Time and communication constraints tend to define the levels of integration teachers

may include in their planning. If you work at two schools and a private course, caring for
more than ten class groups a week, it is only reasonable that you start testing the waters
of interdisciplinarity by implementing small experiments based on punctual activities.
This working situation is common in Brazil.

However, being an ELT professional has its advantages when it comes to interdisciplinary
thinking. As Professor Carina Fragozo says:

[…] interdisciplinarity is an alternative to take advantage of what students

are learning in other disciplines to explore the English language. It is not
difficult to use English to explore contents of human sciences such as
History, Sociology and Geography in the language class, so the English
teacher may propose interdisciplinary classes or projects with teachers
of other disciplines, in order to integrate the knowledge of these subjects
(2011, p. 19)

Since language is an all-encompassing subject, it might be easier for Portuguese and

English professionals to be the ones who propose associations.

Example

Imagine that you are teaching at high school. You have heard that the
Geography teacher will start working on African geopolitics. It may be easier for
you to propose a class on South African English (contextualized by a text on the
apartheid system) than it would be for the Geography teacher to understand
how your current linguistic objectives fit geopolitics.

Following the example, if both of you lack the time to plan a truly integrated project,
you will know that adding a class on South African English and discussing its linguistic
particularities may help students activate further connections, especially if the text is
related to a geopolitical content.

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 Important

Knowledge barriers are also a hindrance to the planning of such interdisciplinary

activities. Teacher might think that they do not know enough about the apartheid
or the South African English variety. However, if they focus on their own subject’s
objectives — by highlighting subject+verb+object patterns, prefix and suffix use,
pronunciation etc.— they will be contributing effectively.

If time allows, there is always the possibility of studying new areas and opening the
communication with other teachers for higher integration and learning. Nonetheless, the
point is to offer students different angles on the same subject so that they can make
their own associations.

Example

At the morning turn of any public school, classes may

go from 7:00 to 12:40. A regular student’s experience
includes attending 4 to 5 completely different classes,
each with their own demands in terms of content,
behavior, tasks etc. They need to rapidly change channels
and tune into the new cognitive-affective scheme every
time a bell rings. If the English and Geography teacher
both talk about Africa, the chances for meaningful
connections increase exponentially.

In this sense, no effort is useless. Students tend to notice when teachers establish any
kind of communication among them. Teachers also tend to feel less alone when facing
their classes supported by a higher group objective.

71
 Exercise

How does communication among teachers develop at the school where you
are training? For the next week, try to observe this interaction. If possible, talk
to teachers of different subjects and assess their current objectives, projects
and challenges. How could English language classes support them? How could
they support English language learning?

Where higher levels of integration are possible, problem-based approaches may turn into
interdisciplinary project-based approaches. As in a long-term problem, a project may
include as many steps and procedures as necessary to develop a final product/solution.

The first activities of any interdisciplinary project should be based on the students’
previous knowledge. The teachers involved will then manage a selection of challenging
follow-up activities backed up by “a set of documents and materials well-arranged and
easily sourced” (DIÉZ, 2017, p. 10). This material set will be a reference provider throughout
the process.

Figure 2: Components of an Interdisciplinary Project.

Objectives
(Intention)

Students Teachers
(Motivation, (Guiding role,
interaction with their challenge
surroundings) presentation)
Interdisciplinary
Project

Learning
Contents
(Interdisciplinary)
Activities
(Assorted)

Source: Adapted from Diéz (2017).

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Assessment practices should be continuous and multi-directional – teachers assess
students according to their specialties, but students also self-assess and evaluate
teachers’ contributions to the process, taking advantage from their expertise to meet the
proposed challenge.

Interdisciplinary projects may lead to transdisciplinary enterprises. If the project

motivates the school community, its members may soon find themselves extrapolating
traditional teacher, student and/or coordinating roles to cope with the activity’s demands.

MEDIA LIBRARY

Access your Media Library for Unit 3 and check the supplementary content
selected by your Professor on the topic Perspectives on San Diego Bay – an
interdisciplinary project.

In Brazil, scientific/academic research has been a doorway to some interdisciplinary and

transdisciplinary proposals at public schools. Some teachers assign special importance
to initiating their students in this kind of practice. They can also start with the assistance
and/or initiative of visiting academics.

Reflection time

Are there any academic researchers working at your internship school? How
do they work? What projects are they involved with? Are there any other social
sectors encouraging knowledge integrative practices (Amigos da Escola, other
volunteers, NGOs, neighborhood organizations)?

