Teach Oracy with Delphi Philosophy

Hi everyone,

How does your school build children's oracy skills? There is a growing consensus that developing children’s speaking and listening skills should be a high priority for educators. Whether it’s the ability to listen, question, reason, persuade, debate or present, it is becoming increasingly accepted that children need to learn these crucial skills to make progress in any other subject. Both the UK Education Secretary and Leader of the Opposition have clearly stated that oracy education should be at the heart of a school’s curriculum.

Of course, we knew that already!

Teaching philosophy for children is a fantastic way to develop these skills – and Delphi Philosophy was put together specifically to help children make clear and measurable progress in their ability to use talk in their learning. We have been developing this project for over five years now – and our resources have been used all around the world. Not only does Delphi help children’s learning – they often tell us that it is one of their favourite learning experiences in school!

Want to introduce your children to Delphi? We have all sorts of resources for you to explore:

Delphi the Philosopher

Ideal for: Introducing primary-aged children to oracy and philosophy for children

The original novel and scheme of work, Delphi the Philosopher tells the story of how our young hero learns about ethics and tries to rescue Socrates, her best friend Plato’s teacher. The scheme of work includes eleven fully illustrated stories, with detailed lesson plans, slideshows, activities, resources and teaching guides. The whole story is written so that children develop their listening, questioning, reasoning and explaining skills as they follow along. You can see all the lessons in action through our series of lessons blogs on our website. Or you can download the Home Version if you just want the story – or get it on Kindle – or watch it on YouTube!

Delphi the Dreamer

Ideal for: Children continuing to build their skills, for older primary or secondary children

Our second full novel and scheme of work, Delphi the Dreamer contains even more mind-bending stories and beautiful illustrations, as Delphi takes on big questions about reality and identity. This scheme of work contains ten more stories with all the resources you need to deliver it in the classroom. Just like our first story, this scheme of work is underpinned by a clear progression in listening, questioning, reasoning and explaining, allowing you to teach clear learning intentions and monitor children’s progress – all through an exciting and surprising story! You can get a taste of the story by watching the first chapter, The Dream, on YouTube here.

Delphi's Guide to Athens

Ideal for: Storytimes, short discussions, research, Ancient Greece topics and much more!

Our freely available website for children is an interactive adventure around Athens, featuring short stories, illustrations, photographs, information and discussion questions. Explore around 40 locations around the city, from the Acropolis to Plato’s Academy – and even talk to the pantheon of Greek gods as you explore! This incredibly popular website has been described by prominent headteacher Ashley Booth as “amazing” and that you “could get a million lessons out of it!” You can find out about all the different activities the site can be used for here – or simply set your child up on their tablet and begin their adventure for themselves here!

Enquiry Packs

Ideal for: Single lessons, short activities or trying out our resources

All of our stories from Delphi the Philosopher and Delphi the Dreamer are available as Enquiry Packs – over 20 downloadable packs containing the individual story and resources to teach any one of our stories. Popular choices include the Prologue and Trial of Socrates (a perfect introduction to philosophy for children), The Ring (where Delphi explores ethical ideas she discovers a ring which makes her invisible), The Perfect Bedroom (where Delphi learns to think about abstract ideas about freedom and happiness) and The Dream (a mind-bending adventure into the idea of reality). We also have Best Teacher Ever – a three part enquiry about metacognition and learning to learn, as Delphi meets three famous teachers from the history of philosophy.

Delphi Philosophy Membership

Ideal for: Getting everything for the lowest price!

Can’t choose? Become a Delphi Philosophy member and you can get access to EVERYTHING – that’s 2 full schemes of work, around 25 lessons, around 60 enquiries and around 500 illustrations! It also gives you the full set of printable resources from Delphi’s Guide to Athens – and access to the Member’s Area of our site where you can download everything, read our guides, trial new resources and ask any questions you have. Set your school up with a full suite of oracy resources in one complete package.

Children need the power of oracy education now more than ever – and teaching Delphi Philosophy has been the way we, as teachers in our own schools, have been teaching it for years. Want to find out more or hear what our children make of it? Visit our home page and watch our introduction video here.

Thanks so much for all your support and wishing you great adventures ahead!

Dave and Rosie

Delphi Philosophy

Delphi meets the gods in our huge site update

Hi everyone,

It’s the start of a new school year here in the UK – and one that has obviously started in sad circumstances with the death of Her Majesty the Queen last week. It was a very strange day on Friday, but what a responsibility it is to help children witness and understand history in the making.

Anyway – on to happier tidings!

The gods have arrived in Athens!

