I always think that the best way to learn everything is "learning by doing", for this I think that it is very good to write all fridays some lines about different topics because it is more real, and it helps us to perform better in the English language.
Also, it is very funny write when the topic we like. But, in my personal experience, sometimes I had a hard time deciding what write to each blog, my imagination was sleeping in those moments. It's terrible waste of time thinking about how to start or how continue, those were my critical moment in English, Lack of Imagination... but, in general it is very good in the development of students.
But, I think that this is not good enough, if there isn't a review, whitout feedback is very dificult improve mistake such as grammatical or spelling mistake, which is very important to we don't speak like Tarzan and we can stablish a fluid conversation.
The teacher is always willing to answer questions, but often we make mistakes without knowing, and without feedback, we never know in that we fail. That's what I fix in the English course.