In Topic 3, we will analyze a simple interdisciplinary project in order to understand which

skills are involved in its implementation

73
Study case: analysis of school projects

In Topic 3, you will analyze an interdisciplinary project from the Escola Municipal José Calil
Ahouagi, in Marilândia, Juiz de Fora (MG). It involved English, Sciences and Mathematics
around the “Healthy Eating” theme.

Academic advisors and interns from the Programa Nacional de Iniciação à Docência –
PIBIC, supported by federal government grants, assisted the project. The PIBIC aims at
offering university students the opportunity of experiencing classroom practices before
their mandatory internship term. PIBIC participants had already implemented a special
English project at that school in 2013.

Let us see how this project was organized:

Table 1: Healthy Eating project – ninth grade (and expanding).

Context and objectives

É uma escola de tempo integral que atende a quase 300 alunos, desde o ma-
ternal até o Fundamental II. Por ter essa característica, as crianças fazem três
refeições diárias na escola. O cardápio é elaborado por uma nutricionista, mas
muitas crianças reclamavam da comida e muitas vezes rejeitavam alguns dos
itens servidos. Nosso objetivo foi sensibilizar as crianças e adolescentes para a
adoção de práticas mais saudáveis em sua alimentação diária. Para tal, dividi-
mos o projeto em três fases, a saber: diagnóstico, estudo da pirâmide alimentar
e tabela nutricional e prática.

Source: Silva et al. (2015, p. 108).

As discussed in Topic 1, well-succeeded interdisciplinary projects derive from students’

interests, since motivation is a key component of their development. In the example,
teachers and PIBIC interns based on a common complaint to design a project that could
benefit from the knowledge of many different study areas.

74
 Reflection time

What do the students in the class you are observing complain about? Which
aspects of school and community life could be turned into a relevant research
project? How could the English teacher join efforts with other subjects in order
to build it?

By reframing complaints as learning opportunities, teachers foster the development of

important citizenry skills, including:

- Pro-activity.
- Critical thinking.
- Resilience.
- Negotiation.
- Collaborative problem solving.

Table 2: Healthy Eating project (SILVA et al., 2015, p. 111) – ninth grade (and expanding).

Diagnosis

In order to prepare for an oral presentation activity, based on their English

textbook, a group of students has to research on the schools’ meal system:

- Para a coleta de dados afixamos, próximo ao refeitório, dois cartazes nos

quais os alunos poderiam escrever a sua opinião sobre a comida da escola e
sugerir modificações para melhora do cardápio.

- “[os alunos com ajuda da professora e dos estagiários do PIBID] compilaram

as opiniões coletadas em forma de gráfico, estudaram o vocabulário e as estru-
turas necessárias para conseguir comunicar tais informações.

75
 - [...] observamos que (i) a maior parte das crianças pesquisadas não gostavam
da comida da escola; (ii) as crianças gostariam de poder escolher o cardápio;
(iii) as crianças pesquisadas achavam que faltava sal na comida; (iv) foram cita-
das como sugestões para melhoria do cardápio alimentos como hambúrguer,
salgadinhos, batata frita, refrigerantes, pizza e outros alimentos ricos em açú-
car e gordura.

- Nessa fase de diagnóstico, constatamos que as crianças possuem pouco crité-

rio acerca da importância de uma alimentação balanceada e rica em nutrientes.

Observe that many integrative steps are included in the diagnostic phase of the project:

Figure 3: Integration and Expansion Steps — an example of interdisciplinary process.

Oral activity Research activity Challenges

based on textbook based on students’ and Problems
interests
(integrating textbook (integrating students’
and interdisciplinary (integrating the knowledge and
contents) English activity, perceptions and
students’ interests teachers’ perceptions
and the school on the theme)
community)

During these first integrative moments, teachers can see how issues emerge and use their
expertise to design problems that offer enough of a challenge to keep the project going.

76
 Table 3: Healthy Eating project – ninth grade (and expanding).

Food Pyramid/Nutritional Table Studies

- Exercises in several classes, involving Science and Math teachers.

- English class: a pirâmide alimentar foi usada, também, como parte dos exer-
cícios que compunham a prova oral, toda feita em inglês. Apresentamos aos
alunos uma pirâmide alimentar com seus níveis vazios juntamente com várias
imagens de alimentos já estudados nas aulas anteriores. Foram feitas pergun-
tas do tipo: “Como se chama este alimento?” “Quanto deste alimento devemos
comer por dia?” “Em qual nível da pirâmide este alimento está?” Percebemos
nos alunos um grande interesse tanto em fornecer a resposta correta quanto
em elaborar essa resposta em inglês. Assim, os alunos perceberam sua ca-
pacidade de se comunicar em inglês. Levando-se em conta a individualidade
do desenvolvimento do bilinguismo de cada aluno, respostas do tipo: ‘Só um
pouquinho, teacher’ – foram consideradas legítimas”

- English practice with label reading (for different kinds of product).

