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LIST OF PHRASES TO PRAISE, ENCOURAGE AND CONSOLE STUDENTS


PRAISING 


- Nice work! /Great stuff (everybody / team A / this group / Maria) 
- (You did a) good / great job 
- You (all) did very well 
- (Very) well done (all the girls / teams that have already finished) 
- Perfect/ (A) 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 
- That was (at least / more than / about) twice as good as your last attempt 
- Give yourself/ yourselves a pat on the back 
- Let me shake your hand!/ Give me 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 
- O.K, 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 / story / ending / handwriting 
- That’s very neat / imaginative / carefully done / long / accurate / intelligent / creative 
- (That is/ was) marvellous / magnificent / terrific / fabulous/ superb/ fantastic 
- 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/ the champion(s)! / You have won the game! 
- (That’s a) good/ great question! 
- You have made a lot of / good/ excellent progress. 
- That's more like it / That's much better / That's 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 



ENCOURAGEMENT 


- Keep going/ Don't give up/ You can do it! 
- (You’re) nearly there / almost there / getting there/ getting warmer/ getting closer 
- (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 / attempt 
- Don't be shy/ No need to be shy/ Don’t hold back 
- No one in the other class managed that/ to finish either 
- 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 / Not quite right. Try again / Do you want to try again? / Have another go? 
- You were almost right / That's almost it / You've almost got it. Try again 
- You're halfway there / You're on the right lines. Try changing the... 
- 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. 
- (That is) nearly/ almost (right / perfect/ finished) 
- 90% right/ finished. I’ll give you two minutes to finish/ correct the rest 
- The drawing is great, now try working on the text (a bit more) 
- Only one mistake 
- Third time lucky!/ Last try! 



CONSOLING( being positive about negative feedback) 


- That’s a shame/ That’s a pity. Better luck next time 
- I’m sure you’ll do it/ 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 Russian or Esperanto, etc, but do you know what it is in English?

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