20 ideas for closing the word gap and developing oracy skills in tutor time

Last updated: 15/11/2023
Contributor: Teachit team
20 ideas for closing the word gap and building oracy skills in tutor time
Key stage
Category
English
Resource type
Form tutor
Teaching ideas

Tutors can help to close the word gap and develop students' oracy skills in form time by regularly inspiring students with a curiosity about words, encouraging more classroom talk, sharing a love of books and reading, and having fun with words.

In the wake of school closures, it is even more important to explicitly focus on students’ vocabulary development and oracy skills to close the language and attainment gap. You'll find 20 ideas to help you, including ideas for displays, reading for pleasure, form quizzes, games and word sharing. 

Example ideas from the resource: 

Word wall. Create an interactive word wall of some unusual, tricky, intriguing or new words (neologisms) that are in the media – use sticky tack so that you can change and remove words. Add physical objects, news clippings or doodles for added interest and make the display 3D by creating easy, light shelves with jumbo lolly sticks and a glue gun (there are lots of YouTube guides on how to do this). Put a few students in charge of creating and updating the tutor group word wall.

Photo wall. Ask your tutor group to take photographs of unusual words they find outside of school. For example, a trip to the doctors is a rich opportunity to snap some images of tier 3 words.

Language lesson. If you have any bilingual or multilingual students in your tutor group, invite them to teach the rest of the tutor group a few unusual words from their language. Are there any similarities between different languages? Which words have we borrowed from other languages?

Talk is good. Talk to your tutor group and encourage them to talk to you and each other! It’s a very simple strategy but remember that you are often the only teaching professional that will see these students on a regular, daily basis. The way you use words in your own speech and listen to their speech can really influence your students. As a tutor, you can use your role to foster a curiosity about words. This curiosity can be more important than the words themselves.

 

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