Whenever I start a new syllabus with a new set of students I give each of them a diary.

Why?

It shows me a students progress from beginning to end of my course.

I ask all the students in my classes to write down comments about what they thought of their lesson for that day.

I do not ask students to write down too much; just a few comments for every lesson that they take with me.

This continuous exercise serves two important purposes.

· I get to check that my students have understood the point of my lessons.
· I get good feedback on what my students think about my classes and I am always looking for ways to make my lessons better and I get a chance to improve too.

At the end of my courses my students often laugh when they see what their diary comments were at the start of their course because their English skills were weak. However when they read their last few diary entries they can see for themselves how far they have come.

The student then leaves with a real sense of achievement.