Writing Comments
The most important type of feedback are your written comments to students after class. To see where to write comments on the website click here. To learn about what we expect from a comment, continue reading.
For all comments, there is a 2000 character limit. You don't need to write 2000 characters every time, but try to make comments longer than a few sentences and include some personal comments to the student.
Example Comments:
The comments are real but the names have been changed.
"Hi Saki, Great to have you in for a double-bill of classes. You kept yourself admirably accurate. Remember that 'care for' is practical, about what you do. 'Care about' is more emotional. People brushing their teeth is caring for them, not caring about them. You spoke very well about your own experiences. I'll be glad to hear more about them."
"Hello Mihiro, thank you for coming to my 1on1 class. We were able to spend this day doing some free talk. I got to ask some questions regarding your class schedule and your time at school, and you were able to answer them doing well. Thank you for sharing your opinions of Greenhouse Academy and The A List. Since I only knew vaguely knew of it, it was really nice to hear summaries of it. I hope you find some new shows that interest you. Let me know what you end up watching. I loved hearing about your experiences growing up as a bilingual child. I totally understand that when you go on a long vacation, you might feel uncomfortable in the other language. Thank you for sharing a lot of stories and opinions, like your taste in music and shows. I hope you enjoy your 4 day weekend! See you next time."
"Hi Wakana. It was a real pleasure to chat to you today. As always, you speak confidently and use fantastic language. To get better, keep focusing on your use of plurals, uncountable nouns, and your use of articles. When being general, plural language is used "I like apples". When being particular, singular language and "the" is used "I like the red apple in the bowl". Keep practising those points. I really enjoyed talking about the inland sea and the differences between fish. It is a fascinating topic. Have a lovely week."
Tips:
- Aim to complement the student twice on their English. A big part of teaching is building confidence.
- Try to suggest an area of improvement, something to work on to help improve their English. It's often good to "sandwich" this between compliments.
- Try to be personal and remark upon something you talked about in class (this is not always possible in a busy group class)
- Some teachers write comment templates for their classes, others write it fresh every time. The most important thing is not to copy and paste between students but give them a personal comment that helps them develop their English and build confidence.
- Make sure you complete comments within 24 hours. This is vital for good customer service, the students want to read your comments. It is also necessary so you get paid for the class. Most teachers write comments at the end of their class or at the end of a shift.
- If you think the student is at the wrong level, give them extra encouragement and tips, then refer to our Level Guide and contact Oncall before making any level changes.
- If you want to send the students a link, make sure it's a short link - if you have a long link, use tinyurl.com to make a shorter link. No sexual, violent or otherwise inappropriate links please.