No cheating, no talking, no mobile phones.

The students were given their first monthly 'quiz' today. It's basically a mini exam to test the last four weeks worth of input and the marks obtained here will go towards their grand total in July next year.

Cheating is rife and can be pretty hard to manage. I've seen everything from the rather obvious little pieces of paper to the very tricky-to-spot communication via mobile phone hidden from view by a scarf.

I once failed a whole class for persistent chatter throughout one of these exams. Upon hearing this, they swore blind that I told them it was okay to ask other class members the answer to a question they didn't themselves know the answer to. It was even taken to the Dean as a complaint against me. Luckily, the Dean supported me fully and the lot of them got a big fat zero. Needless to say, I was not a popular teacher that month!

No cheating today, which is a relief. This group are my core class and are a brilliant bunch of students. They are sponsored by Shell and will all become Tour Guides after a couple of years with the college. The two guys at the front here, Ali and Yasser, are sparky and bright and are a big influence on the general classroom dynamics. They're going to do really well I think.