I always find it challenging to come up with final class activities for my B2-level students that are enjoyable (ie. not another exercise from the book or exam practice) but also offer some opportunities to help students recognise how much progress they've made during the academic year in order to aid self-reflection on their learning journey.
This last year I had three exam preparation B2-level groups and was searching for inspiration for something new to bring to our final week of class. I stumbled upon Gosia Kwiatkowska of Lesson Plans Digger's fantastic idea for a letter to the future students of this course, which worked fantastically.
How does it work?
I asked my students to anonymously write a letter to the students who will be taking this exact class next year (same coursebook, same teacher, same exam objective)... They found this quite amusing in itself, especially when I encouraged them to tell the new students all the things they wish they'd known when they started the course and to not be afraid of being brutally honest!
I gave my students a time limit of 15-20 minutes, reminding them that they're writing to a peer so can be very relaxed and informal, and I wrote the following questions on the board to give them some inspiration:
What do you wish you'd known when you started this course?
Who would you recommend this course to?
How did you find the coursebook?
How did you find the teacher?
What was the hardest part of this course?
What was your favourite part of this course?
Which class did you enjoy the most?
Any final tips for this future B2 student?
When finished, I organised the students into groups of 2-3 people so that they could read each other's letters to a) see if they had any ideas in common, and b) decide on the best advice for next year's students. We held a brief class feedback session, but without going into too much detail since the letters were supposed to be anonymous.
What did I learn?
I collected these letters in and read through them after class. Some ideas were very lighthearted (students noted how funny classes were in which we compared British and North American pronunciations), some very touching (people commented on friendships they'd made in class and how much they'd enjoyed working with new friends in class) and some completely surprised me with students commenting on memorable activities or strategies we'd discussed that I could barely remember. Several students also commented on the fact that it's very easy to distract me by talking about cats, which made me laugh out loud on more than on occasion!
I got some invaluable feedback about the fact that students did not fully recognise how big the jump would be from B1 to B2, especially surprising to them given that most had studied a first-year B2 course before the exam preparation course with me. They generally agreed that it was a challenge and that it required a big workload both in class and at home, but that it was worth it and they were overwhelmingly pleased with their progress.
Practically, I got very positive feedback about the coursebook - I'd chosen a new, very 'light' coursebook intended for intensive courses with a very heavy exam focus so that I could supplement the book with many of my own materials and lessons. My students found the exam focus very helpful but also commented on the fact that we did many activities out of the book which they also enjoyed, which was great.
By writing all these things down, students were not afraid to talk about what they found difficult but also to share what they were most proud of in a very safe environment. They were realistic about the difficulties of combining English studies with work/school commitments, but ultimately encouraged next year's students to stick with it and to not give up. Very inspiring.
Without a doubt, I'll be repeating this activity at the end of my next course.
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