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9 Ways To Help Students Learn Through Their Mistakes
9 Ways To Help Students Learn Through Mistakes
contributed by bettermarks.com
Most people have heard the sayings, “You learn from your mistakes,” “Adversity is the school of wisdom,” or are admonished to ‘ fail forward .’
Meanwhile, it is a general consensus that making mistakes is an important part of the learning process. This is because if instead of giving up in frustration after making a mistake, we work constructively to understand the mistake, the strategy to solve the problem stays with us better than if we just memorize the solution.
Despite this, in our educational system, mistakes are more often punished than seen as an opportunity to learn. What then can we do to help our students learn from their mistakes? First, let’s take a look at how mistakes can stimulate the learning process.
1. See mistakes as a source of understanding
When students are mindful of incorrect solution concepts while working on a problem, they are able to deal with the problem at a much deeper level than someone who is just presented with the correct solution and has to memorize it. Also, we should not just correct a mistake but make sure that students recognize and understand the reason for the mistake.
Only in this way can students arrive at a deeper understanding and correct solution method for the mistake.
2. Improve motivation and self-esteem by responding to and overcoming mistakes
A student who successfully fixes something incorrect experiences personal success. They experience directly how worthwhile their effort is and how their competence improves. Such an experience of success leads to the student being more persistent and putting in even more effort in the future when working on reaching a learning goal because they know that they can achieve it.
This is how to turn the motivation to learn into something intrinsic, which can be much more effective than incentivizing good grades for example.
3. Honor mistakes as guidance for the teacher, too
Wrong is just wrong? Wrong! Mistakes are multifaceted. They give the teacher information about the stand of the individual student and which incorrect ideas and knowledge deficits the student has hinder learning. Mistakes also show you whether the student understands the required prerequisites and how you can optimally connect the previous topics to the current topic in the classroom.
Mistakes give you, as the teacher, an important foundation for the lesson structure and individual student development. If they’re learned from and responded to, mistakes are powerfully good! But which prerequisites have to be met so that mistakes lead to learning success and not to a dead-end?
4. Allow mistakes through the learning atmosphere
If students are to be allowed to learn from their mistakes, they must be allowed to make them! It should be clear to students that in a learning situation mistakes will be handled in a different way than in a performance evaluation where every mistake has a negative consequence.
Also, help to create a mistake-friendly learning atmosphere where students don’t feel ashamed of their mistakes. Motivate your students to not give up and to continue to work on the correct solution. In this way, the reward for learning remains the focus and a constructive way of dealing with mistakes is an important foundation of this.
Failing forward is a mindset!
5. Allow a variety of mistakes
Students should not only be allowed to make mistakes, but they need to be able identify the different kinds of mistakes that can occur. Here the type of learning material plays a decisive role. Enable situations where your students can make a variety of interesting mistakes. In most cases, just asking for the answer or using multiple-choice questions will not give you insight into the reasons for your student’s mistakes.
6. Provide timely feedback so mistakes can be responded to
If a problem with understanding is recognized late in the learning process and a lot of time has elapsed before the student discovers they must re-learn the topic, the incorrect thought processes may be firmly cemented in the student’s mind. The learning process usually follows these steps in this order: practice activities, make errors, get feedback, think over the feedback, and try again.
The less this process is interrupted the more efficient and effective the learning is. The earlier a problem is discovered the easier it is to fix it. In the ideal scenario, a student will receive feedback on how close they are in terms of correctness immediately after giving their solution.
7. Analyze root causes and sources
There are different kinds of mistakes. Careless mistakes, systematic mistakes, misconceptions – the root cause of mistakes can have many sources. ( Diagnostic teaching can help here.)
It is not enough that students know that they have made a mistake; they also need to receive feedback on where the mistake lies. This root cause analysis in connection with targeted individual support is the best way to change thought patterns and prevent students from making the same mistake again.
8. Encourage independent mistake correction as a matter of habit
Giving students the opportunity to find and correct their mistakes on their own immediately after they are made has a positive impact on their motivation to learn. At the same time, learning to look for root causes and sources of mistakes develops conceptual understanding.
For example, in mathematics, students often just learn solution methods for problems by rote rather than actually understanding the concept. However, when students look for the source of mistakes on their own, they realize the cause and improve their understanding independently. Things learned in this way are retained longer and are more easily applied to other mathematical topics.
If you want to help your students turn their mistakes into learning success in the best possible way, there are a number of challenges:
- How can you keep an eye on all students individually?
- How much effort must be put into the mistake analysis?
- How can you give all students individual feedback?
- How do you provide timely feedback?
9. Use technology that supports mistakes and personalized mistake analysis
We quickly reach our limits when we try to do justice to all the mistakes of all our students. Educational software can give some relief if it is able to analyze everything the student enters and give them direct feedback on their answer. In turn, you as the teacher should automatically get analyses on the strengths and weaknesses of your students.
There are hundreds if not thousands of educational software and platforms to choose from. To assist you in evaluating whether a technology supports you and your students in learning from mistakes we have created this checklist of requirements:
- Does the program allow any kind of answer to be entered, or is it just multiple choice – can a student make a variety of mistakes?
- Are there interactive input tools that are modeled after analog learning materials, for example, a compass or protractor?
- Is feedback given immediately after entering an answer?
- Does the student receive customized individual feedback with explanations?
- Does the technology recognize recurring mistakes as knowledge gaps?
- As a teacher, do you receive an analysis of the learning progress and mistakes of each of your students individually?
About The Author
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- Our Mission
Teaching Students to Embrace Mistakes
For the last ten years, we've worked one-on-one with students from elementary school through graduate school. No matter their age, no matter the material, when you ask what they're struggling with, students almost universally name a subject: "math," "English" or, in some instances, "school." Doubting that all of school is the issue, we then ask to see their last test. After some grumbling, the student digs down, deep into the dark, dank recesses of his or her backpack, and pulls out a balled-up, lunch-stained paper that, once smoothed out, turns out to be the latest exam.
To a teacher, this should be incredibly frustrating. You spend a huge part of your life grading tests, commenting on essays, and providing thoughtful feedback on homework assignments . . . only to have them wadded up and ignored. (Yes, students look at their tests, but you shouldn't harbor any illusion that they look at anything but the red letter grade.) Before writing students off for being ungrateful or lazy, you need to understand why what they're doing makes perfect sense.
The Science Behind Mistakes
Telling students they need to take advantage of the feedback they get isn't just good advice -- it's established science. In the last few decades, researchers have discovered a lot about how people become experts. The main idea, made popular by everyone from author Malcolm Gladwell to rapper Macklemore, is the 10,000-hour rule. Ten thousand is the number of hours it takes to become an expert in almost any field. While it's wonderful that people are starting to understand how work leads to expertise, the most important part of that research is not how much practice someone needs to perform, but what kind of practice . This latter category is called deliberate practice and involves isolating what's not working and mastering the difficult area before moving on.
Picture a classical violinist rehearsing. He or she would not play a new piece start-to-finish, fudging through tricky sections and trying to "be done." That musician stops in trouble spots, figures them out, and then plays that measure over and over again, and only moves on when it's perfect. The same principle applies to schoolwork.
Mistakes are the most important thing that happens in any classroom, because they tell you where to focus that deliberate practice.
So why don't students view their mistakes as a valuable asset? Well, students don't think about their mistakes rationally -- they think about them emotionally. Mistakes make students feel stupid. "Stupid" is just that: a feeling. Specifically, it's the feeling of shame, and our natural response is to avoid its source. If we say something embarrassing, we hide our face. If we get a bad grade, we hide the test away. Unsurprisingly, that's the worst move to make if you ever want to get better. Academic success does not come from how smart or motivated students are. It comes from how they feel about their mistakes.
Changing your students' perspective on mistakes is the greatest gift you can give yourself as a teacher. Imagine having a classroom of students who are engaged and constantly improving -- it's every teacher's dream. Instead, teachers face too many students who are disengaged and really rather surly. That surliness is years in the making. By the time students walk into your classroom, they've likely already internalized their mistakes as evidence that they're just not smart. Getting a bad grade feels like a personal attack. No wonder they're giving the deliverer of those grades the stink eye.
A Fresh Take on Mistakes
To help your students rethink mistakes, help them be specific about their errors. Knowing that answer #3 is wrong doesn't mean much. Knowing that they didn't understand mitosis gives them a mandate for getting better. Often, when we go through tests with students, the mistakes they perceive as dire are either careless errors or a single concept applied incorrectly on several questions. Either way, the "fix" is usually smaller than how big the problem feels.
You can also help students view their mistakes as helpful. The red pen isn't the enemy -- when students understand how to deal with errors, red means go. One way to encourage that attitude is to take the most common mistakes that the class made on a test or quiz and analyze them together. The more open everyone is about the mistakes they've made and how they happened, the less significance any student will place on future errors.
Mistakes happen for concrete reasons. A student didn't memorize all the requisite facts, didn't execute the steps of a process, or perhaps just ignored the directions. The red "X" is just a simple assessment of the actions that student took -- actions he or she can easily fix next time. Sharing that clarity and causality with your students is the best way to teach deliberate practice, instill motivation and help them develop a more constructive relationship with mistakes. In short, this creates the class you and your students have always wanted.
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How to politely correct a teacher?
I'm a high-school student in the United States, and from time to time a teacher makes a mistake while writing on the board in front of the class. Usually, the mistakes are minor, such as forgotten punctuation, but sometimes there are more major mistakes.
To give an example of the latter, I took an informal math class during the summer. The teacher, only a few years older than me, was working through a problem on the board, which we were expected to copy down as he wrote. It was fairly convoluted, and most of the class didn't seem to be paying attention.
At one point, the teacher made what I was 90% sure was a mistake in logic. As far as I could tell, one step of the process would work for some numbers but not others, although he claimed it'd work for all numbers. I noticed the mistake early on, but I was hesitant to point it out because a) I wasn't entirely sure it was a mistake, and b) I couldn't figure out how to correct him without being rude and setting myself up as better than him. (In the eyes of the rest of the class, too — I'd previously gained an arrogant reputation, and given that he was a math major at a prestigious university, I definitely didn't know more about the subject than him.) On the other hand, the flaw in logic might confuse other students.
Finally, seeing that no one else was going to see/point out the mistake, I politely asked him to explain his reasoning. He used an example number, which turned out to be one of the numbers that worked. I asked for him to work another example, this time suggesting one of the numbers that I thought wouldn't work. Seeming slightly thrown by my forcefulness, he tried the number — and it didn't work. He then realized his mistake in logic and corrected himself.
I didn't feel right about the way I'd handled it, and afterwards, when I described the situation to others, they said I'd wasted everyone's time and would've been better off directly pointing out the mistake rather than asking him to explain it.
So my questions are:
Is it even worth correcting a teacher's minor mistake in situations like this, or does it just make them look bad?
- Related to that, does it depend on how minor the mistake is? And if so, how can I tell what kind of mistake is worth ignoring?
If it's worth it, how do I do it politely?
- united-states
8 Answers 8
I think your approach was actually pretty good. I think what you should attempt in the future is to ask a specific question that you think/know will not work. Also, definitely avoid accusing him of being wrong. You should address it from a stance of attempting to better understand the concept.
So, rather than giving him the chance to try it with an example that does work, say something like:
Could you help me understand, I'm trying to get this to work with 525,600 and I can't get the intended result. Can you help me figure out where I'm going wrong?
This is deferential and non-confrontational. It's completely appropriate for you to ask for clarification, particularly if you can't get the concept to work properly. It's really important to help your fellow (less attentive) students learn the concept appropriately so that they can do well on their homework/exams later.
In math classes I've taken in the past (at the college level) all of the professors I've had have been happy to have errors pointed out to them because it helps them do their job better. Not all professors/teachers will feel this way - and someone new to it like you had in this class may take it with less grace than a more experienced professor. So, until you get a bead on how they will react to being corrected, it is a good idea to go about it in an indirect way.
If it's a minor error (such as writing down the wrong number or getting the sign on a number wrong), this is still something that is good to correct as part of working through the problem in class is to practice working through it and minor errors will give the incorrect result, which will make "checking" the answer fail.
Please don't wait until after class to address this. If you do, your fellow students will not have the benefit of the correction and may think the logic will work when it does not. At that point, you have to rely on the teacher remembering to correct themselves in class the next time it meets, which often doesn't happen.
Is it even worth correcting a teacher's minor mistake in situations like this, or does it just make them look bad
You are taking it from the wrong end. More precisely, your are not prioritizing the problematics correctly here.
The purpose of teacher isn't to look good. I'm perfectly aware that in interpersonal situations, ego can be an issue, especially when there is a status of authority, as it is the case regarding teachers.
But a teacher is there to teach. And since they are humans as well, they happen to make mistakes. Either it's mindless errors or them being wrong on something - we expect them to have a good grasp of their field, not to know and understand by heart whatever is included or related to it. Each time it happens and isn't corrected, the teaching is flawed by it and the students learn false things.
Whenever you spot an error your teacher makes, you have the opportunity to fix that flaw. While the teacher is indirectly responsible from it, you have the ability to fix the situation, by preventing the teacher to fail at doing their job. By pointing out the mistake you make the teacher to notice, which give them the opportunity to correct themselves and therefore correct whatever rubbish the students were going to learn as something correct.
Taking that into account, the issue of having the teacher teaching things is more important than having everybody involved to look good. In your example, the teacher already did a mistake, that's done and they didn't needed you for that. What you can do on the other hand is to give them the opportunity to correct it for everyone to know.
From my college years through the people who taught me and the classes I gave myself, I know that ' I don't know ' is among the hardest sentences to say, especially when you are in aposition of knowledge or technical authority, but those who truly have the wellbeing of their students at hearth and will value it more than their ego will say it in a blink rather than answering rubbish to a question they don't know or understand the answer.
It's the same here : asking about a mistake allowes the teacher to explain both the correct thing and eventually to warn the students if the mistake is particularly easy to commit.
Regarding the way to do it, you are right to not want to do it pedantly, even if the teacher is still fine with your move, the students may not like you from that and/or respect the teacher less. In your case, you tried to work around it by ' tricking ' the teacher with a value that would break is formula and apparently the other students weren't on board because it takes time. Moreover, it can seem even more pedantic and arrogant, since driving the teacher's moves towards an anticipated failure seems infantilizing.
A good compromise I use in these cases is to inject doubt in your sentence, doubt is the mark of the sciences which let everyone make progress without taking their own ego and beliefs into account :
Excuse me, but I'm confused by < whatever > part of the formula, it seems to me that it doesn't work for all cases. I'm afraid I could have missed something.
- The teacher will focus of what you think is a mistake in the particular context in which it may be wrong.
- By not assuming that it is a mistake, you are giving to the teacher the opportunity to do it, saving their face in front of immature people who might see it as weakness.
- By not assuming it's a weakness, you save your face in case the mistake was on you, which can somtimes happen if you are used to point out mistakes.
Nobody's feelings are hurt, the mistake is corrected and it doesn't waste time.
To answer this question, perhaps the best approach is to ask a few other questions.
Firstly, I'd ask, What am I here for? It seems rather banal, perhaps, but if you're just in the class because you have to be, it might really not matter. Your approach toward the teacher may turn out (whether you want it to or not) somewhat snobbish or smart.
On the other hand, if you honestly there to learn (which it sounds like from the reading of your post), if you ask a question to the teacher politely, your attitude can come across as an interested student who honestly wants to learn from the teacher.
Secondly, I'd ask, What kind of teacher is this? I've been in classes where you can feel that the teacher likes nothing even close to a challenge. Fielding questions in a group setting is difficult, makes them nervous, and even brings them to the point where they make more mistakes.
On the other hand, there are some teachers who love the material they are teaching and know it like the back of their hand. They want to share what they have learned with others, and are glad for questions.
That said, my preferred approach would be to raise my hand (provided a fairly small class setting), and say something along the lines of,
Say, you said that xyz works with any numbers. How is that, since plunking in the numbers {6, 28.8} yields 42?
I'd also mention, if things start going amuck, just nod and accept what your teacher says: don't argue over it.
One of the things that was encouraged by my lecturers was self confidence. They WANTED students to point out their mistakes as it happened, because if they wrote something wrong down then it would be replicated 100+ times.
If you correct the mistake, you demonstrate 2 things. 1. you're concentrating on the lesson 2. your understanding
Neither of these 2 things are something that a teacher will complain about. As such, a raise of a hand and a simple comment of 'I don't think that XXX will work for YYY' is perfectly polite and acceptable. If you're wrong, well, clearly your understanding of the problem is wrong and needs to be corrected; which is why the teacher is there.
Bear in mind, that if this happens several times a lession, it isn't a reflection on you; it's a reflection on the teacher.
Don't be scared of them - they're only human.
If it was a real mistake you would have been 100%(!) sure thats what it is. You should simply point it out 1 and if there is no agreement leave it, you know it better, that should be enough.
But its rarely one can be 100% sure about a mistake a teacher made.
So for any other situation, let me tell you how I usually approached:
The facts are, something your teacher is explaining comes over odd for you, not to say straight out wrong. But isn't that the usual classroom flair?
One thinks that what the teacher is saying makes not really much sense, until you have more insight and you get it.
So you simply could describe your problem from the point what you don't understand, instead of explaining him what is wrong in his example.
I mean you don't even have to pretend that you don't understand what he is explaining, its a fact, leaving the cause aside.
So I would simply ask about the problem, and let him explain the relation to your problem, or why the problem is in no relation. If you still don't see why he is right, do what students (should) do. Ask him for clarifying it so you can understand it.
If he is right for the 10% of your uncertainty, you learned something and he noticed that you are paying attention.
If he is wrong, he will catch it by himself without loosing his face, and he still will notice that you understand the matter well enough, to get confused by his mistake, what is a positive note, too.
1 Not like showing him up, but politely asking if it is a mistake and in case of disagreement showing something up you are 100% sure about shouldn't be a problem.
- You 'might know it better' - but what about the blissfully ignorant rest of the class? It's not fair for them to be fed misinformation, surely? – Tim Aug 24, 2017 at 8:26
- 1 @Tim I once had a teacher who had not much knowledge about the matter he was teaching. And it happened a handfull of times over the courses I had with him that he explained things that had been plain out wrong. Arguing with him, even demonstrating why his statement can't be true, had not been accepted. Those who cared came after the class to me and discussed the matter with me. And the blissfully ignorant... Well, how they benefit from a discussion? I didn't wanted to express one shouldn't try, but biased by before mentioned experience I wanted to clarify, one shouldn't insist on it. – dhein Aug 24, 2017 at 8:35
I think what you did was probably the best course of action.
Look at it from the teacher's point of view: your authority comes from the myth that you're an infallible source of knowledge and wisdom, but the truth is that you're only human and you make mistakes. Even the most knowledgeable teachers mess up sometimes! So... the kindest thing to do (unless you really hate your teacher) is to not try to undermine the teacher's authority by directly pointing out their gaff, but to ask a question that will force the teacher (if they are any good) to spot and correct their own error. It's a way of fixing things without the teacher losing too much face in front of the class.
Teachers–even good ones–will make mistakes. But it's kinder to give them a chance to spot and correct their errors, before you embarrass them by pointing them out. (And, of course, you very well might be the one embarrassed if it turns out the error you point out is actually yours and not your teacher's!)
I realize this was asked 7 months ago but I was searching for similar solution. My stats professor corrected a problem on Confidence intervals (C.I.) incorrectly.
It was an explanation for when 2 fixed samples (same n) are taken from a normal distribution with unknown mean M and a known standard deviation and a 90% C.I. for M is constructed with the 1st sample and 95% C.I. for M is constructed for the 2nd sample, will the 95% C.I. be longer than the 90% C.I.? I wrote based on our textbook that yes and when n is fixed and normally distributed, decreasing the C.I. decreases the margin of error (E) which in turn increases the C.I. estimate. This didn't need to be stated for the problem at hand but she crossed out decreases E in this statement and wrote increases. I had no choice but to bring this up to her because it went against our text and if our textbook is wrong, why did she assign it? It was an error that would have led to confusion in future problems.
So, I politely asked her in an email, "could you please clarify the H.W. question pertaining to the 90% and 95% C.I.?" I pointed out that what I wrote was exactly in the textbook, word for word and provided the page #, then asked if I was misunderstanding the text. She replied that it was correct and that she mistakenly corrected my statement. I don't like correcting anyone, especially a professor, but it was too confusing to fail to do so. Yes, I'm not going to be a statistician (I only need the class for nursing degree but if I were a professor and made a mistake that would ultimately lead to error down the road in class, I'd prefer correction).
- 1 You might consider removing all of the technical details of the specific problem that you corrected your professor on from this post. They aren't particularly relevant to the interpersonal situation at hand and might steer people who don't understand them away from an otherwise helpful answer. – Rainbacon Apr 9, 2018 at 2:12
When I was a lecturer I encountered this situation plenty of times. In particular at the beginning, when you are new to the task, it is easy to get overwhelmed between the explanation, the need to keep the class focused, the attempt to make complicated subjects understandable to the slower students, and so forth. Errors will just pop like flowers in a spring field, and stick out in their wonderful colours.
I usually did not like when, otherwise good, students pretended not to have understood and asked me to re-explain the whole thing just to make me aware of some error. This detracts time from the lecture, it makes the lecturer rewind their thoughts, with an obvious overhead in catching up once the error is clarified.
So, you spotted a mistake?
- raise your hand, or catch the lecturer's attention by voice
- state the issue, briefly and concisely, e.g.
I think there is a typo (or an error) in that statement (formula). It says XX on the board, it should be YY instead.
- if the lecturer's insist that they are right, provide a working example
As stated, if I use ZZZ number, it does not work.
Done. Everyone happy, no one harmed. Knowledge has been restored to its holy correctness. Do not worry about being direct with your remarks: they are the lecturer, and if they feel threatened by your correction, then they ought not to be in such position.
I notice now that you mention that your lecturer is only a few years older than you. They may look insecure. Treating them as adults, i.e. telling them things straight and concisely, will boost their confidence. To them it communicates that the concepts were clearly conveyed to the point that students can identify the wrong statements in the reasoning and correct them.
Treating them as idiots, i.e. having them re-do the exercise with a number of your choice because you are pretending you did not understand, while it is obvious you did, undermines their authority in front of the rest of the class, who may now think that it is a dumb-and-dumber game; it also makes them feel insecure, as it conveys the message that their error has made the entire lecture less clear despite their efforts.
This should be less of a problem with older, more experienced, lecturers.
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Learning from Mistakes: Helping Kids See the Good Side of Getting Things Wrong
by Marilyn Price-Mitchell, PhD
Ability to meet and overcome challenges in ways that maintain or promote well-being.
Determination
Flexibility, perseverance, self-confidence.
Learning from mistakes and errors is an important part of child and adolescent development. Most adults understand this concept. Yet, we have failed to teach our children that there is a positive side to getting things wrong.
Many children grow up in a society that pressures them to be perfect – to get the highest SAT scores, to land prized scholarships, to get into the best universities. Parents correct or complete children’s homework to improve their grades. They argue with teachers who try to point out a child’s areas of weakness that need improvement.
How does all this focus on testing and perfection affect kids’ learning? And how can we help them understand that learning from mistakes is part of healthy development?
Why is it Important to Learn from Mistakes?
Whether it involves homework, developing friendships, or playing a sport, learning is enriched through error. Learning from mistakes is part of how we challenge ourselves to learn to do things differently. It motivates us to try new, innovative approaches to problem-solving. Throughout a lifetime, learning from mistakes helps develop wisdom and good judgment.
In the Scientific American article, Getting it Wrong: Surprising Tips on How to Learn, research makes the case for more challenging tests that force kids to make errors. Historically, educators have created conditions for learning that do not encourage errors. And parents have followed suit. For example, if we drill children over and over again with the same math problem, they will eventually remember the answer. And if they are lucky, they will remember the answer on a standardized test.
This approach to learning assumes that if students are allowed to make mistakes, they will not learn the correct information. However, recent research shows this to be an incorrect assumption. In fact, studies have found that learning from mistakes enhances rather than detracts from learning.
Learning from Mistakes Improves Effort & Motivation
Carol Dweck , a professor at Stanford, studies the importance of challenging children to learn from mistakes. Her research shows that praising children for their intelligence can actually make them less likely to persist in the face of challenge. She and her colleagues followed hundreds of 5th-grade children in New York City schools. One group was praised for their intelligence while the other group was praised for their effort.
When the 5 th graders were challenged with an extremely difficult test designed for 8 th graders, a surprising result occurred. The students who had been praised for their effort worked very hard, even though they made a lot of mistakes. The kids praised for being smart became discouraged and saw their mistakes as a sign of failure. Intelligence testing for the kids praised for their effort increased by 30% while the kids praised for their intelligence dropped by 20%.
Giving meaningful and specific praise motivates children who are learning from mistakes. Praise should focus on developing their character strengths , helping them understand their internal abilities. It is an opportunity to develop a child’s resilience , one of eight core abilities in The Compass Advantage .
Ten Ways to Help Children & Teens Learn from Mistakes
- Acknowledge that you don’t expect them to be perfect.
- Let them know your love is unconditional, regardless of their mistakes or lapses in judgment.
- Don’t rescue kids from their mistakes. Instead, focus on the solution.
- Provide examples of your own mistakes, the consequences, and how you learned from them.
- Encourage children to take responsibility for their mistakes and not blame others.
- Avoid pointing out your child’s past mistakes. Instead, focus on the one at hand.
- Praise children for their ability to admit their mistakes.
- Praise children for their efforts and courage to overcome setbacks.
- Mentor your child on how to apologize when their mistakes have hurt others.
- Help kids look at the good side of getting things wrong! (Get the infographic at the end of this article!)
Encouraging Your Child When Mistakes Happen
Learning from mistakes and failures isn’t easy. All children need encouragement to learn and succeed. Positive words from parents, teachers, and mentors during difficult learning challenges is essential for children’s growth and development.
One of the most popular articles at Roots of Action lists 40 Meaningful Ways to Share Encouraging Words for Kids. Check it out! The article also discusses the difference between encouraging words and praise.
Learning from Mistakes – Quotes for Kids
At Roots of Action , we’ve devoted an entire series of articles to quotes that promote healthy youth development. Quotes can be used and discussed with all ages of children. Often, quotes help children learn about themselves and the world around them. Quotes can inspire kids to become their best selves! Learn how to use quotes at home and in the classroom!
Below are ten quotes that may be helpful in helping children who are learning from mistakes:
- I have never felt I was wasting time. Science is a process of trial and error. The only sure way to avoid making mistakes is to have no ideas. ~ Albert Einstein
- Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun. ~ Mary Lou Cook
- Knowledge rests not upon truth alone, but upon error also. ~ Carl Jung
- If you have made mistakes, even serious ones, there is always another chance for you. What we call failure is not the falling down but the staying down. ~ Mary Pickford
- Mistakes are the portals of discovery. ~ James Joyce
- If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not making decisions. ~ Catherine Cook
- Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time. ~ George Bernard Shaw
- While one person hesitates because he feels inferior, the other is busy making mistakes and becoming superior. ~ Henry C. Link
- Feelings of worth can flourish only in an atmosphere where individual differences are appreciated, mistakes are tolerated, communication is open, and rules are flexible — the kind of atmosphere that is found in a nurturing family. ~ Virginia Satir
- You cannot teach a child to take care of themselves unless you will let them try to take care of themselves. They will make mistakes; and out of these mistakes will come their wisdom. ~ Henry Ward Beecher
Infographic to Use and Share
Feel free to use, share, or print this infographic to remind yourself of the ways adults support children and teens as they learn from mistakes.
Related Articles
Successful Kids Need 8 Core Abilities: How to Parent With Purpose
How Kids Learn to Take Initiative and Overcome Challenges
Goal Setters Often Become Peak Performers
(This article was originally published May 24, 2011. It was updated and revised with new research and resources August 2, 2018.)
RELATED TOPICS:
Problem-solving, self-regulation.
Published: August 2, 2018
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About the author.
Marilyn Price-Mitchell, PhD, is founder of Roots of Action and author of Tomorrow's Change Makers: Reclaiming the Power of Citizenship for a New Generation . A developmental psychologist and researcher, she writes for Psychology Today and Edutopia on positive youth development, K-12 education, and family-school-community partnerships. Website // @DrPriceMitchell // Facebook
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More professional way of saying Correcting a Mistake
I need to rewrite "correct a mistake" into something more professional. I can think of "amending a mistake" or rectifying it, but none seems to sound well (I want to put emphasis on a word that's accepted in English literature). THe idea is to say: Correct a mistake made in the system (say because of spelling error).
- single-word-requests
- phrase-usage
- Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat . – tchrist ♦ Jun 6, 2020 at 19:56
3 Answers 3
There’s nothing unprofessional about “correcting a mistake.”
One typically corrects mistakes in publications by issuing errata (s. erratum ). From Lexico:
erratum : An error in printing or writing. Example sentence : ‘The publisher has inserted an erratum slip noting three errors in dates and explaining that a contrite Hoban ‘writes at all hours of the day and night, sometimes when a little the worse for wear’.’ errata : A list of corrected errors appended to a book or published in a subsequent issue of a journal. Example sentence : 'Periodicals would use errata sections to correct some of the errors, and letters to the editor could be used to debate a previous article's contentions and possibly set the record straight.’
A less common term is corrigendum (pl. corrigenda ). From Lexico:
corrigendum : A thing to be corrected, typically an error in a printed book. Example sentence : ‘the 1980-84 cumulation contains corrigenda which are not included in the annual volumes’
If you're interested in a less formal context, you could use the simple word correction .
Example sentence: ' Correction : Please replace dictionray with dictionary .'
Totally professional.
A professional way to say it would be to Remedy a mistake. That is to make them right. It has the charm of admitting that they were wrong and needed fixing without the clinical feel of the surgeon's hand actually pulling it together.
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged single-word-requests synonyms phrase-usage or ask your own question .
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Mistakes Improve Children's Learning
Helping kids see the good side of getting things wrong.
Posted September 7, 2011
Everyone makes mistakes and children are no exception. What's important is how we learn from them. Yet, children grow up in a society that pressures them to be perfect and intelligent - to achieve the highest SAT scores, land prized scholarships, and get into the best universities. Parents reinforce this pressure at home when they cover up children's mistakes, correct homework to improve grades, or drill knowledge into kids until they get it right. Stress is increased when children are constantly praised for their intelligence . How does this focus on perfection and IQ affect learning? And how can we help children and teens believe in themselves by accepting their mistakes and learning from them?
A recent Scientific American article, Getting it Wrong: Surprising Tips on How to Learn , supports a number of learning and developmental theories. Historically, many educators have created conditions for learning that do not encourage errors. And parents have followed suit. For example, if we drill children over and over again with the same math problem, they will eventually remember the answer. And if they are lucky, they will remember the answer on a standardized test.
This approach to learning assumes that if students are allowed to make mistakes, they will not learn the correct information. However, recent research shows this to be an incorrect assumption. In fact, studies have found that learning is enhanced when children make mistakes!
Whether it involves homework, developing friendships, or playing soccer, learning is enriched through error. Making mistakes is part of how kids are challenged to learn to do things differently. It motivates them to try new approaches.
Carol Dweck, a professor at Stanford University, studies the importance of challenging children, even if they get things wrong. Her research shows that praising children for their intelligence can actually make them less likely to persist in the face of challenge. She and her colleagues followed hundreds of 5th grade children in New York City schools. One group was praised for their intelligence while the other group was praised for their effort.
When the 5th graders were challenged with an extremely difficult test designed for 8th graders, a surprising result occurred. The students who had been praised for their effort worked very hard, even though they made a lot of mistakes. The kids praised for being smart became discouraged and saw their mistakes as a sign of failure. Intelligence testing for the kids praised for their effort increased by 30% while the kids praised for their intelligence dropped by 20%.
Dweck's work, described in the book MindSet: The New Psychology of Success reminds parents that glowing, unconditional praise that masks errors and mistakes is harmful to children's development. Being too quick with praise can be as detrimental as correcting homework mistakes that would have provided opportunities for learning.
Children make many kinds of mistakes. Some mistakes, like forgetting a homework assignment or not studying for an important test, have expected consequences. Others like lying , cheating, or actions that negatively affect friendships, have more complicated causes and are more complex to remedy. But all mistakes contain seeds of learning.
Ten Parenting Guidelines that Help Kids Learn from Mistakes
- Acknowledge that you don't expect your children to be perfect.
- Let them know your love is unconditional, regardless of their mistakes or lapses in judgment.
- Don't rescue children from their mistakes. Instead, help them focus on the solution.
- Provide examples of your own mistakes, the consequences, and how you learned from them.
- Encourage them to take responsibility for their mistakes and not blame others.
- Avoid pointing out their past mistakes. Instead, focus on the one at hand.
- Praise them for their ability to admit their mistakes.
- Praise them for their efforts and courage to overcome setbacks.
- Mentor them on how to apologize when their mistakes have hurt others.
- Help them look at the good side of getting things wrong!
Marilyn Price-Mitchell, PhD, is a developmental psychologist working at the intersection of youth development, leadership , education , and civic engagement.
Subscribe to Updates at Roots of Action to receive email notices of Marilyn’s articles.
Follow Marilyn at Roots of Action , Twitter , or Facebook .
Photo Credits: Ktpupp ; Lil Larkie
©2011 Marilyn Price-Mitchell. All rights reserved. Please contact for permission to reprint.
Marilyn Price-Mitchell, Ph.D., is an Institute for Social Innovation Fellow at Fielding Graduate University and author of Tomorrow’s Change Makers.
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Error Correction
One of the main dilemmas for teachers giving conversation groups is error correction. It’s always tricky to know when and if to correct students and how to go about it.
The danger of over-correcting is that students will lose motivation and you may even destroy the flow of the class or the activity by butting in and correcting every single mistake. The other extreme is to let the conversation flow and not to correct any mistakes. There are times when this is appropriate but most students do want to have some of their mistakes corrected as it gives them a basis for improvement.
So, the question is; When and how should you correct your students?
Every teacher will have different views on this and different ways of correcting their students and it’s a case of finding out what both you and your students feel comfortable with. I would like to offer several ideas of how to go about it.
Ask the students how they want to be corrected
- This sounds obvious but it can be easily overlooked. Talk to your students about error correction and to find out from them how they like to be corrected. Often students have clear ideas about how they would like you to correct them. With large groups you may have to go with the majority, but if you have a small group you can cater for individual needs.
- One way to give students a choice on how much they want to be corrected in a particular class or activity is for them to make a traffic light to put on their desk. A strip of card with three circles (one red, one orange and one green) folded into a triangle with a bit of sellotape does the trick. Students point the circle towards you to indicate whether or not they want correction:
o Red = don’t correct me at all (they may have had a rough day or be tired!) o Orange = correct things which are really important or things I should know. o Green = correct as much as you can, please.
Are you working on accuracy or fluency?
- Before you begin an activity, bear in mind whether you are concentrating on accuracy or fluency. For a class discussion for example, fluency would be appropriate. The important thing is that students are expressing themselves and thinking on their feet. However if students have had time to prepare a role-play and are then going to perform it you may want to encourage accuracy. Be clear of the aims of the task and make sure students are aware of what you expect from them. Don’t present an activity as a fluency task and then pick them up on every single mistake.
Self correction / Peer correction
- The first port of call when correcting can be the students themselves. Students can often correct themselves when they realise they’ve made a mistake. Sometimes the mistake is simply a ‘slip’ and they are aware of the correct version. Give students a chance, and time, to correct themselves. Often by just raising your eyebrows or repeating the mistake students will know what you mean and back track to correct the error themselves. Some teachers create all sorts of hand signals to indicate the type of error. Pointing behind you is a classic to indicate to students that they should have used a past tense. If these work for you and your students, go ahead and create your own correction indicators.
- Students can also correct one another. Peer correction often helps to create a positive class atmosphere as students realise you are not the only source of error correction and they can learn a lot from one another.
Correction slots
- One way to focus on students’ mistakes is to take ‘time out’ of an activity and look at mistakes as a group. When students are doing a speaking task in pairs or groups I often monitor the students and listen in on what they’re saying. Students will get used to you hovering around them although if it’s not your usual monitoring style they may wonder what you’re up to at first! I make a note of the mistakes that I hear; whether they are pronunciation, grammatical or lexical. I collect a selection of their errors and then stop the activity. I write a selection of the mistakes on the board and ask students to correct them. If students are working in pairs and you have a left over student, why not assign them the role of assistant teacher? They can have a notebook and pen and make notes of mistakes they hear. If they do their job well they could even run the correction slot with their mistakes instead of you. Usually most of the mistakes can by corrected by the students themselves.
On the spot correction
- Correcting mistakes the second they are made has the advantage that you don’t have to bring the activity to a stop as is the case with a correction slot. Students often appreciate instant correction. Think about what type of activity it is before deciding whether or not it’s appropriate to correct on the spot. You don’t want to destroy the flow of the task by butting in. Students can also be responsible for on the spot correction if they are encouraged to pick up on each other’s mistakes.
New mistakes or the same old ones?
- I always remind students that if they are always making new mistakes it’s okay. New mistakes are usually a sign that they are exploring new uses of language or experimenting with new vocabulary but if they are always repeating the same mistakes it’s not such a good sign! By noting their mistakes students have a record of their progress and can avoid repeating the same mistakes time and time again. It’s a good idea to have a set space in their notebooks to write down their errors and the correct version. One way of doing it is to divide a page into three columns:
- Sometimes it’s a good idea to have little tests based on the classic mistakes students make in class. It encourages students to look over their notes and try to learn from them.
- Whichever way you go about correcting your students, try to keep the experience positive for the learner. Being corrected constantly can be a really de-motivating, as every language learner knows. As you are listening out for your students’ errors, make sure you also listen out for really good uses of language and highlight these to the group too. In the case of language learning I really do believe the classic saying, ‘you learn from your mistakes’.
Useful links: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/error-correction-1 http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/error-correction-2 https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/writing-correction-code
First published in 2008
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My Teen Won’t Do Homework. How Can I Fix This?
Meet Jake, a 15-year-old ninth grader, who rarely, if ever, does his homework. Jake’s teachers report that he is inconsistent. He enjoys learning about topics that interest him but seems unfocused during class and fails to complete necessary schoolwork, both in class and at home. Although his grades are suffering , Jake makes no effort to improve his circumstances. His frustrated parents find that their only recourse is nagging and constant supervision.
Sound familiar? When a teen won’t do homework , we call this behavior work inhibition. Here are some common characteristics of work inhibited students:
- Disorganization
- Lack of follow-through
- Inability to work independently; more likely to do work when a teacher or parent hovers close by
- Lack of focus
- Avoidance of work
- Lack of passion about school, despite ability and intelligence
- Negative attitude; self-conscious and easily discouraged
How can a parent help when a teen refuses to do school homework? First, try to uncover the root of the problem and then devise solutions based on that reason.
3 Reasons Why Teens Don’t Complete Homework and What to Do:
1. missing skills.
The most common reason for lack of motivation is a gap in skills. Unplanned absences or a heavy extracurricular load can contribute to skill gaps, even in otherwise bright teens. If you suspect a skill gap, act quickly to have your teen assessed. Your school guidance counselor can recommend the right resources.
2. Poor habits
Poor work habits can also contribute to work inhibition. Try to focus on a work system rather than the work itself with your teen. Set small goals together and teach your teen to set small goals for him or herself. Try to take frequent notice of your teen’s effort and progress.
3. Lack of confidence
Often, students who are work inhibited fear being wrong and won’t ask questions when they need help. Teach your teen that everyone makes mistakes. Help them see these mistakes as another opportunity for learning.
What Parents Can Do to Promote Self-Sufficiency
1. offer limited help with homework.
Parents can offer limited help with homework. Try to avoid micromanaging the process. When you micromanage, the message you send is that your teen will fail if you aren’t involved. When you show confidence in your teen’s ability to complete the task without you, your teen’s motivation and self-esteem will increase.
3. Resist lecturing
Ask your teen for ways you can help, but don’t lecture. Lectures about poor work habits and constant reminders about the negative consequences of unfinished homework can create more dependency.
3. Empower your teenager
Chores are a great way to empower teens . Delegating demonstrates your confidence in their ability. Try assigning tasks related to an area of interest. If your teen enjoys trying new foods, delegate the preparation and cooking of dinner one night each week.
4. Focus on strengths
Focus on strengths rather than pointing out your teen’s faults. When your teen succeeds, give genuine, specific praise. When you need to discuss expectations or problems use a matter-of-fact tone instead of an emotional tone.
Once you and your teen agree on the underlying problem, then the two of you can develop a plan to help create a self-sufficient student.
Martina McIsaac is executive director of Huntington Learning Centers.
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Classroom management
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- 3 Classroom management: Pair and group work in EFL/ESOL
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- 11 Classroom management: Speaking correction techniques
- 12 Classroom management: Teen power
Classroom management: Speaking correction techniques
By Simon Mumford and Steve Darn
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Simon Mumford and Steve Darn discuss student speaking errors and offer practical advice and suggestions on how and when to correct learners without damaging their confidence.
I want to know: what's the best way to correct students when they make a mistake, especially when they are speaking?
Introduction
Everyone makes mistakes, even speakers using their own language when they are hurried, ‘lost for words’, or forced into inappropriate language by a difficult or unusual situation. It is hardly surprising, then, that language learners make mistakes, given the difficulty of the task of comprehending, processing the content of the message and knowledge of the target language, and coming out with a response that is both grammatically correct and appropriate to the situation.
