Speaking confidently in Standard English
Whether you're giving a class presentation or chatting with friends, confident speech comes from knowing your audience and your material.
Part of your national curriculum
- Spoken English: Speak confidently and effectively, using Standard English confidently in a range of formal and informal contexts
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Speak confidently and effectively, using Standard English confidently in a range of formal and informal contexts
Key learning points
- • Preparing to speak formally
- • Adjusting for context
- • Effective, not just loud
This lesson at a glance
- 22 minutes
- 14 parts to scroll through
- 3 quick checks
- Marked quiz at the end
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 14
Watch first
Speaking confidently in Standard English
An English teaching video on this topic from CPD College. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.
In a nutshell
Speak confidently and effectively, using Standard English confidently in a range of formal and informal contexts
Learning cycle
Part 2 of 14
Learning cycle 1 of 2
Part 1 · Preparing to speak formally
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 3 of 14
Learn
Preparing to speak formally
Before a presentation, plan your key points and practise saying them aloud — a shaky first attempt becomes fluent with rehearsal. Standing tall, pausing between points and making eye contact all signal confidence, even if you're nervous underneath.
Explore the idea
Part 4 of 14
Learn
Adjusting for context
Presenting to the whole class calls for clear, Standard English and a steady pace; explaining the same idea to a friend at break can be quicker and more casual. The skill is switching smoothly between the two.
Quick check
Part 5 of 14
Quick check
What helps turn a shaky presentation into a fluent one?
Reset break
Part 6 of 14
Pause
That's sitting 1 of 2 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Quick check
Part 7 of 14
Quick check
Why might you use different registers for a presentation and a chat with a friend?
Learning cycle
Part 8 of 14
Learning cycle 2 of 2
Part 2 · Effective, not just loud
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 9 of 14
Learn
Effective, not just loud
Effective speaking isn't about volume — it's about clarity, structure ('firstly... then... finally...') and reading your audience. Pausing to check people are following is more effective than rushing through everything at once.
Quick check
Part 10 of 14
Quick check
What makes speech 'effective', according to the lesson?
Challenge round
Part 11 of 14
Game · Sort it
Which of these are true?
Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.
True
Not true
Challenge round
Part 12 of 14
Game · Fill the gaps
Finish the sentences
Choose the word that belongs in each gap.
Presenting to the whole class calls for clear, ____ English and a steady pace; explaining the same idea to a friend at break can be quicker and more casual.
Mastery quiz
Part 13 of 14
Marked quiz
End of lesson quiz: Speaking confidently in Standard English
3 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.
1. What helps turn a shaky presentation into a fluent one?
2. Why might you use different registers for a presentation and a chat with a friend?
3. What makes speech 'effective', according to the lesson?
Lesson round-up
Part 14 of 14
Lesson round-up
Ready when you are
Quiz score
Not sat
Games
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Points this lesson
0
Best run
0 in a row
Luna: 0 out of 3 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?
Ask LunaDo the work
Your written work for this lesson
This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.
The last bus
The bus shelter smelled of wet coats. Mira pressed her timetable flat against the glass, as though staring at the numbers might make the 9:42 appear. Rain tapped the roof in small, impatient fingers. Somewhere behind her, a shop shutter came down with a sound like a full stop.
She had been brave all day. She had been brave in the corridor, brave at lunch, brave when the register reached her name and nobody looked up. Being brave, she decided, was mostly a matter of keeping your face still.
Headlights swung around the corner and lit the puddles gold. Mira picked up her bag. Tomorrow she would say something. Tonight she would simply go home.
Original extract written for Good Learning Co.
Reading questions
- Find two words or phrases that show how Mira is feeling, and explain what each one suggests.
- How does the writer use the weather and the sounds to build the mood? Use a short quotation.
- Write the next paragraph in the same style, keeping the writer's short sentences at the moments that matter.
Reading response
ReadingRead the extract again, then write about how the writer makes you feel that way. Use a short quotation and explain your choice of words.
2 paragraphs (PEE)
Extended writing
WritingWrite your piece in full, then redraft the opening so it hooks the reader.
250–350 words
Reading log
ReadingNote the book, the pages you read and one thing you noticed about the writing.
20 minutes' reading
Saved as you type.
Part 1 of 14 · Watch & discover
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Speak confidently and effectively, using Standard English confidently in a range of formal and informal contexts