Category: Oracy

  • Bolton benefits from English Speaking Board’s teacher-training

    How ESB helps Bolton schools

    English Speaking Board (International) Ltd. ran a teacher-training session for primary and secondary school teachers from Bolton and the surrounding region at Bolton School on Wednesday 3rd February.

    This event was designed to give teachers an insight into the way that ESB’s qualifications are mapped to the National Curriculum and demonstrate how they give students vital skills for further education and employment.

    Alison Coates, ESB’s Business Development Adviser for Graded Exams led the session. She said:

    ESB offers bespoke training and workshops for teachers and students at all levels. We had a fantastic day at Bolton School coaching teachers from the local area. We wanted to create a forum for discussion about the recent change in terminology from Speaking and Listening to Spoken Language and the impact this has had in the classroom.

    ESB’s ethos is to allow learners to develop their speaking and listening skills in a supportive environment focusing on personal growth and confidence; the delegates were inspired by the day and will take this approach back to their own classrooms.

    ESB’s training resonated with the English Department at Bolton School, Boys Division. They tweeted after the event:

    Plenty of food for thought for whole school oracy projects, curricular and extracurricular.

  • English Speaking Board pioneers new Debating qualification

    Improve debating skills with ESB

    English Speaking Board (International) Ltd. has produced the first ever accredited qualification in debating.

    Awards in Debating are aimed at 10 to 18-year-olds and are designed to give youngsters an opportunity to improve their debating skills and endorse their talent for public speaking.

    Alison Coates, ESB’s Speech Business Development Advisor, who developed the suite of qualifications in conjunction with schools, said:

    We are very proud to be the first awarding organisation to offer a qualification in this essential expertise. It’s an excellent time to introduce the qualification as there’s such an emphasis on debate in the National Curriculum.

    Debating is an essential life skill and a fantastic aid to developing soft skills such as critical thinking, teamwork and leadership. We are excited to have developed a qualification suitable for candidates working at a variety of different levels in a diversity of educational contexts.

     

    The candidates will be examined in groups of eight: four in favour of the motion and four against. As with all of ESB’s Speaking and Listening assessments, the Awards in Debating will be assessed externally.  Experienced assessors will take into account content, style, structure, listening and response.

    ESB worked in conjunction with various education centres to create the Awards in Debating including Ibstock Place School in Roehampton.

    Kevin Darlington, English teacher at Ibstock Place said,

    ESB’s Awards in Debating are a groundbreaking set of qualifications. I would highly recommend them to any school looking to increase attainment in speaking and listening and to boost pupils’ confidence in public speaking.

     

    If you would like to find out more about ESB’s Awards in Debating then have a look at the syllabuses at Level 1Level 2 and Level 3.

  • ESB gave Julie Hesmondhalgh a “taste for performing”

    Julie Hesmondhalgh

    English Speaking Board (International) Ltd. was delighted to see actress Julie Hesmondhalgh, better known as Hayley Cropper from Coronation Street, talking about ESB in the UK’s national media.

     

     

    She said,

    When I was at primary school, I was put into the ESB exams, which were all about enunciating with confidence and clarity. I had to prepare a short speech on someone I admired, so I chose Michael Caine; I was eight. I passed with distinction and got a real taste for performing.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-2908674/Hayley-Actress-Julie-Hesmondhalgh-life-Corrie.html#ixzz3PHLV7n5P%20