It is generally agreed that correction is part of the teaching/learning process, but that over-correction and poor correction techniques can be demotivating for the learner and may lead to a reluctance to try out new language or even to speak at all. Teachers need to make informed decisions about what, when and how to correct in order to help learners improve their speaking skills without damaging their confidence.
Thinking about mistakes and errors in the language learning process
The following are all important points to consider about learner mistakes and when and why they should be corrected.
- Mistakes and errors
- Accuracy and fluency
- Interlanguage
- Good learners
Teachers need to consider the above, get to know their learners and their learning backgrounds, develop an attitude to correction and be equipped with a variety of correction techniques which are appropriate to a variety of learner types and learning situations. Bearing this in mind, here are some activities that teachers might like to try in their classrooms.
Part 1: While-speaking correction
Correction symbols
Some teachers use prompts for correction while speaking. Some well-known examples are:
- Make a ‘T’ with fingers to illustrate missing ‘the’.
- Show a small word missing by holding thumb and forefinger close together.
- Cross hands over to show wrong word order.
To these we would like to add some more prompts, using sounds, gestures and puns:
- Pull ear to show irregular past tense – ‘ear’ sounds the same as the first syllable in ‘irregular’.
- ‘With’ and ‘by’, e.g. with car – teacher waves to signal ‘bye’, which sounds the same as ‘by’.
- Confusion of auxiliary, e.g. I aren’t like swimming – sing, ‘Do be do be do’ (‘Strangers in the night' – Frank Sinatra).
- Missing ‘ing’, e.g. I am wait for a bus – T says ‘(t)ing’, like a bell ringing.
- Unnecessary ‘to’, e.g. I must to go – draw -2 (minus t(w)o) on the board in the air.
- Where would is used wrongly, e.g. in conditionals – tap on ‘wood’ to show that ‘would’ is wrong.
- Wrong present tense, e.g. simple vs. continuous – use a circling hand motion to prompt continuous, use open arms to show wide, e.g. general time.
- Missing verb ‘be’, e.g. I going – T buzzes like a bee.
- Student says For going instead of to go – hold up four fingers and then cover two of them to show ‘for’ (4) should be ‘to’ (2).
- Unnecessary words, e.g. … which I like it – T makes a scissors motion with fingers to cut out the words.
- I don’t want no tea – make two minus symbols with your fingers, then cross them to make a plus to show two negatives make a positive in English.
- On/in – make an ‘o’ with your finger/thumb and change it to ‘I’ straight finger, or vice versa (if appropriate to your culture!).
- Adjective used instead of adverb, e.g. He walked slow – make an L shape with your right index finger and thumb. This looks like both ‘l’ and ‘y’, so signifies ‘ly’. Close the thumb and finger to show that the ‘ly’ is unnecessary, i.e. adv. > adj, and open to change adj. > adv.
You could invent your own symbols. While students need to learn them, which may take time, it brings humour into the sometimes serious task of correction and avoids the need for words. Once the students have learnt the symbols, there is also potential for peer correction.
Correction table
Draw a table on the board. While students are talking, point to the type of mistake, giving students a chance to self-correct. You could ask for volunteers to speak, e.g. a pair. Afterwards students could try it in groups, with two speaking and one listening and pointing. A table could look like this:
Correction drill
Choose a confident student who will not mind having mistakes corrected. Explain that you are going to correct him as he speaks and that the purpose behind this is not to humiliate but to help. The student should speak, e.g. tell a story about himself. You repeat each sentence. If there are mistakes, you repeat the sentence correctly and the rest of the class does the same after you. The rationale is: 1) students get to hear how they should sound, 2) the rest of the class is involved, and they listen to the original and the teacher’s improvement; and 3) by using intonation to show interest, approval, disapproval and surprise in a light-hearted way, which can be echoed by the class, you focus on meaning as well as form. Example:
- S1: I stood up late.
- T: Oh, you got up late! (disapproving)
- SS: You got up late! (disapproving)
- S1: I got up late, then I eat big breakfast.
- T: You had a big breakfast. (amused)
- SS: You had a big breakfast. (amused)
- S1: Yes, I had a big breakfast, then I went at the park. (etc)
Teacher’s shadow
Put students in groups for conversation. Choose one student to shadow you while you walk around, monitoring. When you hear a mistake, correct it and replace the student who made it with your shadow, so that you have new shadow. Continue until you have had a number of different shadows. Shadows can help you listen for mistakes, too. The aims are to give the students a teacher’s view of the class and to make students aware of mistakes. Also it should show that it's not only weak students who make mistakes. As we noted in the introduction, ‘good’ students who speak more and try to use more complex language make mistakes, so stress that being a shadow is not a punishment.
Part 2: Post-speaking correction
Speaking graph
Ask for a pair of volunteers to speak on a certain subject. While they speak, draw a line on a graph which represents the students’ level of speaking quality. When mistakes are made the line goes down. When the students are speaking well, it goes up. Make a note of the positive things as well as the mistakes. Here’s an example of a feedback commentary:
After a slow start, this conversation picks up. The teacher notes the correct use of ‘used to’. However, a tense mistake is made. This is followed by a minor mistake, a missing preposition. Then there is a fluent stage with both students speaking well. Unfortunately, one student uses a wrong word. However, contractions are well used. A mispronunciation towards the end is the only slight problem in the last stages.
To give students encouragement, note that most of the time they are above the line of clear communication, only a couple of mistakes cause confusion for the listener, while other mistakes do not interfere with comprehension. Of course, not every mistake needs to be noted; in fact, as the purpose is to encourage, over-correction would be counter-productive. Note: if writing on the board distracts students, do it on paper and transfer to the board when they have finished.
Part 3: Students look at their own mistakes
Two speaking, one secretary
Getting students to focus on each other’s mistakes can be useful, if done tactfully and the reasons explained (it is sometimes easier to see other people’s mistakes other than your own). While two students speak, a third makes notes of anything that he or she thinks may be wrong. Afterwards the three students can discuss it.
Manual chat
Instead of speaking to each other, students quickly pass pieces of paper back and forward with a written conversation in groups, a bit like chatting on the Internet. This has the advantage of being similar to spoken conversation, but leaving a written record that can be analyzed by students themselves.
Part 4: Written correction exercises
Written correction exercises can raise awareness of errors made in speaking and can be chosen to reflect students’ common mistakes.
Booing and cheering correction
Write six or so sentences on the board, some of which should contain mistakes. Students locate the mistakes as follows:
- As you point to each sentence, get the class to cheer or boo, according to whether they think it is correct or not.
- Put a cross next to the sentences the class thinks are incorrect.
- Point at these word by word until the mistake is located, again by booing and cheering.
Rule and mistake sentences
To help students remember not to make mistakes, write sentences which both give and break the rules. Try getting students to correct these examples:
- When you writing a present continuous sentence, always include the verb ‘to be’ ( When you are writing … )
- For making sentences expressing purpose, use an infinitive. ( To make sentences ...)
- You know how to use an auxiliary verb in present tense questions? ( Do you know ...)
- If I you will tell me how to use ‘if’ with present, I will not make a mistake. ( If you tell me ...)
- I forgetted that some past tense verbs are irregular. (I f orgot ...)
- Teachers should not to let students use unnecessary words. (Teachers should not let students ...)
- When use an adverb clause, don’t forget to use a participle. (When using an adverb clause ...)
- Use a preposition when you listen the radio, don’t when you watch to the TV. (Use a preposition when you listen to the radio, don't when you watch the TV .)
- He’s never used a past time clause with present perfect until last week. (He had never used ...)
- Use ‘a’ the first time you introduce a word, but use ‘the’ for a same word later. (Use 'a' the first time you introduce a word, but use 'the' for the same word later.)
Conclusion: Turning a blind eye
In the introduction we noted that while correction was necessary to prevent fossilization, over-correction could be demotivating. This means that teachers need to be selective in correction. Some students may notice that some mistakes are not being corrected. Here’s an activity you can use to explain this.
Record students’ mistakes and write them on the board, which you divide into two. Write on the right side if they are serious, i.e. interfere with communication, and on the left side if they are not. Ask students to help you decide. When finished, tell students that ‘to turn a blind eye’ means to ignore something wrong, and this is usually done where to do something would be worse than to do nothing. The original expression is reputed to come from Admiral Nelson, who ignored a signal to retreat, by ‘looking’ at it with his blind eye, and then won the battle. Like battles, speaking a foreign language is a risky business, and in the interests of encouragement, mistakes are sometimes overlooked. Ask your students to cover their left eyes and concentrate on the mistakes on the right.
Simon Mumford teaches at the University of Economics, Izmir Turkey. He also is an oral examiner, trainer and workshop organizer for the British Council in Izmir. He is especially interested in the application of creative thinking to classroom activity design.
Steve Darn has lived and taught in Turkey for over 20 years, and is currently a teacher and trainer in the School of Foreign Languages at Izmir University of Economics. He also trains teachers and trainers for the British Council in Turkey and is a tutor and assessor for Cambridge ESOL Teaching Awards. He is a regular contributor to a number of ELT magazines.
- British English
Lesson Share: Classroom management: Alternatives to whole class feedback
Classroom management: Pair and group work in EFL/ESOL
Classroom management: Teaching mixed-ability classes
Classroom management: the role of correction in english teaching, classroom management: classroom discipline, classroom management: staging fluency activities, classroom management: maximizing your space, classroom management: classroom layout, classroom management: the triangular classroom.
Classroom management: Teen power
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Teaching young learners: How to use music and movement in the classroom
The second article in this series offers practical tips for using movement and movement with young learners.
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Grammar Exercise: Find the Mistakes! (Intermediate ESL)
Note : This page is for students . Teachers, you can download this exercise as a worksheet here: Fix the Mistakes (Speaking Activity)
This exercise is for intermediate -level students. Each of the below 20 sentences has a mistake. Rewrite the sentence without the mistake, and then click on ' Answer ' to check your answer. Explanations have been added to the answers that are not obvious.
Let's begin!
1. It is raining when I got home last night.
It was raining when I got home last night.
* Use past progressive for a longer action that was interrupted by a shorter action in the past.
2. My sister is annoying today, but usually she is nice.
My sister is being annoying today, but usually she is nice.
* Use a progressive tense (present progressive is used here) for actions and (some) adjectives that are temporary. Your sister is not annoying; she is only being annoying today. For adjectives, this generally applies to adjectives that require an action (e.g. being silly, being rude) and not states (dead, tired).
3. I have not ate anything today.
I have not eaten anything today.
4. If I am a child, I would play outside.
If I were a child, I would play outside.
