MASTER S DEGREE PROJECT IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

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2 1. TITLE PAGE 2. INDEX TABLE OF CONTENTS 3. INTRODUCTION 3 4. THEORETICAL FOUNDATION OF THE MASTER S DEGREE PROJECT THEORETICAL BASIS: Psychological, sociological, pedagogical and epistemological sources of the teaching proposal Justification with the school curriculum 7 5. YEAR PLANNING 5.1 INTRODUCTION OBJECTIVES COMPETENCES CONTENTS, IDENTIFYING MINIMUM CONTENTS RELATION BETWEEEN competences,objectives and contents DISTRIBUTION AND TIMING OF CONTENTS IN UNITS PEDAGOGICAL METHODOLOGY EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES, ASSESSMENT CRITERIA AND REINFORCEMENT MEASURES TO PAY ATTENTION TO DIVERSITY AND STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS EDUCATION VALUES TEACHING MATERIALS AND RESOURCES COMPLEMENTARY AND EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES EDUCATIONAL INNOVATION PROJECT UNITS OF WORK MASTER S DEGREE PROJECT DEVELOPMENT PERSONAL CONSIDERATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS REFERENCES AND LEARNING MATERIALS ANNEXES 89 1

3 INTRODUCTION: The importance of teaching English English is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, is the language of the science world and the main language used for International communication. According to S. Berns (1984:21), Language is interaction; it is interpersonal activity and has a clear relationship with society. In this light, language study has to look at the use (function) of language in context, both its linguistic context (what is uttered before and after a given piece of discourse) and its social, or situational context(who is speaking, what their social roles are, why they have come together to speak). Learning to communicate in English is a way of establishing links with others, approaching and making sense of other cultures. According to D. Atkinson (1999:625) Except for language learning and teaching, there is perhaps no more important concept in the field of teaching than culture. Spain is deeply involved in the construction of the European Union, where the ability to speak to other Community languages is a key factor to promote free movement of people and enhance cultural, scientific and economic cooperation among its members. The significant improvement of mass media and the fast development of information and communication technologies have fostered an increase of international relations, particularly in English. The geographical location of Spain and its economic development in different sectors makes it essential to train our students to live in an increasingly international, multicultural and multilingual world. The aim of foreign language teaching in ESO is to enable the students to develop the discoursive competences that may take place in multiples domains: the personal domain, including common family and social practices; the education domain related to everyday situations and actions in the school; the academic domain related to the subject contents; the public domain, which includes everything related to common social interactions; and the mass media domain. The CEFR stated that: the different stages of communicative competence in a specific language, taking into account the ability of the student to carry out various communication tasks which require performing actions with a specific communication aim in a specific domain. 2

4 The general purpose of the master s degree project is to draw up the year planning in which is included the most relevant aspects that have been studied in the different master work programs as much in the common parts (psychology, sociology and pedagogy) as in the specific part which is directly related to the attended subject. So, the general aim of this essay is based on the practice application of the theoretical knowledge which has been acquired during the master period. In order to explain the parts that the work has been organized, it is necessary to explain that has been made in the order that it has been said in the work guide. It has been developed the nine points, integrating the most important concepts of both modules, specially highlighting those what have been used in the practice period, following the recommended structure. 4. THEORETICAL FOUNDATION OF THE MASTER S DEGREE PROJECT To establish the theoretical basis it has taken into account the current legislation, taking as point of reference national and regional legislation and insisting on the importance of the school education project. It is important to adapt the legislation to the educational reality, stage, grade and summarizing to the student community. Each school education project must always adapt the special circumstances in accordance with the provisions and provided under the current legislation. 4.1 THEORETICAL BASIS: Psychological, sociological, pedagogical and epistemological sources of the teaching proposal. During the theoretical part of the master, we have learnt the curricular sources from different points of view; psychological, sociological, epistemological and pedagogical parting from ideas of different authors that I will develop next in what it s referred to main aspects. Taking into account Piaget s theories on cognitive development, we should bear in mind the following aspects when we plan our year planning and design tasks for our students: cognitive levels, the importance of sequencing our instruction, the relevance of testing to find out the results of our teaching, the need to encourage social interaction to facilitate learning and the fact that adolescents thought processes are not same as adults. According to Erickson s theory, Individuals proceed through eight stages of development which begin at birth and conclude at death. This theory demonstrates the importance of the teacher s role in helping students establish their identity upon reaching adolescence. 3

5 As Erickson s Psychological theory states that: Human beings develop according to a preset plan, the epigenetic principle that consists of two main elements: Personality develops according to a predetermined pattern that is maturationally set and society is structured to encourage challenges that arise during these times. According to Kohlberg s theory, adolescents should be provided with hypothetical dilemmas where they can expose their feelings and openly discuss their viewpoints in choosing between conflictual situations. Through their discussions, adolescents become more aware of their power to make choices and decisions about their lives. The teacher s role in this case will be to act as a facilitator in encouraging, the students have to learn to voice and accept others opinions From another point of view, socio-cultural physicology, Lev Vygotsky posited two types of psychological functioning: natural: consisting of biological growth, both physical and cognitive development and cultural: consisting of learning to use psychological and cultural tools, including signs, symbols and language. According to Gardner s theory all human beings have several different kinds of intelligence. Before mentioning some of these kinds of intelligence I would like to comment that in the theorical part of the master, it has been insisted on the importance of valuing the multiple intelligences to understand our students in a better way and so, help them to progress in their learning process. Gardner based his theories on the following kinds of intelligence: Linguistic intelligence, logical-mathematical intelligence, spatial intelligence, musical intelligence, bodilykinesthetic intelligence, interpersonal intelligence and intrapersonal intelligence. Some authors have been mentioned as Piaget, Vygotsky, Erickson, Kholberg, Gardner, among others. All of them have studied the different aspects that have influence on cognitive and motor skill development. The practice of all of these theories has been applied to teach and develop the student learning conducts, to reach the best possible results. From the epistemological point of view according to Schommer (1990) personal epistemology may be described as a system of five dimensions, conceptualised as beliefs about: 1) The organisation of knowledge: from simple and compartmentalised to complex and highly integrated. 4

6 2) The certainty of knowledge: from the certain and absolute to the tentative and constantly evolving. 3) The source of knowledge: from handed down by omniscient authority to derived by reason. 4) The control of knowledge acquisition: from the ability to learn is innate and fixed at birth to ability to learn is acquired through experience. 5) The speed of knowledge acquisition: from learning is quick or not-at-all to learning is acquired gradually. Firstly, I have mentioned that we have found four sides of curricular sources: social, psychological, epistemological and pedagogical. Last one will be mentioned in the 5.7 point of the didactic program such as it is said in the recommended schema of the program guide. 4.2 JUSTIFICATION WITH THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM There are so many legal documents in the educational field, but I consider that it is compulsory to emphasized the education right, for that reason, I have chosen as starting point the Spanish Constitution, to serve as introduction to the most relevant aspects of the national and regional legislation, as well as the fulfillment of this legislative matter in the educational project. The Spanish education system is governed by article number 27 of the Spanish Constitution(CE 1978), which has been developed by consecutive education acts which regulate fundamental aspects of the education System, as well as its integration with the other systems in the Spanish legal framework. This article establishes the right to education. The LOE, Organic Act 2/2006 of 3 rd May establishes that: The cooperation and collaboration for the educational administrations alongside the local corporation in the planning and implementation of the educational policies (article 1). And more specifically, the official curriculum minimum content, which the central government establishes for the whole of Spain: Royal Decree 1631/ 2006 of 29 th December currently regulates the Curriculum Minimum Content for ESO and Bachillerato. 5

7 Next, it has to be mentioned the curriculum definition that appears in LOE, in its Chapter III, article 6, subparagraph 1 of LOE defines the CURRICULUM as: The set of objectives, basic competences, contents, methodological approaches and assessment criteria for each subject regulated by this law. The aim of the Curriculum Minimum Content, set in RD 1631/ 2006 of 29 th December is to ensure a common basic education for all students within the Spanish Education System and to guarantee the validity of the certificates issued by the Autonomous Regions. As regulate in the above legislation and based on it, each Autonomous Region then draws up its own official curriculum. Consequently, this didactic program design has taken into account the official curriculum for the Autonomous Region of Castilla- La Mancha: Decree 69/2007 of 29 th May of DOCM (Castilla-La Mancha). This law covers the issues on schools autonomy and it specifically states that the Educational establishment (school) has autonomy to draw up, approve and implement its particular education project and, every year, should draw up a didactic program. To concrete all that it has been referred before, it has to be highlighted that title V, chapter II, Articles of LOE covers the issues on school s autonomy. It specifically states that the educational establishment (school) has autonomy to draw up, approve and implement its particular Education project. Law is continually perfected and complemented to adapt itself to educative centers reality. The school education project should include the specification of the official curriculum set by the education authorities and the cross-curricular coverage of education in values and other teaching aspects. The education project will take into account the school s environment: the socioeconomic and cultural aspects of the area and add actions plans to respect with efficacy the attention to diversified communities including students with special education needs, like gifted students, students with some physical disability, etc. In my practice center, I have met students with special needs, who need specific requirements inside the class to be able to attend the lessons and be educated in a normal way. In the following part I will explain the main characteristics of the center where I have been teaching. 6

8 The I.E.S. Rey Pastor high school is located in the center of the town of Albacete. The foreign population has been increasing in the past few years and their children attend in the school. In the current course we find students from Argentina, India and China, among other countries. Most of them have been living in the town for few years and especially the families from Argentina and China come from an educated background. One of the objectives of this secondary school, reflected in the school education project, is to promote full integration of foreign students. During my practice period I have been teaching to the diversity group, ESO and Bachillerato. In the year planning, I will focus on the first course of ESO, that it is the course in which I have spent more hours. In the first course of ESO most of the students are aged 12. Physically the students are very active and in constantly wiggling and moving. The students are feeling somewhat un-balanced and unsure of themselves. Intellectually, some of them will still be at the concrete operational level while most of them will be at the first stages of the formal operational level, following Piaget s theory of cognitive development, one of the many authors that we have deeply studied in the theoretical part of the master. Those are some aspects we should take into account when we deal with students of ESO. Now it is detailed some of the relevant aspects that all of them share: They are very enthusiastic about their likes and feel passionate about their dislikes. They have a strong need to conform to their peers and they will also need to develop the ability to work in groups and cooperate with others, and they will be encouraged to start developing some autonomous learning. The students are highly motivated, although some of them feel shy when using the spoken language. Pair work and group work should contribute to give them confidence and will be used as much as possible.in the practice, I have checked that all the most important aspects I have commented and, based on the Piaget s theoretical conceptual basis, are a constant in the behavior of most students of ESO. 5. YEAR PLANNING 5.1 INTRODUCTION The European Council, within the Common Reference Framework for the learning, teaching and assessment of foreign languages, has established some guidelines both for the learning of foreign languages and for assessing the competences a speaker has on that language. 7

9 The Common European framework stated that: A comprehensive, transparent and coherent frame of reference for language learning, teaching and assessment must relate to a very general view of language use and learning. The Organic Act of Quality in Education (LOCE, 10/ th December), establishes in its article number 68: the pedagogic autonomy of teachers and its performance as Didactic programs. Since in the prior article we mentioned the year planning, I would like to add that it will specify the general objectives for a specific year within that stage; it will set the organization and timing of the contents for the specific year, the methodology to use with those specific students and the assessment criteria. Below, some of the aspects that have been taken into account in order to ensure as far as possible, the avoidance of learning problems: 1) Drawing up a school educational project which takes into account the actual situation of that specific school, its location, the different groups involved in the education project, the organization, the students involved, how those with special education will be integrated into the project and the main objectives for that year in that particular school. 2) Planning of objectives and contents around interest areas, making reference to assessment criteria which are well-known and within the reach of the students rather than a list of items to teach. 3) Clear connection between objectives and contents and activities designed to achieve those objectives, defining as clearly as possible the assessment criteria. 4) Planning the units of works and therefore the lessons within those units in such a way as to include different strategies which make provisions for diversity in the classroom. 5) Organizing contents around long term tasks and projects which provide the blocks of content with meaning. 6) Regular follow-up of students with special needs, providing them with help and support throughout the teaching session and making them aware of their progress even if it is limited progress. 7) Using teaching materials which are as close to their interests as possible, making use of audiovisual aids, DVDs, CDs, computers, newspapers and magazines, etc. 8

10 8) Developing approaches which allow students to control their own learning process: giving them self-assessment questionnaires (My progress check) at the end of each teaching unit. 9) Encouraging student participation in decisions related to their teaching process. 10) Providing flexible grouping among various groups or within the same group. The year planning is an effective way for sequencing the objectives, contents and the evaluation of the teaching- learning process. In the introduction, I ve emphasized the importance of the English language in the current society, and that is why we have to show and encourage to our young students, that in a near future they will need to master this language to progress in a more effectively in their career. As teachers, we have to encourage them to improve their English language skills. This makes more likely to get a good and well paid job. Some of these essential elements that I have taking into account to design the didactic program are the following: Legal documents, relevant aspects regarding the school and the students attending to the school in general and the students in particular group and class, objectives, contents, assessment criteria, methodology, resources and materials, reinforcement are planning to attend to the diversity, timing and distribution of the units of work, etc OBJECTIVES It is necessary to mention the legislative General Objectives for ESO: (Decree 69/2007 of Castilla-La Mancha) a) To be responsible to assume their duties and to know and exercise their rights by respecting people, being tolerant, cooperative and supportive for people and groups as well as using dialogue as a mean of consolidating human rights as common values of a plural and multicultural society and to be prepared to be an active citizen of the democratic society. b) To develop and to consolidate discipline, study and individual and group working patterns as a necessary condition to efficiently perform learning tasks and as a way of personal development. c) To value and to respect the gender difference and equal rights and opportunities for both sexes. To reject those stereotypes which mean discrimination between men and women. 9

11 d) To enhance affection in all areas of personality and in their relationships with others as well as to reject violence, any type of prejudices or sexist behavior and to peacefully resolve conflicts. e) To develop basic skills in the use of information sources in order to, with critical sense, acquire new knowledge. To acquire basic training in new technologies, especially in information and communication technologies. f) To conceive scientific knowledge as a compendium of knowledge structured in different disciplines and to know and apply methods to identify problems in different fields of knowledge and experience. g) To develop enterprising spirit, self-confidence, critical sense, personal initiative and the capacity to learn to learn, to plan, to make decisions and to assume responsibilities. h) To understand and express correctly, in oral and writing, Spanish complex texts and messages and to begin reading and studying literature as well as developing a taste and habit in reading. i) To understand and express themselves appropriately in one or more foreign languages in communicative situations and to develop interest and respect attitudes towards language diversity. j) To know, value and respect the basic aspects of own culture and history and others as well as artistic and cultural heritage. k) To know and accept how their body, and others bodies, works, to respect the differences, to consolidate healthcare habits and to incorporate physical education and sport exercising to promote personal and social development as well as to know and value the sexuality dimension with its diversity. To critically value social habits related to personal health and quality of life and responsible and sustainable consumption. l) To know and assume the principles of sustainable development and their consequences for the entire society; to critically value the use of environment and to acquire care habits towards living beings and the environment by contributing to their conservation and improvement. m) To appreciate artistic creations and to understand the language of the different artistic expressions by using different expression and representation means. n) To acquire basic training for professional insertion and to apply the knowledge acquired as an orientation for the future insertion in the labor and academic market. 10

12 The Decree 69/2007 of Castilla-La Mancha for ESO, in accordance with the LOE and the Royal Decree 1631/2006, establishes objectives of foreign language teaching in ESO, taking into consideration the ones which are closely connected to the design of our innovation project. 1. To listen and to understand general and specific information from oral texts in different communicative situation, by adopting a respectful and cooperative attitude. 2. To orally express and interact properly in frequent communicative situations in a comprehensible way with a certain level of autonomy, being able to express opinions about topics of their interest. 3. To read and understand different texts from a suitable level according to the student s capacities and interests in order to look for general and specific information. 4. To write simple texts with different purposes about different topics by using suitable mechanisms of cohesion and coherence. 5. To know and use in a reflexive way, with autonomy and correction, linguistic norms of use, phonetic, lexical, structural and functional elements in real communicative contexts. 6. To use the language as an efficient instrument to learn, to look for information and to present projects in the different subjects, paying special attention to the use of information and communication technologies as well as multimedia resources. 7. To develop autonomy in the learning process and in self-evaluation; to think about own learning processes and to transfer to the foreign language the knowledge and communication strategies acquired in other languages. 8. To value the foreign language and languages in general, as a means of communication and understanding among people with different origins, languages and cultures, thus avoiding any kind of discrimination and linguistic or cultural stereotypes. 9. To read in the foreign language original books of their interest and develop reading habits as a source of pleasure and personal enrichment. Once I have studied in the master s program as national as regional laws, it can be concluded that they are similar about exposed content (national and regional objectives of foreign language teaching in ESO), and the main difference is the redaction way. 11

13 So, it is relevant the uniformity and coherence of the legislative material about specific objectives of the subject. 5.3 COMPETENCES Before developing the competence concept, I would like to comment its origin. Although, the LOCE mentioned the competences, without defining them or establishing which competences were relevant. The competences appear in the Spanish education system with the LOE. In fact, competences are mentioned in the 6 th article in which curricular is defined as: series of objectives, key competences, contents, methodology and evaluation criteria. A key competency is the ability to integrate knowledge, skills and attitudes in a practical way to solve problems and react appropriately in a variety of contexts and situations. It is the integration and application of theoretical and practical knowledge in settings outside the academic context. So, we must affirm that the inclusion of basic competences in the official curriculum pursue several aims: a) To integrate different types of learning, both formal, through the different subjects and non-formal. b) To allow the students to combine what they have learnt and use it when required in different contexts and situations. c) To guide the teaching practice, through the identification of contents and assessment criteria. The basic competences included in the legislation: Linguistic communication, mathematics, knowledge of and interaction with the physical world, dealing with information and digital competence, social and citizenship competence, cultural and artistic competence, learning to learn, autonomous learning, and emotional competence, which is specific of Castilla-La Mancha Region. CEFR, European Council, 2001 establish the following Key Competences: 1.-Communicative Competence: It is the competence to use language as the tool for both oral and written communication, for the representation, interpretation and understanding of reality, the building up and communication of knowledge and the selfregulation of thoughts, feelings and behavior. 12

