I had a day exploring the magic power of language in the classroom. Using sentences like “I invite you to think about…” when giving out instructions and “I really like how you …” to show that the student’s strength or improvement is acknowledged. I also tried to make sure that the students feel that their voices were heard and valued.

Instead of saying “You need to put away your book and go sit on the carpet”, I tried to say:

“Which Dog Man (the title of the book) are you reading”

“The first one”

“It would be cool if you use that (a toy he was holding) as the bookmark”

When I saw one student leaving the room saying “I hate gym”, instead of telling the student “You need to go back there and join the class”, I tried:

“Why don’t you like Gym”

“The whole stretching thing is lame”

“What are some sports or games you like to do”

“Skiddle (and other games)”

I also got valuable feedback from my school adviser about my wording. When I get too comfortable with the students and the classroom environment, I tend to talk in a casual way and use words such as “yea…” I tend to say that when students make a comment that isn’t so relevant to the content, or I did not know how to respond at that moment. Now I can see that “yea” can sometimes cause confusions for the students. It is not very professional, and it doesn’t really show a clear opinion towards the student’s comment.