Delphi’s Guide to Athens has just had its first HUGE update!

The Olympian gods have been added to our interactive storytelling, history and philosophy website for children. For each god, there is a new original story of Delphi meeting them (and usually getting into an argument), wonderful new illustrations from Rosie, all sorts of facts and stories from Greek mythology and history – and, of course, a big question inspired by their outrageous behaviour!

The rest of the site has also had a major update, making it easier to navigate and find what you need. All the new updates can be accessed from the homepage, or you can treat the site like a choose your own adventure story and explore Athens with Delphi to see where the gods are hiding! In the classroom, the site can be used for all sorts of things across the curriculum, from interactive story times, to reading comprehension, history research, mythology writing prompts, inspiration for art projects and much more.

Visit Delphi’s Guide to Athens here to see what it could add to your curriculum this year – or just to start your adventure!

These are only the first gods to meet Delphi. There are many more to come - so you can look forward to much more regular updates from us from now on.

The Dream - on YouTube!

Speaking of regular updates, we have also put together the first video from Delphi the Dreamer, our second full story and scheme of work. ‘The Dream’ is our brain-melting storytelling adventure which introduces children to big questions in metaphysics and identity – and is the perfect way to start developing children’s thinking skills.

The complete set of resources, including the scheme of work for 9-14 year olds, can also be downloaded in full from our website now – click here to find out more. More videos will be added before too long, and don’t forget you can also watch all of our first story, Delphi the Philosopher, on YouTube here!

It’s been fantastic to welcome new members to the Delphi Philosophy site over the summer. All of your support means the world, and we sincerely hope the resources are providing good experiences for your learners. We’d really love to hear what people are doing with our stories – so please let us know your stories of using the resources on our member’s area forum or by contacting us. Every comment or new download makes our day. It’s very difficult for two full time teachers to have the time to tell the world about what we have made – so please do spread the word about our project if you are able to.

Don’t forget you can get everything we have to offer in developing children’s thinking by becoming a site member. That’s now 2 full schemes of work, around 25 lessons and 60 stories and enquiries of various lengths - and more than 500 illustrations! Everything you need to build your children's thinking skills - and give them a really memorable learning experience.

We’ll be back soon - Hades won’t be too far behind his Olympian rivals!

Wishing you all the very best for the school year.

Dave and Rosie

Delphi Philosophy

Delphi the Dreamer: Our 2nd book and scheme of work is here!

Hi everyone,

After a development time of almost three years, we’re absolutely delighted to release Delphi the Dreamer – our second philosophy for children novel and scheme of work! Following on from Delphi the Philosopher, these new resources are an ideal introduction to philosophy for older children, a great next step for younger children, a fantastic way to explore metacognition and offer a range of mind-blowing enquiries into reality and identity for any classroom.

This one has been a real labour of love for us. The story was written mostly during lockdown, and Rosie spent almost 18 months adding over 250 beautiful illustrations to bring the story to life. All alongside teaching our classes of course! We’ve taken our time to make Delphi the Dreamer a truly unique experience for the children, introducing many classic philosophical problems through memorable storytelling, while teaching children to take their listening, questioning, reasoning and explaining skills to the next level.

Delphi the Dreamer is now available to download, in a range of formats.

Already a Delphi Philosophy member?

Fantastic! That means you can now access all of our new resources from Delphi the Dreamer directly from our Members Area here.

Not yet joined us? Well - becoming a member means that for £30 you can download everything we have to offer – that’s now two full schemes of work and novels, nearly 25 fully illustrated stories and enquiries, the complete set of resources for Delphi’s Guide to Athens, guidance materials and more!

If you just want to see how this new resource can be used in your school, then have a look at the School Version of Delphi the Dreamer, containing the full set of resources for teachers, which is available here for £25.

Just want to read the story to your kids? Or just for yourself? We can understand that! The Home Version of Delphi the Dreamer is available to read in full here for only £5.

Want to know more? Here’s a run through the story! If one takes your fancy, you can download each chapter as a stand-alone enquiry for just £2.99.

The Dream

When human beings wake up, their brains immediately launch into some very important questions. This can happen very quickly, and we often don’t remember we’ve asked them.

Question one: Who am I? This is a perfectly normal question to ask in that split second after waking up. The answer sometimes isn’t obvious. I’m Delphi, thought Delphi.

Question two: Where am I? The brain wants to sort this out as quickly as possible too. I’m at home, Delphi thought. In the front room by the fire.

Question three: Is this real or am I still dreaming? This one can be tricky.

