One Highlight of Teaching

My 8th and 9th form students are matched with pen pals from America. We received the initial batch of letters in the beginning of April.....three weeks later, my students had their response letters in the mail. I think the exchange will be rewarding, but I was astounded by my lack of foresight - somehow I didn't clarify that every students should reply to the initial letter I assigned to them and I know that a lot of the questions they were asked went unanswered. Some students took great pride in their letters and others did an excellent job of looking busy during class, yet produced nothing. I never seem to know if students are making progress because they only have 90 minutes of English lessons every week (that is if they aren't skipping, on holiday, or on cleaning duty). However, I was charmed by the letters that my students wrote. I love the creative ways they translate their thoughts into English - for me, the novelty of a new word combination never wears off;)