Gavin Illsley, Head of Programmes, English-Speaking Union

Spelling or poetry, complicated maths, explosive chemistry, or predicting the Bank of England’s interest rates. In so many aspects of school life, competitions can be part of a vibrant culture of learning. The English-Speaking Union (ESU) believes that oracy should be at the heart of every classroom, and oracy competitions can help bring it to the heart of every school. Read on to find out more about the ESU’s approach to competitions, and how to register your school for participation in future contests. 

1. Competitions provide focus for year-wide activities

While the end result may be a team of three or five students going to a competition, the process is an opportunity to bring oracy to much larger groups. Many of our participating schools use competition season as a time to get everyone involved in oracy activities – the entire school could enter the first round of our Performing Shakespeare competition, while teachers often use our ESU-Churchill Public Speaking Competition as a chance to get everyone giving speeches in class. You can even run your own internal qualifier events.

The successful teams and individuals can be role models and exemplars – there’s no better assembly highlight than a winning team showing off their newly polished oracy skills!

2. Competitions give different ways of engaging with skills

Oracy activities can be intimidating for some students, but very often taking a slightly different approach can make a student feel more comfortable and confident. Wrapping presentation and speech within part of a dramatic performance is helpful for some, while others find their feet in the controlled role of a public speaking chairperson. Finding the right way for an individual to express themselves can unlock achievement in other areas. 

3. Competitions provide challenge 

All students deserve access to oracy education but, for those who are particularly keen or engaged, classroom opportunities might not be enough. Public speaking competitions give students a place to stretch themselves and take on bigger challenges. Tackling peers at local, regional and even national levels means there’s always more to reach for.

This can also provide a useful outlet for the students, who may otherwise behave in a disruptive way as they try to maximise speaking time in class at others’ expense.

4. Competition can be a motivator

Some people hate running laps of a track, but give them a ball and an opposition and they’ll run all day. Similarly, with oracy, competition can be a great source of motivation. 

All steps – preparations, practice, performance – can be given a boost by the chance to compete, progress and win acclaim. As Simon Porter, headteacher at De Aston School in Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, says: “The students really enjoy the competitions. They get to have their voice heard on important topics and it’s been transformative for their confidence and their self-esteem.” 

5. Competitions are social and interactive

Public speaking competitions are all about interacting with other students both within a class or year group and from a broad range of other schools, right across the country. Debaters will go head-to-head with opponents, and public speaking teams will host and welcome speakers from other schools as part of the contest. 

This benefits students as learners, as they can observe how others approach similar tasks, share ideas, and use their words and actions to motivate and inspire. It also benefits students from a social and emotional development perspective. Engaging outside of the competition itself is a chance (for teachers too!) to meet others with similar passions, share and chat. This is something that teachers often comment on, pointing out that students typically have very little opportunity to talk to other children their age whom they don’t already know. “It’s nice that they are experiencing, very clearly, schools that are from a very different background, seeing the differences, and also knowing that there isn’t as much of a difference as they previously thought,” says Grace Aldridge, teacher, Kensington Aldridge Academy.

Sign up!

Sign up now for the English-Speaking Union’s national competitions: Performing Shakespeare (Y7-9), the ESU-Churchill Public Speaking Competition (Y9-11) and the Schools’ Mace debating competition (Y7-13). All have trained judges and offer extensive feedback opportunities. More details and the registration form can be found here and supporting resources to help train and develop your students can be accessed here.  

About the English-Speaking Union

The English-Speaking Union is an educational charity working to ensure young people have the speaking and listening skills and cultural understanding they need to thrive. Our debate, public speaking and cultural exchange programmes help young people to engage with the world, to speak more confidently and to listen to and understand different points of view. These skills improve young people’s attainment, emotional intelligence and social skills, helping them to live their lives to the fullest. To find out more, visit esu.org

Upcoming opportunities:

• Webinar: Building your secondary school oracy culture with the ESU - Wednesday 15 September at 4pm
• Webinar: Boosting student oracy skills with the ESU’s secondary school competitions - Thursday 23 September at 4pm
• ESU secondary school competitions for 2021-22 - register by 1 October 
  

More from the English-Speaking Union:

• Blog post: 5 reasons to teach oracy skills in your classroom
• Blog post: 5 oracy activities to stretch all learners, in every lesson
• Webinar (member login required): Oracy-based challenges to stretch and support more able learners