It is an exciting moment when I discover a new word – and this time it’s a word that focuses on words. ‘Oracy’ was only coined in 1965 – making it a newcomer in the ancient and long-running story of English. ‘Oracy’ is meant to act as a balance to the word ‘numeracy.’ If ‘numeracy’ is skilled with numbers, ‘oracy’ is skill with words. But Kel, I hear you say, we already have a word for that – ‘literacy’. In fact, we often hear them joined together as ‘numeracy’ and ‘literacy.’ But there is a problem ‘Literacy’ comes from the Latin word for ‘letter’ and means ‘being skilled in reading and writing.’ But (and it’s a big ‘but’) 90 per cent of English is spoken not written. And it was to cover this that ‘oracy’ was coined. So, while ‘literacy’ is limited to reading and writing, ‘oracy’ means being skilled in speaking and understanding English. Developing ‘oracy’ is the main goal these days of the English Speaking Union – a charity that works to give young people the speaking and listening skills they need to thrive. On their website they say that ‘oracy’ is to speaking what numeracy is to mathematics or literacy to reading and writing. In short, it’s nothing more than being able to express yourself well. It’s about having the vocabulary to say what you want to say and the ability to structure your thoughts so that they make sense to others. They go on to say, ‘Our programmes, competitions and resources are based around four key oracy skillsets: reasoning and evidence; listening and response; expression and delivery, and organisation and prioritisation. Just as numeracy and literacy are learnt, so these skill-sets must be taught and, crucially, practised in order to develop proficiency.’ That seems like a noble thing to do. In fact, I wish more of it were happening in Australian schools. Wouldn’t that be nice!