Source: Silva et al. (2015. p. 113-114).

At this point, specific contents of different subjects evolve together in their corresponding
classes and during extra time assigned to the completion of certain tasks, whenever possible.

However, one single teacher can approach most problems and turn them into relevant
projects, as long as there is a possibility of generating a collaborative environment.

77
 Example

English teacher Walewska Braga — Escola Municipal Santo Tomás de Aquino,

Rio de Janeiro — noticed that some of her eight-graders from an early morning
class (7 am) were hungry when they arrived at school (most did not have
any breakfast). Together, they organized the Hora da Rodinha — a moment
when they would eat while talking. She brought some cookies herself, but
contributions were open to anyone who could. During Hora da Rodinha, they
discussed the ingredient lists on food packages and students came up with
different questions related to eating habits (BRAGA, 2018).

Aiming at integration is an important characteristic of interdisciplinary approaches.

Walewska’s students prepared posters to share their Hora da Rodinha stories in a meeting
of the Exploratory Practice research group (PUC-Rio).

At that time, their class had received a Colombian student who was contributing with his
Spanish knowledge to expand the teacher’s and his colleagues’ linguistic possibilities.
Walewska was also looking for opportunities to work with teachers of other subjects and
external collaborators.

Broadly speaking, the expansion of a project, in terms of interdisciplinary and

transdisciplinary objectives, will depend on general infrastructure.

Table 4: Healthy Eating project – ninth grade (and expanding).

Practice

- The Supermarket: realizamos a montagem do supermercado com alunos

pertencentes ao projeto de inglês do turno da tarde [...]. Os alunos tiveram que
criar cartazes promocionais, colocar o preço nos produtos e dispor as embala-
gens nas “prateleiras”. Esse supermercado ficou montado em um espaço co-
mum da escola durante uma semana inteira.

- A montagem do supermercado em uma área comum permitiu que ele fosse

utilizado em diferentes atividades com todas as turmas. Por exemplo, a turma

78
 do 7º ano teve oportunidade de fazer compras procurando por opções saudá-
veis para sua lista, o 6º ano, que estudava operações matemáticas, aproveitou o
espaço do supermercado para aplicar o conteúdo numa situação real: fazendo
compras no mercado, precisaram somar os valores, pagar e conferir o troco [...].

- Cooking class (vegetable pie): os alunos participaram de todos os passos

necessários para fazer a torta. Cortaram legumes, calcularam a quantidade
pedida na receita, misturaram e levaram ao forno. A torta foi um sucesso e
os estudantes confirmaram que é possível comer coisas gostosas que sejam
também saudáveis.

Source: Silva et al. (2015, p. 116-118).

For the culmination of the project, we can see activities that transcend the realm of each
discipline, going beyond traditional schooling propositions. In this sense, they tackle the
transdisciplinary scope.

Under a stricter scope, students can work individually and in parallel with regular class
activities to research a topic of interest using the English language as a reporting tool.

MEDIA LIBRARY

Access your Media Library for Unit 3 and check the supplementary content selected
by your Professor on the topic Research Projects in High School.

High school students who are introduced to notions in research methodology will
probably have an easier time when adapting to university requirements. Considering that
the English language is one of the main vehicles of scientific publication, skills gained at
this stage may also have an impact on their future professional and academic lives.

79
 Exercise

Think about an interdisciplinary project that could be

implemented at your internship school. Consider all of
the possibilities and constraints discussed so far and
map out routes for an expansion of integrated activities
around a theme. At the end of your internship journey,
you can use these ideas to prepare your final class
based on students’ interests and school community’s
emerging issues.

In practice

WhatsApp groups, Facebook communities and other asynchronous internet-based

devices are currently used to enhance learning and expand classroom activities,
overcoming time and space constraints. However, if you mean to use such devices,
be sure to establish clear agreements on participation requirements. This will protect
your off-time — the necessary period of recharging in-between classes — and assure
students that they are receiving attention and feedback.

80
Summary of Unit 3

In unit 3, you have applied the concepts of interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity to the
observation of your internship school practices, while discussing their potential in fostering
classroom innovation and competence development. You also analyzed the main steps
required for the planning and execution of interdisciplinary projects. This knowledge will
help you prepare the final solo class presentation and provide you with important insights
for the final internship report.

