Why I Ban Words in My Advanced English Classroom (And What Happens When I Do)
Every year, during the very first week of class, my students stare at their screens like I have just asked them to write in ancient Greek: I ban words.
Not the big, intimidating words they think will trip them up on a test. I ban the comfortable ones.
Very. Nice. Good. Interesting. A lot. Stuff. Things. Got.
These are the words children, and honestly adults too, grab when they are rushing, when their minds are distracted, or when they are simply too comfortable to sit and find a truer thought. In our live sessions, I open the whiteboard, write each one out, draw a deliberate line straight through them, and say: these are retired. You cannot lean on them in my room.
The reaction is always the same. First, a sudden quiet panic. Eyes go wide. They wonder how they are supposed to write a three-page essay without their favourite crutches.
Then, slowly, something far more beautiful takes over: their real voice.
Let me tell you about two of my students, because their stories show what happens when we stop letting children take the easy way out.
Aashi from New Jersey: When Banned Words Melt the Safe Writing Away
Aashi is that student every parent and teacher loves having in class. Sincere, hardworking, always on time, and meticulous to a fault. Not a single comma out of place in her work.
Her writing was neat, but if I am being completely candid, it was grey. Whenever something emotional happened in a book, she wrote that it was very powerful. Whenever a character made a difficult choice, it was interesting. She was writing to keep herself safe from red marks, and safe writing is never alive.
So I took away her safe words. For her next essay, very, good, and interesting were strictly banned. She sat in our conference looking at me as if I had taken her pen right out of her hand.
Without those buffers, she had to stop rushing. She had to sit quietly with the chapter, reflect, and ask herself what she had actually witnessed. When she handed in her revised piece, I read this line and had to sit back in my chair:
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I read that sentence three times. Aashi did not need a vocabulary app or a thesaurus. She had that depth in her all along. Banning her safe words simply forced her to reach for it.
Aarav from Mumbai: How Banning Weak Words Cuts the Fluff
Then there was Aarav, an eighth grader full of energy, sharp as a tack, but always skimming across the top of his ideas. In a prompt about how city life changes the way we connect, Aarav wrote:
BEFORE THE BANLife in modern apartments makes people feel very lonely because they have a lot of work and nice neighbours are rare. |
It was fine. It had no grammatical mistakes. And it said almost nothing. I drew a circle around very, a lot, and nice, and I told him: close the screen for five seconds. Look out your own window. What does that loneliness actually feel like in your building? Tell me what you see, without using an easy word.
He rolled his eyes a little, as children always do when you ask them to dig, but he sat down and redid it:
AFTER THE BANTowering apartment complexes seal families into quiet boxes, cutting community down to brief nods inside passing elevators. |
That is not just better vocabulary. That is a young writer learning to see his world clearly and say exactly what he means.
A Banned Words Challenge for Parents: The Fridge Board
You do not need to wait for an English class or an essay deadline to start this. You can begin right at home, in everyday family conversations.
Think about what happens when your child walks through the door or closes their laptop after school. You ask, how was your day? And what do they say? Good. Or fine. Or boring. It is completely on autopilot. Their brain is not engaged, and neither is the conversation.
Here is a practical habit you can start today: the Fridge Board Challenge.
1. Retire the word good. Tell your child warmly that good and fine are banned when we ask about our day.
2. Require a new descriptor every day. When you ask how the day was, give ten seconds of silence to actually think. They cannot repeat yesterday's word.
3. Stick a daily note on the fridge. Keep a small pad of notes and a pen by the fridge. Instead of good, was the day productive, unsettled, exhausting, or steady? Instead of a hard lesson being bad, was it confusing, overwhelming, or demanding?
4. Model it yourself. When they ask about your work, do not say busy. Say, today was chaotic, but deeply fulfilling.
When you turn vocabulary into a daily household practice, you teach your child that words are tools to express real human truth, not just lines on a school worksheet.
FREE PRINTABLE · DOWNLOADThe Banned Words Study SheetI have made a printable Banned Words guide you can stick on your study table or fridge. It comes in two versions, one for Grades 2 to 7 and one for Grades 8 to 12. Print it, pin it, and watch your child reach for stronger words. ⬇ Download the free Banned Words printable |
Why Banning Words Matters Far Beyond Marks
We live in a world where speed is rewarded. Children want to finish the worksheet, hit submit, and move on, so they grab whatever word is closest to the surface. When we let them do that, their thinking becomes just as fuzzy as their language.
When you take away the easy words, you teach a child discipline. You teach them to stop, examine what they are really trying to say, and stand behind it. That discipline changes how they write an analytical paper, yes, but it also changes how they speak up at home, how they present in an interview, and how they carry themselves when they have to explain their thoughts to the world.
Join Us at Wisdom Point
At Wisdom Point, this is how we teach. We do not do cookie-cutter tutoring, and we do not hand children pre-made answers to memorise. Whether we are working on core writing skills, deep literature analysis, or public speaking, we hold our learners to a standard that brings out their true capability, with patience, warmth, and steady structure.
BOOK AN ASSESSMENT WITH WISDOM POINT If you are ready for your child to move past superficial writing and learn to express themselves with genuine clarity, depth, and poise, let us work together. To book an assessment and discuss enrollment, visit www.wisdom-point.org or call +91 8240556421. Let us give your child the words to match their thinking. |
Banned Words: What Parents Frequently Ask Me
Does banning words work across different boards and curricula?
Completely. Whether your child is working through US Common Core and AP English, preparing for UK KS2, KS3 or GCSE exams, or studying under CBSE or ICSE, the expectation from examiners is identical. When an examiner reads twenty essays in an afternoon, the student who uses stuff, a lot, and very sounds childish. The student who chooses precise nouns and strong verbs instantly stands out.
Does this help my child with public speaking too?
It transforms it. When children speak, they lean on verbal crutches like um, actually, or you know, which are simply the spoken versions of dead words. In our speech and debate sessions, retiring these words teaches children the power of a quiet pause. Instead of filling the air with noise, they gather their thoughts and speak with real poise.
Won't banning simple words make children use complicated words incorrectly?
Not in my classroom. I actively teach students not to use heavy words just to sound clever. Words like utilize or heretofore do not belong in good student essays. We are not looking for decorative words. We are looking for the right word. Use is always better than utilize.
When should a child begin learning this discipline?
The earlier, the better. I introduce it around Grade 4 or 5 and carry it right through high school. If a child learns early that words matter, they never develop the lazy habit of writing long, empty sentences just to meet a word count. That habit, once built, stays with them for life.
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