14 Learning a foreign language improves communicative competence in general, since it develops the skill of both oral and written expression, using conventions and language appropriate for each situation, interpreting the different kinds of discourse in various contexts and functions. 2.-Mathematics: This competence involves the ability to understand, use and relate to numbers, their basic operations the symbols and the form of expression in mathematical reasoning, to produce and interpret different types of information as well as to broaden the knowledge of quantitative aspects and spatial reality, and to understand and resolve problems and situations related to everyday life, scientific knowledge and the labour and social world. 3.-Knowledge of and interaction with the physical world: It is supposed that the application of the scientific-technical idea to interpret the information received and to predict and take decisions with initiative and autonomy in a world in which advances that are produced in the scientific and technical world are very fast and have a conclusive influence in our life s, society and the natural world. It also implies the difference and value of the scientific knowledge in contrast with other forms of knowledge, and the use of values and ethic judgments associated with science and the technological development. 4.-Digital and information processing competence: It is the ability to search for, obtain process and communicate information, and transform it into knowledge. Different skills are involved, from access to and selection of the information, to its use and transmission through different media, and the use of ITC as an essential element of communication. Acquisition of this competence involves the use of technological resources to resolve problems efficiently, keeping a critical and reflective attitude when evaluating the available information. 5.-Social and civic competence: This competence enables the student to form a part of the society where they live in, understand how it functions and play a part, as a democratic citizen, in an ever more diverse society. It involves the individual patterns of behaviour which facilitate peaceful coexistence, relationships with others, cooperation, commitment, and the resolution of conflicts. The acquisition of this competence involves being capable of putting oneself in the place of others, accepting differences, being tolerant and respecting the values, beliefs, cultures and personal and collective history of those around one. 13

15 It implies an understanding of the social situation we live in, and the ability to respond to conflicts with ethical values, exercising with solidarity and responsibility the rights and obligations we have as citizens. 6.-Cultural and artistic competence: It implies knowledge, appreciation, understanding and critical evaluation of different cultural and artistic manifestations, both for the sake of enjoyment and as a source of personal enrichment, and considering them as part of the heritage of different cultures. It involves an appreciation of art and other manifestations of culture, keeping an open-minded attitude towards different types of Art, preserving the common cultural heritage and encouraging one s own creative capacity. 7.-Learning to learn competence: It involves beginning to learn and being capable of continuing to learn autonomously, looking for and finding answers in a rational manner. This means accepting a variety of possible answers to the same problem, and being motivated to use different methodologies to find them. It implies being able to organize one s own learning, and an efficient use of intellectual resources and techniques. The UNESCO International Commission on Education maintains that the concept of lifelong learning is the key that opens the door to the new millennium. The Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) lays particular stress on the benefits of lifelong learning in the occupational sphere, claiming that it improves productivity and earning. 8.-Autonomy and personal initiative competence: This involves making choices following one s own criteria, carrying out the initiatives necessary to develop one s choice, and taking responsibility for one s decisions both in social and personal domains and in the workplace. The acquisition of this competence implies creativity, innovation, responsibility and a critical approach in the development of individual or group projects. 9.-Emotional competence (Castilla-La Mancha): This competence is acquired when a student can tackle any action, taking on the challenges it might involve in a responsible way, by establishing positive social relationships with the surrounding and getting to know oneself. Its acquisition entails development and empowerment of student s self esteem, confidence and their own possibilities. 14

16 During the theorical part of the master we have been told about Salovey and Mayer authors who widely developed the emotional intelligence concept that is related to people who have developed skills related to Emotional Intelligence understand and express their own emotions, recognize emotion in others and regulate affect. Although, I have just talked about the key competences settled in the CEFR European Council 2001, now, I will toughly develop the Communicative competence, the one directly connected with English as a Foreign Language. COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE COMPETENCE can be considered as comprising several components: Linguistic, sociolinguistic and pragmatic. According to CEFR Council of Europe, 2001, the communicative competence comprises five subcompetences: 1) Linguistic competence: knowledge of formal elements to formulate meaningful messages. Lexical competence, Grammatical Competence (morphology and syntax, is the ability to put into practice the rules that govern the language system), Semantic competence, Phonological competence, Orthographic competence, ortoephic competence (pronunciation). Learning a foreign language directly contributes to acquiring linguistic competence. Moreover, the contribution of the foreign language towards the development of this competence is essential in oral discourse since acquiring the skills of listening, speaking and conversation is particularly relevant. Learning a foreign language improves communicative competence in general, since it develops the skill of both oral and written expression, using conventions and language appropriate for each situation, interpreting the different kinds of discourse in various contexts and functions. 2) Sociolinguistic competence: Skills required to deal with the social dimension of language use. Learning a foreign language will also contribute to developing the learning to learn competence since it enhances language abilities in general, providing new possibilities and resources to understand and express oneself; it is also a good means to develop social and citizenship competence, since it encourages respect for other ways of thinking and to develop team work through interactions. Sociolinguistic competence is the ability to adapt the language used to a particular context, taking into account what is accepted in a given situation by native speakers. 15

17 3) Pragmatic: Learner s knowledge of the principles according which messages are: 4) Discourse competence (Organized and structured), is the ability to use different types of discourse according to the communicative situation and the speakers involved. 5) Functional competence (Used to perform communicative functions). The process of English language acquisition is conceived as a creative one in which the student, based on his/ her knowledge of the language, can formulate hypothesis in order to work out the rules governing the language. The mistakes made by the students are not seen as a kind of failure but as evidence of the progression of the learning process. The basic language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) have been integrated and form part of communicative activities. The aim is that students become capable of producing oral and written messages in English with at least the basic level of fluency and correction necessary for effective communication. To conclude this part, I would like to mention that the introduction of the Key competences implies changes in teaching methods: Essential learning(from knowledge to being competent), Constructive learning (understanding and applying), Reproductive learning(repetition), Research and use of technological resources, Student autonomy, Group work, Transfer of learning, coordination between departments, integration of formal and informal learning, among others. 5.4 CONTENTS, IDENTIFYING MINIMUM CONTENTS The contents for the first course of ESO are the following RD 1631/ 2006 and Decree 69/2007 of 29 th May of DOCM (Castilla -La Mancha), the contents have been grouped into three categories: Language skills, knowledge of the language in use and social and cultural dimension. Specifically for the 1 st year, the contents for the language skills in the four blocks are the following: BLOCK 1: Listening, speaking and conversing (The same for RD. 1631/ 2006 & Decree of Castilla- La Mancha). At this stage, oral communication is particularly important. This is why the first block focuses on developing communicative oral competence, exposing the students to a wide range of speakers so that they can appreciate the variety and nuances in the language. To end, it is important to use both traditional audiovisual resources and information and communication technology resources. In this part the students have to be able: 16

18 - To listen and understand short oral messages relating to classroom activities: instructions, questions, comments and dialogues. - To guess the general content of what is being listened to with the aid of both verbal and non-verbal elements. - To extract specific information from oral texts on predictable, everyday issues such as numbers, prices, timetables, names or places, presented through different support means. - To use basic strategies to understand oral messages: use of both verbal and nonverbal contexts, and of the previous knowledge one has of the specific situation. - To produce short oral messages with a logical structure and appropriate pronunciation. - To take part in short simple conversations in the classroom and in simulations related to personal experiences or interests. - To give appropriate responses to the information requested by the teacher or the classmates in classroom activities. - To develop strategies to overcome interruptions in the communication process, making use of verbal and non-verbal elements to express oneself orally in pair and group work activities, asking for repetition or clarification, among other strategies. BLOCK 2: Reading and writing (The same for RD 1.631/2006 and Decree 69/2007 dated of 29 th May of DOCM (Castilla-La Mancha). The reading and writing block includes procedures to develop discursive written competence. Written texts serve both as models for textual composition and as practice and learning of language forms. For the 1 st of CSE the following contents have been specified: - To understand basic instructions to carry out required activities appropriately. - To understand general and specific information(discarding that which is not relevant) in simple authentic and specially adapted texts, presented on paper and digitally, on various topics appropriate to the students age and related to the contents of other subjects in the curriculum. - To read with a certain degree of autonomy texts adapted to their age, interests and level of competence. 17

19 - To use basic strategies for reading comprehension: identification of the topic in a text with the help of both textual and non-textual elements, using previous knowledge on it, inferring meaning from context, and from the comparison between similar words or phrases in the languages the student is familiar with. - To identify some of the features and conventions typical of the written language and differences between written and oral language. - To develop guided written expression, such as completing or modifying simple sentences or paragraphs. - To draft up short texts with basic cohesive elements, with different communicative purposes, following models and using the most basic strategies of written expression. (Planning, drawing up, and revising). - To use basic spelling and punctuation rules, acknowledging their importance in basic communication. - To give an incentive to present written text on paper and electronically with a minimum standard of tidiness. BLOCK 3: Knowledge of the language in use, should promote the inference of linguistic rules governing the language, so that the students can see which elements in the foreign language are similar to those in the language(s) they are competent in an which strategies could be uses to make progress in the target language. Regarding the Knowledge of the language, these are the contents included in RD 1631/2006: Linguistic Knowledge: 1) To identify basic morphological elements common in language: noun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, etc. 2) To identify and use common expression, simple stock phrases and lexis relating to specific everyday contexts and contents from other subjects in the curriculum. 3) To use basic structures and functions relating to the most predictable everyday situations. 4) To identify and reproduce basic rhythm, intonation and stress patterns in words and sentences. 18

20 Reflection on the learning process: 1) To implement basic strategies to organize, acquire, remember and use the lexis covered. 2) To use Progressive learning resources such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, libraries and Information and Communication Technologies. 3) To guide reflection upon the use and meaning of grammar forms appropriate for different communicative intentions. 4) To initiate into self-assessment and self-correction strategies in both written and oral communication. 5) To accept mistakes as an integral part of the learning process and positive attitude to overcome them. 6) To organize individual work as a strategy to make progress in the learning process. 7) To interest to take advantage of the learning situations created both inside and outside the classroom. 8) To participate active in group-work and activities. 9) To show confidence and initiative to express oneself in public and in writing. BLOCK 4: SOCIO-CULTURAL ASPECTS AND INTERCULTURAL AWARENESS, which contribute to provide the students with an insight into customs, social relations, features and peculiarities of the countries where the language is spoken; that is into ways of life different from their own. This insight will foster attitudes of tolerance and acceptance, will enhance interest in learning about other social and cultural forms and will promote intercultural communication, since languages also contain features and traits of the cultures they serve as the means of expression. SOCIO-CULTURAL aspects and INTERCULTURAL awareness: - To acknowledge and value the foreign language as a communication tool in the classroom and with people from other culture. - To identify customs and everyday life features characteristics of the countries and cultures where the foreign language is spoken. 19

21 - To use the appropriate formulaic expressions for social interchanges. - To knowledge of some historical and geographical events from the countries where the foreign language is spoken, extracting information on it from various resources, among them, the Internet and other information and communication technologies. - To show interest and initiative to carry out communicative exchanges with speakers or learners of the foreign language through conventional or electronic means. - To value the personal wealth derived from having contact with people. 5.5 RELATION BETWEEN COMPETENCES, OBJECTIVES AND CONTENTS General Objectives Objectives of FLT CEFR, Key Competences Contents H, I 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 1. Communicative competence Blocks: 1,2, 3, 4 E 6, 7 4. Digital and information processing competence A,B,C,D 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8 5. Social and civic competence J,M 8 6. Cultural and Artistic Competence B,E,G 5, 6, 7 7.Learning to learn competence G,N 1, 2, 5, 7, 8 8. Autonomy and personal initiative competence A, B, C, D, G, N 2, 4, 7, 8 9.Emotional competence Blocks: 2, 3 Blocks:1, 3, 4 Block: 4 Blocks: 1, 2, 4. Blocks: 1, 2, 3, 4. Blocks: 3, 4 20

22 5.6. UNITS OF WORK - TIMING: The number of contact weeks is 34 and the number of hours is 106. There are 9 units in total, each including a number of sessions, which may vary in number. In general, each unit has 10 teaching sessions, while other may include 12, 13 or 15. In any case, the timing is flexible, as it will depend on how long certain key activities take. PLANNING : 1 st TERM SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER WEEK 1 Unit 1 3 hours IN THE UK Unit 2 Having fun 3 hours Unit 3 Taste Of Britain 3 hours WEEK 2 Unit 1 3 hours IN THE UK Unit 3 3 hours Taste of Britain Unit 3 Taste Of Britain 3 hours WEEK 3 Unit 1 3 hours Unit 2 3 hours Unit 3 3 hours IN THE UK. Having fun Taste of Britain WEEK 4 Unit 1 3 hours Unit 2 4 hours Unit 3-3 hours IN THE UK. Having fun Taste of Britain PLANNING : 2 nd TERM JANUARY FEBRUARY MARZ WEEK 1 Unit 4 Getting around 3 hours. WEEK 2 Unit 4 Getting around 4 hours. WEEK 3 Unit 4 Getting around 3 hours WEEK 4 Unit5 Today s sport 3 hours. Unit5 Today s sport- 3 hours Unit5 Today s sport 4 hours Unit5 Today s sport 3 hours Unit 6 Our world 3 hours Unit 6 Our world- 3 hours Unit 6 Our world- 3 hours Unit 6 Our world- 3 hours PLANNING : 3 rd TERM APRIL MAY JUNI WEEK 1 Unit 7: 3hours Unit 8: 3hours Unit 9 Summer holidays I love music! Famous people 3 hours. WEEK 2 Unit 7: 3hours Unit 8: 4hours Unit 9 Summer holidays I love music! Famous people 3 hours. WEEK 3 Unit 7: 4hours Unit 8: 3hours Unit 9 Summer holidays I love music! Famous people 3 hours. WEEK 4 Unit 8: 3hours Unit 9: 3hours Famous people Summer holidays 21

23 Taking into account the general objectives of ESO, the following objectives for this 1 st year have been established in the 9 units: 1) To know about and exercise their rights and obligations, particularly showing mutual respect and tolerance. This will be done mostly through pair and group work, role plays and discussions carried out throughout the year. The following units focus on this objective: Unit 1: In the UK; Unit 2: Having fun; Unit 6: Our world. The objectives number 2, 3, 4 and 5 will be developed as better as possible, during all the classes and in all the programmed activities in the course. 2) To develop and consolidate the right attitude towards discipline, study, individual and group work. Specific rules will be set at the beginning of the course, negotiated with the students. 3) To value and respect sex differences and equal rights and opportunities for both sexes. This will be pervasive throughout the class development and through some specific texts, mostly in pair and group work. 4) To reinforce and promote affective skills at a personal and social level, the concept of group-work and value other s ways of thinking. To achieve this, is essential: group work and the participation of the whole class. 5) To develop basic skills in order to use different sources of information so as to acquire new knowledge with a critical eye. This will be initiated in the first course of compulsory secondary education, and carried on and improved on throughout the following years. 6) To understand scientific knowledge as an integrated discipline which includes different subjects, and be aware of and apply the appropriate methods in order to identify problems. More specifically, this will be covered on Unit 2: Having fun, Unit 3: Taste of Britain; Unit 4: Getting around; Unit 5: Today s sports; Unit 7: I love music! ; Unit 8: Famous people; Unit: 9: Summer holidays. The following objectives, number 7 and 8, are common and they will be studied during the scholar period. 22

24 7) To develop an entrepreneurial spirit and self-confidence, a critical attitude, personal initiative and the ability to learn to learn, plan, make decisions and assume responsibilities. To achieve this, students will have to give short presentations of the work done either individually or in group work. 8) To understand and express oneself appropriately in one or more foreign languages. Focusing on the contents, skills and competence development for this year. 9) To learn the basics aspects of History and culture and respect one s cultural and artistic heritage. Learn about different cultures and societies, with the aim of valuing them critically and at the same time showing respect not only towards one s own culture but also others. This will be done through texts, songs, cartoons and listening activities. More specifically, the following units focus on this objective: Unit 1: In the UK; Unit 2: Having fun; Unit 3: Taste of Britain; Unit 4: Getting around; Unit 6: Our world; Unit 8: Famous people; Unit 9: Summer holidays. 10) To know about the functioning of one s own and other people bodies, showing respect for the differences. This topic will be covered in this units: Unit 1: In the UK; Unit: 2: Having fun; Unit 5: Today s sports, Unit 8: Famous people. The teaching sessions will not always follow the same procedure, but rather will depend on the objectives and contents designed for that specific session. Some of the sessions will follow the traditional procedure of: - Warm-up (Introduction to the English class and the focus of the lesson) + Presentation of the lexis/ structures+ controlled practice(through repetition drills, or guided and controlled activities, in pair or individual work) + free production(through activities where students will have to use the lexis and structures learnt, in pairs, groups or sometimes individually). The activities designed will try to make students use logic in their arguments and apply this logic to specific tasks. They will involve decision-making, categorization of the information given, comparison of one s beliefs with those of others, descriptions, and various types of interactions with their classmates. Pair work will be frequently used and also individual work monitored by the teacher. There will also be some group work, especially in the production stage of the unit or when carrying out a particular task. 23

