🗣️ Poetry and Oracy KS2 | Building Speaking & Listening Skills Through Poetry
In recent years, oracy has become a big focus in UK classrooms. Oracy means more than just “speaking and listening” — it’s about children developing confidence, clarity, and expression in their voices. Poetry is one of the very best ways to build these skills.
When pupils perform poems, they learn to:
Speak with confidence.
Listen carefully to rhythm and tone.
Work collaboratively.
Express emotion and perspective.
In this post, you’ll find four of my poems alongside oracy-focused classroom activities that will help your pupils become confident speakers.
👉 In my Poetry Days in primary schools across the UK I work hard to get the children excited about writing and performing their own poems. I visit over 100 schools every year and I’d love to work with your children and teachers.
📅 You can book me for:
In-person Poetry Days across the UK
Online Poetry Workshops (affordable and flexible)
➡ Secure your date here: Poets in Schools – Ian Bland
🎤 Echo and Response Poem: Can You Do It?
Clap clap with your hands
Sniff sniff with your nose
Stamp stamp with your feet
Tiptoe with your toes
Blink blink with your eyes
Shake shake with your hips
Bend bend with your knees
Kiss kiss with your lips
Sing sing with your voice
Nod nod with your head
Whistle whistle through your lips
Bounce bounce on the bed
Wave wave with your hands
Rock rock on your chair
Click click with your tongue
Growl growl like a bear!
Pop pop with your cheek
Rub rub on your tum
Knock knock with your knees
Wiggle wiggle with your bum!
✍️ Oracy Activity: Call-and-Response Performance
Read the poem aloud and have the class echo each line.
Split into halves — one side reads the first line, the other side responds.
Experiment with whispers, shouts, fast and slow voices.
👉 Oracy focus: listening closely, responding accurately, speaking with fluency.
👉 Related blog: Performance Poetry KS2
🥁 Rhythm & Chant Poem: The Teatime Rap
As I sit in my room and I play on a game
My mum gets mad then shouts out my name
“It’s time that you came down the stairs now Lee
It’s ten past five and it’s time for your tea!”
I came down stairs put my tea on my lap,
And I slobbered and I slurped to the teatime rap!
Yes I slobbered and I slurped to the teatime rap!
With a sausage and an egg and a half baked bun
I moaned and I said “This is not much fun!
I’m bored with this mum can’t we have fast food?”
But my mum said “Lee!, you are far too rude!”
So I turned to the telly and my half chewed bap,
And I slobbered and I slurped to the teatime rap!
Yes I slobbered and I slurped to the teatime rap!
✍️ Oracy Activity: Rap & Rhythm
Clap a steady beat as the class chants the poem.
Try different tempos — slow, fast, loud, soft.
Let groups perform their own “rap” version with percussion (claps, stamps, shakers).
👉 Oracy focus: rhythm, timing, projection.
👉 Related blog: Music and Rhythm Poems KS2
🎭 Character Voice Poem: Mr McMillan – The Teacher That’s a Supervillain
I’m the cat
That sits on the lap
Of Mr McMillan the supervillain teacher
His dangerous creature
His jet-black attack pet
His not so cute feline brute
His crabby grouchy tabby
His nitty picky kitty
I’m hard to please
I’m dangerous
I’m unpredictable
I’m unaccountable
I ruin people’s lives
I appear out of nowhere…
My name is OFSTED
I don’t know why…
His class of 30 now down to 13
Unlucky for some…
Children disappear here
Flick of a switch their chair tilts backwards and…
‘Can I go to the toilet……….?’
Gone
‘It’s not fair………..!’
Gone
‘7×7 is 40…………!’
Gone
‘I’ve got rights………!’
Gone
I don’t know where they go but I will say this –
Mr McMillan’s sharks look very well fed…
✍️ Oracy Activity: Hot-Seating & Role Play
Put a pupil “in role” as Mr McMillan or his cat.
Class ask questions; the hot-seated pupil answers in character.
Groups perform sections with exaggerated tone and expression.
👉 Oracy focus: developing voice, tone, and perspective.
👉 Related blog: Pet Poems KS2
🌈 Reflective Poem: Never Going To Keep Me Down
Don’t care if you call me names
Don’t bother that you spoil my games
I’m a firework exploding in the sky
I’m a warrior screaming a battle cry
Never going to keep me down
No, you’re never going to keep me down
Don’t care that you won’t let me past
Don’t bother about the race where I came last
I’m a treasure chest that’s stuffed with jewels
I’m a diamond sparkling in the sun
Never going to keep me down
No, you’re never going to keep me down
Say things about me that just aren’t true?
Think there’s nothing that I can do?
I’m a star with unlimited power
I’m a river that never stops flowing
Never going to keep me down
No, you’re never going to keep me down
Did you really think you could make me cry?
Did you really think I’d just walk on by?
I’m a bullet proof vest six inches thick
I’m a Teflon wall where lies won’t stick
Never going to keep me down
No, you’re never going to keep me down
✍️ Oracy Activity: Performance & Emotion
Pupils practise reading the poem slowly, then with passion.
Explore pacing, pauses, and emphasis.
Groups perform with actions, gestures, or musical backing.
👉 Oracy focus: expression, emotion, prosody.
👉 Related blog: Anti-Bullying Poems KS2
🎯 Why Poetry Builds Oracy in KS2
Develops confidence in speaking aloud.
Improves fluency and prosody through rhythm and rhyme.
Encourages listening and collaboration in group performance.
Builds empathy and perspective by speaking “in another voice.”
👉 In my Poetry Days in primary schools across the UK I work hard to get the children excited about writing and performing their own poems. I visit over 100 schools every year and I’d love to work with your children and teachers.
📅 You can book me for:
In-person Poetry Days across the UK
Online Poetry Workshops (affordable and flexible)
➡ Secure your date here: Poets in Schools – Ian Bland
