the assessment project

I'm still pretty sick 私は病気だった. I've been killing the time by fine tuning the paper I have to write about testing アセスメント "assessing" ESL students. The nice thing about writing is that even if the topic is something like testing 学科試験, you can always make it more interesting with a good allusion. Here's an excerpt:

First it is necessary to distinguish between formal and informal assessments.  
Formal assessment can often be equated with “testing”, and informal assessment
can be equated with “observation”.  The difference between a formal assessment
and an informal assessment is akin to the difference between a photograph (a
single moment captured in time) and an oil painting.  They are both pictures,
but informal assessment is like the process of composing an oil painting, where
after a few hours of applying paint to the canvas the basic picture is there--
but since oil paint dries very very slowly, the teacher is free to modify and
record any new details about the subject that emerge over time--so that in the
end the picture may become more complete.  
(The photograph could be called: Juan Pedro, Test Center B 11:13 am Jan 4th. 
The painting could be called “A Week in ESL Period 3: Juan Pedro participates
in a 4 member group poetry feedback session).