25 It is important to highlight the oral production as a special competence, which needs to be studied several hours per week to improve it and reinforce the communicative competence. It has been included in the annexes the nine unit s schemas, taking into account the main competences and contents PEDAGOGICAL METHODOLOGY The pedagogic methodology takes part of the curricula resources. Although in the point 2.3 of the program I mentioned the social and epistemological curricula resources, I finished stating that in this epigraph I would complete the information, talking about the pedagogic perspective. First of all I would like to remark that student-centred pedagogy requires that we understand our students and to If we do it so, we will get some information about who our students are and what behaviour patterns they have. The main role of the English language teacher is to help the students to express themselves better, so that they can gain that self-confidence which is essential when putting together thoughts in another language. There are two dimensions of language learning and teaching: The Horizontal and the Vertical dimension. Once more, I will refer to CEFR, European Council, 2001, concretely I will mention the CEFR S actionoriented approach to the description of language use supports what might be described of language learning and teaching. Relative to any level of proficiency it enables us to considerer how the capacities of the language learner, the different aspects of language activity, and the conditions and constraints imposed by context combine to shape communication. And the Vertical dimension: PROFICIENCY LEVELES. The CEFR divides learners into three broad divisions which can be divided into six levels: A) BASIC SPEAKER: 1- A1 BREAKTROUGH ( Beginner) 2- A2 WAYSTAGE( Elementary Level) B) INDEPENDENT SPEAKER: 1- B1 THRESHOLD( Pre-intermediate) 2- B2 AVANTAGE( Intermediate) C) PROFICIENT SPEAKER: 1- C1 EFFECTIVE OPERATIONAL PROFICIENCY ( Upper Intermediate) 2- C2 MASTERY( Advanced) It is the enumeration, which has been established by the CEFR, Council of Europe Due to this enumeration, we have an objective perspective about the levels acquired by the students. The CEFR describes what a student is supposed to be able to do in reading, listening, speaking and writing at each level. 24

26 The pedagogic practice is a topic which has been studied by many experts in the educative field. H. D. Brown (Brown 2007:15) states that: Methodology is a plan for teaching language. It is based on theories of how language is learned and how it should be taught. It also describes the roles of learners and teachers in the classroom, what is learned in what order, and what materials and classroom activities are involved. Approach is considered to be the theoretical positions and attitudes about the nature of language and language learning, and the enforceability of both to pedagogical settings. Method, in turn, is defined as a generalized set of classroom specifications for achieving linguistic aims. A fundamental characteristic in teaching languages is the variety of approaches and methods available. We can choose methods or materials according to the students needs or even according to the conditions of the educational situation in a specific school. The first one is called Grammar translation method and it is the most traditional one. Long lists of vocabulary and explanation of grammar rules are provided by the teacher. It is not required that the teacher has special teaching skills because the important thing is the knowledge of grammar. Learners are used to memorize grammar rules and vocabulary. The class is focused on translation of texts and learners do not learn to speak or use language to communicate. Richards and Rodgers(1986:4) stated that: It is hard to decide which is more surprising - the fact that this method has survived right up until today (alongside a host of more modern and more "enlightened" methods), or the fact that what was essentially a method developed for the study of "dead" languages involving little or no spoken communication or listening comprehension is still used for the study of languages that are very much alive and require competence not only in terms of reading, writing and structure, but also speaking, listening and interactive communication. The Direct method : The direct method of teaching was developed as a response to the Grammar-translation method. The weakness in the direct method is its assumption that a second language can be learnt in exactly the same way as a first, when in fact the conditions under which a second language is learnt are very different. The Audiolingual method : The teacher organizes drills, presents grammar patterns and corrects errors and students learn language by memorizing patterns. In this method, the class focuses on substitution exercises, pronunciation exercises and pattern drills. This method was one of the first to have its roots "firmly grounded in linguistic and psychological theory" (Brown 1994:57), which apparently added to its credibility and probably had some influence in the popularity it enjoyed over a long period of time. 25

27 The Silent way is an approach designed to allow students to become independent, autonomous and responsible learners. It is part of a more general pedagogical approach to teaching and learning created by Caleb Gattegno. This method guides students to develop their own conceptual models of all the aspects of the language. This method fosters cooperative learning between individuals. It embodies a new approach to education in general, a respect for the individual and an awareness of the individual s extraordinary cognitive powers. The self-esteem of the students will be increased and this will enhance learning. J. Asher introduced the idea of teaching languages using Total physical response. His first paper on TPR, showed how language can be taught using commands: the teacher gives the command, models the movement, and the student performs the action. Students are not asked to speak, only to try to understand and obey the command. The teacher says: Stand up, and the students also stand up. Gradually the commands get more complicated. Focusing on the methods, they are equally effective; all of them depend on the learning process that is being used in that moment in the educational center. I have mentioned some of the most common methods: Grammar translation method, direct method, total phisycal response method, audio-lingual method, etc Currently, those methods are used depending on the contents. During my practice period giving lessons, we combined those methods and all of them work correctly EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT IN ESO Upon again, before deepening the main topic, I will mention the legislation of reference. We can state that in the Article 10 of RD 1.631/2006 states that assessment of the learning process in ESO should be continuous and focused on the different subjects. Teachers should assess their students bearing in mind the different elements in the official curriculum. The assessment criteria for a specific subject should be the main reference to assess both the acquisition of basic competences and the achievement of the objectives. When a student has not achieved the objectives, measures should be adopted as taken to reinforce the learning process. 26

28 These measures should be adopted as soon as deficiencies are identified and should be geared towards ensuring that the student achieves the minimum objectives to continue with his or her learning process. Both the students learning acquisition and the learning process itself should be assessed. In this point, we have to remark that in the theorical part of the master, it was highlighted the importance of the Program for International student assessment PISA, is an internationally standardized assessment that was jointly developed by participating countries and administered to 15-year-olds in schools. PISA assesses how far students near the end of compulsory education have acquired some of the knowledge and skills that are essential for full participation in society. PISA measures the basics competences, it s to say, the student s capacity of practicing what she/he has learnt. Despite of the slightly improvements of the results compared to the last report, made in 2006, Spain is under the European average. It seems to be that the factor which weighs down the results in both cases is the High percentage of repeating students per year (36%) whose performance is in general deficient. If this circumstance had disappeared, Spain would be beyond OCDE average, as the Education State Secretary has explained. ASSESSMENT IN LANGUAGE TEACHING: Assessment plays such an important part in language that it is reflected in the curriculum design, set by the various Education Authorities in the corresponding Royal Decrees and Decrees and Orders both at the national and regional level. To follow, I will talk about the different kinds of evaluation methods at the current state legislation: 1) Initial Assessment: at the beginning of the academic year to determine the student s language proficiency, their background, needs, etc. Bearing in mind the Official Curriculum teacher sets objectives, plans units and selects tasks, topics and materials, incorporating here the results from the initial assessment. Examples: Observe students during: Class discussion, reading/writing activities, pair work, group work, etc. 2) Formative Assessment: teacher collects ongoing assessment information through a variety of methods, in different contexts and over a period of time(student s performance in activities, pronunciation, writing, etc, though direct observation, formal assessment, assessment of specific tasks; for a month, after the unit has been completed, etc. 27

29 This formative assessment will provide feedback to the students, and will help the teacher to reflect on the appropriateness of the content, the effectiveness of the methodology and the student s performance. Examples: Observe and assess students: Presenting something to the rest of the class, performing a designated role or task in a group, during reading or writing activities, formal tests, student s file/ portfolio, etc. 3) Summative assessment: the assessment information collected through a variety of methods over a certain period of time will help the teacher to make overall judgments of the students: for example, decide on the level of language development, on the progress made, etc. Examples: analysis of questionnaires, self assessment forms. Besides the evaluation criteria that have been described before, which are essential to get correct students evaluations, we can distinguish, among others, the following types of assessment which appear in (chapter 9 of a Common European Framework): A) Proficiency assessment: It is the assessment of what someone can do in relation to the application of the subject in the real world. It represents an external perspective. In the practice classes I have worked with real texts about the current environment where the students live, in order to motivate them to learn this language through the practice application: in order to compete in today s labor market. B) Direct assessment: It is assessing what the student is actually doing. It is important to correct them directly and immediately so those mistakes can be corrected as soon as possible. From my personal experience, it has had a positive effect to teach the students that making mistakes is a natural process in the educative field. C) Indirect assessment: It uses a test, usually on paper, which often assesses enabling skills. Reading can, for example, only be assessed indirectly by requiring learners to demonstrate evidence of understanding by finishing sentences, answering questions, etc. This procedure, concretely the reading skill, I applied it in one of my class, where we were working with the programmed book of the lecture plan. D) Objective assessment: It is assessment in which subjectivity is removed. What is normally meant by this is a test in which the items have only one right answer. At the beginning of my classes, I prepared a level test for all the students to know their level and depending on the results to reinforce their weakness in the following classes 28

30 ASSESSMENT CRITERIA for the 1 st Year of ESO: In the first course of ESO, It is necessary that students are able: 1) To understand the most relevant overall and specific information from simple oral texts produced face to face or through audiovisual based on everyday topics. The criterion will be used to assess the student s capability to understand the basic meaning of dialogues produced face to face and through audiovisual means, even if not everything is understood perfectly. The purpose is to assess whether the student is able to identify the meaning of instructions, comments, questions and answers, brief dialogues, descriptions and brief narrative. 2) To communicate orally by taking part in very brief oral exchanges(conversations and role-plays) relating to well known topics or issues previously worked on, by using appropriate strategies to make communication flow possible and with an outcome which are both comprehensible and appropriate to the communicative intention. This criterion is used to assess the capability of students to communicate, taking part in real and role-played conversation exchanges on familiar topics. The oral exchanges will mainly consist of about their experiences on familiar topics and in predictable situations, using linguistic resources and strategies to ensure that the communication process actually takes place. The student s outcomes may have some lexical, morphosyntactic or pronunciation flaws as long as they do not prevent communication. 3) To identify the main idea and extract specific information from written texts appropriate to their age, with the aid of both textual and non-textual element on various topics and others related to some of the subjects in the curriculum. This criterion is used to assess the capability of the students to understand a variety of texts: instructions, letters, descriptions, brief narratives, messages, questionnaires, etc by putting into practice basic reading strategies such as inferring meaning from context or visual prompts, or by comparing the languages the student knows. This criterion is also used to assess the student s ability to read a variety of texts, both on paper and digitally, of a certain length, in order to learn about something or simply for pleasure, making use of a dictionary if necessary. 4) To draft short, simple texts making use of different means and using the appropriate structures, functions and lexis, as well as some basic cohesive rules. 29

31 This criterion is used to assess the capability to draft. The texts should contain common words, simple sentences and basic links. The texts should also be assessed for clarity and tidiness. 5) To use one s knowledge of the formal aspects of the foreign language code (morphology, syntax and phonology), in various communication contexts, as a mean of self-learning and correction of one s own productions and to better understand those made by others. This criterion is used to assess the capability of students to apply their linguistic knowledge to the production of sounds, rhythm, intonation and language organization in various activities, and to reflect upon the need for formal accuracy for a better understanding of both their own and other s productions. 6) To identify, use and give examples of some of the strategies used in their learning progress. This criterion aims to assess whether the student is using basic strategies that facilitate learning, such as the ability to assess their own progress, to reflect on one s particular way of learning faster and better, to accept errors as part of the learning process, to use various tools to store, memorize and review lexis; correct use of dictionaries to identify the exact meaning of a word in context; use of bibliographic, computer-assisted or digital means to extract information, expand on or review the different features which have been worked on in the classroom, etc. 7) To use information and communication technologies, always highly supervised, to look for information, produce messages following some given patterns to establish personal relations, showing interest to use them. This criterion will help to assess the capability of students to use information and communication technologies as a tool of communication and learning, in common class activities and to establish personal relationships. The communication exchanges will deal with familiar topics which have been previously worked on and follow certain patterns. The students attitude should also be assessed here. 8) To identify some of the cultural or geographical elements which characterize English-speaking countries and show interest in learning about them. This criterion assesses the knowledge the students have of the socio-cultural and geographical context of the English-speaking countries and the level of interest in and appreciation of other people s culture, values, and customs shown by the students. 30

32 In the annexes (pages 87, 88 and 89) I will include a graphic with the percentages, in which it can be checked that the oral production is highly marked, because I consider is one of the most important skills for the progress of the students in this subject. The percentages are the following: 30% speaking and attitude, 20% reading and listening, 20% writing and 30% the exam. Besides evaluating the kills in the graphics appears portfolio as strategy to assess writing skills in English. In my own opinion, it is interesting to include a portfolio as a strategy of alternative evaluation that lets us compile the information that shows the awareness and achievements of our students. It is to say, it shows how they think, they ask, they analyze, they synthesize, they create or produce and the way they interact (intellectually, emotionally and socially) among others, so it let us identify the learning process of concepts, procedures, and attitudes of the students REINFORCEMENT AND ATTENTION TO DIVERSITY Reinforcement and attention to diversity are widely considered issues in the educative legislation. To continue the legislative references about these aspects are the following: Royal Decree 1631/2006 of 29 December 2006 on minimum requirements for secondary education establishes that: compulsory secondary must be organized according to the principles of common provision and attention to student diversity. The article 12 of RD, states that: Compulsory secondary education is organized around the principles of common education and catering for student s diversity. The measures to pay attention to diversity should be geared to addressing the specific education needs of the students and to the achievement of the objectives. Under no circumstances should these measures involve any kind of discrimination which prevents the students from achieving the minimum objectives or getting the appropriate qualifications. It is the responsibility of the Education Authorities to regulate the different measures to cater for diversity. Among these measures should be included: flexible groupings, support for mainstream groups, division of groups, reinforcement measures, curricular diversification and other customized programs. The plan to pay attention to diversity establishes that measures should be taken to attend to the different needs of the students and that those measures should be included in the school s annual year planning, with the following features: 31

33 The measures are transitional and reviewable, they will be suggested by the tutor with the cooperation of the rest of the teaching staff, they will be coordinated by the Director of studies with the help of the counseling team, they will be the least restrictive possible, and they will encourage the student s participation within the class group. To pay attention to diversity, the didactic program should also include special activities for those students who in spite of going up the following level had not reached the promotional standards for the previous one and activities for those students who must remain in the same level for two consecutive years. The Spanish Constitution (CE 1978), in its title I basic rights and duties (Article 49), provides that: the public authorities shall implement a policy of prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and integration of those who are physically, sensorially or mentally handicapped, who shall be given the special Attention which they require and be afforded special protection for the enjoyment of the rights which this title grants to all citizens. According to Vidal (1996) adapting the curriculum implies the progressive specification of the minimum curriculum content to turn it into an education tool which will allow us to achieve the general objectives in education for all the different individuals EDUCATIONAL VALUES Educational values are essential in order to reach a peaceful, democratic and supportive coexistence, through the knowledge of real situations that require initiatives of solidarity. In the article 1 c of the first chapter entitled Principles and aims of education, the LOE states that: The transference and practise of values that favour personal freedom, responsibility, civic democracy, solidarity, tolerance, equality, respect and justice, as well as getting over any sort of discrimination. In the article 2 entitled aims, the law states that: Education for peace, regard for human rights, communal living, social cohesion, cooperation and solidarity between peoples as well as the acquisition of values that favour the respect for living creatures and the environment, particularly the value of green spaces and sustainable development. Although we have already stated basics competences before, I am going to remark the aspects related to educational values directly. In the own definition, these values are contemplated as follow: The key or basic competence is defined as the capacity to respond to complex demands and carry out diverse duties successfully. 32

34 It involves a combination of practical skills, knowledge, motivations, ethic values, attitudes, emotions and other social components that work jointly in order to achieve an effective action. The key competences are those which sustain personal realization, social inclusion, active citizenship and employment. Social and citizen competence is directly connected to educational values: this competence allows a societal coexistence, understands the social reality of the world we live in and makes use of democratic citizenship. It incorporates forms of individual behaviour that enable people to live in an increasingly plural society, to mix with other people, as well as to cooperate, commit and take on conflicts. To fully acquire this competence entails to put ourselves in someone else s place, accepting the differences, being tolerant and respecting the values, beliefs, cultures and personal and group history of other people. Let s study how the education is structured about values referring to the subject: Citizenship and Human Rights Education, which is taught in compulsory secondary education and has the following objectives: - To develop self-esteem, affectivity and self-autonomy in the relationship with other people, and an attitude that opposes violence, stereotypes and prejudices. - To develop emotional, communicative and social skills in order to perform autonomously in daily life and to participate in group relationships, showing generous and constructive attitudes. - To acknowledge diversity as enrichment for a harmonious coexistence, and to show respect towards the customs and ways of living of peoples and towns that are different to ours. - To know, value and learn to live with the main rights and obligations that are derived from the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights, from the Convention of the Rights of Children and from the Spanish Constitution. 33

35 5.11. TEACHING MATERIALS AND RESOURCES: Teaching materials and resources are anything which can be used to facilitate the learning of a language and so they could be divided into human and material resources. Human resources include the teacher and the students. The teacher s role: Within the context of a multilingual, multicultural Europe the English teacher s responsibility is: A) To make sure that students achieve an ability to communicate which goes beyond simple linguistic capacity. B) To raise the awareness of students as to the diversity of languages and cultures. C) To provide a key for them to discover other cultures and to convey the values or their own culture. D) To demonstrate the necessity to see their opinions and value system as relative in order to go beyond superficial views and stereotypes. E) To educate European citizens in the spirit of understanding and respect for diversity and tolerance in order to combat prejudice and xenophobia F) Apart from the transmission of skills and knowledge the teacher fulfils the roles of role model, guide, mediator, and facilitator of meaning. This coincides both with what the Common European Framework says and what the Spanish Education Authorities state both at national and regional level. Material resources, school facilities and didactic materials: Techniques of visualization: (Blackboard and white board) that can be used in a static and an interactive way. Print resources including course-books, activity or workbooks and dictionaries published for language educational purposes. Books, magazines, newspapers and other real texts. Flashcards with words, phrases, sentences and particular target language culture-specific data (like dates, names of important people, places, events, etc), charts, tables of grammatical rules, posters with various pictures and maps can provide a visual impact for language learning and linguistic performance at the same time. 34

