Academic Year:
2019/20
26623 - English in primary education II
Teaching Plan Information
Academic Year:
2019/20
Subject:
26623 - English in primary education II
Faculty / School:
107 - Facultad de Educación
202 - Facultad de Ciencias Humanas y de la Educación
301 - Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Humanas
Degree:
298 - Degree in Primary School Education
299 - Degree in Primary School Education
300 - Degree in Primary School Education
ECTS:
6.0
Year:
2
Semester:
Second semester
Subject Type:
Compulsory
Module:
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1.1. Aims of the course
Since the main objective of the course is to develop students' communicative competence in English as they reflect on their own learning process, expected learning outcomes focus on the development of oral and written receptive and productive skills and on the description and evaluation of classroom practices and procedures. All these learning outcomes will be assessed in the course.
1.2. Context and importance of this course in the degree
This course responds to the need of all graduate students in Primary Education to communicate effectively both in oral and written form in English. Being able to communicate in this language is a key tool for the learners’ longlife professional development.
In addition, this course will allow learners to develop their skill to reflect both on their own process of learning of the foreign language and on classroom procedures in the EFL classroom, which will be of great importance for their future professional development.
Finally, the communicative approach around specific content (learning through topics that are relevant and meaningful to students) to the learning of the foreign language will promote the exchange of ideas and opinions on education (also from an intercultural perspective), which will have a positive effect on the development of the future primary teacher's general competences.
1.3. Recommendations to take this course
The student will be required to play an active role taking part in different interaction, listening and reading comprehension, and writing activities and tasks both inside and outside the classroom. They will also have to complete activities and tasks focused on the learning process and on metacognitive strategies. To do so, it is essential that students have an intermediate proficiency level in English before starting the course.
2.1. Competences
Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:
- express themselves fluently in oral and written form in a foreign language
- effectively deal with varied learning situations in multicultural and multilingual contexts
- reflect on classroom practices to innovate and improve teaching; acquire habits and skills for autonomous and cooperative learning, as well as to develop thinking skills and promote them among their future students.
- make use of strategies for autonomous learning and cooperative work and promote them among their future students
- take ownership of their own learning
- effectively work in teams, adopting different roles
- use and apply ICT for their own learning, for communication and for knowledge sharing in varied contexts
- manage their own continuous professional development and foster quality and improvement
2.2. Learning goals
In order to pass this course, learners should demonstrate that they are able to:
1. read and understand English texts at an intermediate level on topics that are specific to Primary Education
2. listen and understand both main ideas and specific details in oral texts of different nature and featuring speakers from different backgrounds
3. express themselves orally and interact in English with other speakers on topics of their specialty as well as on general topics relevant to the Primary school teacher
4. write coherent and well-structured texts in English, following specific generic conventions and taking into account the register and the communicative situation
5. identify, describe and evaluate classroom procedures (i.e. techniques, resources, sequences, etc.) of an L2 teaching-learning process based on the development of communicative competence; acquire habits and skills for autonomous and cooperative learning, and develop tools for self-assessment and reflection on their own process of learning of a foreign language
2.3. Importance of learning goals
Future teachers will be able to communicate and exchange experiences with peers from other countries and cultues making use of the English language. They will be able to consult bibliography and make use of materials and resources in English related to their speciality.
Our society requires teaching professionals with a high level of communicative competence in a foreign language who are able to use it as a vehicle of communication in the English classroom, and to teach other subjects through English, thus contributing to the learning of a foreign language at schools.
3. Assessment (1st and 2nd call)
3.1. Assessment tasks (description of tasks, marking system and assessment criteria)
The student will have to demonstrate that has achieved the learning outcomes through the following assessment activities. Assessment will be based on the following skills, divided into two tests:
1. Written test:
a. Reading comprehension activities (15%)
b. Listening comprehension activities (15%)
c. Writing activities (20%)
d. Use of English activities (20%)
e. Analysis and evaluation of classroom practices and skills development and strategies (10%)
2. Oral test:
Speaking and interaction activities (20%). Note that, since it is an individual test, it is scheduled on a different date and place from the written test.
Reflection on classroom practices will be addressed in both, oral and written, tests.
Evaluation criteria
The following criteria will be considered:
- Speaking/interaction
Students should be able to participate in a conversation about a topic related to their specialty, showing a specialized register in the use of the language applied to their field of specialization, using intelligible pronunciation, with linguistic correction, and a certain degree of creativity and complexity, taking into account the specific communicative context.
- Written production
Students should be able to write texts on topics related to their specialty as future Primary teachers, synthesise and evaluate information and arguments from different sources, clearly describe real situations and imagined experiences making use of coherence and cohesion mechanisms, summarise, convey meaning and give their own opinion on aspects related to their speciality.
- Oral comprehension
Students should be able to understand the main ideas of texts on specific topics within the field of Education and of the process of learning and teaching foreign languages. They should also show that they are able to make inferences to understand the messsage, extract specific information, and use the context to understand vocabulary or new expressions.
- Written comprehension
Students should be able to extract the main ideas of texts on specific topics related to their specialty, to make inferences to understand the message, to look for specific detail, and use the context to understand vocabulary or new expressions.
