Dear Teachers,

Yesterday I taught an IELTS class a listening lesson, it was quite fast.

Students finished everything at 6pm! And I had one hour figuring out what to do next.

It was painful. And for a moment, I didn’t know what to do.

(This lesson taught me that I had to change my way of composing new curricula for PET& IELTS).

……………………….

So back to the story,I had one hour.

Thinking about the insight from Cambridge assessment I shared yesterday, my mind tried to forge some connections.

Here’s what I did:

1. I gave them a writing scenario.

'Your friend, Tom, has confidence problems.

Write down three tips that can help him improve confidence.

For each tip, start with YOUR real-life story.

.'

2. After writing, here are two steps you have to do:

A. Use ChatGPT to double check your grammar & spelling errors.

As a teacher, I don’t do jobs which can be done by AI

B. Tell me how you feel about yourself after writing this story. This is an interview between you and me.

As a result,

I ended up reading beautiful stories from students.

I also had a chance to see the difference that writing makes to their own lives.

Students were so eager to learn more after the writing task.

Hope this story helps PES teachers!

Thanks a lot for reading, your dedication to the quality of education in our center issomething we’re forever grateful for.

Duy PES

Real-life outcome:

I. A story from L.C.

Tom is my best friend, and he has problems with confidence.

Here are some useful tips tohelp him improve and overcome this issue.

Tip 1: The most common and easy one is that Tom should talk to more people, such as making new friends.

He needs to be more open with everyone around him.

Tip 2: This is a quite challenging, but very effective strategy.

Tom should try doing some projects or presentations in class, especially in biology, which offers a myriad of living organisms’ interesting topics to discuss

.

Most importantly, he should present in front of a crowd—his classmates.

Tip 3: This may seem extremely easy, but many people struggle with it:

take care ofhimself.

Tom should love himself more.

For example, he is used to staying up late playing video games, eating fast food, and not exercising.

Now, he needs to give up those bad habits and tries to go to bed early, go tothe gym, and eat a balanced diet.

These changes will improve his energy and mood, which will also support his self-confidence.

Tip 4: Practice positive self-talks.

People who lack confidence often have negative thoughts, such as overthinking.

Tom needs to replace these thoughts.

For instance, he might think, “If I fail, the crowd will laugh at me,” which makes him embarrassed, shy, and afraid of speaking again.

Instead, he should replace these negative thoughts with positive ones, such as “I am trying my best, I am improving, and I am learning.”

Tip 5: Step out of his comfort zone.

Tom should try new experiences regularly, such asstarting a conversation with someone on the street, talking about our lives today, orsharing thoughts about ourselves in the modern world.

Over time, these small steps will help him build both confidence and courage.

II. Q.H.’s story

Self-confidence is not a naturally occurring skill in everyone.

Many people feel stuck or scared to try something new because they do not have enough confidence.

It is normal to feel unsure when we deal with difficult and new experience.

Confidence is not a skill that one was born with.

It needs to be built by oneself.

I have 5 tips which I really hope can help you become stronger in dealing with each little issue you’re faced with.

Self-talk is the most momentous step that changes yourself into being successfullyconfident. Think like this:

“I can get better after each mistake” instead of saying “I can’t do it or I would fail”.

Then, think of any hobbies that you enjoy doing and keep doing them till you become excellent at them.

It proves your worth.

Nobody is doing this better than you and this also helps you feel more confident.

Next, work on body language while doing public speaking in front of others.

You can begin with standing tall and smiling to keep eye contact, making everyone feelmore comfortable and most natural with you on stage.

I used to lose confidence for a period of time when I suffered from a lack of trust inmyself and it influenced in me a lot.

Don’t be scared of the judging eyes of others or being judged by other people.

Be unique, be brave, dress in a way makes you feel good.

You must know your value and that is your best version.

The last advice is:

stop comparing yourself to others, it is so nonsensical and ridiculous.

Nobody will care how idiotic you are or how you dress.

Sometimes people make fun of how others look.

To those people who can not speak up to protect themselves, this toxic behavior will slowly form a crack in their souls and this leads to a lack of confidence.

Take the criticism as motivation to change and develop yourself to feel more confident instead of always immersing yourself in negative thoughts.

End of letter 3.

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