Speaking Objectives (Grade 4)



By the end of grade 4, most students adapt their language and presentation styles to the purposes and needs of the audience. Students communicate ideas orally to peer and adult audiences with clarity. They use oral language to generate, clarify, and extend their personal understanding, and as a tool for learning. Students speak in a manner that guides the listener to understand important ideas by using proper phrasing, pitch, and modulation. They present effective introductions and conclusions that guide the listener's understanding of important ideas and evidence, and use appropriate structure for conveying key information (e.g., cause and effect, similarity and difference, posing and answering a question). Students use details, examples, anecdotes, or experiences to explain or clarify information.

Most students, by the end of grade 4, make narrative presentations that relate ideas, observations, or recollections about an event or experience, provide a context that enables the listener to imagine the circumstance of the event or experience, and provide insight into why the selected event or experience is memorable. Students make informational presentations that frame a key question, include facts and details that help listeners to focus, and incorporate more than one source of information (e.g., interviews, books, newspaper articles, and television or radio reports). Most students deliver oral summaries of articles and books that contain the main ideas and the most significant details. Students recite brief poems (e.g., two or three stanzas), monologues, or dramatic dialogues using clear diction, tempo, volume, and phrasing. Students respect the ideas, language, and communication styles of others and work co-operatively.


By the end of grade 4, most students will:

Foundational Objective: Speak to express information, thoughts, feelings, and experiences in a variety of forms for a variety of purposes and audiences. Foundational Objective: Learn about and practise the skills and strategies of effective speakers.

Before Speaking: During Speaking: After Speaking: Foundational Objective: Assess personal strengths and set goals for future growth.

Assessment Techniques for Speaking (Grade 4)

Sample assessment techniques include:

Instructional Suggestions for Speaking (Grade 4)

Sample instructional activities include: