English · Year 1

Active learning ideas

Speaking Clearly and Confidently

Ready to help your pupils find their voice and share their brilliant ideas? This topic focuses on the essential skills of speaking clearly and confidently, turning quiet whispers into powerful contributions.

• National Curriculum Attainment Targets
• National Curriculum for England: English - Spoken Language - articulate and justify answers, arguments and opinions

• 10–20 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Morning Circle
• 20 min · Whole Class

News Reporter for a Day

Pupils take turns being a news reporter, sharing a piece of news (e.g., what they did at the weekend) with the class. They use a pretend microphone to encourage them to project their voice and speak directly to their audience.

Explain how using a clear voice helps others understand you.

Facilitation Tip

Model a clear and confident news report first to provide a strong example for the pupils to follow.

What to look for

During a 'show and tell' activity, use a simple checklist to observe pupils' use of a clear voice, eye contact, and appropriate volume.

• Remember
• Understand
• Self-Awareness
• Social Awareness
• Relationship Skills

Activity 02

• Morning Circle
• 10 min · Whole Class

Loud Lion, Quiet Mouse

The teacher calls out a scenario (e.g., 'in the library', 'on the playground', 'in the dinner hall') and pupils decide whether to use a 'loud lion' voice or a 'quiet mouse' voice. This game helps them understand the need to adjust their volume for different situations.

Identify times when you need to speak louder or quieter.

Facilitation Tip

Use simple animal puppets or pictures to make the concepts of 'loud' and 'quiet' more concrete and engaging for young learners.

What to look for

After a paired talk activity, pupils use a simple 'two stars and a wish' framework to give feedback to their partner on what they did well and one thing to try next time.

• Remember
• Understand
• Self-Awareness
• Social Awareness
• Relationship Skills

Activity 03

• Morning Circle
• 15 min · Whole Class

Storytelling Circle with Actions

In a circle, the class retells a familiar story, with each pupil contributing one sentence. Pupils are encouraged to use actions, gestures, and facial expressions to help convey the meaning of their part of the story.

Analyse how your body language helps when you are speaking.

Facilitation Tip

Choose a well-known story with plenty of action and emotion, such as 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt'.

What to look for

Observe pupils during group discussions or role-play, noting their confidence levels and ability to make themselves understood by their peers.

• Remember
• Understand
• Self-Awareness
• Social Awareness
• Relationship Skills

Activity 04

• Morning Circle
• 10 min · Pairs

Mirror Me

In pairs, one pupil is the 'speaker' and the other is the 'mirror'. The speaker says a short phrase with a specific emotion and body language, and the mirror copies them exactly, reinforcing the link between words and non-verbal cues.

Explain how using a clear voice helps others understand you.

Facilitation Tip

Provide simple emotion cards (e.g., happy, sad, excited, surprised) as prompts for the speakers.

What to look for

During a 'show and tell' activity, use a simple checklist to observe pupils' use of a clear voice, eye contact, and appropriate volume.

• Remember
• Understand
• Self-Awareness
• Social Awareness
• Relationship Skills

A few notes on teaching this unit

Begin with fun, whole-class games to build a safe and supportive environment where pupils feel comfortable taking risks. Then, move into paired work to practise skills in a lower-stakes setting. Use plentiful and specific praise, focusing on effort to build every child's confidence as a speaker.

By the end of these activities, your pupils will be able to adjust their speaking volume for different settings and use simple body language to make their stories and ideas even more engaging for their audience.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• Speaking louder is always better and clearer.

  Speaking loudly helps people hear you in a big space, but it is not the same as speaking clearly. Sometimes we need a quiet, 'inside' voice, like in a library. The right volume depends on where we are, and we must always try to say our words carefully so they do not get jumbled.

• If I know what I mean, everyone else must understand me.

  Our brilliant ideas start inside our heads. To share them, we need to use clear words and a good voice so the idea can travel from our mouth to our friend's ears without getting lost along the way.

• Speaking is only about the words I say from my mouth.

  How we stand, what our face is doing, and where we look are also part of speaking. These things are called body language, and they send important messages to our listeners that help them understand our words and our feelings.

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Methods used in this brief

• Morning Circle