36 Audio resources: Radio, CD-players, DVDs, and cassette-recorders have used as authentic resources for language learning since the development of the Direct Method and Audio-Lingual Method. The advantage of video technology is that one can also record student s performance. Recordings can be used for feedback, self-evaluation purposes and in project work as well. The best practice of applying traditional audiovisual means to promote language learning is using video-tapes and / or DVDs. Audiorecording materials for the teaching of a specific subject areas in schools in the target language country do not pay much attention to structuring and grading the language but they can also be used in language classes, though one has to adjust the accompanying worksheets to the standards and needs of students. ALTHIA Room: Information and communication technologies play now an essential role in Compulsory secondary education since this is one of the basic competences in the general objectives. Under the current legislation, this competence consists on being able to search, obtain, process and communicate information to transform it into knowledge. Information and communication technologies can be used in the teaching of English: - Computer-operated information and communication technologies offer unlimited opportunities for self-directed learning. - The principles of learner autonomy have to be followed when creating a fruitful learning environment based on ICTs. - The most frequently occurring forms of ICT-based language learning activity use multimedia, electronic dictionaries and web-pages. TEXTBOOKS 2010/ 2011: The student s book that I will mention next, are used during the course 2010/2011 in I.E.S. Rey Pastor high school: Passport 1 Burlington Books: student s book, workbook, word games, student s activity multiroom, teacher s manual, welcome to Britain DVD, class audio CD, teacher s all-in-one pack. Reading books (lecture plan) of the academic year are the following: the Secret of the Stones. Vicens Vives Ed. and Robin Hood. Vicens Vives Ed. 35

37 COMPLEMENTARY AND EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES: Complementary and extracurricular activities are fundamental activities to reach a high motivation in the students. The school provides a wider range of extra-curricular activities for the students. The activities have to be included before starting the didactic program of the course and they could be cultural visits, museum, theatre plays, and artistic exhibitions, sportive activities as football, baskets, or tennis. There are a lot of activities that can be programmed: musical activities, handcraft and painting works, comics, chess games between others. Cross-curricular topics: Cross-curricular topics like sex equality, values, and civic education will be dealt with through some of the contents covered, but above all, they will be an integral part of the class approach: pair work and group work should foster cooperative work and respect for the other members in the group. The communicative approach will be used to develop and encourage communication, while the structural and notional-functional approach will help to reinforce certain structures, notions and functions, repetition drills to clarify certain forms or structures and to practice sounds, intonation and stress, a task-based approach to carry out certain tasks and give every student a sense of achievement and various techniques to develop autonomous learning and intercultural awareness. Expanding on what the Education Authorities state, and because the students are around 12, they still have to further develop some of their general competences together with their language competences. Following I would like to mark some of the cross curricular issues : education for sex equality, civics and moral education, peace education, health education, environmental education, sexual education, consumer education and traffic safety education. These kinds of activities, besides promoting communication, give them chances to learn in different environments and situations. Steffe ( ) States that it is very important to extend learning opportunities of the students of secondary levels away from the classes EDUCATIONAL INNOVATION PROJECT: The educative innovation project is based on Party game competition as an educational tool for learning English. 36

38 ANALYSIS: this educational project is addressed to I.E.S Rey Pastor School, located in the city centre of Albacete. In general the students belong to upper-middle class although we find a low percentage of students with family problems and immigration. We will take into account these specific considerations for the elaboration of the project since this group has to make an extra effort as to achieve the expected goals. Besides, we should create bearable strategies and techniques for those students. Regarding the students, we find some weaknesses related to lack of motivation, interaction among the students and oral skills. These are some of the reasons which justify why we want to introduce this project in the reality of the school. Specifically, this project aims to improve the above mentioned problems that nowadays seem to be so common in our classrooms. The use of games within language classroom environment is an effective way of motivating students and promoting a meaningful learning. According to Angela McFarlane and Anne Sparrowhawk (McFarlane, A. and Sparrowhawk, A. 2011:2-9) games help the teacher to create context in which the language is useful and meaningful for students. This helps to make the game more amusing and motivating and, at the same time, challenging because students employ meaningful and useful language in real contexts. PREVIOUS RESEARCH: According to the previous two authors mentioned above, learning and knowledge arise as a result of tasks stimulated by the content of the games and skills and developed as a result of playing the game. At the same time, games give practice in all language skills, above all the ones related to communication. There are some advantages of the use of games in classroom contexts that Andrew Wrignt, David Betteridge and Michael Buckby have redefined in his Games for Language Learning that are very interesting for this project: a) Games are an area welcome break from the usual routine of the language classroom. b) They are motivating and challenging. c) They encourage students to interact and communicate, and therefore to cooperate. d) They create a meaningful context for language use. 37

39 JUSTIFICATION: bearing in mind the success of this kind of educational technique, we propose the application of a language game in the classroom which is going to be called: Julio Rey Pastor-Party. We considerer that this game will motivate the students from the very beginning because it is something very innovate for them and it may create a friendly and social atmosphere, very different from the one normally found. At the time, this game will create a sense of cooperation among the students. We will take into account the attention to diversity when dividing students into groups as well as when dealing with the different tasks. Together with this, we will try to design the activities considering the different multiple intelligences. The different sections created for this game, which will be explained later in detail, develop the different learning styles of students, bearing in mind if they are visual learners, kinesthetic, spatial, interpersonal or linguistic learners, for instance. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES: 1- To increase motivation and the participation among the students. 2- To encourage cooperative work. 3- To use English to communicate in class. 4- To improve reading aloud and writing. GENERAL OBJECTIVES: The Decree 69/ 2007 of Castilla- La Mancha for ESO, in accordance with the LOE and the Royal Decree 1631/ 2006, establishes the following objectives of foreign language teaching in ESO, taking into consideration the ones which are closely connected to the design of our innovation project. These are developed through the four different specific objectives that we have already specified. - To listen and understand general and specific information from oral texts in different communicative situations, by adopting a respectful and cooperative attitude. - To express orally and interact properly in frequent communicative situation in an understandable way and with a certain level of autonomy. - To read and understand different texts from a suitable level according to the students capacities and interests in order to look for general and specific information. 38

40 - To write simple texts with different purposes about different topics by using suitable mechanisms of cohesion and coherence. - To know and use in a reflexive way, with autonomy and correction, linguistic norms of use, phonetic, lexical, structural and functional elements in real communicative contexts. - To use the language as an efficient instrument to learn, to look for information and to present projects in the different subjects, paying special attention to the use of information and communication technologies as well as multimedia resources. - To develop autonomy in the learning process and in self-evaluation; to think about own learning processes and to transfer to the foreign language the knowledge and communication strategies acquired in other languages. - To value the foreign language and languages in general, as a means of communication and understanding among people with different origins, languages and cultures, thus avoiding any kind of discrimination and linguistic or cultural stereotypes. ACTIVITIES: This game will consist of making a board with different kinds of activities, always related to the culture of English speaking countries and their own every day learning in the classroom. Needless to say, creativity will be developed through the process of this project. The different categories are the following: 1) Right or wrong: grammar points to decide which of the answers is correct. My parents has lived in Wales for two years 2) Culture Quiz: questions concerning music, geography, sports, history, films Which is the capital of Scotland? 3) Clues: a list of clues about things, events, places, famous characters It s a building/ it are located in London / it is very big 4) Drama: based on interpreting every day actions with gestures and sounds. Reading the newspaper/ book/ having a shower/ Writing an 39

41 5) Pictionary: students have the opportunity to revise vocabulary by drawing a picture of the corresponding term. Fridge/ Roller coaster/ Sharpener/ Blackboard 6) Wild cards: this category tries to make the game more amusing. It gives students either extra points or just the opposite. Some of the cards may give the group the opportunity to decide which category they want to play next. Congratulations! You can choose the category you prefer! / You lose your turn! This innovation project will be developed in two lessons. On the other hand, we will try to work on this game in the last hours of the timetable or on Fridays, because it is the time where students tend to be tired. Therefore, it is a good opportunity for them to relax and look at the activity with pleasure. The first lessons will be devoted to search information for the elaboration of the cards. Consequently, students will have to go to the Althia rooms in order to find on the internet the information required. We, as teachers will have to follow students own process to supervise not only the level of difficulty of the questions created but also to make sure they do not make serious grammar mistakes and that they do pronounce properly. After finishing the creation of the game, in which they will have to create at least twenty questions for each category, students will play the game during the last lesson. In order not to know the answers beforehand, the three different schools will exchange their games. If possible, teachers will organize a final competition with the winners of each school. In this respect, we will enhance collaboration between the different students, a way to get to know each other. The role of the teacher will be the following: a) To promote social interaction. b) To guide the students in an effective way. c) To supervise the correct development of oral skills. d) To make the activity innovate so as to enhance motivation. e) To encourage participation and collaboration among the different members of the groups. f) To check student s work not only in writing but also in speaking. 40

42 On the other hand, the role of the students will be the one that follows: g) To elaborate the whole game in accordance with the guidelines provided by the teacher. h) To practice and improve oral and writing skills. i) To use ICTs properly according to the required needs of the activities. RESOURCES: It is obvious that students are the main participants in this project, although we should never forget that teachers themselves should help students in order to get the objectives above mentioned. The collaboration of the school, especially from the Foreign Language Department, will be essential for the development of this project. Apart from human resources, we will need the following materials: white cards, scissors, glue, computers, the internet, printer, LCD projector, books, textbook, etc. DATA COLLECTION: At the end of this project, students will have to questionnaire called Likert Scale, where they will have to specify their level of agreement to different statements about their own personal opinions and experience through the whole process. Depending on the results that we obtain at the end of this project, we will reformulate it in order to improve the possible weaknesses as well as to make use of it in a future occasion. ASSESSMENT: assessment will be both ongoing and final assessment. Ongoing assessment will be accomplished by systematic observation of the students: checking their participation in the groups, the cards they write, their effort, etc. At the end of the project, having observed their progress, the teacher will fill in the following form for each student, which is based on the specific objectives of the project: THE STUDENT: -Has participated actively in the activity (objective 1) V / X -Has worked cooperatively (objective 2). V/ X -Can ready fluently in English (objectives 3 and 4).. V/ X -Shows a right pronunciation (objectives 3 and 4). V/ X -Uses colloquial expressions automatically, such as well done ; try again or good try (objectives 3 and 4) V/ X -Can write properly the questions (objective 4) V/ X 41

43 After completing all the forms, we will calculate the percentage of students who have succeeded in the form. Then, we will create a diagram or graph with the results and will interpret them commenting whether the objectives have been fulfilled or not and to what extent. Final assessment will also be accomplished by a self-assessment questionnaire which will be handed in at the same time as the Likert Scale. In the selfassessment part of the sheet, they will have to state their implication and participation in the project. In the other part of the sheet, they will have to assess the project itself. We will also make comments based on the results of both tools in order to make the modifications required for future projects. In connection with the stated below, we have created these materials, which we will supply the students at the end of the whole project: You do NOT have to write your name, just feel free to answer the following questions concerning the innovation project we have been working on during the last lessons PROJECT ASSESSMENT ( EVALUACION DEL PROYECTO) Te ha gustado la actividad? Qué es lo que más te ha gustado? Y lo que menos te ha gustado? Te gustaría repetir esta actividad en otra ocasión? Self-assessment (Autoevaluacion) Considero que he colaborado con el grupo Me he aburrido He mejorado las destrezas del inglés Las preguntas han sido difíciles de hacer y contestar 1 NADA DE ACUERDO MUY DE ACUERDO CONCLUSION: In this section, we will state the main conclusions obtained after finishing the Project. This will be done by focusing on the analysis obtained by our data. Positive and negative aspects of the project will be explained and detailed. Hopefully, we will obtain a good result from this project, but as it is also possible, difficulties along the whole process will appear because of lack of motivation or even because of students who need special attention and require help to make them feel interested in the project. 42

44 Final consideration as to whether the project has fulfilled the objectives or not will also be included in this section. There is no doubt that this project is not going to be successful at a hundred per cent, but our aim is to get students involved in it, learning through playing. This is the reason why we have created something that breaks completely from the usual routine: a game which can remind them of the Party game that they usually play with their own friends or family. This time, they are the creators and the participants of their own game, a fact that should make them feel proud of their work. At the same time, they can share it with people from other high schools and with close friends, if they want to have an amusing time. Although improvements measures are going to be needed at the end of the process, if students put a lot of effort and out of a good time, both teachers and students should feel very proud of the results. MY EXPERIENCE: Referring to this project, I have had the great chance of developing it during two sessions consecutively. In the first lesson, it was explained to the students, the rules, contents, methodology, and materials that the different groups had to prepare in class. Upon the methodology was explained, the students started to prepare the material the game and the cards of the different categories. The groups dedicated the first lesson to prepare the questions with the teaching material of the subject. The target was encouraging the students to play in order to learn English in a funny and simple way. The student participation was awesome what gave incentives to work in group and they managed correctly. In the second lesson, with the cards ready, it was used the original Party board, and the groups competed between them. The lesson was so funny and the students enjoyed a lot developing the creativity and the imagination. All of the students got a pencil case with some scholar material as reward. This present was given by the Blood Donors Association. The students have been the main characters of this project. They developed new communicative skills and improved their speaking English level with and experience that took them out from the everyday rush. We didn t have enough time to make a questioner to the students, but the enthusiasm of all of them is a clear evidence about the effectiveness of using didactic games in class. To sum up playing in class can help to develop and increase the creativity and team work. We are, as teachers, responsible for encouraging them to share, compete to get more and more language skills, to grow up in the labor field. 43

45 UNIT OF WORK: UNIT 2: HAVING FUN In the epigraph number 6: "Units timing" I have pointed out the units timing and distribution, stating the hours that will be teach per week in the 9 units planned for the year. I have also explained the relationship between objectives and competences that will be developed in each of them (see pages 22 to 26). It has been included in the annexes the explanatory table of the unit number 2: "Having fun", which will be taught over 10 sessions of 55 minutes each one. UNITS DESCRIPTION: IN THE FIRST SESSION, as I indicated in methodological procedures to be followed and which are discussed in the point 6 of the project, the class will begin with a warm up activity. I will show to the students the pictures of the activity with the help of a projector. On the board, they will see the pictures that show the different activities and the students will answer if they feel fun or boring this activity. The aim of this kind of activities is to promote oral production, very important in a language class. The speaking activity will be as dynamic as possible and will involve the whole class. Once finished the warm up, and once students have had a first active contact with the language, we will proceed to the next activity proposed. This activity consists in a text that will include reading, written exercises and finally a speaking activity. I believe that combine the skills in a dynamic way, motivate them continually and make them not get bored so easily with exercises. For the development of this activity we will use the textbook, with its texts and exercises. This is the first lesson of the Unit 2 and it is really important to review the grammatical aspects of the unit before, the first one. Besides, it is important to repeat the knowledge acquired, it will help them to consolidate and progress in an efficient way. In the last section of class, listening is proposed to review the vocabulary of the unit 1 and the new vocabulary in the first class of unit 2. For the development of the activity we will use to listening to a CD. Again, SECOND SESSION will begin with the warm-up activity and in this occasion we will use the textbook with the displayed graphics detailing the percentages of what young British students consider boring or fun. Once the charts have been commented, I will ask them if they are agree or not with these results. The purpose of this, it is to encourage the students to participate in class to express their points of views and to share their opinions with the rest of the group. 44

46 In this second lesson I will present the grammar of the unit, with the help of the textbook, so while I explain the concepts they will see the exercises and examples in their books. Once the grammar has been explained and all the doubts have been solved, we make some exercises that will implement new knowledge. The exercises are carried out individually, as they appear in text books, and will be corrected on the board with the active participation of the whole group. To end up the class today, I will connect my personal computer on the internet and I will show students information about different websites. I will suggest them to visit these websites in their free time. Before starting this activity it must be reminded that, once unit 2 has been finished, they will have a full class to work in groups and perform a simple exercise. They will work in groups, visiting the various websites that I will recommend, and they will prepare a list with the most interesting places or activities they may find in a visit to England. Next, we will practice with a listening in with they will repeat the new vocabulary from the class. With the help of the CD, students will deliver the new vocabulary. In the THIRD SESSION, the warm up will be concentrated in the hobbies, in things that our students like to do in their free time. With the help of a projector I will show them different photographs about amusing and entertaining hobbies. And again this would be the perfect occasion to incentive them to take part in the proposed speaking: what s your hobby? In the proposed exercises that appear in the textbook, we will review the grammatical concepts that have been learnt in previous lessons. The objective of this it is to consolidate the knowledge with the technical expertise of the review, which I think is very important don t forget what they have learnt. Once finished exercises and corrected them in class we will reach the next planned content: the new grammatical concepts are possessive adjectives, with the help of the board and some student volunteers, who will write their answers to the rest of the groups. In today's class, students will see a video that talks about the Eden Project. In addition to hear and see the pictures, they can read the text that appears in their textbook and complete the proposed activities, which once have been made. They will be corrected in class, taking into account that one of the proposed activities is a question which has been made to the students, to give incentive them to discuss it in English. Again we finish the lesson with a listening activity in which appears the new vocabulary, and lets the students the opportunity of improve their vocabulary repeating new words. 45

