I have to be honest, I did not know that oral communication was an entire strand in the Language Curriculum...crazy right? For those of you who have also been living under a rock like myself, I will briefly summarize what the Oral Communication strand encompasses the Ontario Language Curriculum.
Oral Communication can be broken down into two main components:
1. Speaking - Students communicate information, they explore and understand ideas and concepts … identify and solve problems, express their thoughts, feelings, and opinions. (Ontario Language Curriculum, page 9)
2. Listening - Students need numerous opportunities to listen about a range of subjects, personal interests, school work an current affairs, (Ontario Language Curriculum, page 9)
Simple enough right? These skills are not only essential to learning, but they are life skills. Due to the advancement of technology and the transformation of our students to 21st-century digital citizens, there are ample ways to transform oral communication skills in the classroom.
In this blog, we will be looking at connecting each of the overall expectations for Oral Communication to technological interventions, and we will use specific expectations to support these connections.
The overall expectations for Oral Communication are:
1. Listen to understand and respond appropriately in a variety of situations for a variety of purposes.
2. Use speaking skills and strategies appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
3. Reflect on and identify their strengths as listeners and speakers, areas for improvement, and the strategies they found most helpful in oral communication situations. This strand focuses on the identification and development of the skills and strategies..
1. Listening 
Throughout my practicum, I realize that this skill is very challenging to a lot of grade fours. It is hard for them to focus and listen... but as an adult, I know that this skill is crucial to their learning and development. How can we make listening more engaging for our students? I would like to suggest the use of Podcasts.
Podcasts are a great way to integrate new teachers into your class, and perspectives into your classroom. Podcasts are designed to speak on a matter in a very engaging and informative manner. This form of listening also offers diverse perspectives from different Podcasters, so it gives students a break from listening to your voice! A podcast that I discovered that I believed was very interesting is "Gross Science" by Anna Rothschild. In this podcast, Anna discusses topics in fertilization, but she does so in a very engaging manner. This is a great way for students to listen to understand. (OC1) Specifically active listening strategies, where they can listen to the Podcast and then get into groups to discuss the main messages. (Grade 8, OC1.2) . To apply this Podcast strategy to younger students, Anna Rothchild also offers a simplified Podcast on Youtube. This method may be a bit more applicable to have younger students demonstrate appropriate listening behaviours. They can also summarize information they listened to from the video, and discuss this in a group setting. (Grade 4, OC1.2)
Also, Podcasts are a great way to bring in diverse teachers into the class, and your students might see themselves reflected culturally, or socially in these teachers.
2. Speaking 
When I reflect on my time through elementary school, high school, my undergraduate degree, and even Teachers College...speaking was always something that intimidated me. Luckily, many educational apps can help ease this anxiety for students. A website called FlipGrid allows for students to practice speaking for a multitude of reasons. For example, a teacher can pose a question on FlipGrid, and students can respond to the teacher and have a conversation with each other. This allows them to utilize speaking skills. They can acknowledge, and extend other group members' contributions and make relevant and constructive comments towards each other's Flipgrids. (Grade 4, OC2.2) Students can also deliver presentations on Flipgrid. I believe that this is a great way to build confidence in presenting. Students can be by themselves to ensure that their video is communicated in a clear, coherent manner. (Grade 4, OC2.3). This will allow them to build confidence in speaking.
For older students, they may use PowerPoint with voice notes. This will ease them into the transition of presenting in high school as well. Using this method will allow them to practice their vocal skills and strategies more professionally. The students will have to identify the appropriate tone, pitch, value and range to hold the listener's attention. (Grade 8, OC2.5) This will also have them work on the third overall expectation, of reflecting on their overalls strengths as speakers They can conference with their teacher regarding their Powerpoint voice notes what they did well and where they can improve regarding their speaking skills, and identify the most effective elements of their oral presentation. (Grade 8, OC3.1)
It is clear that oral communication and technology make for a deadly combo!
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