how to write speech ks2

Resources you can trust

Speech writing

A handy planning grid for preparing a speech. Includes useful tips and prompts such as opening with a punchy line, using a tone appropriate for the audience, and finishing with a 'weird or wonderful' fact!

Suitable for KS2.

All reviews

Have you used this resource?

Resources you might like

• International
• Schools directory
• Resources Jobs Schools directory News Search

Writing a speech

Subject: English

Age range: 14-16

Resource type: Worksheet/Activity

Last updated

28 August 2020

• Share through email
• Share through twitter
• Share through linkedin
• Share through facebook
• Share through pinterest

Creative Commons "Sharealike"

Your rating is required to reflect your happiness.

It's good to leave some feedback.

Something went wrong, please try again later.

amie_campbell1

Thank you for sharing this. I really liked the writing frame

Empty reply does not make any sense for the end user

Julietteaharrison

Yes. Great resource. Thank you

geraldinedaly

Thank you for sharing! Great resource!

Thanks for sharing! Great content.

darlene_gedye

Thank you. There is some great content here to help students to structure and write their speeches. The power points will be very handy as will the variety of lead up lessons included. Thanks for sharing your resources.

Report this resource to let us know if it violates our terms and conditions. Our customer service team will review your report and will be in touch.

Not quite what you were looking for? Search by keyword to find the right resource:

Find out why teachers and school leaders love PlanBee

• 📚 Cross-Curricular Topics
• ✂️ Design & Technology
• ♻️ Education for Social Responsibility
• 🌍 Geography
• ⛪️ Religious Education
• 🎉 Special Days
• 🦸‍♀️ Special People
• 🏫 Whole School CURRICULUM PACKS
• Vision and Principles
• Our Curriculum Offer
• Whole School Curriculum Packs
• Become a Whole School Member
• FREE Schemes of Work
• Sample Packs
• Learn at Home
• Objective Checker
• How does it work?
• Special Offers
• BECOME A MEMBER 🧡

Direct Speech

What is direct speech.

Direct speech is a sentence where the exact words spoken by somebody are recorded in inverted commas (also known as speech marks). Inverted commas are used to show which written words are spoken by the character and other punctuation is used to help the reader understand when each character starts and stops speaking. Usually, the spoken words are accompanied by a reporting clause which contains a speech verb and reveals the identity of the speaker.

How to punctuate direct speech

To punctuate direct speech, follow these simple rules:

Start a new line for each new speaker. This helps the reader to keep track of who is speaking.

Add a pair of inverted commas around the words spoken by the character. The first pair of inverted commas should go before the first spoken word and the second pair should go after the punctuation which follows the last spoken word.

Begin the spoken words with a capital letter.

Add closing punctuation to follow the last spoken word. This could be a comma, full stop, exclamation mark, question mark or even an ellipsis if the character's thoughts trail off.

Use a comma to separate the direct speech and reporting clause.

Our KS2 English Journey scheme based on the beautifully illustrated book by Aaron Becker, is a fantastic way to introduce children to direct speech punctuation.

Children tend to find rules three and four the most difficult so make sure you explicitly teach the following:

a. If the reporting clause comes before the spoken words , add a comma to separate the clause from the direct speech and a full stop within the inverted commas to indicate the end of the sentence. For example, Isa suggested, "Let's get a closer look."

b. If the reporting clause comes after the direct speech, add a comma (or other appropriate punctuation) within the inverted commas to indicate that the sentence continues and a full stop after the reporting clause to indicate the end of the sentence. For example, "Let's get a closer look," Isa suggested.

c. If the reporting clause comes in the middle of the direct speech, add a comma within the inverted commas for the first piece of speech, a comma after the reporting clause before the second piece of speech and a full stop following the reporting clause to indicate the end of the sentence. For example, "Let's get a closer look," Isa suggested, "I want to know where the tunnel leads."

When do we use direct speech?

Direct speech is used in narratives to reveal more about the thoughts, motivations and personalities of the characters, and to let new characters introduce themselves.

Using dialogue between characters is also a quick and engaging way to move on the plot of a story. For example, an instruction from a character is a useful plot device as it can prompt another character to act or move to another time or location (e.g. "Lock the door.","Go to the tower.", "Recover the diamond.").

Questions can let characters explain where they have been or what they have been doing offstage ("Why are you late?', "Where have you been?, "Why are you doing this?).

Statements can tell you more about a character's surroundings ("It's a beautiful day.", " That door wasn't there before.") or where they stand on a particular issue ("I don't agree.", "This is a risky plan.").