47 In the FOURTH SESSION, we will start with the warm up again reviewing all the acquired knowledge, learnt in the previous lesson. One open question, which will be written in the blackboard: What s the Eden Project? And some pictures that I will put them with the spotlight, will help them to discuss about what they have liked about this project the most. Once finished the speaking activity in which the whole class has participated, pair work is proposed. They will practice a dialogue that appears in the book and they will train few times with their partner, interchanging few words with others and creatively inventing a new dialogue. It aims to promote collaborative work independently and to create dialogue. Once finished the exercise by pairs, we will propose them a writing exercise of the text book, in which they have to complete the sentences with possessive adjectives that have learnt in that lesson. I will end the session with a listening in which the vocabulary, from previous lessons and from new ones, appears and they will repeat several times. In the FIFTH SESSION, we will begin reviewing concepts that have been learnt in previous lessons. With the help of projector, I'll show pictures at the same time as I'm asking questions like: Do you like chess? Images will be a great help to students to answer quickly if they like this activity or not. The following activity proposed in the textbook, is an exercise that must be read, to discover twelve mistakes and correct them. It consists in reviewing the capital letters, which were studied in unit 1 of the textbook. In today's class, it is suggested to them to make some written exercises, which appear in the textbook. The first one is done with the text above and the following ones (2 and 3) are much more creative exercises, because students have to try writing a few paragraphs about their family. Today, in addition to review and test what they have learnt, I will teach demonstrative pronouns, and in order to teach them, I will use some patterns and examples that we will see on the board with the help of the projector. We will end the class with a listening and repeat. In the SIXTH SESSION, the warm up activity begins simulating a day in London, in an imaginary context. To do this, we will show pictures from the Web, in which are some very interesting places and activities to do during the day proposed. It is an active and participative way to tell them some of their ideas. After speaking in groups, I will propose an exercise in pairs. It has the aim of keeping practice about the learnt structures in a dialogue. The dialogue appears in the textbook, which proposes an exercise that tells how to change few words in bold. They can prepare another completely different and practice dialogue with their classmate. 46

48 This activity is simple, very fun and encourages teamwork. In today's session, the end of the class will focus on reviewing the TIME (hours) that they have learnt in unit 1, and it is a fun way to do it in class. Images with big clocks indicating different times are projected into the whiteboard, and the students will answer the time. I will reserve ten minutes to show them a website in which there are some ideas for planning a day in London. It is the second meeting using the tool of Internet this unit, the workgroups will write down ideas for the final work which will take place in the 8th meeting. We will end the class with a listen & repeat activity, to review and to learn new vocabulary. In the SEVENTH SESSION, the warm up activity suggests them to seek ideas for a rainy Saturday, to talk about what they would do on a day like this, and what they would propose in order to not get bored. After speaking, I will teach, using the new textbook grammar, the interrogative pronouns that we will complete with largely written exercises proposed. Once all the exercises have been made, we will hear and read a text. Both the audio material (CD) and written material are part of the textbook. Again, I will show them a new website and after it has been consulted, in pairs they will make a list of 25 most hobbies they enjoy. We will end the activity with a Listening. In the EIGHTH SESSION, I will propose the group activity, which consists on consulting a few pages, and making a list of 15 sites more interesting in England, in order to they recommend them to their friends. It is a collaborative work which promotes teamwork and shares ideas. I believe this type of activity, using directly new technologies, which in a controlled manner, helps them gather information of England and possibilities for fun in their free time or on holidays. It is very interesting to develop different skills The NINTH SESSION is devoted to a complementary activity, which is a scheduled visit to the cutlery Museum of Albacete. Tab class details the contents of the scheduled activity. The TENTH SESSION is denominated "My progress check". This form of selfassessment helps them to know if they have progressed in their learning, and show them their weaknesses that may have at the end of the unit. Self-evaluation is directly made with autonomy and it is considered important to check their knowledge on a regular basis throughout the course. Self-evaluation should be a constant learning process. All contents of the units will take place during the class, because homework decreases the level of motivation of the students. It has been included in the annexes the unit schema. 47

49 UNIT 2 HAVING FUN Timing: 55 minutes- 1 st Class WARM UP ACTIVITY: SPEAKING FUN OR BORING? 10 minutes Go to cinema, visit friends, watch TV, DVD, Video, play sports, visit museums. What do you think? Do you think they are fun or boring? READING, WRITING & SPEAKING: ENJOYING LONDON ENJOYING LONDON ST. JAMES S PARK: Central London is a favourite afterschool place for teenagers. There s so much to see. St. James s Park is beautiful. It s a great place to sit and watch the birds, ducks and squirrels. St. James s Park is next to the Mall. What s is the Mall? It s a long road. Buckingham Palace is at one end. Trafalgar Square is at the other end. TRAFALGAR SQUARE: In Trafalgar Square there are fountains, some statues of lions and a very tall statue called Nelson s column. Tired of the square? Go to the National Gallery. It s a good place to visit. It s warm, it s free and it s got some interesting pictures too! And don t forget about shopping! There are wonderful shops on Oxford Street. READING: 10 minutes. WRITING: 15 minutes ANSWER THE QUESTIONS. 1. When do teenagers go to Central London? 2. Where is St. James s Park? 3. Where is Buckingham Palace? 4. Is it cold in the National Gallery? 5. What street is good for shopping? FAMOUS STREETS. Oxford Street is London s most famous street. Can you match these famous streets to the correct city? 1. Stroget a. Paris 2. Passeig de Grácia b. Madrid 3. Champs-Elysées c. Copenhagen 4. Gran Vía d. Barcelona SPEAKING : 5 minutes What can visitors see at each of the places below? GRAMMAR: 10 minutes Let s Review grammar UNIT 1: To be, have got and word order. LISTENING: 5 minutes. Materials: CD Vocabulary: place- teenager- bird- duck- squirrel- road- square- fountain- statueslion- picture- shopping- Street- desk-national-palace- gallery-shooping-teenagerswarm-wonderful-visitors-enjoy-boring-fun-famous. 48

50 UNIT 2 HAVING FUN Timing: 55 minutes - 2 nd Class WARM UP ACTIVITY- SPEAKING: 10 minutes In a survey of 100 British Teenagers, the results are: FUN DAY BORING DAY 41% GO TO CINEMA 39% VISIT FRIENDS 35% PLAY SPORTS 72 % WATCH VIDEO/ DVD/TV 28% READ A BOOK COMPARE YOUR IDEAS WITH BRITISH TEENAGERS. DO YOU AGREE? GRAMMAR: A, an, some, the, S. Nouns / P. Nouns. Spelling Rules. 10 minutes. Singular Nouns Plural nouns Spelling rules A book Some books Book Books An apple Some apples The park Box Boxes The parks Baby Babies WRITING EXERCISES: 15 minutes COMPLETE THE SENTENCES WITH A, AN OR SOME: 1. Lisa has got dog 2. There is apple in the bag 3. I have got.. Aunt and.. cousin in France 4... statues are very tall 5. The Mall is.. long road 6... Children are in the shop 3. CHANGE THE VERB IF NECESSARY: - Jane has got a cat - The orange are in the bag - A man is in the library - The dress are red - The baby have got a ball - The mouse is big 2. FIND A MISTAKE IN EACH GROUP BELOW: A SOME AN Umbrella People School Child Street Apple Bus Houses Orange 4. Write the words in the plural: Mouse, city, restaurant, park, shop, day, week, sport, book, man, box, dress, baby, ball, dog, bag, umbrella, house, pizza, square, teacher, desk, cat, library, word, supermarket. INFORMATION ON LINE RESOURCES. 15 minutes Materials: Teacher s computer LISTENING: 5 minutes. Materials: CD. Listen and Repeat. Pay attention to the pronunciation of some. Vocabulary: Mouse, city, library, ball, umbrella, sport, dog, box, pizza, supermarket, orange, etc. 49

51 UNIT 2 HAVING FUN Timing: 55 minutes- 3 rd Lesson Warm up Activity: SPEAKING WHAT S YOUR HOBBY? 10 minutes WRITING EXERCISE: 15 MINUTES WRITE THE WORDS IN THE PLURAL: - I can see.. statue in Trafalgar Square.. is tall. - Banana, dog, ball, lady, bus, orange, bench, bird. - I ve got umbrella.. is red. WHICH ACTIVITIES DO YOU LIKE? - There is. Restaurant near my house. restaurant hast got great pizza. Which activities are usually outdoor? Which are usually indoor activities? Which are both? COMPLETE THE SENTENCES WITH A, AN, OR THE. GRAMMAR: 10 minutes. Possesive Adjectives LISTENING &READING & SPEAKING:Eden Project. 15 minutes. It s another typical weekend in England, cold and rainy. Many people are at home in front of the TV, but the Sheldon family aren t at home. They are at the Eden Projec in St. Austell. The Eden Project is a large environmental centre. There are three areas at the Eden Project. Each area is different, so you can choose your favourite weather. One is hot and dry, the typical weather of the desert. Another, the rainforest area, is hot and wet. The third one, the Mediterranean area, is warm and dry. There are thousands of plants and it is interesting to learn about the environment of each area. ACTIVITIES: TRUE OF FALSE? 1. The Eden Project is in Africa/ 2. There are thousands of animals at the Eden Project./3. It is hot and wet in the desear area/ 4. The tree areas have got the same weather, etc. What adjectives describe the weather in each area? LISTENING: 5 minutes Eden project: Choose the correct answers. Materials: CD. 50

52 UNIT 2 HAVING FUN Timing: 55 minutes- 4 th Lesson WARM UP ACTIVITY: SPEAKING: 10 minutes What is the Eden Project? SPEAKING: Practice the dialogue. PAIRWORK Look at the timetable. What day is it in the dialogue? TIMETABLE Cathy: Hello Brian. Why are you at the Centre today? Brian: Hi, I m here for my art class. Cathy: Art class? Is art your hobby? Brian: Yes, I love it. What s your hobby, Cathy? Cathy: My hobby s tennis. I m in the tennis class. Brian: When is the tennis class? Cathy: It s today at 4 o clock. Time 4.00/ /7.00 Monday Computers Aerobic Tuesday Photography Cooking Wednesday Tennis Art Thursday Chess Swimming Friday Hiking Skateboarding PRACTICE THE DIALOGUE. 15 Minutes. Then change the words in colour to make a new dialogue. Use the timetable to help you. WRITING: 10 Minutes. Tania s postcard is wet from rain. What are the missing possessive adjectives? Dear Barbara, Hi, I m at the Eden Project with. Family. We all love it, it s favourite place. Camera is broken and Dad left his in the car, but. my brothers have got. cameras and are taking photos. You can see the photos next week and I can tell you about the Eden Project. I hope weekend is fun, too! Your friend, Tania. LISTENING: 10 minutes. Materials: CD. LISTEN AND REPEAT. VOCABULARY: Sunny, warm, stormy, snowy, windy, sunny, photography, hot, horse-riding, dry, cold, cloudy, etc. 51

53 UNIT 2 HAVING FUN Timing: 55 minutes- 5 th Lesson Warm up: SPEAKING: 10 Minutes. Free- time activities. DO YOU LIKE Hiking, Chess, Photograph, etc? READING TEXT: 5 Minutes Find twelve mistakes in the use of capital letters. Correct the mistakes in your notebook. My sister s name is lucy. her birthday is on 14 th may. she s sixteen years old. she is british and lives in liverpol, england. she speaks english. my sister s hobbies are watching films and disco dancing. 1. WRITING: 10 minutes Copy and complete the chart about Lucy: Name Lucy Birthday Age Nationality City/ country Language hobbies GRAMMAR: Demonstrative Pronouns 1. Write about your family: copy and complete the chart about someone in your family. 2. Choose one member of your family. Write about him or her. Use the model or the Reading text to help you. 10 minutes. Look at the picture. Then complete the sentences with this, that, these ore these.... is my poster is a tree Complete the text. Use this, that, these or those. 1. John,.. is Mike. 2..stars are in the sky. 3..pencils are in the box. 4. is the story. 5...exercise is easy. 6. lessons are very difficult. SPEAKING: 10 Minutes. Work in Pairs. Which activities does your partner like? Ask you about at least five activities. LISTENING: 10 minutes. Materials: CD. Listen and repeat: Possessive adjectives: my-your-his-her-its-our-your-their. Saxon Genitive: John s, Tania s, the dog s, etc. 52

54 UNIT 2 HAVING FUN Timing: 55 minutes- 6 th Lesson WARM UP: SPEAKING: 10 minutes. You are in London for the day. Read the timetable and the information about places. Which do you think are fun? Which are boring? READING AND WRITING: 15 minutes FUN IN LONDON 9.30 Buckingham Palace Changing of the Guard 2.00 Madame Tussauds 6.00 Dinner at the Rainforest Café. Rainforest Café Open: Friday and Saturday rest of week PRACTICE A DIALOGUE. PAIR WORK. Madame Tussauds Wax Museum open weekdays weekends Buckingham Palace Open: Palace Queen s gallery: Then change the words in colour to make a new dialogue about the places. Is the Buckingham palace open today? Yes it is. When is it open? It s open from 9.30 to 4.30 SPEAKING- TELLING THE TIME- WHOLE CLASS ACTIVITY: 10 minutes INFORMATION ABOUT ONLINE RESOURCES 15 minutes Materials: Teacher s computer. LISTENING : 5 minutes : four o clock, half past nine, quarter past seven, quarter to eleven, ten past six, twenty to five, etc. 53

55 UNIT 2 HAVING FUN Timing: 55 minutes- 7 th Lesson WARM UP- SPEAKING- 10 minutes It s Saturday and it is a rainy day. You need something fun to do. Got any ideas! GRAMMAR 10 Minutes. Interrogative Pronouns Who-When-Where-What-Why WRITING: 10 Minutes 1. COMPLETE the sentences with a correct interrogative pronoun..sports do you do?. do you want it so much?.kind of music do you like?. do you live?. is the teacher?. do you want to study? 2. RIGHT OR WRONG? 3. Put the words in the RIGHT ORDER What nationality are you? to form a question: What sports do you do? -the is teacher Who? Why are you learning English? -do you What up have time get to? Where do you live? -colour what your is hair? Who is the highest ranking official in the -is your mother like what? United States? -sports what you do do? LISTENING & READING TEXT- 10 Minutes Review Possessive Adjectives. Hi Daniel, My name is John. This is my friend Jason. He's 12. His sister is nine. Their pet is a budgie. His name is Dickens. Jason and I go to the same school. There are 450 boys and girls in our school. Jason's form teacher is Mrs. Peterson. She has got a pet, too. Her pet is a tortoise. Our form teacher is Mr. Smith. I like his lessons. He has two dogs. The dogs love to play in his garden. Now I have a question for you. What's your pet? Yours, John. INFORMATION ABOUT ON LINE RESOURCES- 15 minutes Materials: teacher s computer Write a List of 25 hobbies. LISTENING: 5 minutes. Review vocabulary (Lessons 1-7) 54

56 UNIT 2 HAVING FUN Timing: 55 minutes- 8 th Lesson ALTHIA ROOM Before starting Unit 2, I will comment to the students that once acquired knowledge which has been developed in the different sessions before, in this unit they will discuss the common theme of leisure, and they will have the opportunity to work in groups and discover, with a controlled practice, some of the funniest sites in England. It is an approach to teach the use of new technologies and that it becomes a normal routine within their curriculum. The new technologies will help them to find the information quickly, they need to plan their free time, information about their hobbies, trips to England, Weekend trips, etc. In the eighth lesson I shall give them the links indicated below, in order to access the websites under our supervision During 40 minutes they will have time to gather information on recommended web sites. After this time, the groups will propose the list of the 15 most interesting places in England that they would recommend to their friends. On the one hand this type of session aims to approach to the new technologies every week during the practice, and on the other hand it promotes teamwork, that once consulted all the information they will be able to agree and make a list together. I also believe that it can be a stimuli before starting each unit before. We will end each unit with this extra activity in which they will have the opportunity of using real information they will use in workgroups in Althia room. 55

57 UNIT 2 HAVING FUN Timing: 55 minutes- 9 th Lesson COMPLEMENTARY ACTIVITY: CULTURAL VISIT TO THE CUTLERY MUSEUM The complementary activities have to be included before starting the didactic program of the course and they could be cultural visits, museum, theatre plays, and artistic exhibitions, sportive activities as football, baskets, or tennis. In this unit I have chosen a cultural activity. I think that students learn more effectively when they already know something about a content area and when concepts in that area mean something to them and to their particular background or culture. The activity is a great opportunity to develop their art and culture Knowledge. One of the objectives is to familiarise the students with the basic concepts: cutlery, cutting industry, pocket knives, swords, exhibitions, daggers, letter opener, bayonets, scissors, custom knife makers, knife collecting, etc. All students are able to connect new learning to their prior knowledge and experience and the visit provides students with an effective learning experience. The activity is a good opportunity to know the value of the cutlery in our city. Before the visit, I will explain to them the basic information about the museum: The Municipal Knife Making Museum, open since 2004, has become a reference point for tourists in the city of Albacete. The cutlery museum has two different areas: the first offers an historical collection with unique and historic pieces from the knife making industry and another offers the best pieces produced by the industry in Albacete in the last century and the most important is that the municipal knife museum provides us an English guide during all the visit. English Guide may be helpful to the students in the learning process. 56

58 UNIT 2 HAVING FUN Timing: 55 minutes - 10 th Lesson MY PROGRESS CHECK: 35 minutes 1. Match the activities to the correct pictures CHESS-SKATEBOARDING-SWIMMING-TENNIS-FOOTBALL-PHOTOGRAPHY- COOKING-HIKING-SHOPPING-COMPUTERS WRITE THE WORDS IN THE PLURAL 1- CHILD 2- STATUE 2- SANDWICH 4- CITY 5- MONKEY 6- HOBBY 3. CHOOSE THE CORRECT ANSWER a) I ve got a new schoolbag. My/ Our Schoolbag is purple. b) They have got a/ an house c) My friends and I have got a/ some books d) David has got a dog. A/ The dog is cute. e) Sue has got a new bicycle. This/ These is her bicycle. 4. CHOOSE THE CORRECT ANSWER - What/ Where is your name - I ve got/ has got two sisters - She has got a/ an orange - This is/ are my cousin. - The bicycles is/ are new - Who is the man s/ mans car - A/ some men are in the park - Why/ who is your friend? - Jim and Tom is/ are brothers - He has got a dog. A/The dog 5. MATCH THE FOLLOWING WORDS TO THE CORRECT CATEGORIES: ACTIVITIES- WEATHER-FAMILY-PLACES Words: brother-square-street-warm-sister-cold-hiking-father-play sport-hiking-parkshopping-gallery-cousin-rainy-sunny-tennis-art-mother-skateboarding-photography. 6. ORAL PRODUCTION: 20 Minutes. What do you do in your free time? - It is important to highlight the oral production as a special competence, which needs to be studied several hours per week to improve it and reinforce the communicative competence. 57

