Humanising Language Teaching
Year 3; Issue 4; July 2001
Positive Self Talk
Level: lower intermediate to advanced
- Ask the students to go inside themselves, shut their eyes and spend three minutes
noticing some of the good things they have done over the past three months
Suggest that some may see themselves in the situations, some may find that they
talk to themselves and some may relive the feeling of the positive situations.
Time the three minutes.
- Without talking to any classmates, ask them to write down how the
experience of praising themselves for three minutes affected them.
Tell them to write in English. Tell them no one will read this writing- it is private.
- Group the students in 5's or 6's to feedback on any aspect of the
experience they want to.
Note: Some people use internal dialogue/ monologue to put themselves down. There may be strong reactions to the suggestion that they might praise themselves.
Acknowledgement: we learnt this technique from Penelope Williams
