Speaking and listening, reading
Bands A,B,C,C

What is it?

Choral Speaking enables groups to present oral presentations of poems and other texts.

What is its purpose?

Students enjoy working collaboratively to:

How do I do it?

Choose a poem or poems that students will find enjoyable
Model reading it with expression.
Encourage students in a joint reading.
Talk about conveying meaning by:

Have whole class participate in reading.
Choose another poem and have class make suggestions on ways of presenting it.
Provide a range of poems suitable for small group presentation.
Divide class into groups who work on small group presentations including possible variations on voice, actions and props.
The groups present their poems to a range of audiences.

How can I adapt it?

Students learn words off by heart.
Students select their own texts, such as song lyrics, raps and other texts.
Big books or charts containing suitable texts can be used.

How can I use it to evaluate students' language learning?

Many aspects of co-operative learning and speaking and listening components of language learning may be assessed during a choral speaking activity:

Where can I find out more?

Hancock, J. & Leaver, C., ( 1994) Major Strategies for Teaching English, Australian Reading Association, Victoria
McFarlane, P and Harris, R (1988) A Book to Perform Poems By, AATE, Adelaide. Local and visiting performance poets such as May Carroll, Geoff Goodfellow and Komninos provide great models for students.