Introduction
The skill of oracy is very important and is new for the revised National Curriculum in Modern Foreign
Languages (MFL) in Wales, 2008, replacing the previous separate skills of listening and speaking.
The aim of these materials is to provide engaging and motivating audio stimuli with accompanying
activities which develop pupils’ oracy skills as outlined in the Programme of Study for MFL. They also
reflect the range of intercultural understanding, language learning strategies and activities and
contexts within the document.
The materials contribute to the Curriculum Cymreig by providing opportunities for learners to
appreciate and compare their own culture, language and community with those of the target
language. They also support the development of pupils’ skills in thinking, communication, ICT and
number, as outlined in the non-statutory Skills Framework for 3-19-year-olds in Wales as well triple
literacy skills.
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Resource content
The Oracy Bank is made up of 20 units of work each for French, Spanish and German. Each unit
contains:
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audio clip(s)
audio transcript(s)
a teachers’ guide with activity suggestions
pupil worksheets
The material is packaged into units which teachers can download onto their own computers as well
as use on the variety of whiteboards currently used in schools.
Range of content
The audio clips are based on a variety of themes and topics which are relevant to the age range and
aim to engage and motivate learners. They include audio stimuli such as interviews, discussions,
news bulletins, advertisements, informal and formal conversations, factual extracts, short stories and
drama extracts.
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The audio clips have been recorded by native speakers in the target language and vary in length (1-3
minutes) and difficulty.
Each unit is given a star coding which gives teachers a broad idea as to the difficulty of the audio text
contained within it, with *** an indication that the audio text contains quite complex language and
structures and * more simple language and structures.
The build of the resource therefore allows teachers the flexibility to decide which units are suitable
and relevant for the age, level and ability of their classes, groups or individual pupils.
Using the materials
Each unit is accompanied by a teachers’ guide which makes suggestions as to how the audio clip can
be exploited to develop pupils’ oracy skills. Teachers can use the materials with a whole class, can
set them as individual, pair or group tasks or as homework tasks.
The activities within each unit and accompanying pupil worksheets are by no means exhaustive and
teachers are encouraged to adapt and exploit the material further to suit the needs and ability range
of groups or individual pupils.
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When doing so, teachers should aim to include activities which offer pupils the possibility of using
what they hear as a stepping stone to their own productive language. For example, an initial task may
involve responding to an audio clip with simple, familiar words and phrases, whilst more demanding
tasks will give pupils the opportunity to be more creative and imaginative with their use of the
language. Where pupils are asked to prepare responses, conversations or presentations etc
beforehand, they should be encouraged to make simple notes rather than writing out whole scripts,
thus encouraging greater independence, spontaneity and improvisation when speaking.
Where appropriate, activities should also encourage pupils to use language learning strategies to
develop their oracy skills. These strategies include using previous knowledge, context, grammatical
clues and cognates to help them understand new language, identifying patterns in the language,
using triple literacy skills and making comparisons with Welsh and English.
Activities may also include a phonic or sound-spelling focus based on an audio clip to encourage
correct pronunciation and intonation and to build confidence in oracy as well as in reading and writing.
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Activities for exploiting the materials could include:
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listening for gist and detail
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Language structure exercises - e.g. identification of verbs, adjectives
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Re-ordering text according to what they hear
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Summarising
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Transposing to third person
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Comparing what they hear to their own experience
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Relaying information to others
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Offering own spoken opinions and reasons in response to what they hear
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Re-using the spoken material they respond to as a model for developing their own dialogues,
stories, presentations, songs or poems
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Taking part in games and competitions
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
Asking questions and responding to the presentations of others
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Listening to other learners speaking and taking part in peer-assessment activities
The written transcripts also enable teachers and pupils to make use of the written word in addition
to what is heard.
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www.tinopolisinteractive.com