In this mind-bending story, Delphi sets out to prove that she is no longer dreaming. But this turns out to be much more difficult than she imagined – especially when a masked stranger keeps appearing and offering her a wager – one that could cost even her soul.

Delphi at the Docks

Delphi is visiting the docks at Piraeus with her father. However, his last instruction to her had been to ‘wait here’ and ‘not to argue with anybody’, but Delphi had done that and was a bit bored now. Besides, an old sea captain had told her about the mystery of ‘The Ship of Theseus’ – a ship that somehow has become two ships. She might even be able to get a few coins for doing a few jobs like shifting a heap of grain - but she soon discovers that even a task like that might be much more complicated than she imagined. Delphi takes on two ancient logical problems in this intriguing and argumentative nautical adventure!

Pythia and Aristocles

Everyone sometimes dreams of being someone else. However, when Delphi meets Plato in the Agora to show him the new mirror she has bought, she decides to make this dream into a reality. What if she wasn’t Delphi at all, but a girl named Pythia? When she discovers her friend’s real name isn’t even Plato, he gets dragged into her daring plan too. What if she was an adult? And what if, dare she think it, she was a boy? Imagination and self-discovery combine as Delphi and Plato try and work out, exactly, who they are.

Talking to Yourself

Delphi receives a mysterious visitor to her home. The woman looks oddly familiar, and seems to know the way around the house. She is soon joined by many other guests, from a rowdy two-year old girl and a stroppy teenager to an ancient older woman, and there seems to be something that connects all of them. But what could it be? Delphi gets to know herself in a way that she never could have imagined, in this touching and surprising tale about who you were, who you are and who you might very well be.

The River

It’s a well-known fact that you can’t step in the same river twice. Well known that is, to everyone except Delphi, who is fairly sure you can step in the same river twice if you splash around fast enough. However, when she is challenged by a naiad, a local river spirit, Delphi starts to think it might be a bit more complicated than that… She better think quickly too, otherwise she could turn out to be in deep trouble. Delphi takes on a philosophical classic, and faces her demons, in this lively, yet dangerous tale.

Zeno the Racing Tortoise

Delphi’s pet tortoise has always led a quiet and peaceful existence. At least Delphi thought so, until one night when Zeno starts speaking to her. It turns out he was once a famous racing tortoise, whatever that is, and even beat the legendary Achilles in a footrace across the beach. Delphi hears his stories and, even using all the logic she knows, still can’t make sense of how a tortoise can outrun Achilles, and even flying arrows. Delphi learns the meaning of the word ‘paradox’ as she takes on this famous ancient logical problem, inspired by Aesop’s fables and Greek philosophy.

The Cave Club

Delphi’s dad is missing. But even worse than that, the city of Athens has become… strange. An odd creature that might be a rabbit (or might be a duck), hops (or waddles) through the streets and many of Athens’ citizens have taken to sitting in an underground cave, watching a shadow puppet show on the cave wall. The show’s name is Reality – and Delphi is going to need all her philosophical knowhow to show them the truth. In this dramatic retelling of Plato’s famous Allegory of the Cave, Delphi must find a way to rescue her friends and father, and help them face the truth, no matter how difficult it is.

The Watchmaker

Where do you go when you need help? Delphi’s dad has been captured, the adults are pretending to be emperors and teapots, and there is a good chance she is still dreaming. But surely the gods can help? When Delphi enters the Parthenon and finds a forest inside, she knows it can’t be real – however when she discovers an unfamiliar, ticking contraption she decides that someone must have made it. And if that’s true for the watch… Delphi takes on William Paley in this moving and thought-provoking story about whether you can prove that gods exist – or whether it is something you can never truly know.

I Am

Delphi had made the mistake of making a deal with a Demon in her dream – to name something that is, without doubt, real, or lose her soul. The time has now come for Delphi to give her answer, but all she has in her mind are the echo of words: Get rid of everything that you can doubt – and find what you have left. But once Delphi has rejected everything she thought she knew, what could there be? In this mind-blowing two-part finale to Delphi the Dreamer, Delphi takes on Descartes’ famous assertion of ‘I think, therefore I am’. But what does this truly mean? And who exactly is she?

We really hope you enjoy exploring our new story! The website has been extensively updated - so you can find out much more about Delphi the Dreamer and all our other resources, at www.delphi-philosophy.com. Remember you can get everything we have to offer immediately by purchasing a membership here.

After such a big update, we’re now aiming to have smaller, more regular updates – so you can expect more from us during 2022!

We hope you are all staying safe and well, and thank you for all your support. Every purchase, download, bit of feedback or share means the world to us.

Dave and Rosie

Delphi Philosophy