* Second conditional = If + past tense, subject + would/could/might . The second conditional is used for unreal situations. Fact: You are not a child. But, if you were a child, you would play outside. Review conditionals here .
5. Everyone have seen that movie.
Everyone has seen that movie.
- This is a problem with subject-verb-agreement .
6. If we will be late, they will be angry.
It we are late, they will be angry.
* Being late is a real possibility, so you should use the first conditional. First conditional = If + subject + present simple, subject + will . Review conditionals here .
7. My father is thinking that I should stop smoking.
My father thinks I should stop smoking.
* In this sentence, the verb think is a state verb. It is generally not used in the progressive (~ing) tense. See our lesson on state verbs.
8. Look! It is snow.
Look! It is snowing .
* Use the present progressive tense if you want to describe what is happening now.
9. I fell asleep while I watched TV.
I fell asleep while I was watching TV.
*After while use past progressive. Again, this is a longer action (watching TV) that was interrupted by a shorter action (fell asleep).
10. I have lived in Canada since 10 months.
I have lived in Canada for 10 months.
- For describes a duration. Since describes when an action began.
11. There is a warm country.
It is a warm country. / That country is warm.
*In the above sentence, ' There ' is an adverb that indicates a place. An adverb should not be the subject of a sentence. Instead, use 'It' as the subject. It is a pronoun.
12. I have not an iPhone.
I do not have an iPhone.
* People do not say "I have not (something)" anymore. This is old-fashioned English.
13. I haven't ever been to Korea.
I haven't been to Korea. / I have never been to Korea.
* Ever is only used with the present perfect in questions . It is not used in statements.
14. The students have a good time in class today.
The students are having a good time in class today.
* The verb have is a state verb, so it shouldn't be used in the progressive (~ing) tenses. However, to ' have a good time ' is an expression (just like have a baby, have a party ). These expressions are actions, so they can be used in the progressive tense.
15. John probably isn't going to come to school tomorrow.
John probably won't come to school tomorrow.
* Use will for predictions. Use be + going to for plans that are already decided.
16. If the world ended tomorrow, I will be very sad.
If the world ended tomorrow, I would be very sad.
* This is the second conditional . It is for a present unreal condition. There is a very low chance the world will end tomorrow. The speaker does not believe it will happen. Therefore, to show that it's not a real possibility, we use the second conditional.
17. I still did my homework at 10:30 pm last night.
I was still doing my homework at 10:30 pm last night.
* Use past progressive for actions that were in progress at a specific time in the past.
18. He can speak Japanese because he was born in Canada.
He can speak Japanese even though/although he was born in Canada.
* These ideas contrast each other, so we should use ' even though/though/although '.
19. Lee afraid of snakes.
Lee is afraid of snakes.
* afraid is an adjective. A verb is still needed.
20. The students were not interested in the lesson because it was bored.
The students were not interested in the lesson because it was boring .
* An explanation of this answer can be found here .
How many answers did you get correct? If you have any questions, leave them in the comments section below.
How can you improve your English ? The best way is to practice speaking and writing with a teacher who can give you feedback on your mistakes. If you don't have a teacher, there is also free software such as Grammarly that can give you grammar feedback while you type.
If you'd like to see some more common mistakes, please visit these related pages:
- 34 Common English Mistakes (Version 1)
- 23 Common English Mistakes (Version 3)
- 20 Common Mistakes made by Czechs
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57 comments on “ Grammar Exercise: Find the Mistakes! (Intermediate ESL) ”
I LOVE THEM HUGS&KISSES
I love them, hugs and kisses.
its really goog to learn english.
Sir, please try to provide explanation of answer.. It will be really beneficiary for all…
Hello. I have added explanations as you requested.
Thanks but you must add scores.
It is agood way to learn english
OHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! REALLY
out of the total number of questions how many did i get right?
You CAN use “There” as a subject of a sentence. like in “There is no one on the line” or “There is an empty table” ..
It helps me with my home work
Thanks soooooooooo much my family and friends will love it thanks soooooooooo much again
My wife will love it thanks soooooooooo much â¤xxxxxxxxxx
Naughty boy!
Thank you soooo much !Answers with detail explanation are really helpful.
Thank you so much! It is useful!
These exersices are very useful for English learners
how can I know my grade??? I dont find it
Click on the red ‘Answer’ link. It will show you the answer. Then you can compare your answer to the correct answer.
About the question 19, 1- may we say ” lee does afraid of snakes?” 2- “is afraid ” should not have “ing” ? Why not? 3- if we say “does” don’t need to add ing, but with “is” , I think something is wrong if we don’t add.
1 – No. ‘Does’ is used as an auxiliary verb in making questions. ‘Lee is afraid of snakes.’ is the correct sentence. (Afraid is an adjective) 2 – Afraid is not a verb. It is an adjective. 3 – I’m not sure what you mean. We use ‘is’ with present progressive (I am typing). We use ‘Does/do’ when making questions in the present simple. For example, ‘Do you understand? / Does he have a dog?’
good i liked it
Not impress with my grammar.
Not impressed*
It was quite easy for my experience. But there were a few tricky ones like nr. 2
“Don’t blame me.Nothing can’t be done about it”
Nothing is used with an affirmative (positive) verb.
don not worry. I will give you some medicines and you will feel better soon
I don’t speak to him since last summer
Yes, that is a mistake. You should use the present perfect with ‘since’
Creative post – I was enlightened by the analysis . Does anyone know if my assistant would be able to obtain a fillable a form version to fill in ?
you should all make turns to discuss this problem (find the mistake)
Thx for the explanation
I want to put my sentences and you answer me! How i do that!
I don’t understand. Can you explain what you mean?
I AM NOT SATISFIED
English language is very easy
I love to do grammar correction.
Spot the errors are always quite confusing. But they are interesting!
“Two and two make four.”Is there any mistake in this sentence??????
No, it’s correct.
This exercise is very easy.
Kala is tallest girl in the class
Good. But put “the” before tallest. — She is the tallest girl in the class. (We put ‘the’ before superlatives).
the children were lying in bed for a long time. (Find the error
Just capitalize ‘The’ and it looks okay.
What is the right englis ? You has a company tonigh
“You have company tonight.”
Plzz….tell where is error in d sent.
The three first iinstallments of the rent taken in advance because it is the policy company.
I don’t know who gave this to me, but thank you for this!
My sentence is correct or not?
does your bus reach at 6.30a.m?
No. Does yours?
one of the boy is there (pls correct this)
One of the boys is there.
Comments are closed. Please join our community to ask a question.
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Help! My Kid Makes Careless Mistakes!
"Why so careless?!" Most children are numb to our exasperated cry. Our first instinct is to pounce on the seemingly obvious problem – that the children were simply not concentrating on their work, and were distracted, day-dreaming, or simply want to rush through the work to get it done so that they can spend more time with things they like.
Indeed, the lack of motivation is a major cause of careless mistakes during normal schoolwork and homework. It is unlikely that children will do well in subjects that they dislike. However, simply lambasting children for not being serious in their schoolwork is unlikely to achieve anything permanent, other than confirming the children’s suspicion that we are but "naggy and long-winded bagpipes". How we motivate our children to like a subject depends very much on the preferences of each child and how effective the educators are in generating interest. There are too many variables and it is not the focus of this article. Also, under examination conditions, lack of motivation is unlikely to be a major cause of careless mistakes.
Instead, we would like to address other factors which may contribute to careless mistakes in tests.
What are Careless Mistakes?
Before we can fix a problem, we must first understand what we are dealing with. There are actually several stages to making errors in schoolwork:
- To uncover these errors, we can make the child read the question out aloud and note any words that he/she is unable to pronounce.
- Ask the child to say what the question is asking for in his/her own words.
- Ask the child which method he/she would use to solve the problem.
- Ask the child to go through the steps for solving the problem verbally.
- Ask the child to write down the answer.
If we want to help our children, we must be able to distinguish the exact stage where the error occurred, instead of simply labelling everything as CARELESS MISTAKES. While it is true that Reading and Comprehension errors could also be due to carelessness arising from anxiety or time pressure, we must give our children the benefit of doubt that they really did not understand the words or question, and work on ways to help them improve in these areas. Generally, only encoding errors should be classified as "careless", but even that depends on whether the child has been properly instructed to present his/her answer in the acceptable manner.
All other kinds of errors show a lack of understanding of the problem-solving concept, which has nothing to do with carelessness. When that occurs, we have to do what we can to enlighten the child instead of simply dismissing it as a careless mistake, which might have the child thinking that he/she might really be "stupid" after all, leading to loss of confidence and even dislike for the subject or topic.
Who makes Careless Mistakes?
The answer is, simply, everyone. It is not just the Primary school students. We adults do it all the time, too. Interestingly, our propensity to succumb to careless errors actually increase with our level of understanding of the subject matter! The reason is due to over-confidence . Studies have proven that smarter children are more prone to careless mistakes, simply because they make computations based on approximation to what they already know. For example, for the following equation: 4 + X = 6 the common made mistake is X = 10, because our minds is trained to immediately associate the numerical operators with the operation that we need to conduct.
How to reduce Careless Mistakes?
Proofing, or the checking of completed work, is the primary technique which we try to instill in our children. The success of this techique depends on several factors:
- The pride that a child takes in his/her work. "Careless" implies absence of care, or "don’t care". An unmotivated child will take less pride in his/her work, and is therefore likely to make more mistakes. The key would be for parents and educators to think of ways of inspiring children to enjoy the act of producing high quality work. This would be the subject of another article.
- The time that the child has remaining to complete the task of checking. This depends on the speed at which the child was able to solve all the problems in the paper. Children who are more careful will take more time to complete the paper and have less time to check – but they should have less careless mistakes to start with. Even so, it is important to train children to manage their time during examinations properly, so that sufficient time is budgetted for checking all the questions towards the end of the test.
- Is it a habit? Children can indeed be trained to automatically check their work upon completion. Teachers can encourage this habit by reviewing assignments with students before collecting them for marking. This not only enhances children’s proofing skills, but also help to establish proofing as an integral part of the problem-solving process.
- The methods used for checking. Often, children are unaware about how to go about checking their work. Generally, they will simply go through their working for each question to verify the calculations in the same way as they originally solved the problem. This means that if their working was wrong to begin with, their subsequent checking will not uncover the mistake. A better technique would be to encourage children to work backwards from the answer they came up with, and see if they can get back to the original values. For example, if a child gets the answer X=2 for the question 4 + X = 6 by computing X=6-4, then the proper way of checking would be to verify that 4 + 2 will indeed return the value of 6. And in the case of multiple choice questions, the child should be encouraged to prove why the rest of the answers provided are not viable answers for the specific question.