59 6. TFM EVOLUTION There are many references I have made in the year planning about the connection between acquired knowledge and practice application in classes. In each one of the subjects I have got valuable knowledge to my personal development. It has been included in the annexes the activities charts in which are detailed the diary practice classes. In the practical part of the master I have had the opportunity to apply some of the knowledge acquired in the different subjects studied. Noted that the most relevant authors have helped me understand the behavior of young students. Some concepts such as the ZPD, the zone of proximal development of Vygotsky helped me to understand how important it is to adapt the level of students, not above or below, seeking the right balance so that they understand what we are teaching. In psychology we have learned to appreciate all types of intelligence, to know its many variants, to have a mind more open, more responsive, our philosophy of education has to adapt to new times, in which students are the main protagonists. It was one of those subjects that has helped me understand the student profile, as determined by their age. In sociology, we have handled statistical data on the PISA report, the data has been contrasted to the reality of education. The data that seemed to be exaggerated in our classes, it is translated to reality in the strictest way. Most of work remains that there are much aspects to change and we must help young students to progress more efficiently, in order to decrease Spanish dropout rates. This fact is a disadvantage compared to other countries. Let me stress that in this subject I got A+ and I have elaborated different jobs based on the PISA reports. In pedagogy, the subject was divided into two BLOCKS: the history of education and pedagogy. In the history of education, I had the great opportunity to know the laws that were directly related to the educational system and to learn the history of education. In this part, I presented five researches in which I developed various historical and current issues, getting A+. In the second block: pedagogy, we were asked to develop a portfolio that contained the information of all sessions of the subject, a collaborative and individual work, which I got A + too. It was very interesting the practice part of all the subjects, which has helped us to develop our knowledge and to get us closer and closer to the educational reality. 58

60 In the specific part of the master, the subjects are taught in English and therefore it is a great opportunity to attend some lectures to broad the knowledge in order to reach the ultimate goal of the master: the didactic program In the subject of educational research and innovation, I had the opportunity to present an innovation project, which I implemented in my school. It was a very motivating experience, realizing that something you've created, can work, and besides, noticing that the motivation of students depends mostly on being self motivated. In the subject, we have learnt how to prepare a project, and the meaning of our disposal on the internet resources to help us to create a teaching schedule. It has been a subject that helped us to move a lot and it has given us a thorough project practical knowledge both: innovation and the implementation of a teaching schedule. In the subject basis and foundations of English I, we have learnt the most important teaching methods, and practiced with them, working in groups, in pairs, in the ALTHIA classroom. We have seen in the educational reality that all methods are equally valid to teach, depending on the context, contents, and objectives. In this course we had the opportunity to attend some lectures on the English education system, highlighting interesting differences in the Spanish educational system. In the subject curriculum II, we have learnt different types of educational programming and guidelines to prepare a unit of work. It has been a great help to see a developed didactic program for concluding that a teaching schedule is very subjective, very personal, each teacher prepared according to own criteria, always based on current legislation. In the course curriculum, we are taught to handle legislative force in the education system. In addition to preparing a teaching schedule that has served as a base to prepare our final work. The development of educational programming in this subject has been a great help, as our teacher corrected the errors, suggesting areas for improvement in the final work. As for my self-evaluation has been a great experience, has given me valuable knowledge to start my career as a teacher in the middle of practice. Finally it is important to state that, as my high school tutor and as tutor at the university have been very helpful to present this work. Both of them have guided me in carrying out this work. The development of the master was, in my opinion, excellent. I would like to add that it would be interesting to consider that the implementation of educational programming could be done in class as a new part of the subject that would help to study the opposition, and to help the students to manage the teaching schedule. 59

61 This could be a motivating course for future students of the Masters. During my practice period, in all of sessions I have had the opportunity to add an extra activity in the program. In this activity I have used English texts, videos on line, reports, and some English advertising material with the collaboration of the local council, the chamber of commerce, the cutlery museum, among others. All of this material, which reflects the reality of their city, has been well accepted between the students, because they realized that it is very important to know another language to attract the tourism to Albacete and generate richness to this city. These extra activities have been used for getting a direct contact with English language through the broad material we have used. All of these activities have been mentioned in The Annexes, of the Practice Memory. 7. PERSONAL CONSIDERATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS. I would like to highlight the importance of the encouragement in all of the sessions that are given. Without any motivation, the learning skills are lower and lower. As teachers, we must show them the importance to learn the English language to compete for a good job. The new technologies are very useful, because the continued use of this communication tools is compulsory to teach in a dynamic way. We have to be in a continue process of updating the knowledge, the learning skills to get a deeper connection with our students. Nowadays, the educational reality is what counts and we are the educational key to help them to progress in their lives. They need us, and we have to know them better and better to support them as much as possible. The motivation is the most important factor and we are the engine of it. This engine has to be more and more potent every day, because our formation is continued, at the same as theirs. 8. REFERENCES AND LEARNING MATERIALS LEGISLATION: Decree 69/2007of 29 th May (Castilla-La Mancha) Royal Decree 1.631/ 2006 of 29 th December Organic Act 2/2006 of 3 rd May (LOE) Organic Act of Quality in Education 10/2002 of 23 rd December (LOCE) The Spanish Constitution of

62 ATKINSON, D. (1999). Tesol and culture. Tesol quarterly, vol. 33, no. 4, pp BERNS, M. S. (1984). Functional approaches to language and language teaching. Another look. BROWN, H. D. (1994). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (3 rd edn.) New Jersey: Prentice Hall. CAMILLERI A. (1996). Awareness for Autonomy: An Introduction to Learner Autonomy. Graz: European Centre for Modern Languages. COMMON EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK OF REFERENCE FOR LANGUAGES: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEF), Council of Europe. Strasbourg, GARCÍA VIDAL, J. (1996). Guía para realizar adaptaciones curriculares. Madrid, España, EOS. GARDNER, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books. GONZÁLEZ, G. P. (2009) Suggestions for a Syllabus Design, compulsory Secondary Education. Mad ED. HUERTA-MACIAS, A( 1995). Alternative Assessment. Responses to commonly asked questions. TESOL Journal. MARKS, L., DARBY, S.(2007). Burlington Passport. Danos Books Ltd. PLUCKER, J. A. (2003). Human intelligence: Historical influences, current controversies, teaching resources. Pearson Ed. REYNOLDS, R. E. & SINATRA, G. M. (2005). The cognitive revolution in scientific psychology: Epistemological roots and impact on reading research. In J. M. Royer (Ed). The Cognitive Revolution (pp ). Greenwich, CT: IAP. RICHARDS, JACK C. AND THEODORE S. RODGERS. (1986). Approaches and methods in language teaching: A description and analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 167pp SCHOMMER, MARLENE.(1990). Effects of beliefs about the nature of knowledge on comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol 82(3), Sep 1990, WEBSITES: COUNCIL OF EUROPE, European Language Portfolio, COE: [revised in 5 th March 2011] 61

63 El MUNDO.ES, Gráficos Interactivos, informe PISA por Comunidades Autónomas, [revised in 6 th February 2011] MCFARLANE, A. & SPARROWHAWK, A. Report on the Educational use of games, [revised in _full.pdf, 17 th January 2011] OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, OUPEPROMOS, [revised in 7 th April 2011] PISA. OECD. [revised in 22 nd February 2011] PROJECT TRIBUCAN, EDUCATIONAL PROJECT [revised in 24 th April 2011] STEFFE, LESLIE, P & THOMPSON, PATRICK. (2000). Interaction or intersubjectivity? A reply to lerman. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 31(2), pp [revised in 4th January, 2011] UNESCO [revised in 7 th March 2011] WRIGHT, A. BETTERIDGE, D. AND BUCKBY, M. Games for Language Learning ( 2 nd Ed.) Cambridge University Press, [revised in 17 th January 2011] STEFFE, LESLIE, P & THOMPSON, PATRICK. (2000). Interaction or intersubjectivity? A reply to lerman. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 31(2), pp [revised in 28 th January, 2011] 9. ANNEXES: it has been included in the annexes the unit s schemas (1 to 9), evaluation graphics that show different epigraphs studied in the didactic program and the activities charts in which are detailed the diary practice classes. 62

64 UNIT 1: IN THE UK! SESSIONS: 12 OF 55 MINUTES TIMING: FIRST TERM LEARNING OBJECTIVES - To learn about the countries and nationalities the different students are from and to locate them on a world map. - To understand and express oneself appropriately ( both orally and in writing) using the lexis and structures practiced in the lesson ( greetings and introductions, asking where people are from and what language they speak) - To give and ask for personal information. - To develop oral production, classroom language. - To promote self- assessment (my progress check) at the end of the unit of the contents they already knew, the new things learnt. COMPETENCES 1) Communicative Competence (classroom language: interactions, discussions): learning a foreign language improves communicative competence in general, since it develops the skill of both oral and written expression. Greetings and introductions, giving and asking for personal information. Sentence stress. 5) Social and civic competence: the competence enables the student to form part of the society where they live in, understand how it functions and play a part, as a democratic citizen, in an ever more diverse society. 6) Cultural and artistic competence: it involves an appreciation of art and other manifestations of culture, keeping an open-minded attitude towards different types of Art, preserving the common cultural heritage and encouraging one s own creative capacity. 7) Learning to learn competence: It involves beginning to learn and being capable of continuing to learn autonomously, looking for and finding answers in a rational manner. 8) Autonomy and personal initiative competence: the acquisition of this competence implies creativity, innovation, responsibility and a critical approach in the development of individual or group projects. CONTENTS LANGUAGE SKILLS: block I: listening, speaking and conversing and block II: reading and writing. In first course of ESO, oral communication is particularly important. All my units will be focused on developing communicative oral competence, exposing the students to real communicative situations, audiovisual resources and communication technology. Some of the language skills in the first block are the following: - To listen and understand short oral messages relating to the countries and nationalities( tour of neighbourhood) - To taking part in short simple conversations in the classroom. - To extract specific information from oral texts, everyday issues such as names or places, presented through different support means, etc. The second block: reading and writing includes procedures to develop written competence. For the first course of ESO, some of the following contents have been specified: - To understand general and specific information in simple authentic and specially adapted texts( first-person narrative) - To use basic strategies for reading comprehension. - To draft up short texts following models and using the most basic strategies of written expression. Regarding the Knowledge of the language in use, the third block, these are some of the contents included in RD. 1631/2006: a) Linguistic Knowledge: language functions and grammar: introducing oneself, greeting somebody you know, asking and saying where people are from, asking and saying where countries are. Possessives. Personal Pronouns. Verb to be, to have. Questions and answers: How are you? Where are you from? Present simple of to speak. Connectors. b) Vocabulary: languages and nationalities, the neighbourhood and the family. c) Phonetics: pronunciation of consonant sound / h/. Comparison with and distinction from the Spanish sound for j and g. The alphabet. Intonation practice of greetings and introductions. Block IV: socio cultural aspects and intercultural awareness. For this course, one of the contents is: - To identify customs and everyday life features characteristic of the countries and cultures where the foreign language is spoken. ACTIVITIES: repetition drills, asking and answering questions orally, copying and writing sentences, listening activities, etc. Interactions: teacher-whole class, teacher-individual students, pair-work, group-work and individual work. MATERIALS: map of the world, teacher s computer, CDs, on line resources, black-board, work-sheets, student s book and lecture( reading plan) ASSESSMENT: - To check the achievement of the objectives and competences established. 63

65 UNIT 2: HAVING FUN SESSIONS: 10 OF 55 MINUTES TIMING: FIRST TERM LEARNING OBJECTIVES In this lesson the main objectives are to enable students: - To learn about free time activities. - To understand and express oneself appropriately ( both orally and in writing) using the lexis and structures practiced in the first lesson ( greetings and introductions, asking where people are from and what language they speak) - To develop oral production. - To ask for and give information about their families, cities, hobbies and places. - To exchange personal information. - To promote self- assessment (my progress check) at the end of the unit of the contents they already knew, the new things learnt. COMPETENCES 1) Communicative Competence (classroom language: interactions, discussions): learning a foreign language improves communicative competence in general, since it develops the skill of both oral and written expression. Greetings and introductions, giving and asking for personal information. Sentence stress. 5) Social and civic competence: the competence enables the student to form part of the society where they live in, understand how it functions and play a part, as a democratic citizen, in an ever more diverse society. 6) Cultural and artistic competence: it involves an appreciation of art and other manifestations of culture, keeping an open-minded attitude towards different types of Art, preserving the common cultural heritage and encouraging one s own creative capacity. 7.-Learning to learn competence: It involves beginning to learn and being capable of continuing to learn autonomously, looking for and finding answers in a rational manner. 8) Autonomy and personal initiative competence: the acquisition of this competence implies creativity, innovation, responsibility and a critical approach in the development of individual or group projects. CONTENTS LANGUAGE SKILLS: Block I: listening, speaking and conversing and Block II: reading and writing Some of the language skills in the first block are the following: - To listen and understand short oral messages relating to free time activities. Joining a community centre. - To taking part in short simple conversations in the classroom. - To extract specific information from oral texts, everyday issues such as names or places, presented through different support means. Travel articles, websites. - To talking about their interests and exchanging personal information. The second block: reading and writing includes procedures to develop written competence. For the first course of ESO, some of the following contents have been specified: - To understand general and specific information in simple authentic and specially adapted texts. - To use basic strategies for reading comprehension. - To draft up short texts following models and using the most basic strategies of written expression. - To write about their families. - To use timetables. Regarding the Knowledge of the language in use, the third block, these are some of the contents included in RD. 1631/2006: a) Linguistic knowledge: language functions and grammar: singular/ plural nouns. A, an, some, the. Demonstrative pronouns, possessive adjectives. b) Vocabulary: free time activities and weather c) Phonetics: pronunciation of /s/, /h/, /iz/. Pronunciation of teen and ty. Pronunciation and stress in words. Rhythm and intonation in sentences. Block IV: socio cultural aspects and intercultural awareness. For this course, one of the contents is: - To acknowledge and to value the foreign language as a communication tool in the classroom. ACTIVITIES: repetition drills, asking and answering questions orally, copying and writing sentences, listening activities, on line activities. INTERACTIONS: teacher-whole class, teacher-individual students, pair-work, group-work and individual work. MATERIALS: teacher s computer, pictures, CDs, black-board, work-sheets, student s book. ASSESSMENT: - To check the achievement of the objectives and competences established. 64

66 UNIT 3: TASTE OF BRITAIN SESSIONS: 15 OF 55 MINUTES TIMING: FIRST TERM LEARNING OBJECTIVES The main objectives are to enable students: - To learn the basic aspects of British history and culture. - To develop oral production. - To express likes and dislikes. - To order food. - To talk about a picture. - To learn about different cultures and societies, with the aim of valuing them critically and at the same time showing respect. - To develop the ability to learn to learn. - To promote self- assessment (my progress check) at the end of the unit of the contents they already knew, the new things learnt. COMPETENCES 1) Communicative Competence (classroom language: interactions, discussions): learning a foreign language improves communicative competence in general, since it develops the skill of both oral and written expression. Greetings and introductions, giving and asking for personal information. Sentence stress. 6) Cultural and artistic competence: it involves an appreciation of art and other manifestations of culture, keeping an open-minded attitude towards different types of Art, preserving the common cultural heritage and encouraging one s own creative capacity. 7) Learning to learn competence: It involves beginning to learn and being capable of continuing to learn autonomously, looking for and finding answers in a rational manner. 8) Autonomy and personal initiative competence: the acquisition of this competence implies creativity, innovation, responsibility and a critical approach in the development of individual or group projects. CONTENTS LANGUAGE SKILLS: Block I: listening, speaking and conversing and Block II: reading and writing Some of the language skills in the first block are the following: - To use the appropriate formulaic expressions for expressing likes and dislikes, ordering food or talking about a picture. - To listen and understand short oral messages relating to the topic. - To taking part in short simple conversations in the classroom. - To extract specific information from oral texts relating to meal planning. - To ordering on line. The second block: reading and writing includes procedures to develop written competence. For the first course of ESO, some of the following contents have been specified: - To write a restaurant review. - To understand general and specific information in simple authentic and specially adapted texts. - To use basic strategies for reading comprehension. - To read a magazine article. Regarding the Knowledge of the language in use, the third block, these are some of the contents included in RD. 1631/2006: a) Linguistic Knowledge: language functions and grammar: there is/ there are. Any. Countable/ Uncountable nouns. How much/how many. b) Vocabulary: Food. Prepositions of place. c) Phonetics: pronunciation of h and v sounds. Pronunciation of letter A : cake, stamp, wall, party, arrive. Different pronunciation of can. Weak forms: can/some. Stress in words and sentences. Block IV: socio cultural aspects and intercultural awareness. For this course, one of the following contents is: - To show interest and initiative to carry out communication exchanges with English speakers. ACTIVITIES: repetition drills, asking and answering questions orally, copying and writing sentences, listening activities, on line activities. INTERACTIONS: teacher-whole class, teacher-individual students, pair-work, group-work and individual work. MATERIALS: teacher s computer, CDs, black-board, work-sheets, articles, magazines, student s book. ASSESSMENT: - To check the achievement of the objectives and competences established. 65

