The Science of Talk: How Aiglon Builds Confident, Thoughtful Communicators

In most schools, it is taken for granted that reading, writing and numeracy develop across every subject. At Aiglon, the same expectation applies to speaking and listening. Oracy—the ability to speak, listen and communicate with confidence—is now the focus of a specially designed programme that runs from Year 3 to Year 13. While the rest of the curriculum builds literacy, numeracy and subject expertise, oracy strengthens something more fundamental: the way students think.

Aiglon’s oracy programme is more than an optional extra or an end-of-year performance skill. It is a form of cognitive training that encompasses classroom life as well as student culture. It helps children learn to talk, learn through talk and understand how talk itself shapes their understanding of the world. In a school built on the balance of classical ideas and progressive philosophies, the ability to express oneself with clarity is treated as a discipline every child must master.

How Talk Shapes Thinking

“Every teacher is a language and oracy teacher,” says Deputy School Director for Curriculum & Learning, Lana Kulas. Her experience working in international schools, including in cultures where students are more hesitant to speak up, taught her how deeply communication affects learning. 

“Oracy isn’t just about confidence,” she explains. “It improves cognitive processes. You externalise your thinking. You clarify your ideas. And it builds the human connections that help students learn from one another.”

This cognitive lens is reflected in Aiglon’s explicit oracy curriculum in Years 7 and 8, where students study the mechanics of talk. That includes physical presence, vocal control, linguistic precision and the ability to structure ideas in real time. But the programme reaches far beyond these fortnightly lessons. In a classroom where students collaborate, debate, reflect and question, oracy is inseparable from the way learning itself happens.

French lessons add another layer to the oracy programme at Aiglon. 

“We want students to speak a foreign language not just accurately, but eloquently,” says Julia Turquin, French teacher, drawing on her background in UK debating competitions and concours d’éloquence, eloquence competitions.

Whether students are beginners or native speakers, they practise intentional speech, which is focused on developing active listening, eye contact, expression and confidence in two languages. “It’s not just about vocabulary,” she emphasises. “It’s about expressing ideas with clarity and conviction.”

A Framework for Purposeful Talk

Leading the development of Aiglon’s whole-school approach is Sophie Devonshire, the Oracy Coordinator. Bringing experience from an oracy programme she once led in Bangkok, she immediately noticed something distinct at Aiglon: “Students here are naturally confident talkers. But that means our focus is slightly different—we have to teach them to listen and speak with purpose.”

This insight inspired the creation of the Oracy Classroom Agreement, which spans both Junior and Senior Schools. The Agreement asks that students speak intentionally, listen actively and contribute meaningfully. For younger students, the teachers have created simple but powerful routines—such as using a “talking object” to practise taking turns. Older students refine the same principles in more complex settings, from structured group discussions to Socratic seminars.

Behind the scenes, Sophie is also helping the school develop a universal framework for assessing talk, drawing on the Oracy Cambridge model. This includes physical, linguistic, cognitive and social- emotional skills, and provides all teachers a system for recognising progress made over the course of a year or several years. In French, for example, this might involve analysing eye contact or note dependence; in English, the focus may be structure, vocabulary or the sophistication of an argument.

“It’s about understanding what high-quality talk looks like, not just having more talk,” Sophie explains. “We want students to know how to hone their skills—and how to reflect on them.”

How Students Experience Oracy

For Year 7 students Daniel and Safira, the programme feels both fun and useful.

“We get to communicate, and it helps our English,” Sophia says. “You think faster, because you have to find the right word, or one associated with it. Listening is harder—you really have to not interrupt.”

Daniel enjoys the unpredictability of speaking in new situations. “It expands your vocabulary. And it’s more interactive than other schools where you just wrote at your desk. Here it’s relaxed, you can play games, you can make mistakes — funny mistakes sometimes — and you learn from them.”

Both students mention word-association activities, which encourage quick thinking and flexible language use. They talk about teachers who speak clearly, exercises that build focus, and conversations that require genuine attention.

“You always have to stay in the conversation,” Daniel says. “Listening comes first, then speaking.”

Oracy Across Subjects and Experiences

Oracy does not stand on its own at Aiglon. It plays out in Mountain School, where students negotiate decisions in the outdoors, in Discovery Years projects that connect classroom topics to real-life situations and in Senior School seminars where students lead discussions themselves. Teachers repeatedly note that the most surprising moments often occur when a previously hesitant student decides to speak—sometimes after only a small success, such as agreeing with someone else’s point before adding their own.

Opportunities to speak publicly are frequent: assemblies, Model United Nations, debating, drama productions, TEDx Aiglon and the school’s Meditation tradition. Each experience becomes a form of rehearsal for the next, preparing students for the oral components of the IB Diploma and the real-world communication expected of leaders.

“Networking, interviews, building relationships—these are the skills we develop through oracy,”

Lana says. “It’s one of the most important forms of preparation we give our students.”

A skill for School, a Skill for Life

At a time when artificial intelligence is transforming the way young people read, write and work, the Oracy Programme teachers at Aiglon agree that human communication is becoming even more valuable. It is not enough to write well; students must be able to think aloud, read a room, respond in real time, lead a discussion and listen attentively.

“The set of skills we teach in oracy are exactly the ones they will use in the big wide world,” Sophie says. “Our role is to provide a safe environment where they can practise, experiment and grow.”

Julia agrees: “When everything comes together—the body language, the listening, the confidence to speak in a different language—students realise what they’re capable of.”

Whether in a classroom, on a mountainside or in an assembly hall, Aiglon students are learning how to use their voices thoughtfully and confidently. They are learning how to listen to one another. And in doing so, they are learning how to thrive as articulate and empathetic global citizens.