Concept

Interdisciplinarity is the approach by which concepts, tasks, rules, belief systems

and skills of different disciplines commingle in one or more activities.

81
References

BRAGA, W. “Hora da Rodinha” (personal communication): Exploratory Practice Group

of Rio de Janeiro (meeting). Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, 2018.

DAIGNEAULT, P. Short ‘Reflective’ Piece – The Blind Men and the Elephant: A Metaphor
to Iluminate the Role of Researchers and Reviewers of Social Science. Methodological
Innovations Online, n. 8, v. 2, 2013. Available at: <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/
pdf/10.4256/mio.2013.015>. Accessed on: Mar. 19, 2019.

DIÉZ, A. L. English speaking cities: implementing interdisciplinary project-based learning

in the English class. TCC/Graduação em Educação Primária. Universidad de La Rioja,
2017. Available at: <https://biblioteca.unirioja.es/tfe_e/TFE002394.pdf>. Accessed on:
Mar. 19, 2019.

FRAGOZO, C. Benefits and challenges of teaching English in Brazilian regular schools.

BELT Journal, v. 2, n. 1, Jan./Jun. 2011. Available at: <http://revistaseletronicas.pucrs.br/
ojs/index.php/belt/article/viewFile/9072/7011>. Accessed on: Mar. 19, 2019.

GIEVE, S; MILLER, I. K. Understanding the language classroom. London: Palgrave

Macmillan, 2006.

HODKINSON, P. Neo-fordism and teacher professionalism. Teacher Development,

n. 1, v. 1, on-line, 1997. Available at: <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/
pdf/10.1080/13664539700200011>. Accessed on: Mar. 19, 2019.

KLEIN, J. T. A Platform for a Shared Discourse of Interdisciplinary Education. JSSE-

Journal of Social Science Education, vol. 5 (4), 2006. Available at: <http://citeseerx.ist.
psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.1000.7571&rep=rep1&type=pdf>.Accessed on:
Mar. 19, 2019.

MCNEIL, L. M. Defensive teaching and classroom control. Eric Journals, 1982. Available
at: <https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED221958.pdf>. Accessed on: Mar. 19, 2019.

SILVA, G.D; SOUSA, B.A; NEVES, C. R; GRIESE, C.B; MENDES, M.C. Projeto “Healthy
Eating”: articulando conhecimentos de Inglês, Ciências e Matemática. Revista Ao pé da
Letra, v. 17, n. 1, 2015 Available at: <https://periodicos.ufpe.br/revistas/pedaletra/article/
viewFile/231859/26042>. Accessed on: Mar. 19, 2019.

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 UNIT 4

Internship Mandatory Teaching:

Preparation and Challenges
 INTRODUCTION

Throughout this subject, you have analyzed classroom interaction under the lenses
of competence development, while considering problem-based, communicative and
interdisciplinary approaches. In Unit 4, you will focus on systematizing this knowledge in
order to prepare for your mandatory class presentation. Responding for a class may be
a daunting task. Therefore, we will discuss your relationship with the supervising teacher
and the students, listing responsibilities and expectations. We will also review key factors
you should consider when designing, applying and evaluating your lesson plan, while
discussing how to report on your internship experience in your final paper. This knowledge
will be important for you to fully develop a reflective practice that will accompany you
throughout your teaching career.

Objective

At the end of this unit, you will be able to:

• Produce one or more lesson plans to be implemented with your internship

observation class groups.

84
Relationship issues: the supervising teacher

Up to this moment in your internship journey, you have exercised observational skills.
This practice aimed at associating the theoretical framework established by the Base
Nacional Comum Curricular – BNCC and the contextual possibilities of implementation
offered by the school where you are training.

At the end of this process, two questions are of relevance:

What have you discovered so far?

How can you bridge possible gaps between theory and practice?

Important

Brazilian internship regulations state that licensing trainees experiment as

much as possible with classroom routines and teach at least one mandatory
solo class (acting as regent teachers) during their final internship term.

Your experience may have included several microteaching experiments, collaborations

with the supervising schoolteacher and/or participation in classroom management
activities.

Know more

Microteaching involves selecting a language topic or theme to be developed

with a group of students and presenting it under the observation of coordinators,
advisors or more experienced peers. It is a common practice at universities,
teacher education courses and pre-service training programs – where it is used
as a means of evaluating candidates to English teaching jobs.

85
As the name suggests, microteaching does not normally refer to the preparation of a
whole class. Nonetheless, it helps novice teachers to practice dealing with the students,
the materials and the classroom environment.