67 UNIT 4 GETTING AROUND SESSIONS: 13 OF 55 MINUTES LEARNING OBJECTIVES TIMING: SECOND TERM The main objectives are to enable students: - To learn the basic aspects of giving and asking for directions - To develop oral production to exchange information - To develop receptive and productive communication strategies. - To describe places, and how to get there. - To develop the ability to learn to learn. - To promote self- assessment (my progress check) at the end of the unit of the contents they already knew, the new things learnt. COMPETENCES 1) Communicative Competence (classroom language: interactions, discussions): learning a foreign language improves communicative competence in general, since it develops the skill of both oral and written expression. Greetings and introductions, giving and asking for personal information. Sentence stress. 5) Social and civic competence: the competence enables the student to form part of the society where they live in, understand how it functions and play a part, as a democratic citizen, in an ever more diverse society. 6) Cultural and artistic competence: it involves an appreciation of art and other manifestations of culture, keeping an open-minded attitude towards different types of Art, preserving the common cultural heritage and encouraging one s own creative capacity. 7) Learning to learn competence: It involves beginning to learn and being capable of continuing to learn autonomously, looking for and finding answers in a rational manner. 8) Autonomy and personal initiative competence: the acquisition of this competence implies creativity, innovation, responsibility and a critical approach in the development of individual or group projects. CONTENTS LANGUAGE SKILLS: Block I: listening, speaking and conversing and Block II: reading and writing Some of the language skills in the first block are the following: - To give and ask for directions (pair work) - To exchange information( buying a ticket) The second block: reading and writing includes procedures to develop written competence. For the first course of ESO, some of the following contents have been specified: - To read a travel brochure and travel adverts. - To listen directions/ map reading - To describe places. Regarding the Knowledge of the language in use, the third block, these are some of the contents included in RD. 1631/2006: a) Linguistic Knowledge: language functions and grammar: present simple with frequency adverbs: usually, always, often. Like/love/dislike/hate + nouns. Connectors. Expressions to refer to time, day and dates. Imperative. b) Vocabulary: transport, adjectives. c) Phonetics: endings in simple present. Weak forms: do/does. Stress in words. Sentences. Rhythm and intonation in sentences. Block IV: socio cultural aspects and intercultural awareness. For this course, one of the contents is: - To value the personal wealth derived from having contact with people from other cultures. ACTIVITIES: repetition drills, asking and answering questions orally, copying and writing sentences, listening activities, on line activities. INTERACTIONS: teacher-whole class, teacher-individual students, pair-work, group-work and individual work. MATERIALS: teacher s computer, on line resources, CDs, black-board, work-sheets, student s book, lecture (reading plan). ASSESSMENT: - To check the achievement of the objectives and competences established. 66

68 UNIT 5: TODAY S SPORTS SESSIONS: 10 OF 55 MINUTES LEARNING OBJECTIVES TIMING: SECOND TERM The main objectives are to enable students: - To talk about sports. - To compare routines and current actions. - To develop receptive and productive communication strategies. - To develop the ability to learn to learn. - To promote self- assessment (my progress check) at the end of the unit of the contents they already knew, the new things learnt. COMPETENCES 1) Communicative Competence (classroom language: interactions, discussions): learning a foreign language improves communicative competence in general, since it develops the skill of both oral and written expression. Greetings and introductions, giving and asking for personal information. Sentence stress. 5) Social and civic competence: the competence enables the student to form part of the society where they live in, understand how it functions and play a part, as a democratic citizen, in an ever more diverse society. 6) Cultural and artistic competence: it involves an appreciation of art and other manifestations of culture, keeping an open-minded attitude towards different types of Art, preserving the common cultural heritage and encouraging one s own creative capacity. 7) Learning to learn competence: It involves beginning to learn and being capable of continuing to learn autonomously, looking for and finding answers in a rational manner. 8) Autonomy and personal initiative competence: the acquisition of this competence implies creativity, innovation, responsibility and a critical approach in the development of individual or group projects. CONTENTS LANGUAGE SKILLS: Block I: listening, speaking and conversing and Block II: reading and writing Some of the language skills in the first block are the following: - To listening to the radio program (CD about Bob Woods, a basketball player). - To speaking routines. - To practice dialogues( pair work) The second block: reading and writing includes procedures to develop written competence. For the first course of ESO, some of the following contents have been specified: - To read a quiz and a magazine article. - To link words - To listen a radio interview - To write about a famous person. Regarding the Knowledge of the language in use, the third block, these are some of the contents included in RD. 1631/2006: a) Linguistic Knowledge: language functions and grammar: Present continuous. Present simple/ present continuous. b) Vocabulary: sports, action verbs, parts of the body. c) Phonetics: pronunciation of key words used in the units 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Stress in words and sentences. Block IV: socio cultural aspects and intercultural awareness. For this course, one of the contents is: - To foster attitudes of tolerance and acceptance. ACTIVITIES: repetition drills, asking and answering questions orally, copying and writing sentences, listening activities, on line activities. INTERACTIONS: teacher-whole class, teacher-individual students, pair-work, group-work and individual work. MATERIALS: teacher s computer, magazine article, CDs, black-board, work-sheets, student s book, etc. ASSESSMENT: - To check the achievement of the objectives and competences established. 67

69 UNIT 6: OUR WORLD MASTER S DEGREE PROJECT IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING SESSIONS: 12 OF 55 MINUTES TIMING: SECOND TERM LEARNING OBJECTIVES The main objectives are to enable students: - To talk about abilities. - To express obligation and prohibition. - To make and respond to suggestions. - To get weather information. - To develop receptive and productive communication strategies. - To develop the ability to learn to learn. - To promote self- assessment (my progress check) at the end of the unit of the contents they already knew, the new things learnt. COMPETENCES 1) Communicative Competence (classroom language: interactions, discussions): learning a foreign language improves communicative competence in general, since it develops the skill of both oral and written expression. Greetings and introductions, giving and asking for personal information. Sentence stress. 5) Social and civic competence: the competence enables the student to form part of the society where they live in, understand how it functions and play a part, as a democratic citizen, in an ever more diverse society. 6) Cultural and artistic competence: it involves an appreciation of art and other manifestations of culture, keeping an open-minded attitude towards different types of Art, preserving the common cultural heritage and encouraging one s own creative capacity. 7) Learning to learn competence: It involves beginning to learn and being capable of continuing to learn autonomously, looking for and finding answers in a rational manner. 8) Autonomy and personal initiative competence: the acquisition of this competence implies creativity, innovation, responsibility and a critical approach in the development of individual or group projects. CONTENTS LANGUAGE SKILLS: Block I: listening, speaking and conversing and Block II: reading and writing Some of the language skills in the first block are the following: - To listening magazine articles. - To asking and giving information about world environments. - To getting weather information. The second block: reading and writing includes procedures to develop written competence. For the first course of ESO, some of the following contents have been specified: - To read the advert. Centre of Alternative Technology - To read the internet article. Are there earthships only in the USA? - To write with correctly punctuation Regarding the Knowledge of the language in use, the third block, these are some of the contents included in RD. 1631/2006: a) Linguistic Knowledge: language functions and grammar: can. Must/ mustn t. Adverbs of manner and degree. Possessive pronouns. b) Vocabulary: nature, the house. c) Phonetics: Pronunciation. The ending in must/mustn t. Stress in words and sentences. Pronunciation of can. Block IV: socio cultural aspects and intercultural awareness. For this course, one of the contents is: - To provide the students with an insight into customs, social relations, features and peculiarities of the countries where the language is spoken. ACTIVITIES: repetition drills, asking and answering questions orally, copying and writing sentences, listening activities, on line activities. INTERACTIONS: teacher-whole class, teacher-individual students, pair-work, group-work and individual work. MATERIALS: teacher s computer, on line resources, article, CDs, black-board, work-sheets, student s book, etc. ASSESSMENT: - To check the achievement of the objectives and competences established. 68

70 UNIT 7: I LOVE MUSIC SESSIONS: 10 OF 55 MINUTES LEARNING OBJECTIVES TIMING: THIRD TERM The main objectives are to enable students: - To know the music history. - To ask questions and answers with some regular and irregular verbs. - To talk about past events. - To develop receptive and productive communication strategies. - To develop the ability to learn to learn. - To promote self- assessment (my progress check) at the end of the unit of the contents they already knew, the new things learnt. COMPETENCES 1) Communicative Competence (classroom language: interactions, discussions): learning a foreign language improves communicative competence in general, since it develops the skill of both oral and written expression. Greetings and introductions, giving and asking for personal information. Sentence stress. 5) Social and civic competence: the competence enables the student to form part of the society where they live in, understand how it functions and play a part, as a democratic citizen, in an ever more diverse society. 6) Cultural and artistic competence: it involves an appreciation of art and other manifestations of culture, keeping an open-minded attitude towards different types of Art, preserving the common cultural heritage and encouraging one s own creative capacity. 7) Learning to learn competence: It involves beginning to learn and being capable of continuing to learn autonomously, looking for and finding answers in a rational manner. 8) Autonomy and personal initiative competence: the acquisition of this competence implies creativity, innovation, responsibility and a critical approach in the development of individual or group projects. CONTENTS LANGUAGE SKILLS: Block I: listening, speaking and conversing and Block II: reading and writing Some of the language skills in the first block are the following: - To describing an event - To asking and giving information about groups( pair work activity) The second block: reading and writing includes procedures to develop written competence. For the first course of ESO, some of the following contents have been specified: - To read a teen magazine article - To write about a popular group - To write capital letters 2. - To be aware of word order. Regarding the Knowledge of the language in use, the third block, these are some of the contents included in RD. 1631/2006: a) Linguistic Knowledge: language functions and grammar: past to be. There was/ There were. b) Vocabulary: Professions, musical instruments. c) Phonetics: Pronunciation weak forms: was/were. Stress in words and in sentences. Block IV: socio cultural aspects and intercultural awareness. For this course, one of the contents is: - To promote interest in learning about other social and cultural forms. ACTIVITIES: repetition drills, asking and answering questions orally, copying and writing sentences, listening activities, on line activities. INTERACTIONS: teacher-whole class, teacher-individual students, pair-work, group-work and individual work. MATERIALS: teen magazine, teacher s computer, on line resources, article, CDs, black-board, worksheets, student s book, etc. ASSESSMENT: - To check the achievement of the objectives and competences established 69

71 UNIT 8: FAMOUS PEOPLE SESSIONS: 10 OF 55 MINUTES TIMING: THIRD TERM LEARNING OBJECTIVES The main objectives are to enable students: - To talk about the past. - To give biographical information - To give instructions, make descriptions and give information about famous people. - To develop receptive and productive communication strategies. - To develop the ability to learn to learn. - To promote self- assessment (my progress check) at the end of the unit of the contents they already knew, the new things learnt. COMPETENCES 1) Communicative Competence (classroom language: interactions, discussions): learning a foreign language improves communicative competence in general, since it develops the skill of both oral and written expression. Greetings and introductions, giving and asking for personal information. Sentence stress. 6) Cultural and artistic competence: it involves an appreciation of art and other manifestations of culture, keeping an open-minded attitude towards different types of Art, preserving the common cultural heritage and encouraging one s own creative capacity. 7) Learning to learn competence: It involves beginning to learn and being capable of continuing to learn autonomously, looking for and finding answers in a rational manner. 8) Autonomy and personal initiative competence: the acquisition of this competence implies creativity, innovation, responsibility and a critical approach in the development of individual or group projects. CONTENTS LANGUAGE SKILLS: Block I: listening, speaking and conversing and Block II: reading and writing Some of the language skills in the first block are the following: - To listen an historical timeline - To listen an - To getting information about the solar system. The second block: reading and writing includes procedures to develop written competence. For the first course of ESO, some of the following contents have been specified: - To read an - To read literature articles. - To write about the past - To write connectors of sequence. - To read large numbers. Regarding the Knowledge of the language in use, the third block, these are some of the contents included in RD. 1631/2006: a) Linguistic Knowledge: language functions and grammar: Past Simple. b) Vocabulary: Adjectives, feelings. c) Phonetics: Pronunciation verb endings: /d/, /t/, /id/. Block IV: socio cultural aspects and intercultural awareness. For this course, one of the contents is: - To promote intercultural communication. ACTIVITIES: repetition drills, asking and answering questions orally, copying and writing sentences, listening activities, on line activities. INTERACTIONS: teacher-whole class, teacher-individual students, pair-work, group-work and individual work. MATERIALS: teacher s computer, on line resources, article, CDs, black-board, work-sheets, student s book, etc. ASSESSMENT: - To check the achievement of the objectives and competences established. 70

72 UNIT 9: SUMMER HOLIDAYS SESSIONS: 12 OF 55 MINUTES TIMING: THIRD TERM LEARNING OBJECTIVES The main objectives are to enable students: - To talk about future plans and intentions. - To take part in short simple conversations in the classroom. - To develop receptive and productive communication strategies. - To develop the ability to learn to learn. - To promote self- assessment (my progress check) at the end of the unit of the contents they already knew, the new things learnt. COMPETENCES 1) Communicative Competence (classroom language: interactions, discussions): learning a foreign language improves communicative competence in general, since it develops the skill of both oral and written expression. Greetings and introductions, giving and asking for personal information. Sentence stress. 5) Social and civic competence: the competence enables the student to form part of the society where they live in, understand how it functions and play a part, as a democratic citizen, in an ever more diverse society. 6) Cultural and artistic competence: it involves an appreciation of art and other manifestations of culture, keeping an open-minded attitude towards different types of Art, preserving the common cultural heritage and encouraging one s own creative capacity. 7) Learning to learn competence: It involves beginning to learn and being capable of continuing to learn autonomously, looking for and finding answers in a rational manner. 8) Autonomy and personal initiative competence: the acquisition of this competence implies creativity, innovation, responsibility and a critical approach in the development of individual or group projects. CONTENTS LANGUAGE SKILLS: Block I: listening, speaking and conversing and Block II: reading and writing Some of the language skills in the first block are the following: - To listen - To listen an - To getting information about the solar system. The second block: reading and writing includes procedures to develop written competence. For the first course of ESO, some of the following contents have been specified: - To read an article. Making plans. - To write about the future plans. - To write connectors of sequence. - To read large numbers. Regarding the Knowledge of the language in use, the third block, these are some of the contents included in RD. 1631/2006: a) Linguistic Knowledge: language functions and grammar: be going to. Present continuous with future meaning. b) Vocabulary: clothes, geography c) Phonetics: Stress in words and sentences. Block IV: socio cultural aspects and intercultural awareness. For this course, one of the contents is: - To promote social interchanges. ACTIVITIES: repetition drills, asking and answering questions orally, copying and writing sentences, listening activities, on line activities. INTERACTIONS: teacher-whole class, teacher-individual students, pair-work, group-work and individual work. MATERIALS: teacher s computer, on line resources, article, CDs, black-board, work-sheets, student s book, etc. ASSESSMENT: To check the achievement of the objectives and competences established. 71

73 ACTIVITY Nr. 1 ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION: OBSERVATION AND GUIDANCE PHASE DATE AND TIME: School Calendar I.E.S Rey Pastor (from 1 st to 29 th April) MONDAY THUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY Department Attention to Attention to 3º C CSE 3ºA CSE families families º C CSE 3º A CSE 1º B BAC. Staff reunion Department B R E A K º B CSE Department 1º E BAC. Tutorials º E BAC 3º C CSE 1º B CSE Department 3º E Divers º B CSE 3º E Divers. 3º A CSE 1º B CSE 1º E BAC. ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION: During the observation and guidance phase, I had the opportunity to attend all classes and meet students from different levels, from the first course of ESO to the first course of Bachillerato under the supervision of my Teacher Mr. Enrique Azaña Defez. In the first course of ESO, the methodology using during this observation phase has been to start the class by reviewing the knowledge acquired in the previous class, interacting with them and asking them basic questions. The use of basic structures relating to the most predictable everyday situations, the identification and use of common expressions, simple stock phrases and lexis relating to specific everyday contexts. The implementation of basic strategies to organise, acquire, remember and use the lexis covered. Guided reflection upon the use and meaning of grammar forms appropriate for different communicative intentions: irregular verbs, the use of structures to ask for and give directions: Can you tell me where the cinema is? The organisation of whole class work as a strategy to review directions (turn left, go straight on...) and to make progress in the learning process. The use of the board is constant and the students themselves made drawings on the blackboard, to show confidence and initiative to express oneself in public and in writing. Active participation in group-work and activities (sports & action verbs, Parts of the body, etc). A great deal of time has been devoted to phonetics through audio and video materials. Progressive use of learning resources such as dictionaries, libraries and Information and Communication Technologies. Throughout these weeks we used the maximum resources for classes to be as complete as possible. As for homework, students have been asked to write different sentences with the structures learned during these weeks. 72

74 ACTIVITY Nr. 1 The interest to take advantage of the learning situations created both inside and outside the classroom. In the group of third of ESO, the methodology has been to start the class by reviewing the knowledge acquired in the previous class, interacting with them and asking them basic questions. It is is an effective way of reinforcement and use of structures and functions connected to various communication situations. Using common expressions, stock phrases and lexis relating to topics of general and personal interest, everyday issues. The contents taught during these weeks have been present perfect simple, comparison of adjectives, an active translation, students reading aloud, working with texts in response to different issues. During these weeks we have reviewed uses of the present perfect simple and time expressions: since, for, already, ago, ever, and to learn the contrast between the present perfect simple and past simple. Besides, they have asked to read a chapter of the book of the reading program (The Bermuda Triangle). As for homework, students have been asked to write a short essay with the structures learned during these weeks. The skills have been covered in all units, in various degrees depending on the topic and activities designed. Participation in the speaking classes in Bachillerato is very active. The teacher tries to introduce topics that draw their attention and encourage them to talk/speak. The innovation of this type of classes and methodology is very interesting for the development of communication. The pronunciation is immediately corrected, and effective guidance on the topic makes the classes interesting. Acceptance of mistakes as an integral part of the learning process and positive attitude to overcome them. In this group which is the most advanced level, speaking activities are very relaxed where you can enjoy the language and the students like this interaction space. In the group there are twelve students, so the activity is very controlled. In the diversity group, the methodology has been to start the class by reviewing the knowledge acquired in the previous class, interacting with them and also asking about everyday issues. In terms of contents these weeks, they have reviewed the prepositions of time with the help of a computer program that showed them clocks with different times. The exercise has been very effective to review of prepositions properly assimilated and time slots. The use of the computer and LCD projector make the class dynamic. During these weeks the students have reviewed activities and structures based on present simple. 73

