Teacher Notes
These notes support a five-week unit on impromptu speaking for Year 9. They cover planning, differentiation, sensitive prompts, participation and classroom protocols. They do not prescribe a school program or a formal reporting instrument.
Purpose and scope
This packet is a teaching resource, not a faculty plan. It offers a sequence, explanatory pages, models and drills. Teachers should adapt the pace, prompts and level of challenge to their class. The unit assumes no prior public speaking experience.
The emphasis is on frequent, low-stakes practice. Students should speak in every lesson, even if only for thirty seconds. The final response is an opportunity to integrate the skills, not a high-pressure test.
Planning the five weeks
| Week | Planning priority | Checkpoint |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Establish safety and the idea that impromptu is a skill. | Can students speak for thirty seconds in a pair? |
| 2 | Teach three quick structures. | Can students use PREP without prompting? |
| 3 | Build evidence and recovery moves. | Can students recover from an interruption? |
| 4 | Work on humour, timing and nerves. | Can students land a close within the limit? |
| 5 | Run drills and a final response. | Can students name one change and its effect? |
Creating a safe speaking classroom
- Establish norms: listen respectfully, no laughter at mistakes, no unsolicited personal questions.
- Start with pair and small-group responses before whole-class performance.
- Offer choice in prompt, format and audience size.
- Model imperfection: demonstrate a blank and recover from it.
- Separate practice from performance.
- Allow students to record privately or speak to the teacher only.
- Never require disclosure of personal trauma, health or family information.
Choosing prompts
| Prompt type | Safe examples | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Object | A key, a receipt, a shoe, a book. | Objects with private or distressing associations. |
| Quotation | Short, attributed, accessible lines. | Lines requiring specialist knowledge. |
| Question | School life, technology, place, change. | Questions that force personal disclosure. |
| Image | Everyday scenes, landscapes, objects. | Graphic or identifying images. |
| Word | Home, time, weather, memory, noise. | Words tied to a student's known trauma. |
| Scenario | Everyday ethical or practical choices. | Scenarios involving violence or abuse. |
Sensitive content
| Content | Consideration | Response |
|---|---|---|
| Personal prompts | Students may disclose grief, illness or family conflict. | Do not require disclosure; offer fictional or text-based prompts; respond calmly and privately. |
| Performance anxiety | Some students find speaking extremely distressing. | Offer low-stakes alternatives, small audiences, recorded or written options, and access to support staff. |
| Humour | Jokes can target individuals or groups. | Teach inclusive humour; intervene when needed. |
| Contested topics | Students may choose political or social prompts. | Set norms; distinguish argument from attack; allow opt-out. |
| Recording | Students may be filmed or recorded. | Obtain consent; explain storage and deletion; allow opting out. |
Differentiation
| Need | Support | Extension |
|---|---|---|
| Confidence | Pair speaking, short turns, scripted opening. | Lead a carousel or chair a round. |
| Reading and writing | Sentence frames, keyword cards, oral planning. | Write a longer response or a reflection. |
| EAL/D | Pre-teach vocabulary; allow first-language planning; model pronunciation without erasing accent. | Compare structures across languages. |
| Neurodiversity | Clear steps, predictable routines, visual timers, quiet rehearsal space. | Offer a choice of format and extended thinking time. |
| Gifted students | Compress the basics; focus on nuance and humour. | Ask for an independent prompt set or a longer response. |
| Vision impairment | Large-print prompts, audio cues, described images. | Ask students to respond to an audio prompt. |
| Hearing impairment | Written prompts, clear sight lines, microphone. | Ask students to analyse a captioned response. |
| Physical access | Step-free space, seated speaking option, flexible microphone use. | Ask students to design an accessible round. |
| Anxiety or selective mutism | Non-verbal roles, written responses, recorded audio, small audience. | Ask students to design and lead a low-stakes drill. |
Participation without performance
Students can develop impromptu skills without delivering to the whole class. Offer:
- pair or small-group responses;
- recorded audio with no audience;
- a written response read by someone else with permission;
- a support role such as timing, feedback, prompts or scoring;
- a design role for a prompt set;
- a chair or questioner role.
Formative feedback
- Focus on one or two choices per response.
- Use the “I noticed ... and it made me ...” sentence.
- Ask the student what they intended before offering a correction.
- Model the next step rather than rewriting the response.
- Give time to try the change immediately.
- Record progress through a short reflection, not a score.
Classroom protocols
- Preview any prompt, audio, video or image before using it.
- Keep volume levels safe.
- Do not require students to disclose or perform personal material.
- Use a calm, predictable routine for speaking tasks.
- Offer a quiet space or an alternative task if a student is distressed.
- Check consent before recording or sharing student work.
- Stop personal attacks or punching-down humour immediately.
No assessment instrument. This packet contains no test papers, marking keys, scores, bands, weightings or reporting schedules. It is a teaching and formative-feedback resource. Teachers keep their own school instruments offline.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Possible response |
|---|---|
| Students freeze. | Allow a prompt switch; teach the pause and repeat-the-prompt move. |
| Students ramble. | Use a visible timer and a one-point constraint. |
| Students apologise. | Ban the apology; rehearse a first sentence. |
| Students use the same structure. | Run a structure carousel. |
| Students laugh at mistakes. | Revisit norms; model recovery. |
| Students run over time. | Practise the ten-second close signal. |
| The room is too large or noisy. | Use a microphone, reduce audience size or move to a smaller space. |
Review checklist
- Do students speak in every lesson?
- Are prompts varied and appropriate?
- Do students have at least three structures they can use?
- Is feedback specific and focused on one or two choices?
- Are there low-stakes alternatives to whole-class performance?
- Do students practise recovery, not just success?
- Is humour inclusive and safe?
- Do students reflect on one change?
This page is a teaching support document, not a formal reporting instrument. It contains no scores, bands, weightings or confidential school material.