Y05W06RC Feelings Finder

This week, you are exploring how naming your feelings can help you handle them better. You will read to discover how a character notices what is happening inside herself and uses that awareness to choose a calmer next step. As you read, pay attention to the small moments where she pauses — those moments matter most.

Literary — Realistic short story

A realistic short story is a piece of fiction — a made-up story — but one that feels true to life because it features ordinary people in everyday situations that many readers will recognise. Writers use this form to help readers connect emotionally, see familiar experiences through a fresh lens, and reflect on how people think, feel, and act. You will encounter a character's inner thoughts alongside what is said and done, all unfolding in a natural sequence from a moment of difficulty through to a response. The story moves forward in time, and its meaning often comes not just from what happens, but from what the character notices and decides. As you read, your job is to track how the character's feelings and choices are connected.

Before You Read

  • The title uses the phrase 'Name It to Tame It' — think about what this might suggest about the relationship between feelings and how we manage them before you begin.
  • Think about how it feels when something does not go the way you hoped after putting in real effort — most people know that feeling, even if they handle it differently.
  • Because this is a short story told through a character's thoughts and spoken words, expect to move between what the character says out loud and what she keeps to herself.

While You Read

  • Follow the sequence of events carefully — notice what happens first, what the character feels next, and how one thing leads to another.
  • Pay close attention to the character's inner thoughts, as these reveal feelings that are not always visible in her actions or dialogue.
  • When the character uses a specific word to name her feeling, slow down and consider why that particular word matters more than a general one.
  • If a moment feels small or quiet, do not rush past it — in stories like this, the most important shifts often happen in brief, still moments.

Read With Purpose

  • Notice the exact point in the story when the character shifts from reacting to choosing — pay attention to what makes that shift possible.
  • Notice how the character's body feelings and her emotion words are connected — one seems to come before the other.
  • Follow what the character decides to do with her feeling by the end — notice what has changed and what has stayed the same.

Now read

The short story

~3 min read · ~439 words

Name It to Tame It (In the Moment)

The science test was handed back on a Tuesday morning, and Priya saw the mark before she even sat down properly. Fifty-eight. She had studied for three nights. She had checked her answers twice. Fifty-eight.

She dropped into her chair and stared at the paper. Around her, the classroom buzzed with the usual noise — chairs scraping, people whispering — but it all sounded far away. Something tightened in her chest. Her jaw clenched. She could feel heat rising up the back of her neck.

For a moment, she wanted to screw the test into a ball and shove it into her bag where she would never have to look at it again.

Then something shifted.

Priya had been practising something her school counsellor called ‘noticing’. Instead of just reacting, she paused and tried to name what was happening inside her body. Tight chest. Clenched jaw. Heat at the back of her neck. Her counsellor had said the body always gives signals — the trick is to catch them before they run the show.

She asked herself quietly: What is this feeling?

Not just ‘bad’. Not just ‘stressed’. She sat with it for a few seconds.

Disappointed. That was the word. She was deeply, genuinely disappointed — not with herself, but with the gap between how hard she had tried and what the number said. There was something else too, something softer underneath: embarrassment. She did not want anyone to ask her score.

Naming both feelings did not make them disappear. But something loosened slightly, the way a tight lid eases after you press down and turn. She was not a storm anymore. She was a person having a hard moment.

Priya folded the test carefully and placed it in the front pocket of her folder. She would look at it properly later — not to wallow in it, but to understand it. She decided she would circle every question she had got wrong and figure out why. Were there gaps in what she knew? Had she misread anything? That was something she could actually do.

She took one slow breath and picked up her pencil.

Her friend Jess leaned across from the next desk. ‘You okay?’

‘Yeah,’ Priya said. ‘Just thinking.’

It was true. She was not pretending to be fine. She was choosing to stay steady until she could deal with the situation properly — on her own terms, in her own time.

By lunchtime, the tight feeling in her chest had eased. It had not gone because the mark had changed. It had eased because Priya had stopped fighting what she felt and started doing something small and purposeful with it instead.

Check your vocabulary knowledge

clenched v.
squeezed or held tightly together due to strong feeling
counsellor n.
a trained adult who helps people understand and manage their feelings
wallow v.
to stay stuck in a difficult feeling without trying to move forward
purposeful adj.
done with a clear intention or goal in mind
embarrassment n.
an uncomfortable feeling caused by worry about what others think