To conclude, carelessness is as naturally occuring in children as in adults. As parents, we should try to understand why the mistakes were made in the first place, and take concrete steps to address them. We should also instill good habits of mind in our children, and train them to do proofing effectively for each of the different types of tests that they will be taking.
For more discussions, please refer to this forum thread .
- Children’s Careless Mistakes
Great suggestion!
This method is very creative.
However, will there be a case where the children will purposely make the mistakes so as to get points for spotting them?
Training a child to work backwards to check the answer could be another way but the discipline must be strong so that the child will do it automatically.
That is a pretty out of the
That is a pretty out of the box suggestion. May try out to see if it works for my boy.
Additionally, care to share the ‘comprehension strategies’? I find that some comprehension questions are not so straight forward (ie can lift a sentence out of the passage to answer the question).
Good method
Hi kksl, thanks for your contribution! It’s a good technique you used, and I guess the key is your consistency and ability to do it everyday. I’m glad it worked out well for you and your child.
Hi, You are right. It is
You are right. It is very common for them to make careless mistakes especially at their age which they still prefer to learn through play rather than routine work.
I have a son in Pri 1. I woud encourage him by giving him point systems. For each question he spotted that is wrong on checking, i would give him 2 points. The more points he gets (meaning that there are a lot of careless mistakes initially, he will get bigger reward).
At the same time, i will give him even more points if he gets above a certain marks even without checking in. 😉
After near a year effort, i am seeing results. Recently, while i was doing Maths revision with him, he automatically checked his whole paper and even showed me proudly how many questions he spotted with careless mistakes without any initiative from me. He even iterated that if he did not check his work, he would have gotten 88. Since he checked, he actually score 98!. He was so motivated then that he asked for more. For another paper, he actually found 3 mistakes and he actually score 100. I am so proud for his great improvement. 🙂
As for his English, i applied some comprehension strategies which i learnt from a friend a month ago. Again, i am beginning to see result last weekend as the number of careless mistakes have reduced.
May this technique works for you too. 😉
How to help kid to be more careful in their school work?
My son is in Primary 2. Is it common for kids at their age to be very careless in their school work? How to help them to be more careful? He will check once each time he finished his work but still careless.
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Knowing How and When to Correct Students in Class
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A crucial issue for any teacher is when and how to correct students' English mistakes. Of course, there are a number of types of corrections that teachers are expected to make during the course of any given class. Here are the main types of mistakes that need to be corrected:
- Grammatical mistakes (mistakes of verb tenses, preposition use , etc.)
- Vocabulary mistakes (incorrect collocations , idiomatic phrase usage, etc.)
- Pronunciation mistakes (errors in basic pronunciation, errors in word stressing in sentences, errors in rhythm and pitch)
- Written mistakes (grammar, spelling and vocabulary choice mistakes in written work)
The main issue at hand during oral work is whether or not to correct students as they make mistakes. Mistakes may be numerous and in various areas ( grammar , vocabulary choice, the pronunciation of both words and correct stressing in sentences). On the other hand, correction of written work boils down to how much correction should be done. In other words, should teachers correct every single mistake, or, should they give a value judgment and correct only major mistakes?
Mistakes Made During Discussions and Activities
With oral mistakes made during class discussions, there are basically two schools of thought: 1) Correct often and thoroughly 2) Let students make mistakes.
Sometimes, teachers refine the choice by choosing to let beginners make many mistakes while correcting advanced students often.
However, many teachers are taking a third route these days. This third route might be called 'selective correction'. In this case, the teacher decides to correct only certain errors. Which errors will be corrected is usually decided by the objectives of the lesson, or the specific exercise that is being done at that moment. In other words, if students are focusing on simple past irregular forms, then only mistakes in those forms are corrected (i.e., goed, thinked, etc.). Other mistakes, such as mistakes in a future form, or mistakes of collocations (for example I made my homework) are ignored.
Finally, many teachers also choose to correct students after the fact. Teachers take notes on common mistakes that students make. During the follow-up correction session, the teacher then presents common mistakes made so that all can benefit from an analysis of which mistakes were made and why.
Written Mistakes
There are three basic approaches to correcting written work : 1) Correct each mistake 2) Give a general impression marking 3) Underline mistakes and/or give clues to the type of mistakes made and then let students correct the work themselves.
What's All the Fuss About?
There are two main points to this issue:
If I allow students to make mistakes, I will reinforce the errors they are making.
Many teachers feel that if they do not correct mistakes immediately, they will be helping reinforce incorrect language production skills. This point of view is also reinforced by students who often expect teachers to continually correct them during class. The failure to do so will often create suspicion on the part of the students.
If I don't allow students to make mistakes, I will take away from the natural learning process required to achieve competency and, eventually, fluency.
Learning a language is a long process during which a learner will inevitably make many, many mistakes. In other words, we take a myriad of tiny steps going from not speaking a language to being fluent in the language. In the opinion of many teachers, students who are continually corrected become inhibited and cease to participate. This results in the exact opposite of what the teacher is trying to produce: the use of English to communicate.
Why Correction Is Necessary
Correction is necessary. The argument that students just need to use the language and the rest will come by itself seems rather weak. Students come to us to teach them. If they only want conversation, they will probably inform us, or, they might just go to a chat room on the Internet. Obviously, students need to be corrected as part of the learning experience. However, students also need to be encouraged to use the language. It is true that correcting students while they are trying their best to use the language can often discourage them. The most satisfactory solution of all is to make correction an activity. Correction can be used as a follow-up to any given class activity. However, correction sessions can be used as a valid activity in and of themselves. In other words, teachers can set up an activity during which each mistake (or a specific type of mistake) will be corrected. Students know that the activity is going to focus on correction and accept that fact. However, these activities should be kept in balance with other, more free-form, activities which give students the opportunity to express themselves without having to worry about being corrected every other word.
Finally, other techniques should be used to make correction not only part of the lesson but also a more effective learning tool for the students. These techniques include:
- Deferring correction to the end of an activity
- Taking notes on typical mistakes made by many students
- Correcting only one type of error
- Giving students clues to the type of error they are making (in written work) but allowing them to correct the mistakes themselves
- Asking other students to remark on mistakes made and then explain the rules by themselves. A great technique for getting 'teacher pets' listening instead of answering each question themselves. However, use this with caution!
Correction is not an 'either/or' issue. Correction needs to take place and is expected and desired by students. However, the manner in which teachers correct students play a vital role in whether students become confident in their usage or become intimidated. Correcting students as a group, in correction sessions, at the end of activities, and letting them correct their own mistakes all help in encouraging students to use English rather than to worry about making too many mistakes.
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Don’t correct your child’s homework.
by Tiernan McKay
Tiernan McKay
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Parents have an odd relationship with homework . We like to see our kids learning, hashing out answers and exploring possible outcomes, but we also want them to shine in the classroom.
Some of us are tempted to correct homework before it goes back to school. If you’re one of those parents, you may want to hold off on checking those math problems. Turns out, intervening with your child’s homework can do him more harm than good.
The role of homework
It’s easy to understand how homework can become a thorn in any parent’s side. It can be tedious. It eats into family time. It sparks heated arguments. While all of these are true, it is also an excellent barometer of your child’s aptitude in the classroom. “If homework is purposeful, it enables the teacher to see whether the student gets the concept and where there are missing pieces — if there are any,” says Julie Freedman Smith, co-founder of Parenting Power , which offers parental and family coaching. Given that fact, why would a parent want to interfere with the process?
Get homework help tips for every age >>
More harm than good.
If their homework is always stellar but your child can’t back it up with an equally stellar performance in the classroom, he could suffer psychologically from your desire for perfection. “Having consistently superior homework can garner a falsely inflated sense of self and can set them up for a hard fall when quiz and test scores are not comparable to homework grades,” says Koh. “This can be dangerously demotivating and devolve into a negative feedback loop that will degrade motivation and confidence over time.”
Find out how to make homework fun for kids >>
The urge to correct.
Even though a parent understands the role of homework intellectually, there is still an emotional element to consider. We all want our kids to succeed, and sometimes, we view homework as an opportunity to gain points in the classroom, even though that may not actually be the case. “The ability to teach oneself and have epiphanies about academics are the purpose of homework — not the actual grade itself — because most teachers do not accord much, if any, points to homework,” says Allen Koh, CEO of Cardinal Education , an educational consulting and tutoring company. “Moreover, if parents just give kids the answers without thoroughly explaining things, then they have robbed their children of the learning experience and understanding of the material.” Makes you think twice, right?
Are homework expectations realistic for your children? >>
A teacher’s perspective.
Most teachers aren’t fooled by parents who correct their student’s homework before it returns to school. Homework offers parents an opportunity to partner with the teacher, but when that partnership is based on artificial results, it’s the child who suffers. “What parents should do is guide their child and lead him to the correct answers,” says teacher Stephanie Moorman , a 14-year veteran of the classroom. “This helps your child to see that you are a partner in his education , not the one who is actually doing the learning. It also gives your child multiple strategies for completing homework — ones that might not have been taught in class.”
More on kids and homework
Tips for creating the perfect homework space How long should homework take? 5 Helpful homework websites for kids
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10 Grammar Mistakes & 10 Lessons to Fix Them
You know those grammar errors your students make in 4th and 5th grade and are still making in high school? Yes, those.
You know those grammar mistakes that come up again and again and again? The ones that they make mugs and T-shirts about because they drive teachers so crazy? Well we’re here to help you fix them.
COMMON Grammar MISTAKE #1: There, Their and They’re
LESSON: “You Be the Judge” There is a place. Their shows possession. They’re is short for they are . How can you reinforce the spelling of these three homonyms? Have students be the judge! Give small groups of students a set of sticky notes with sentences using there , their and they’re . Write some sentences correctly and others incorrectly. Then, have students sort the sentences. Visit Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational for the “You Be the Judge” printable to go along with this activity. Students pretend they are in a courtroom and decide the verdict for each sentence.
COMMON Grammar MISTAKE #2: You’re and Your
LESSON: YOUR Surgery Students always seem to forget to add an e and insert an apostrophe when needed! With this grammar no-no, remind students to reread their sentences and see if they are using your as a shortened version of you are . If so, they need the e and apostrophe! To help reinforce these words, play YOUR Surgery! This is just like Contraction Surgery except students are focusing on your and you are. Write sentences that all use the word your on large sentence strips. The sentences should use the word your both correctly and incorrectly. The students’ job is to correct the sentences that are wrong. Put out a box of Band-Aids and a fat Crayola marker. If they think that your is incorrect in the sentence, they add a Band-Aid in between the u and r . Then, they use their markers to insert an e after the r .
