The ability to identify, understand, and label emotions develops over time and it is critical that adults actively foster it. Plan to foster students’: 

• emotional vocabulary 
• identification of the full range of emotions experienced
• communication of emotional experiences to others (parents, peers and teachers)
• recognition of situations that evoke these emotions.

By also labelling feelings in appropriate situations, you:

• expose students to a rich vocabulary for expressing feelings
• assist students to understand when to express their emotions.  

Emotional literacy allows students to understand a range of:

• needs
• wants
• likes
• dislikes.

It also allows them to tell others how these affect their feelings.

It works better if:

• you consider student communication skills; emotions are abstract concepts so use visual supports (graphics or video) where possible
• you start by teaching positive emotions (easier and less distressing) and universal primary emotions (e.g., happy, sad, angry) rather than secondary/self-conscious emotions (e.g., jealous, embarrassed)
• strategies for managing challenging feelings are taught while the student is calm.

It doesn’t work if:

• strategies are taught during times of distress; we all have trouble learning when we are very stressed or upset
• your explanation of the feeling and associated events is too complicated or the student is not able to understand the emotion being taught.