Listen with Care, Speak with Confidence

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          As a student I never considered speaking an aspect of the language curriculum. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love to talk which is exactly why I never thought of it as something to be assessed on. However, from a teaching perspective (or really from any adult/mature perspective) being able to speak with confidence and listen well are integral parts of basically all aspects of our lives. Therefore, making oral communication an extremely important part of every students education.

‘Communication works for those who work at it’ – John Powell

Coaches teach the fundamentals of athletics; doctors explain medical conditions to their patients and politicians speak to the world’s problems. As social creatures we are always communicating. This is not a trait that we are born with, it is a skill we must learn and practice because we rely on it throughout our entire lives. As teachers, we must ensure we are constantly giving our students opportunities to practice their oral communication skills.

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The article ‘Grand Conversations in the Junior Classroom’ focuses on the beneficial impacts of adopting a dialogic stance in the classroom. This article follows up a previously written article about using Grand Conversations in primary classrooms to influence higher-level comprehension skills. By continuing this type of classroom stance in the junior grades and higher, teachers can ensure students are constantly moulding their communicative abilities.

Grand Conversations consist of guided discussions that use focussed questions and a previously determined ‘discussion etiquette’. Grand Conversations create a safe environment for students to practice communicating their thoughts orally while also learning to listen attentively and respond affectively to their peers. The article ‘Grand Conversations in the Junior Classroom’ is very helpful for teachers to create a dialogic stance in their classroom because it provides tips on how to encourage students to effectively share their thoughts and ideas and refine their vocabulary as well as how to properly facilitate Grand Conversations to support this particular type of growth.

Two of the oral communication overall expectations outlined in the Ontario Curriculum of language are, ‘listen in order to understand and respond appropriately in a variety of situations for a variety of purposes;’ and ‘use speaking skills and strategies appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes’. Grand Conversations allow students to learn to clearly and concisely communicate their ideas while simultaneously learning to remain engaged while listening and respond directly to the conversation at hand. 

          The third overall expectation for oral communication is ‘reflect on and identify their strengths as listeners and speakers, areas for improvement, and the strategies they found most helpful in oral communication situations.’ Grand Conversations also allow the students to take time to look back and reflect on their contributions, the clarity to which they communicated their thoughts and the relevance of their responses (and therefore how successful they were at attentive listening).

‘We are stronger when we listen and smarter when we share’ – Rania Al Abdullah

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A teacher named Mrs. Obrien created an activity for her classroom that encouraged students to practice their oral communication and conversation skills called ‘conversation stations’. The activity is very versatile and is really not directed for any particular grade because it surrounds topics of interest to the students that promote critical thinking. Two students draw a question from the container and base their discussion around it. The questions require more than a one word answer and therefore strengthen students communicative skills without it looking like a formal ‘assessment’ or ‘task’.

‘The most important part of communication is hearing what isn’t being said’ – Peter Drucker

            The second and often forgotten (but equally as important) component of oral communication is listening. All people need to be able to gather information through listening and respond appropriately and affectively. Just like communicating through speech, listening is a learned skill.

I stumbled upon an activity that is focussed on developing listening skills and had to share it despite it being for elementary students. The activity is called ‘listen and colour’, it develops students listening skills by having them listen to a tape or to the teacher and colour a sheet accordingly. At the end they get to see a colour key that demonstrates how attentively they were listening. Although this is probably directed to primary students I believe there are ways that it could be adapted to a level appropriate for junior and intermediate grades. For instance, students could be asked to listen and respond by drawing or painting a picture; or by building a lego tower with specific colours and sizes of blocks. I believe this is an activity that strengthens students listening skills while simultaneously helping them develop their ability to self-reflect and self-assess.