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The big list of praising, encouraging and consoling classroom language

Effective Phrases for Praise and Encouragement in Class

This article provides a list of useful phrases for praising, encouraging, and consoling students in an English class. It emphasises positivity and offers suggestions for effective classroom communication.

This is a list of phrases you can use to add positivity to an English class without the need for other languages. The most useful phrases are underlined.

 

Useful classroom phrases for praising

  • “Nice work (everybody/ team A)”
  • “Great stuff (this group/ Maria)”
  • “Good job (on…)”
  • “(You did a) great job”
  • “You (all) did very well”
  • “(Very) well done (all the girls/ teams that have already finished)”
  • “Perfect (score)”
  • “No mistakes!/ You didn’t make any mistakes (at all)/ You didn't make a single mistake.”
  • “Ten out of ten”
  • “100%”
  • “It’s a (class) record!”
  • “That’s the best this year/ this term/ this week/ today/…”
  • “That’s better than (all) my other classes”
  • “Give yourself/ yourselves a pat on the back”
  • “Let me shake your hand!”
  • “Give me five!/ High five”
  • “This team was the fastest, this team was the neatest, and this team wrote the most. Well done (everybody)!”
  • “(That is/ was) (really/ absolutely) excellent/ fantastic/ fabulous/ great/ superb”
  • “(That's) (so/ very/ really) good!”
  • “Not (too) bad (at all)”
  • “That's right! / Exactly!/ That’s (exactly) the correct answer!”
  • “Give him a big hand! / Give her a round of applause/ I think that is worth a round of applause/ Put your hands together for…”
  • “Congratulations”
  • “Bravo!”
  • “Hooray!”
  • “(You) (got it) first time!/ (You did it on your) first attempt!”
  • “You (finally) did it!”
  • “(You finished) just in time!”
  • “I’m impressed/ That’s (very/ really) impressive”
  • “You’ve been a great help/ I couldn’t have done it without you”
  • “OK, I’ll accept that (as an answer)”
  • “That's a (very) good/ great/ original/ imaginative suggestion/ idea!”
  • “I like that (very much)!”
  • “I like this one best/ This one’s my favourite (because…)”
  • “That's a nice drawing/ a nice story/ a nice ending/ nice handwriting/ (a) nice…”
  • “That’s very neat/ imaginative/ carefully done/ long/ accurate/ intelligent/ creative”
  • Wow (that was quick)!”
  • “(I’ll give that a) gold star”
  • “100/ 1000/ 10000/ a million points for that”
  • “I’ll put this (up) on the wall”
  • “(You are) the winner(s)/ the champion(s)!
  • “You have won (the game/ that game/ the whole game/…)!”
  • “(That’s a) good question/ great question”
  • “(You have made) a lot of progress/ good progress/ excellent”
  • “That's more like it / (That's) (much/ a lot) better”
  • “You've improved (your grammar/ accuracy/ fluency/ pronunciation) (a lot)”
  • “Don’t change your mind, that was correct”
  • “I think that’s the right answer, I just couldn’t hear you”
  • “That's exactly the point/ That's just what I was looking for”

 

Useful classroom phrases for encouraging

  • “Keep going/ Don't give up/ You can do it!”
  • “(Youre) nearly there/ almost there/ getting there/ getting warm(er)/ getting close(r)”
  • “(You’re) getting better”
  • “(This/ that is/ was) (much) better (than last time/ last week/ yesterday)”
  • “Next time we’ll do it (perfectly)!”
  • “(That was a) nice try
  • “Don't be shy”
  • “No one in the other class managed that/ to finish either”
  • “(Don’t worry, you can) try again (after looking in your books for 30 seconds/ at the beginning of the next lesson/ after I give you this hint)”
  • “Don't worry about your pronunciation/ how long it takes/ your spelling/ neatness/…”
  • “There's no need to rush/ There's no hurry/ We have plenty of time”
  • “(Good try, but) (not quite right.) (Do you want to) try again? / Have another go”
  • “(You were) almost (right)”
  • “You're halfway there/ You're on the right lines. (Try changing…)”
  • “Go on. (Have a) try/ Have a go/ (Have a) guess”
  • “(If you don’t know,) just guess”
  • “You won’t lose marks for wrong answers”
  • “Numbers 1 to 7 and 9 are correct. See if you can correct the others.”
  • 90% right/ 90% finished. (I’ll give you) two minutes to finish the rest/ to correct the rest”
  • “The drawing is great, now try working on the text (a bit more)”
  • “Only one mistake”
  • “Third time lucky!
  • “Last try!”

 

Useful classroom phrases for consoling/ commiserating/ being positive about negative feedback

  • “That’s a shame/ That’s a pity. Better luck next time”
  • “I’m sure you’ll do it next time/ manage next time”
  • “Never mind. (You won the game last week, remember?)”
  • “You did very well (but there were more people in their team/ Juan just knew all the answers)”
  • “(That’s a good idea but) not quite what I was looking for”
  • “That’s good English but it has another meaning”
  • “Not exactly”
  • “I understand what you mean, but we don’t say that in English”
  • “You can't say that, I'm afraid/ (That’s a good word/ Well remembered, but) you can't use that word here”
  • “That’s the right word in…, but do you know what it is in English?”

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