Writing report comments at the end of the semester can get more than just tedious. What does one say? One often runs out of words and fresh remarks. So here are 100 ESL report card comments that will overcome teacher writer block when doing those report cards.
Most of these comments are from the Twinkl website, written by Miranda Crowhurst – the link is in the description.
https://www.twinkl.co.th/blog/165-comments-for-esl-reports
Table of Contents
Five Tips on Writing ESL Report Comments
1. Depending on where in the world you teach, cultures and attitudes can be different. Parents in some countries may be more sensitive and take feedback very seriously, so choose your words carefully.
2. Try to ‘sandwich’ praise with feedback, so parents can see the positives. The Sandwich method – Start with a positive comment, then provide your critical feedback, but end again with a positive remark.
3. During the semester, write down information on individual students to add to the comments: What are their interests and passions, and how can the learner build on them.
4. Remember that many parents don’t speak English, so keep that in mind and don’t use overly complicated words.
5. Emphasize hard work and progress rather than intelligence or natural ability in order to build resilience.
General Classroom Behavior
1.___ is a great role model for other students, as (he/she) is always doing their best.
2. ___ usually follows instructions well, but sometimes needs reminders to keep them on track.
3. ___ is often keen to share their ideas in class, which is fantastic. However, (he/she) sometimes needs to remember to give others the chance to speak.
4. ___ has lots of friends, and supports them when they need help in class.
5. ___ enjoys taking part in active activities, such as running-around games and role-plays.
6. ___ enjoys quiet activities and having their own space.
7. ___ is working on their confidence to speak in front of the class.
8. I am incredibly proud of ___ and their continued determination to improve.
9. ___ is very cooperative and helpful in class.
10. Although there has been a lot of improvement in ___’s attitude, his/ her behavior and work ethic is still inconsistent.
11. ___ has matured nicely this year, both academically and socially
12. It’s clear that ___ has fantastic parental help at home, and for this I would like to thank you.
13. ___ has a fantastic attitude towards learning and being a good citizen of the class.
14. ___ has been an enthusiastic member of the class and she worked extremely hard during lessons.
15. ___ has made great progress this semester but should concentrate on completing assignments in time.
Speaking Skills
16. ___ often participates in class discussions.
17. ___ has gradually gained confidence while speaking and the pace, rhythm, and flow of his/her speech has improved significantly.
18. ___’s knowledge and oral use of academic/conversational vocabulary has improved.
19. ___ can respond to common questions, and name a variety of objects in English.
20. ___ is confident in speaking in small groups but still needs more practice before he/she is confident in front of the class.
21. ___ is nervous about speaking English, which is something I’d like to see improve – the only way to get better in English is by speaking.
22. ___ needs to focus more on speaking English in class, instead of (their first language).
23. ___ has excellent speaking skills and is able to learn the pronunciation of new words very quickly due to great concentration.
24. ___ has been quiet recently. I hope they remember that speaking in class is vital for improving their level – practice makes perfect!
25. ___ tends to stick to short yes/no answers, but I hope that they can try to add more details when they are speaking.
26. I hope that ___ can try more to use everyday English expressions in class.
27. ___ seems a little nervous speaking English and often rushes and stumbles over their words, I hope that they will try to slow down and speak clearly.
28. In future, I would like to see ___ participate more in class discussions. It’s always wonderful to hear what (he/she) thinks.
29. In future, I would like to see ___ using their new vocabulary while speaking.
30. ___ can improve their speaking skills at home by reading and re-telling simple short stories in English.
Listening Skills
31. ___ is able to understand class instructions, as well as a wide range of questions. For this level, their listening skills are fantastic.
32. ___ is able to pick up a great deal of detailed information during class and listening exercises.
33. ___ is able to get the general idea from listening exercises, but struggles to understand new words from context.
34. ___ is able to comprehend questions, statements, and commands when the speaker uses short phrases, simple sentences, and everyday language.
35. I can tell that ___ listening skills are improving, as I often hear them repeating sentences or songs in English.
36. ___ is able to comprehend most complex sentences, even those with challenging grammatical elements.
37. ___ has made (minimal/moderate/significant] progress when it comes to (his/her) listening.
38. ___ is able to comprehend most expanded sentences, words with multiple meanings, and some common idioms.
39. ___ would benefit from increased exposure to the English language outside of an academic setting to improve his/her listening skill.
40. Listening is one of ___’s real strengths and she has taken full advantage of every chance to practice.
Reading Skills
41. ___’s reading skills are great! They can read full sentences by himself/herself.
42. ___ can read individual words, but finds it more difficult to read whole sentences.
43. ___ tends to rush when reading and skip or make mistakes easily.
44. ___ can read well but needs more practice, I suggest practicing with more short stories or comics.
45. ___ can read short sentences in English, but their reading comprehension level is low, so it often seems that they can’t understand the meaning of the sentence.
46. ___ can read short passages and then give their own opinions about what they have read.