Inspire your children to write effective dialogue for an adventure story with our KS2 One Thousand and One Arabian Nights scheme.

Misconceptions when punctuating direct speech

Understanding and applying the rules for direct speech is no mean feat. Here are the top five misconceptions that children may have as they learn how to punctuate direct speech.

Children do not know to include punctuation inside the inverted commas.

Children do not know when to use a comma instead of a full stop inside the inverted commas.

Children incorrectly position inverted commas around the beginning and end of a full sentence rather than around the spoken words.

Children do not apply the new speaker, new line convention.

Children capitalise the first word in a reporting clause that comes in the middle or at the end of the speech sentence. This often accompanies a misuse of a full stop as closing punctuation inside the inverted commas.

Addressing these misconceptions needs careful and explicit teaching. Here are five top tips for teaching children how to punctuate direct speech in KS2.

Make sure to provide children with variety of examples which use different sentences structures.

Encourage children to find different speech sentences in their reading books and explore the similarities and differences between them.

Provide examples of incorrectly punctuated speech sentences and ask children to spot and correct the errors (identifying errors in given texts is so much less daunting than jumping straight into applying the rules within your own writing).

Give children focused editing time either as a discrete activity where children to add punctuation to unpunctuated text or where they spot and correct direct speech punctuation during independent writing.

Offer children the opportunity to read and perform their dialogue (as this can really help child get to grips with why punctuation is so important for the reader).

Teaching progression in direct speech - Year 3

Direct speech is introduced in the Year 3 English Curriculum. Here, children should be taught the correct terminology for 'inverted commas' and given opportunities to practise forming these correctly (during your regular handwriting sessions can work well). When children can identify and create inverted commas, they are ready to apply these to speech - adding opening and closing inverted commas around spoken words.

An engaging, hands-on activity to help children understand where to position the inverted commas in a speech sentence is to ask children to write speech sentences on whiteboards and add macaroni around the spoken words to represent the opening and closing inverted commas. This activity can be extended to include speech and a reporting clause to consolidate understanding and to address the misconception that inverted commmas are used at the beginning and end of the sentence, rather than at the beginning and end of the spoken words.

Introduce your children to direct speech with our magical Year 3 The Snowman scheme which provides children with the foundations for punctuating direct speech.

Teaching progression in direct speech - Year 4

In Year 4, the focus should be mastering all of the punctuation required to indicate direct speech. This includes the use of a comma to separate the reporting clause from the piece of speech as well as using punctuation within inverted commas: The conductor shouted, “Sit down!”. Children will need plenty of modelled examples as to when to use the different punctuation marks inside inverted commas to get to grips with when to use a comma, full stop and other punctuation.

By the end of Year 4, children should be able to choose more precise speech verbs for their reporting clause, using verbs such as growled, snarled, whispered, mumbled to let the reader know more about the speaker's personality or mood.

One way to help chidren understand the rules of punctuating direct speech is to use a text message template to show an exchange of dialogue between characters. This helps children understand that the speech for each character starts on a new line. It is also helpful for reinforcing the learning point from Year 3, that only the spoken words should be included within the opening and closing inverted commas. Children can use the speech given in the model as the basis for writing their own dialogue between the two characters, constructing their own reporting clauses using appropriate speech verbs and adverbs.

Why not use the our KS2 English Journey scheme or our Text to Speech FreeBee to give children an opportunity to practise using direct speech in their writing?

Teaching progression in direct speech - Year 5

In Year 5, children should be able to vary the structure of their speech sentences, positioning the reporting clause at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of the spoken words. Here, children should consider the impact of these choices on pace and intensity. Children should be taught that the reporting clause can reveal a lot about how the words are spoken and the character of the speaker and start to experiment with adding additional clauses to add further contextual detail.

As children become more proficient with the direct speech punctuation and sentence structure, the focus of teaching should shift to encouraging children to write coherent and effective dialogue which conveys character and/or advances the action of the story.

Teaching progression in direct speech - Year 6

By Year 6, children should be able to vary the structure of their speech sentences and extend these to provide the reader with extra details about the speaker or their environment. Children should continue to write dialogue which conveys character and/or advances the action of the story,. The focus of teaching should shift to ensure that the children can integrate dialogue well into their narratives and that they know how to strike a balance between dialogue and description to produce an enjoyable or gripping experience for the reader.

In additon, children should also be taught how and when to use the structures associated with formal and informal speech to help set the tone of their piece or to contextualise their writing within a certain time period. To do this, use texts which allow you to explore a variety of speech conventions used by different characters such as those by Arthur Conan Doyale (e.g. Sherlock Holmes) or Charles Dickens (e.g. Scrooge, the Artful Dodger).  

