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Poetry & performance

Year 4 · Speaking & listening

Explore the parts that help a poem take shape.

Choose a game

Take your time, try a game and collect stars.

Activities to try together away from the screen

Take it beyond the game

Use one example in a real piece of reading, writing or discussion.

  1. Choose an example and explain it to a partner who can listen and respond.
  2. Invite a relevant question, then clarify or develop the explanation.
  3. Agree on one useful improvement and try the example again.

Helping your child with poetry & performance

The Year 4 focus

Year 4 poetry exploration includes noticing how a poem is organised and how its language creates an experience for the listener. Poetry map introduces useful terms for structure, voice, imagery, rhythm, stanza and refrain. These are tools for discussion rather than a checklist that every poem must satisfy. A poem’s speaker is a voice within the poem and should not automatically be treated as the real author.

Work through an example

Choose a familiar poem with a repeated line and decide how the refrain connects its sections. Read one stanza aloud, keeping a steady sense of its rhythm without forcing every line into the same pattern. Discuss an image that was easy to imagine and explain which words created it, then try a performance choice that makes those words clearer.

Use the skill beyond the screen

Read a short passage aloud after playing and try more than one performance choice. Ask a listener which words or ideas became clearer, and explain a reason for the choice. A poem can support different interpretations, so the game checks explicit features or directions rather than claiming to judge the only correct performance. No microphone recording or automated speech assessment takes place.

Curriculum connection

Spoken-language requirements are shared across Years 1–6. These tasks prepare selected skills at a level intended for Year 4. Read the official English programme of study.

Questions families ask

What does the game check?

It checks explicit poetic features or performance directions. It does not judge a spoken performance.

Is this a separate statutory Year 4 programme?

The National Curriculum groups reading and writing in Years 3 and 4. These Year 4 examples provide a practice progression within that shared programme; schools can sequence the content differently. Spoken-language requirements apply across Years 1–6.