Tip

Internship contexts vary a lot. Therefore, you may have your first opportunity
of solo teaching while presenting your mandatory class. However, you can
also negotiate intermediate microteaching opportunities with your supervising
teacher. This will help you feel more comfortable for your final class presentation,
since you will have already interacted with the students as a teacher.

Preparing the final class involves three important negotiation steps:

Chart 1: Negotiation steps – Final class preparation.

Step 1: Step 2: Step 3:

Discussing the Creating the Discussing the

insertion of your class lesson plan lesson plan with
into the program’s the supervising
dynamics teacher (approval)

Step 1 refers to a meeting or conversation you will need to have with your supervising
schoolteacher on:

- What topics/themes will your class approach?

- Will it be based on the textbook or not? Will extra material be used or not?
- What are the teacher’s expectations for your class?

86
 Example

The supervising teacher may ask you to introduce a given book unit during
your class presentation. In this case, you will need to define what are his/her
expectations for the class in terms of how to deal with book tasks, grammar
points, and classroom interaction. For instance, you may feel that you can
“cover” the same “content” by using external sources (such as a video or a
newspaper article), while the teacher prefers to “follow the book”.

Your relationship with the schoolteacher needs to be as open and clear as possible,
especially during these pre-planning negotiations. Otherwise, you may end up with a
lesson plan that disregards contextual particularities.

Example

The intern and the schoolteacher may define that class presentation will
be organized around “body parts vocabulary”. The intern, then, prepares a
communicative class in which students need to exercise physically while
responding to commands in English. At the end of the presentation, the teacher
and the students may be confused as to the “innovation” brought by the intern,
since they were used to fill-in-the-blank tasks and written interaction in general.

87
Situations as the one mentioned in the example are common, since the negotiation of
belief systems is normally a sensitive issue, especially if the views of teachers and interns
differ. However, it does not mean that you should ignore your own pedagogic insights.

It is important to consider that:

- The schoolteacher is responsible for the class group where you are training. When
you finish your class, he/she will need to keep up with whatever you implement. Therefore,
innovation must be discussed respectfully, within a long-term perspective.

- Students are used to a certain kind of class. Changing it can be relevant and welcomed,
as long as you are aware of possible impacts alterations may have on students’ responses.

Exercise

Talk to your supervising schoolteacher about the class you are supposed to
present. If possible, schedule a specific appointment to calmly deal with the
issues involved in class preparation. Use the negotiation questions mentioned
here as a guideline. It might be useful to review your previous notes and organize
a list of points you mean to approach during the meeting.

Step 2 involves your actual planning for class presentation. Here, we will provide you
with a basic template that can later be shared with the schoolteacher for comments and
approval. This lesson plan also needs to be included in your final internship report.

88
Basic lesson plan template

- Title: optional, but advisable. A good title stimulates creativity and helps sharing your
objectives with other interested parts. It may even be shared with the students. E.g: Surfing
the news – can we trust in the Net?

- Grade: complete with information on the grade to which the plan refers. E.g.: ninth grade.

- Context: complete with information on the students and the school. E.g.: name of the
supervising schoolteacher, name of the school, class information (number of students,
class time, brief summary on their proficiency levels).

- Time: complete with the time assigned for your presentation. E.g.: 40 minutes.

- Goal: also known as general objective. It refers to the competence you expect students
to develop during your class. As you have seen, the BNCC offers coded skill sets that
may be adapted here to offer an overview of your intentions. E.g.: Argumenting on the
accuracy of Internet-based news reports.

- Objectives: specific skills that will be worked with in order to accomplish the goal/
general objective, also based on the BNCC. Try to mention at least three focal objectives,
considering the tasks you are designing. E.g.: recognizing the structure, style and thematic
range of social network video bulletins

- Materials: any kind of resource used during the class, including book pages, external
materials, the blackboard, printouts, objects. E.g.: Unit 1, pages 15-17; video (include link),
handout.

- Procedure: a description of the tasks you will propose, including students’ expected
behavior (e.g. students will be asked to read the text in pairs…)

Classes are normally organized around pre-reading, reading and post-reading moments.
Most textbooks follow this order. Sometimes, shorter texts serve as pre-reading prompts
for “main texts”. This structure can be used for oral, written and multimodal texts.

- Evaluation/assessment: a description of how you are going to assess your objectives.

Continuous assessment is advisable, i.e., you may select certain tasks as evaluative
moments throughout the class. They do not need to be graded. You may indicate these
moments within the procedural explanation or list them separately under the subtitle
“evaluation/assessment.”

89