June is the month when most language courses come to an end. And so it is also a perfect time to get feedback from your students and reflect on your teaching style.
In this post, we have 7 questions that will help you get that feedback without completing boring questionnaires. It is a good idea to use them in an informal chat as part of your last class.
#1 What did you like the most about the course?
This question will help you find out which parts of the course your student enjoyed the most. And these will be the aspects that you might want to continue next year.
#2 What didn’t you like? Why?
The answers to this question will help you determine the points during the course that maybe need a bit of adjusting before next year. You don’t have to completely get rid of them (especially if students' answers are grammar or homework), but it’s definitely something to think about. Maybe try a new approach?
#3 What did you learn that you still remember?
The answer to this question will tell you a lot about what lessons or teaching styles best work with your students. They will remember things that stuck out and really made an impact on them. Maybe something you taught them in a different way? It’s definitely something you might want to do more of next year.
#4 What did you want to learn but didn’t?
If a student remembers something that they didn’t learn, it means it was something really important to them. This question will help you better determine the aims for the courses in the future. Also, it will highlight the importance of needs analysis at the beginning of the next course.
#5 What was difficult for you at the beginning of the year and now it is easier?
The answers to that question will be like a healing balm on your teacher's heart. Whatever the students say, obviously means you did something right! It is also a great way for a student to notice their progress.
#6 What advice would you give me?
Here, let your students go wild with any advice they have. Make sure to tell them how important it is for you if they are honest. The answers will help you become a better teacher. Very often we don’t see our own weaknesses but students do, very clearly.
#7 What will you do differently next year?
This question is more for the student to reflect on themselves and how they did. It will help them take stock of their learning situation. It’s more about what they do outside the classroom rather than what they did or didn’t learn. It might motivate them to try a bit harder next year.
These questions work well as an open discussion in the classroom. Students have the opportunity to clarify their answers and you have the chance to ask additional questions.
You can also do it as an activity:
Write the questions on the board. Distribute a lot of sticky notes among the students. Ask them to write their answers to these questions on the sticky notes. Collect all of the notes when they're ready. Go through the answers one by one and stick them to the board. As you stick them to the board you can arrange them into columns, for example:
- things I (the teacher) need to work on,
- things you (the students) need to work on,
- things we're going to introduce next year
- things we're going to get rid off next year.
This is a fantastic activity to use at the end of the school year. But some students might not be too keen to share their answers to these questions so openly. In this case, you can do it in the form of an anonymous questionnaire.