- Use of English
Students must demonstrate competence equivalent to an intermediate-advanced level in the use of specific vocabulary in the field of Education, of the lexical-grammatical and discursive structures necessary to convey meaning and to perform specific speech acts, as well as of their knowledge and use of English pronunciation.
- Activities of analysis and evaluation of classroom practices and development skills and strategies
Students should be able to identify, describe and evaluate procedures, techniques and methodological resources used in the EFL classroom, as well as applied processes and strategies that lead to the development of communicative competence using metalanguage in an appropriate manner.
Assessment criteria and requirements to pass the subject
In order to pass the course the student will have to get a final mark of at least 50%, after the sum of all the assessment activities, and also at least 50% in each of the groups of activities corresponding to each of the skills (reading comprehension, listening comprehension, writing, speaking and interaction, Use of English, and analysis and evaluation of classroom practices and development of skills and strategies)
When a student gets a mark lower than 50% in any of the groups of activities (reading comprehension, listening comprehension, writing, speaking and interaction, Use of English or analysis and evaluation of classroom practices and development of skills and strategies), it will mean that the student has not reached the required minimum level of competence and, therefore, will not pass the course.
Overall test and second call
In the second call all activities, tests and percentages coincide with those in the first one.
Fifth and sixth retake
In fifth and sixth retake, the tests and the hurdle requirements will be the same as in all previous retakes, but the tests will be assessed by an examining board.
4. Methodology, learning tasks, syllabus and resources
4.1. Methodological overview
The learning process designed for this course is based on the following:
- The principles of Communicative Language Teaching focusing on the development of students' communicative competence from a multiple perspective: grammatical, pragmatic, strategic and intercultural, taking a learner-centred approach and fostering the learner's awareness of their own learning process
- The principles of the Task-Based Approach so that students are asked to complete tasks using the language for a specific communicative purpose and working collaboratively and cooperatively in teams in which students take specific roles and responsibilities
- The use of authentic materials that are relevant and meaningful to Education students
- The use of ICT inside and outside the classroom as a motivating element for students and to promote autonomy in the learning of a foreign language
- Autonomous guided learning in the development of linguistic competence outside the classroom (flipped learning)
- The development of thinking skills to promote deep and meaningful learning of the language and of the specific topics worked upon
4.2. Learning tasks
The programme offered to students to help them meet the learning outcomes entails the following activities and tasks:
1. Oral and written practice of the language through the integration of the skills and the use of the language with a clear communicative purpose for the completion of significant and relevant tasks for Education students
2. Extensive reading outside the classroom and intensive reading in the classroom to develop effective reading strategies
3. Viewing videos and listening to audio files for their comprehension and analysis
4. Oral activities focused on the identification and discrimination of English segmental and suprasegmental features; controlled and guided oral production activities for the improvement of pronunciation with a view to ensuring the students’ intelligibility in their oral discourse
5. Activities that integrate reading and writing texts for the identification and accurate use of textual cohesion mechanisms and of their discursive structure
6. Role-plays and simulation activities
7. Discussions and oral presentations
8. Writing practice through the use of models and guidelines; collaborative writing; writing as a cognitive process
9. Creative writing activities (stories, rhymes, poems)
10. Self- and peer- assessment activities through checklists
4.3. Syllabus
The learning activities and tasks may be planned around the following 4 specific topics, which are relevant to the Primary teacher:
- Bilingual education (e.g. benefits and challenges, language immersion, CLIL in the Primary classroom, English-Medium Instruction [EMI])
- Physical Education (e.g. physical activity, healthy habits, sports rules, school action plans)
- Natural and social sciences (e.g. the natural world, the scientific method, reporting science)
- Arts and literature (e.g. creative writing, music and songs, arts and crafts, visual literacy)
4.4. Course planning and calendar
Activities and key dates will be made known to students on Moodle or through a written document handed out when the course starts. Final exam dates are available at the website of each of the three Faculties where the Degree in Primary Education is taught.
4.5. Bibliography and recommended resources
Clandfield, Lindsay, Rebecca Robb and Amanda Jeffries. 2011. Global Upper-Intermediate Course Book. Macmillan.
Rogers, Mickey, Joanne Taylore-Knowles and Mickey Rogers . 2014. OpenMind 2nd Edition Level 3 Student's Book (British Edition). Macmillan.
Boyle, Mike y Ellen Kisslinger. 2013. Skillful Level 3 Listening and Speaking Students’ Book. Macmillan.
Bixby, Jennifer y Jaimie Scanlon. 2013. Skillful Level 3 Reading and Writing Students’ Book. Macmillan.
Seligson, Paul. English ID Level 3 British Student's Book. Richmond.
Donaldson, Julia. 2002. The Smartest Giant in Town. London: Penguin.
Andreae, Giles y Guy Parker-Rees. 2012. Giraffes can’t Dance.
Babette, Cole. Mummy laid an egg. Puffin Random House.
Jeffer, Oliver. 2005. Lost and Found. Harper Collins Children’s Books.