47. ___ can read short passages and then identify the main ideas, topic sentence and key details.
48. In future, ___ can improve by reading about their favorite topics in English.
49. ___ can guess the meaning of new words from context – a valuable skill for language learners.
50. ___ is [usually/often/sometimes/rarely/un] able to comprehend the main idea and key details in classroom texts.
Writing Skills
51. ___ can write letters in English.
52. ___ can write their own basic, short sentences.
53. ___ can use written English to describe things.
54. ___ can use written English to write very short paragraphs.
55. ___’s writing is brilliant, but they need to try to expand their ideas and write with a few more details.
56. ___ finds it difficult to express their own thoughts in English.
57. ___ needs to work on their writing structure.
58. ___ should widen the vocabulary they use, as they tend to use the same words often. I recommend finding synonyms for words on the internet.
59. ___ still uses very simple sentences in English, I hope they can practice writing with more long and complex sentence structures.
60. ___ is good at writing in English but should try to add more adjectives to make their writing more descriptive.
Grammar Skills
61. ___ is able to form affirmative, negative and question sentences.
62. ___ needs to remember to conjugate verbs in the third person.
63. ___ doesn’t always use the correct tense when it is appropriate.
64. ___ needs to remember to use the past tense when talking about what they did last weekend.
65. ___ is able to produce new grammar accurately in class, but the knowledge tends to fade after a couple of weeks. He/she needs to review and reuse forms before going forward.
66. ___asks very perceptive questions during grammar presentations, which shows a good depth of understanding.
67. ___ recognizes and uses sentences in both the present simple and present continuous.
68. ___ needs to remember to include the verb ‘be’ when forming the present continuous.
69. ___ is able to produce new grammatical forms in textbook exercises, but sometimes struggles when it comes to speaking and writing new forms without prompts.
70. ___ is able to understand and use words in the correct sentence order.
Vocabulary
71. ___ is able to recognize and use a variety of new words connected to the theme (colors, classroom objects, animals, countries, clothes).
72. ___ recognizes new words but sometimes struggles to produce this vocabulary in English.
73. ___ worked incredibly hard this term and learned many new words.
74. ___ can understand and use question words such as who, where, and what.
75. ___ recognizes a range of words, but needs to improve their pronunciation in order to communicate with confidence.
76. ___ is able to use a range of nouns, verbs and adjectives correctly.
77. ___ gets confused between similar sounding words in English.
78. I would like to see ___ complete their homework in order to reinforce the knowledge they learned in class.
79. ___ has an outstanding vocabulary for his/her level of English and she is adding new words to it every day.
80. ___’s vocabulary covers a very broad range of different topics and contexts. He/she is also able to use words accurately and appropriately when communicating.
Phonics
81. ___ seems to have great phonemic awareness and can hear the different sounds in words.
82. ___ can put together letter sounds to read three-letter words such as ‘cat’ or ‘pig’.
83. ___ can read all of the alphabet sounds and can even identify words with the correct initial sounds.
84. ___ can remember so many letter sounds, be tends to get confused on tricky letters like ‘p/q’ or ‘b/d’.
85. ___ is good at reading digraph sounds, but often gets confused between the ‘sh’ and ‘ch’ sound
86. ___ sometimes gets confused between a letter and the sound it makes.
87. ___ is still struggling with alphabet sounds, I suggest practicing with phonics songs on YouTube.
88. ___ knows the individual letter sounds, but has a harder time putting them together to read a whole word.
89. ___ is good at reading short vowel sounds, but gets confused easily between the different long and short vowel sounds.
90. ___ has trouble reading words with diphthong sounds, such as ‘straw’ or ‘joy’, and needs more practice.
Final Thoughts
91. I wish ___ the best of luck next school year.
92. I am going to miss ___ in my classes – he/she was a joy to teach
93. I want to thank ___ for all his/her hard work this term.
94. Congratulations to ___ for their determination and hard work!
95. ___’s hard work paid off. Well done!
96. I am concerned about ___’s behavior and progress. Please contact me at your earliest possible convenience so we can talk about this more, and come up with a plan to get him/her back on track and thriving in class.
97. ___’s English has come on in leaps and bounds this year. Congratulations!
98. ___ needs to work hard to improve their English in the future.
99. ___ made many wonderful contributions in class. Thank you for your hard work!
100. ___ needs to come out of their shell in future classes. Try participating in class more by sharing experiences and give answers.
Report Card Adjectives
Here are some useful words to add to report card comments:
able, accurate, active, aggressive, ambitious, anxious, attentive, capable, cheerful, confident, cooperative, conscientious, courteous, dependable, determined, eager, energy, energetic, enthusiastically, follow directions, distinguish, fluently, friendly, generous, happy, helpful, hesitant, imaginative, independently, industrious, initiative, interested, keen, neat, nervous, observant, orderly, pleasant, polite, prompt, quiet, receptive, reliant, resourceful, studious.
Report Card Comments PDF
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