LESSON PACK One Thousand and One Arabian Nights

FREE Speech Verbs and Adverbs Word Mat

LESSON PACK Journey

FREE Direct Speech Punctuation Guide

Added to your cart:

What's Your Email?

Let customers speak for us

Thank you so much- I saved hours searching for things and making my own resources. The plans were very easy to use and the resources are excellent (and easy to match up to the activities as they are all labelled in a way that works well). Ill definitely use again!

Thank you for your review - we are so pleased to hear that you have found our resources useful, and that they have saved you time!

Blank Jigsaws

Thanks, Chris!

South America

Thanks, Charlotte!

Thank you - we have found this very useful when introducing show not tell and using it in our writing.

That's great to hear, Jenni! Thank you for taking the time to leave us a review :-)

Intrepid Explorers

Thank you, Luiza!

Blog The Education Hub

https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2024/04/26/when-are-year-6-sats-2024-key-dates-for-parents-and-pupils/

When are year 6 SATs 2024? Key dates for parents and pupils

Year 6 pupils in England will soon be taking the key stage 2 (KS2) national curriculum tests, which are often referred to as SATs.  

The assessments are used to measure school performance and to make sure individual pupils are being supported in the best way possible as they move into secondary school .   

When are SATs?  

This year, SATs will take place over four days from 13 May to 16 May 2024.

The timetable is as follows:

What are the tests on?   

While pupils won’t be able to see what’s on the test beforehand, t he assessments only include questions on things that children should already have been taught as part of the national curriculum.  

You can find past papers on GOV.UK .  

As usual, there won’t be a test for English writing or science. Instead, this will be reported as a teacher assessment judgement.  

This is a judgement teachers will make based on your child’s work at the end of KS2.   

Does my child need to revise for SATs?  

Children shouldn’t be made to feel any unnecessary pressure when it comes to the KS2 assessments and t eachers will make sure that all pupils in their class are prepared.  

You should follow their general advice about supporting your child’s education throughout the year and ahead of the tests.  

While it is statutory for schools to hold the assessments, headteachers make the final decision about whether a pupil participates in them.   

Some pupils – for example those with special education needs or disabilities – may be assessed under different arrangements if these are more appropriate.   

If you have concerns about your child participating in the KS2 tests, you should speak to your school in the first instance.  

What if my child finds the SATs tests too difficult?  

It’s important to remember that one of the purposes of the key stage 2 assessments is to identify each pupil's strengths and the areas where they may have fallen behind in their learning as they head into secondary school.   

The results will help their new school determine in which areas your child needs the most support.   

The tests are designed to be challenging to measure attainment, including stretching the most able children. It means some pupils will find them harder than others.    

It takes three years to create appropriate tests. During the process, they’re rigorously trialled with year 6 pupils and reviewed by education and inclusion experts to make sure they’re the right difficulty level.   

The Standards and Testing Agency (STA) is responsible for developing the tests, and Ministers don't have any influence on their content.   

When will we find out the results of SATs?  

Schools will receive test results on Tuesday 9 July 2024.  

Before the end of the summer term, your child’s school will send you a report which will include test results and teacher assessment judgements.  

This should provide you with a good sense of the standard at which your child is working in each subject.  

The school will report your child’s test results as a scaled score for each subject. This is created from the number of marks your child scores in a particular test. A scaled score:  

• below 100 means that your child may need more support to help them reach the expected standard;  
• of 100 or more means that your child is working at, or above, the expected standard for the key stage.  

If your child is working below the overall standard of the key stage, or they have special educational needs, reporting will be different, and you should speak to your child’s teacher for more information.  

You can also find more information about  results at the end of key stage 2  on GOV.UK.  

You may also be interested in:

• How we are helping to inspire primary school children about their future careers
• What is the multiplication tables check and why is it important?
• SATs leaflet for parents

Tags: KS2 , primary school , SATs , SATs 2023 , SATs results , Secondary School

Sharing and comments

Share this page, related content and links, about the education hub.

The Education Hub is a site for parents, pupils, education professionals and the media that captures all you need to know about the education system. You’ll find accessible, straightforward information on popular topics, Q&As, interviews, case studies, and more.

Please note that for media enquiries, journalists should call our central Newsdesk on 020 7783 8300. This media-only line operates from Monday to Friday, 8am to 7pm. Outside of these hours the number will divert to the duty media officer.

Members of the public should call our general enquiries line on 0370 000 2288.

Sign up and manage updates

Follow us on social media, search by date, comments and moderation policy.