Student Feedback

There are two main things parents and clients look for from their English lessons: relationship and progress. This is why is so vital to provide regular and detailed feedback. When clients see progress, they continue booking your classes and buying your bundles.

You do not need to provide feedback after every class. Unit assessments can be a great opportunity to schedule in feedback and they can provide the details necessary to be specific. In my own teaching, however, I provide short feedback after every class, and more detailed feedback linked to the assessment outcomes.

Here is an example of a recent lesson feedback I emailed to a client:

I think Emily had her best lesson EVER with me today! She demonstrated a wonderful knowledge of ending punctuation, which really impressed me: she was able to create questions, statements and exclamations independently. Wow! She showed off her fantastic reading and identified the difference between long and short /i/ sounds. Emily can continue to practice writing plurals with /-es/ and /-ies/ endings. She is very confident with body part words and her independent use of full sentences was incredible! I really loved, ‘She can throw with her arms,’ – well done, smart girl! For homework, please have Emily complete page 6 in the Unit 3 booklet. I am excited to teach Emily again next week! Thank you for honouring me with this class.

Best wishes, Teacher Crystal

You can see I picked out specific examples of what Emily did well, even going so far as to quote her. I linked my comments to the learning objectives of the lesson, and I provided a specific point for improvement. I love to use a ‘compliment sandwich’ format where I sandwich the development point between two specific points of praise. I also take the time to thank the parent for the class, which for Chinese clients is especially culturally significant.

I have created a Google form for feedback, which you can find by searching ‘feedback’ here under the Resources tab. I insert my own email address at the top and then forward the form onto my client (I delete the Google jargon first) because Google is banned in China. By tabbing through the form, I can complete feedback like that above in the five minute breaks I have been my classes.