets and authors :

Poets and authors for Speaking by Heart: Allan Ahlberg; Louisa May Alcott (Little Women) ; Frances Hodgson Burnett (A Little Princess) ; Charles Causley; Charlotte Bronte (Jane Ayre) ; Norman MacCaig; James Reeves; Shel Silverstein; Jeremy Strong; and Benjamin Zephaniah.

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Recommended Authors for Reading Aloud (Grade 1) / Reading to Listeners (Grade 2/3):

Sophia Acheampong (Growing Yams in London) ; David Almond (Skellig) ; Ade Adepitan (Ade’s Amazing Adventures: Battle of the Cyborg Cat) ; Yaba Badoe (A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars) ; Malorie Blackman (Noughts and Crosses) ; Sita Brahmachari (Corey's Rock) ; Suzanne Collins ( The Hunger Games trilogy) ; Siohan Dowd (The London Eye Mystery) ; Cornelia Funke (Inkheart trilogy) ; Neil Gaiman (Coraline) ; Kenneth Grahame (Wind in the Willows) ; Michelle Magorian ( Goodnight Mr Tom) ; Michael Morpurgo; Edith Nesbit (The Railway Children) ; Grace Nichols; Philippa Pierce (Tom’s Midnight Garden) ; R J Palacio (Wonder) ; Philip Pullman; Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson series) ; Louis Sachar (Holes) ; and Jacqueline Wilson (Tracy Beaker series) .

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Setting up the assessment Each learner should present to a minimum group of 5. This permits full interaction for the assessment as a whole. The assessment group should be seated in a horseshoe with the assessor at one end and the speaker in the mouth of the horseshoe. This allows for easy eye contact across the group and ensures the assessor is part of the audience.

Please see the diagram below for an example:

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Visual aids, whether it be a display board or presentation software such as Prezzi or PowerPoint, should be situated close to the speaker. It should be clearly seen by both the assessor and assessment group. It is always worth testing any audio/visual equipment prior to the assessment and we find that learners who have their material on a pen drive manage to accomplish a quick changeover.

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Marking the assessment

During the assessment, an ESB assessor will review a learner’s performance in each of the four activities. In the process, an assessor will mark a learner against a set of grading criteria for each activity. The set of criteria for each activity is mapped to the qualification learning outcomes and assessment criteria. For a specific activity, an ESB assessor will review a learner’s performance in relation to each criterion (for example, Visual Aids in the Talk) and allocate a grade of either:

Unsuccessful

Pass

Good Pass

Merit

Merit Plus Distinction

Each criterion in an activity is reviewed by the assessor in order to determine a learner’s overall performance.

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Our assessments aim to promote clear, effective and confident oral communication amongst all learners, and subsequently, they have been designed to encourage learners to reach a minimum ‘Pass’ standard in speaking, listening and responding. The tables in this section of the guide show the broad requirements of a ‘Pass’, ‘Merit’ and ‘Distinction’ grade for each of the four assessments. However, please note that the tables refer to a shortened interpretation of the full grading criteria. In addition, the grading criteria of each qualification is slightly different.

So, please do check individual specifications if you are unsure about anything.

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Activity 1 (40% of assessment): The Talk

Pass

 Planned talk with clear beginning, middle and end.  Presentation involves use of notes or learnt text.  Contains some evidence of research with general explanations.

Reliant on visual material.

Merit

Well-organised and efficient structure.

 Mostly natural delivery with a good command of material.  Selective use of well-researched material.  Confident use of visual material. Efficient structure with originality in introduction and a thoughtful conclusion.  Confident command of material with spontaneous speech.

Distinction 

Accurate, original and detailed content.

 Accomplished and sophisticated use of visual material.

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Activity 2 (20%): Speaking by Heart

Pass

 Brief introduction, with reason for choice.  Remembers lines with two prompts.  Clear or audible voice with vocal expression.  Interpreted with a focus on rhythm and/or structure.  Fuller introduction, with thoughtful reasons for choice.  Well-remembered, with words mainly secure.  Appropriate phrasing, with pause for understanding.  Well-interpreted, with mood or atmosphere communicated to the audience. Full introduction, with comprehensive reasoning which awakens interest in the choice.  Free and fluent delivery that is sensitively paced. Effective use of pause and facial expression.  Interpreted with understanding. Mood  Words are totally secure.

Merit

Distinction 

and spirit communicated to the audience in a spontaneous way.

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Activity 3 (20%): Reading Aloud (Grade 1-2)/ Reading to Listeners (Grade 3) Pass  Short introduction that outlines some details.

Book is read with some hesitation. Read in an audible voice.

Eye contact with audience and other sharing behaviour. Full introduction that sets prepared pages in context. Expressive reading with appropriate pace and timing. Delivered with a clear and audible voice. Regular eye contact with audience, while keeping the flow. Full introduction, with a clearly established detailed context. Lively reading, appropriately paced, with use of pause. Vocal and facial responses to words that enables a vivid interpretation. Regular and comfortable eye contact that shows a full awareness of the audience.

Merit

Distinction

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Activity 4 (20%): Open Exchange of Ideas

Pass

Brief responses, which develop answers. Asks one or two repetitive questions. Takes part when reminded.

Merit

 Provides full and fluent answers to questions.

Asks questions that seek additional information. Engages with the group well.

Distinction

 Provides full and lively responses to questions.  Asks questions that are thoughtful and complex in nature.  Always ready to support the group with comments.

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Final thoughts ESB is keen to ensure that your experience of teaching ESB is enjoyable and rewarding. Our aim is to recognise and fulfil the potential of all students as we fully recognise the important role of Oracy in the development of life skills.

Our final thoughts to successfully teaching these qualifications are:

 Ensure that students genuinely enjoy the topic of their talk and choice for Speaking by Heart.  Encourage students to voice their own opinion as much as possible. ESB encourages talks that are rich in individuality and personal involvement.  Ensure that the words of poetry and drama choices are totally secure. Once the words are secure, the piece can be layered in a fun way through experimentation with tone, pitch, pace, pause and power.  Book extracts must contain dialogue, opportunities for vocal variety, and should be from an interesting part of the story.

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 Encourage students to ask open questions and contribute ideas whenever they have the opportunity. For further information, please contact English Speaking Board (International) Ltd. at teacherquestions@esbuk.org.uk

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