COMMON Grammar MISTAKE #3: Then and Than
LESSON: Then-Than Flip To help students understand when to use then vs. than , have them play Then-Than Flip! Each student has a Popsicle stick with two different-colored squares attached on each side for easy flipping. One side says then , the other side says than . Read (or write) out sentences, leaving a blank where the students should insert the word. For example, I like grapes better ____ bananas. The students hold up their mini-sign showing the correct word. The teacher can scan the room and assess each student’s knowledge, noting who gets it and who needs more work.
COMMON Grammar MISTAKE #4: Lie and Lay
LESSON: Lie-Lay Action! Call students over to work with a small group. Have each student choose one object (book, pencil, anything in the classroom). Next, make up a sentence for one student at a time to act out, leaving a blank where lay or lie should be inserted. For example, call someone up from the group. He stands up. The teacher says, “Max, _____ your pencil on the table.” Max would then respond, “Max, lay your pencil on the table,” and he would act it out using his pencil. Next, the teacher would call someone else up. He or she might say, “Chloe, please _____ down on the floor.” Chloe would then say, “Chloe, please lie down on the floor,” and she would act it out. The teacher mixes up sentences that use the words lay and lie (present tense) to see which students need extra help.
COMMON Grammar MISTAKE #5: Who and Whom
LESSON: Fishing for Who and Whom Cut out a variety of paper fish from construction paper. The teacher writes sentences on them, leaving a blank where who or whom should go. For example, “To _____ it may concern” or “_____ went to the store?” Next, attach a magnet to the fish on the same side as the word. You can buy magnet strip rolls at office-supply stores. Find a stick outside, attach a long piece of string and add a magnet to the end of the string. The students use the stick fishing pole to catch sentences. Each time they catch a sentence, they put it in their “who” or “whom” pile. After all of the fish are caught, they check with the teacher to see if they were correct on all of the sentences they caught.
COMMON Grammar MISTAKE #6: Two, To and Too
LESSON: Two-To-Too Slide To assess students’ understanding of the three words to , two and too , create a clothespin slide game. Cut a sheet of construction paper in half. Next, divide the strip into three columns. In each column, write two , to and too . Call students over to work in small groups. Each student gets a strip of paper with the three words written in the columns, as well as a clothespin. The clothespin is attached to the bottom of the strip. The teacher reads a sentence. Then, the students slide their clothespin so it is in the column that contains the right word. When they think they are correct, they show the teacher.
COMMON Grammar MISTAKE #7: Affect and Effect
LESSON: Affect/Effect Art Knowing when to use affect and effect can be a difficult concept for students to grasp. To help deepen their understanding, have them create Affect/Effect Art. Give the students a sheet of white construction paper. Next, instruct them to draw a line down the center of the sheet. They write affect on the left side and effect on the right side. Explain to students that affect is a verb and effect is a noun. Their challenge is to come up with an example of affect , draw it and then create its effect . For example, the affect sentence could be: “The loud music affected my concentration.” A student could draw a person unable to do his or her homework and holding his or her ears. On the effect side, the student could draw an F on a paper. Their effect would be: “The loud music had a negative effect on my homework.” Students write their sentences under their drawings for affect and effect .
COMMON Grammar MISTAKE #8: I and Me
LESSON: Drop “_____ and” The easiest way for students to know when they should use I versus me in their sentences is to drop the “_____ and.” For example, You and I went to the store versus You and me went to the store. Which sounds correct? I went to the store or Me went to the store? Another example is with a name: The dog followed Mason and I or The dog followed Mason and me . Drop “Mason and,” and which sounds right? The dog followed me . To turn this into an educational activity, designate two corners of the classroom, one for I and one for me . Read a sentence using a blank where I or me should be inserted. Students go to the corner with the correct word ( I or me ).
You could also play this on the playground so that students could run to the correct word. Write the words I and me in huge letters on the blacktop. Split your class into two teams. Two students come up at a time. After you read a sentence with the missing word ( I or me ), the students run to the I or me . The students who stand on the correct word get a point for their team.
COMMON Grammar MISTAKE #9: It’s and Its
LESSON: Pipe Cleaner Apostrophes! Print out the word its in large, bold type on paper. Next, give each student half of a pipe cleaner. The students bend their pipe cleaner to create an apostrophe. Working with small groups, read a sentence that uses the word its and it’s . For example: It’s interesting that a cat can retract its claws.The students place their apostrophe in between the t and s if they think the word in the sentence is a contraction. If they think it doesn’t, they leave the word as it is. Then, the teacher can assess which students understand the difference between the two words.
COMMON Grammar MISTAKE #10: Principal and Principle
LESSON: Pal To help students distinguish the difference between principal and principle , remind them that only one can be your pal ! When students are writing to or about a principal (head of a school) in their piece of writing, they remember the word pal . A principle (a rule, basic truth or theory) would not be your pal .
Are there more grammar mistakes (or grammar lessons) to share? Come visit our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook.
Plus, the best-ever grammar jokes.
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Help Kairat! Correct the mistakes in his homework. 1 Lake Kaindy is 40 metres long. Lake Kaindy is 400 metres long. 2 It is an underwater rainforest. 3 You can see the tops of mountains in the water. 4 The water is very warm. 5 The Giant's Causeway is in Kazakhstan. 6 A fairy called Finn McCool built it.
Apply instant corrections to grammar errors, mispelled words, and punctuation mistakes for polished writing. Clarity and conciseness Rewrite full sentences to keep your message clear, concise, and easily understood. Tone suggestions Ensure your tone is well-received so you can build stronger relationships and drive projects forward.
Only in this way can students arrive at a deeper understanding and correct solution method for the mistake. 2. Improve motivation and self-esteem by responding to and overcoming mistakes A student who successfully fixes something incorrect experiences personal success.
Help kairat correct the mistakes in his homework elanoraahanova187 elanoraahanova187 07.12.2020 Английский язык 1 - 4 классы ответ дан Вопрос 18. Help kairat correct the mistakes in his homework 1 Смотреть ответ где задание ? фото задания или что там
You can also help students view their mistakes as helpful. The red pen isn't the enemy -- when students understand how to deal with errors, red means go. One way to encourage that attitude is to take the most common mistakes that the class made on a test or quiz and analyze them together.
Elp Kairat! Correct the mistakes in his homework. 1 Lake Kaindy is 40 metres long. Lake Kaindy is 400 metres long. 2 It is an underwater rainforest. 3 You can see the tops of mountains in the water. 4 The water is very warm. 5 The Giant's Causeway is in Kazakhstan. 6 A fairy called Finn McCool built it. 7. the rock formations looks like a giant ...
If you correct the mistake, you demonstrate 2 things. 1. you're concentrating on the lesson 2. your understanding Neither of these 2 things are something that a teacher will complain about. As such, a raise of a hand and a simple comment of 'I don't think that XXX will work for YYY' is perfectly polite and acceptable.
Encourage children to take responsibility for their mistakes and not blame others. Avoid pointing out your child's past mistakes. Instead, focus on the one at hand. Praise children for their ability to admit their mistakes. Praise children for their efforts and courage to overcome setbacks.
A professional way to say it would be to Remedy a mistake. That is to make them right. It has the charm of admitting that they were wrong and needed fixing without the clinical feel of the surgeon's hand actually pulling it together. The new volume will have Remedied several mistakes.
Dweck's work, described in the book MindSet: The New Psychology of Success reminds parents that glowing, unconditional praise that masks errors and mistakes is harmful to children's development ...
The first port of call when correcting can be the students themselves. Students can often correct themselves when they realise they've made a mistake. Sometimes the mistake is simply a 'slip' and they are aware of the correct version. Give students a chance, and time, to correct themselves. Often by just raising your eyebrows or repeating ...
Whenever he is assigned a page full of problems for homework, he only completes the first few and then gives up because he already knows he is going to get them all wrong anyway. Which aspect of math proficiency is negatively affecting Elijah? Productive disposition Peter is a fourth grader who has difficulty writing clearly.
Ask your teen for ways you can help, but don't lecture. Lectures about poor work habits and constant reminders about the negative consequences of unfinished homework can create more dependency. 3. Empower your teenager. Chores are a great way to empower teens. Delegating demonstrates your confidence in their ability.
Simon Mumford and Steve Darn discuss student speaking errors and offer practical advice and suggestions on how and when to correct learners without damaging their confidence. Skip to main content Skip to navigation Macmillan English Onestopenglish Dictionary Help Site name Site name Mast navigation Register Subscribe Sign In
Playing Dumb. This is by far the easiest and my favorite way to get a student to self-correct (and it might be your favorite too if you like "acting" for students). The technique goes something like this. Say a student incorrectly uses a verb in the past tense and says, "Yesterday I leaved the school at 5 pm".
Answer: I don't see how you would have to apologize for making mistakes, that's the very thing the teacher is there for, to find a way for you to correct those mistakes. Not least to say its homework and not a test. Now a very important life lesson, everyone is different, nobody is equal. There'...
Teachers, you can download this exercise as a worksheet here: Fix the Mistakes (Speaking Activity) This exercise is for intermediate -level students. Each of the below 20 sentences has a mistake. Rewrite the sentence without the mistake, and then click on ' Answer ' to check your answer. Explanations have been added to the answers that are not ...
These worksheets help students identify mistakes in sentences and organize sentences correctly. The "Correct the Mistakes" worksheets include a picture and three sentences that need to be corrected. Once the sentence is corrected there is a space for students to write the corrected sentence. The "Sentence Scrambler" worksheets include ...
You are right. It is very common for them to make careless mistakes especially at their age which they still prefer to learn through play rather than routine work. I have a son in Pri 1. I woud encourage him by giving him point systems. For each question he spotted that is wrong on checking, i would give him 2 points.
Written Mistakes There are three basic approaches to correcting written work: 1) Correct each mistake 2) Give a general impression marking 3) Underline mistakes and/or give clues to the type of mistakes made and then let students correct the work themselves. What's All the Fuss About? There are two main points to this issue:
The urge to correct. Even though a parent understands the role of homework intellectually, there is still an emotional element to consider. We all want our kids to succeed, and sometimes, we view ...
The sentences should use the word your both correctly and incorrectly. The students' job is to correct the sentences that are wrong. Put out a box of Band-Aids and a fat Crayola marker. If they think that your is incorrect in the sentence, they add a Band-Aid in between the u and r. Then, they use their markers to insert an e after the r.