75 ACTIVITY Nr. 1 COMPETENCES: The four skills have been practised in all units, with specific teaching classes focused more on one than on other, but always trying to keep a balance within the unit and making sure that all aspects have been covered. In all groups: ESO, Bachillerato, Diversity, apart from the transmission of skills and knowledge the teacher fulfils the roles of: role model, guide, mediator, facilitator of learning. TEACHING PROCESS COMPETENCES: I have experienced in observing the students. OBSERVATIONS: To cater for diversity, we should also include special activities for those students who in spite of going up to the following level had not reached the promotional standards for the previous one and activities for those students who must remain in the same level for two consecutive years. TEACHER SELF- ASSESSMENT: The fundamental question that we have to ask today is what the students need to learn to be able to use the language for their purposes. Nevertheless, this does not mean offering a teaching program which simply meets the demands of students; it means offering a variety of activities so that each student can find something which suits them. I cannot learn in the place of a student. I work to make the students work, explain to make them understand, and teach to facilitate their learning. The diversity of materials and resources provided by the English Department has helped me to design tasks and activities to be included in the year planning. 74

76 ACTIVITY Nr. 2 ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION: STAFF MEETING TEACHING MATERIALS DATE AND TIME: DIAGNOSTIC TEST I.E.S. Rey Pastor 25 th February 1-Nota del año pasado y profesor 2- Qué nivel crees que tienes bajo, medio, alto? 3- A qué aspiras en ésta asignatura? 4- Cómo abordas el estudio del inglés? Con mucho entusiasmo, de una forma neutra, con poco entusiasmo, con ningún entusiasmo( es aburrido) 5-De las 4 destrezas que practicas en ésta asignatura, hablar, leer, escribir, escuchar, cuál de ellas haces más a gusto y cuál te parece más útil? 6- Tienes costumbre de trabajar en grupos o en parejas? Indica que ventajas e inconvenientes tiene. 7- Tienes intención de seguir estudiando el bachillerato? 8- Piensas en ir a la Universidad? 9-Dime si vas a la Escuela OficiaI de idiomas, curso que haces u otros estudios de inglés que hayas hecho o estés haciendo en la actualidad. 10-Haz las sugerencias que creas oportunas sobre el funcionamiento de ésta clase, si es que tienes alguna. ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION: This questionnaire is directed to the students of the 4th course of CSE (in Spanish Language) to avoid comprehension errors. OBSERVATIONS: The diagnostic TEST provides closer information about the concept of motivation, one of the most important components of learning in any educational environment. 75

77 ACTIVITY Nr. 3 ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION: STAFF MEETING TEACHING MATERIALS- PSYCHOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT. DATE AND TIME: DELPHOS PROGRAM I.E.S Rey Pastor 23 rd and 24 th, February ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION: Delphos Papás program refers to the use of innovative computers systems for communication, interaction, and exchanging of educational information. The diagnostic assessment has been realized in February, during the days 23 rd and 24 th. Delphos Papas is an innovative initiative of the Ministry of Education and Science of JCCM (Castilla-La Mancha). The system will be available for all 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Computer-operated information and communication technologies offer unlimited opportunities in the educational system. The results of the diagnostic assessment have been communicated to the parents using the Delphos Program. OBSERVATIONS: This program represents an effective channel of communication between the school and families. I.E.S Rey Pastor high school provides to the students a service of psychological attention to help them in the following areas: Problems of adjusting to school life, stress and anxiety, sadness, depression, difficulties with exams, problems of social relations, problems of performance and concentration and some other problems like health risks of anorexia, alcohol or drugs problems, etc. Expulsion should be the last step taken after several attempts to deal with a student who has discipline problems. The School Department has funded special classes to provide attention to problematic students. 76

78 ACTIVITY Nr. 4 ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION: : PRACTICE PHASE: ALBACETE S FAIR DATE AND TIME: February 21 st to 29 th April 2011 ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION: I designed different extra activities directed to 1 st course of ESO. Extra activities provide a setting to become involved and to interact with other classmates, thus leading to increased learning and enhanced development. The activity has involved students get closer to cultural information of our city (Albacete) with very basic texts that might be of interest. Students become involved in the activities not only for entertainment, social, and enjoyment purposes, but most important, to gain and improve skills. In this first class, I talked about ALBIT, the Mascot what has represented over the last three years to the city of Albacete, and will be represented the fair until September. Students reviewed in the class the grammar structures of simple present. My objective is the participation of the whole class. COMPETENCES: At the end of the class, students will be able to: - Look information using search-engines( internet resources) and textbooks ( competences number 4 and 8) - Extract information from written texts ( competence number 6 y 7) - Develop reading comprehension and written expression( competence number 1) - Have confidence in dealing with real texts( competence number 3) - Learn about the culture of our city( competence number 3) - Further develop civic values and team-working skills by cooperating and working together to translate the texts ( competence number 5) 77

79 ACTIVITY Nr. 4 TEACHING PROCESS COMPETENCES: 1.-Linguistic communication competence 3 -Knowledge of and interaction with the physical world 4-Digital and information processing competence 5-Social and civic competence 6-Cultural and artistic competence 7-Learning to learn competence OBSERVATIONS: At the end of the class all the students received a surprise, the mascot Albit. The Third Century company participated in my extra activities and collaborated with a present (Albit s figures) for the students. The material resources used in the class are the following: Internet on line resources, a text (Albacete s fair), a comprehension exercise and 2 DVD S provided by the council of Albacete. This activity has been put into practice in the diversity group too. In this group, I found students with special educational needs and I designed the activities with specific learning objectives and reinforcement measures. In this group I found students at different levels of knowledge and competence development. The selection of materials has followed a criterion of degree of difficulty, both in content and language. In this group it is difficult to know what the students will need English for, the objective is to provide them with enough general knowledge of basic language functions, basic structures and lexis and develop their language and culture awareness. I used a controlled practice through repetition drills and guided- controlled activities. The material resources used in this class are the same as in the first course of ESO. TEACHER SELF-ASSESSMENT: Through participation, students frequently interact with peers who have similar interests, providing social integration into the school environment. Pay attention to diversity is a key element, taking among others the multiple intelligences approach, to attend to the different learning styles and with different levels of complexity within the class. 78

80 ACTIVITY Nr. 5 ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION: PRACTICE PHASE BE CREATIVE DATE AND TIME: February 21 st to 29 th April 2011 ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION: In this class students exchanged communication by other classmates (personal letters). The activity is a great exercise for students to use to produce writing ideas. The proposal is that the students write in English, thus they ll have a somewhat similar level in their communication skills in the foreign language and they ll become aware of the problems of expressing oneself in a foreign language. This type of creative writing exercises (personal letters) are an effective way to keep the students interested in writing. This activity has been realized in the course of first of ESO and the diversity group. COMPETENCES At the end of the class, students will be able to: - Have confidence in dealing with real texts ( competence number 3) - Look for information using search-engines( internet resources) and textbooks ( competences number 4 and 8) - Write a simple guided-personal letter ( competence number 1) - Get confidence in giving very brief presentations in English( competence number 1) - Extract information from written texts( competence number 7) TEACHING PROCESS COMPETENCES 1.-Linguistic communication competence 3 -Knowledge of and interaction with the physical world 4-Digital and information processing competence 5-Social and civic competence 7-Learning to learn competence 9- Emotional Competence 79

81 ACTIVITY Nr. 5 OBSERVATIONS: MASTER S DEGREE PROJECT IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING The material resources used to realize the creative writing exercise are: The III Century Cards provided by the council of Albacete and online resources. A video provided by the council of Albacete allowed me to explain the history and development of our city, our cutlery artisans, our traditions, etc. The cutlery museum has participated in the activities with a DVD of the knife making art, with real texts of the museum, and presents for all the students (cutlery pins). TEACHER SELF- ASSESSMENT: The main competence developed in my classes is the communicative language competence, and in particular the three competences related: -Linguistic competence: lexical, phonological, orthographical and syntactical, as the students will be carrying out activities which involve learning new words, and their pronunciation and spelling, copying things from a text, and analysing whether certain words belong to the noun, adjective or verb class, etc. -Pragmatic competence: particularly when they are carrying out the survey, they will have to produce speech acts, negotiate meaning, respect the rules of turn-taking, etc. -Socio-linguistic competence, mainly through exposure to an authentic text relating to our city of Albacete. Other competence developed in all my activities is the Digital and information processing competence. My objective is that students acquire the ability to search for, obtain process and communicate information, and transform it into knowledge 80

82 ACTIVITY Nr. 6 ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION: TUTORIAL CLASS DATE AND TIME: February 21 st to 29 th April 2011 ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION: TUTORIAL CLASSES COMPETENCES: 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9. TEACHING PROCESS COMPETENCES 1-Linguistic communication 3-Knowledge of and interaction with the physical world 4-Digital and information processing competence 5-Social and civic competence 7-Learning to learn competence 8-Autonomy and personal initiative competence 9-Emotional competence OBSERVATIONS: An important element is group-work. Some of the tasks involving group-work will be carried out in mixed-ability groups to foster cooperation among the different students. - Organising contents around long term tasks which provide the blocks of content whit meaning. - Alternating individual, pair and group work, where the more able students work with the less able. - Using teaching materials which are as close to their interests as possible, making use of audiovisual aids, computers, magazines, etc. - Regular follow-up of those students with problems, providing them with help. - Encouraging student participation. - Providing flexible grouping among various groups or within the same group. All these points are transitional and reviewable. I have had the opportunity to attend tutorial classes of the first course of ESO and the diversity group. It is very important to include different strategies which make provisions for diversity in this classroom. TEACHER SELF- ASSESSMENT: Tutorial classes represent an effective way of communication between the classmates 81

83 ACTIVITY Nr.7 ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION: EXAM 2 nd EVALUATION DATE AND TIME: February 21 st to 29 th April 2011 ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION: EXAM COMPETENCES: 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9. TEACHING PROCESS COMPETENCES: 1-Linguistic communication 3-Knowledge of and interaction with the physical world 4-Digital and information processing competence 5-Social and civic competence 7-Learning to learn competence 8-Autonomy and personal initiative competence 9-Emotional competence OBSERVATIONS: The exam contained seven questions: 1) Put this verbs into the most suitable form 2) To have/ to be/etc. 3) Translate into English 4) Fill in the blanks using ( have, can, etc) 5) Answer these questions 6) Finish these sentences 7) Translate into Spanish TEACHER SELF- ASSESSMENT Under the supervision of my teacher, I collaborated with the whole-school Second evaluation process. 82

84 ACTIVITY Nr. 8 MASTER S DEGREE PROJECT IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION : TEST DATE AND TIME: February 21 st to 29 th April 2011 ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION: TEST. I designed an extra exercise (Test) to review simple present and present continuous structures. COMPETENCES: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. TEACHING PROCESS COMPETENCES: 1-Linguistic communication 3-Knowledge of and interaction with the physical world 4-Digital and information processing competence 5-Social and civic competence 6-Cultural and artistic competence 7-Learning to learn competence 8-Autonomy and personal initiative competence 9-Emotional competence OBSERVATIONS: The Material resources used in this class are the following: - TEST: 10 practice exercises( present simple/ present continuous) - Reading Activity- Student s lecture book The identification of basic morphological elements, identification and use of common expressions, use of basic structures and functions relating to the most predictable everyday situations. The test will provide us information of the level of the students. The reading activity is used in conjunction with active learning teaching strategies. I think the student book is an effective way to achieve instructional goals. 83

85 ACTIVITY Nr.8 MASTER S DEGREE PROJECT IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING I consider it is absolutely essential to: - Select appropriate examples or illustrations - Repeat points when necessary - Be aware of our students - notice their feedback This skill (Reading) will be practiced in combination with the others, particularly writing and, to a lesser extent, speaking and listening. The students will have to read different types of texts to extract both general and specific information. Besides, and as part of the general objectives of ESO to improve literacy, the students will have to read a book per term, according to their level and they will have to fill in some data based on the book. TEACHER SELF- ASSESSMENT Under the supervision of my teacher, I collaborated with the whole-school Second evaluation process and the students are given a reading activity which requires the use of Student s lecture book The Secret of the Stones. 84

86 ACTIVITY Nr. 9 ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION: EVALUATION MEETINGS DATE AND TIME: February 21 st to 29 th April 2011 ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION: EVALUATION MEETINGS The evaluation documents contain the following information: Alphabetical listing of students of 1 st of CSE 1) Alcantud Martínez, Natalia 22) Torrente Mañas, María. 22 students Alphabetical listing of students of 1 st of CSE 1) Castillejos Leal, María Pilar. 25) Zárate Jiménez, Ana. 25 students Syllabus Qualifications- 2 nd EVALUATION -Biology and Geology -Fisic And Quimic -Social Sciences, History and Geography, -Physical Education -Visual and Plastic Education -Spanish Language and Literature -English language -Mathematics -Music -Technology -French( Second Language) -Catholic Religion. COMPETENCES: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. TEACHING PROCESS COMPETENCES 1-Linguistic communication 2- Mathematical Competence 3-Knowledge of and interaction with the physical world 4-Digital and information processing competence 5-Social and civic competence 6-Cultural and artistic competence 7-Learning to learn competence 8-Autonomy and personal initiative competence 9-Emotional competence OBSERVATIONS: The evaluation meetings allowed all teachers of these groups (B and C) to monitor progress of their students and this enables teachers to ensure best possible provision for students within their class to achieve their potential through Quality Teaching. This means differentiated work, targeted support from the Teacher within the class, use of appropriate resources, use of the most appropriate teaching strategies based on how the students learns best. 85

87 ACTIVITY Nr. 10 ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION: DISCOVERING THE CITY DATE AND TIME: February 21 st to 29 th April 2011 ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION: I designed two different extra activities directed to these groups of students. The objectives of the lesson is to enable students to: - Have confidence in dealing with real texts. - Use their deductive skills to deduce the meaning of some words based on their knowledge of grammar and word formation. - Use their reasoning skills to answer some of the questions. The material resources used in this activity are the following: - 2 DVD S provided by APRECU AND CEEI, Albacete. - Writing real texts( international congress and knife show and Albacete takes off At the end of this class, students will be able to: - Have confidence in dealing with real texts ( competence number 3) - Look for information using search-engines( internet resources) and textbooks ( competences number 4 and 8) - Extract information from written texts( competence number 7) COMPETENCES: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. TEACHING PROCESS COMPETENCES: 1-Linguistic competence 3-Knowledge of and interaction with the physical world 4-Digital and information processing competence 5-Social and civic competence 6-Cultural and artistic competence 7-Learning to learn competence 8-Autonomy and personal initiative competence 9-Emotional competence OBSERVATIONS: The activities have been realized in the course of first of CSE and in the diversity group, in four classes. TEACHER SELF-ASSESSMENT: The main competence developed in these activities is the communicative language competence, others: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. 86

88 EVALUATION CRITERIA- GRAPHIC All the students must achieve the objectives specified at the stage. In general, all students must achieve a minimum level of communication both orally and in writing. Assessment will be an ongoing process: the level of achievement for the specific objectives in each unit and lesson will be assessed according to their performance in the activities and tasks planned by direct observation, by assessing the student s written activities and by test carried out at the end of each unit and of the end of each term. The minimum objectives all students must achieve in order to get a pass will be the following: - To be able to recognize familiar words and very basic phrases concerning the student, his/her family and immediate concrete surrounding when these words and phrases are spoken slowly and clearly. - To be able to understand the main point in short, clear messages and announcements. - To be able to read very short, simple texts: find specific information in simple material such as advertisements, menus and timetables; understand simple personal letters. - To be able to write short, simple notes and messages relating to matters in the areas dealt with. - To be able to write very simple personal letters, for example giving information about oneself, or thanking someone for something. - To be able to interact orally in a very simple way, asking and answering questions in areas of immediate need or on very familiar topics. 87

89 - To be able to use very simple phrases and sentences to describe where on lives and people one knows. - To be able to use ICT according to classroom practice. UNITS ASESSMENT CRITERIA: - Speaking activities at the beginning of the lesson( warm-up) - Oral production during lessons - Oral and written production at end of unit to assess which objectives have been achieved and what must be reinforced both individually and as a group. - Written test at the beginning of the unit to check student s mastery of structure and lexis from all the previous units. ASSESSMENT - Informal assessment on contents and efforts made within class with particular emphasis on understanding use of questions and answers and on skills word. The assessment will take into account the following criteria: - Students ability to extract general and specific information. - Students performance in role-plays assigned. - Students production of oral, written and activities assigned. - Students appreciation of the enriching effect of the topic presented in the unit. - Students understanding of oral and written texts used in the unit. 88

90 ASSESSMENT TYPE METHOD AND PURPOSE EXAMPLES Observe students during: INFORMAL OBSERVATION PLANNED OBSERVATION Teacher interacts with and observes students during the classroom activities to gain in general, anecdotal o incidental impressions of the student s work and their approach to learning. Teacher observes students in activities which have been planned to assess specific aspects of student s work. - Class discussion - Speaking, reading and writing activities - Pair work - Group work - Role-plays Observe and assess students: - During speaking, reading or writing activities. - Performing a designed role or task in a group. - Formal tests SELF AND PEER ASSESSMENT Teacher analyses student s self and peer assessments, basically to gain understanding of the student s preferred learning styles, areas of conclusion, perceptions of their peers, etc. Analysis of: - Questionnaires. - Self-assessment forms ( my progress check) - Student comments 89