I have just spoken to one of my students. I dont know what i am doing wrong but there's no way she makes any any progress. and as nicely as i have the abiltiy to speak, I told her I was trying to find new ways to help her improve her language skills as i thought her progress was far slower than what it should be and that frustrated me as a teacher. I know that the bulk to the problem is that she does nothing, is careless when she speaks and doesn't try to use what has been seen in class. Lack of effort. But i needed to say it all as nicely as possible and that's being assertive and you are assertive by using 1st person singualar about things! the problem I see with this is that things are not as direct as they should be at times as the other party may not get the implicit message!
The answer i got was a very nice thanks and a comment about about how efficient I am (que soc molt professional). Curiously enough, last week, another student complimented my job with the same adjective!
Anna and D