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NEW! Tongue Fu Talking - A fully-resourced Oracy Framework

Tongue Fu Talking: Systematic Oracy Development Across the Curriculum

Unlock the full potential of classroom talk with Tongue Fu Talking™—a structured oracy framework inspired by the discipline of martial arts. This course will show you how to teach speaking and listening with the same rigour and clarity as reading and writing.

chris_cutout
Created and Led by
Chris Quigley
Duration
5.5 hours
Target Audience
Head Teachers, Teachers, Senior Leaders

Course Overview

Unlock the full potential of classroom talk with Tongue Fu Talking™—a structured oracy framework inspired by the discipline of martial arts. This course will show you how to teach speaking and listening with the same rigour and clarity as reading and writing.

You’ll explore two purposeful modes of talk:

  • Explorer Mode: The way of thoughtful discovery

  • Presenter Mode: The way of speaking with confidence, substance, and style

And discover how to develop them through four powerful disciplines:

  • The Stance (physical presence)

  • The Flow (linguistic skill)

  • The Mind (cognitive strategies)

  • The Bond (social and emotional connection)

Why Attend?

  • Understand why oracy matters across the curriculum

  • Learn how to explicitly teach oracy using 23 clear, teachable practices

  • Explore the Tongue Fu Belt System to assess and support progression from EYFS to KS3

  • Discover inclusive strategies for all learners, including those with SEND

  • Gain practical tools to make oracy a deliberate part of curriculum design

What You'll Receive

 

  • Examples from the Tongue Fu Talking™ Oracy Framework

  • Ideas to develop self-assessment tools, sentence stems, and progression maps

  • Guidance on embedding oracy into every subject

  • Examples of activities for Explorer and Presenter talk

Who is it For?

 

  • Classroom teachers (EYFS to KS3)

  • Subject and phase leaders

  • Senior leaders looking to embed oracy across the curriculum

Pricing & Book

Course Price: £175 (exc. VAT)

Book 3 places and the 4th place is free

Our webinars are held over Zoom and you will be sent a link to access these closer to the event date.

No upcoming dates available.
Evidence Informed
Evidence Informed
All our courses are based on peer-reviewed research.
Practical and inspiring
Practical and inspiring
We bridge the gap between evidence and practice.
Versatile environments
Versatile environments
We offer a choice between on-demand and live courses.

Thank you so much - as usual, today has been thought-provoking from start to finish.  I'll definitely be using the vocabulary games as starter activities next week, and I will be introducing the Think-aloud Crowd across the curriculum to help children use metacognitive strategies in their learning.

This has been so useful with lots of great ideas to try out, thankyou.

Thanks very much Chris, another brilliant webinar.

Thank you so much, I can't wait to get started.

Thanks for the Oracy Webinar. Lots of great ideas and tangible activities shared.

Thank you for the wealth of resources you have provided and a great overview of oracy in practise!

Thank you so much - amazing information and resources.

Thank you, Chris, for a thought provoking day around Oracy. The resources are brilliant and provide the tools to develop a more formal approach to champion Oracy across our school.

Thanks for the Oracy webinar. Lots of great ideas and tangible activities shared.

Very clear diagrams, explained well. 10/10

Samantha Crinnion
St . Georges School

Latest from the Blog

Oracy for More Able Pupils: Why Structured Talk Still Matters
Oracy for More Able Pupils: Why Structured Talk Still Matters
28th Aug 2025
Oracy strategies for more able pupils must go beyond giving them a platform to talk. High attaining students need structured opportunities to develop advanced vocabulary, practise metacognitive strategies, and engage in exploratory reasoning. This blog explores how Tongue Fu Talking® provides a progressive framework to ensure more able learners thrive in both Explorer Mode and Presenter Mode, moving beyond surface eloquence towards clarity, substance and collaborative thinking.
Practical Oracy Activities for Every Key Stage: From Sentence Stems to Structured Debates
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24th Aug 2025
Looking for oracy activities for primary schools and KS3? This guide shares six practical oracy lesson ideas, from sentence stems and mini debates to structured presentations and reflection. Perfect for embedding speaking and listening skills into everyday teaching, these classroom talk strategies work across subjects and support progression, inclusion, and assessment with the Tongue Fu Talking® Oracy Framework.
Inclusive Oracy: How Tongue Fu Talking® Scaffolds Every Student
Inclusive Oracy: How Tongue Fu Talking® Scaffolds Every Student
19th Aug 2025
This article explores a key question in oracy education: how can schools ensure that oracy frameworks include every student, not just the most fluent speakers? Oracy is the disciplined art of speaking and listening—where thinking, language, expression, and collaboration come together to shape understanding and communication. A narrow focus on fluency in statutory requirements or oracy frameworks can unintentionally exclude students with speech, language and communication needs, autistic spectrum conditions, or those who stammer. This article analyses the 23 teachable practices of Tongue Fu Talking®, showing how each is scaffolded to ensure inclusion. Practices such as expressive eyes and face, rhetorical flair, and managing interactions—often difficult for some learners—are made accessible through sentence stems, multimodal communication, and progression belts. Tongue Fu Talking® provides a structured oracy framework for schools that values reasoning, expression, and collaboration, ensuring all students can become confident and effective communicators.
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