Good morning, my name is Teresa Pajarón Lacave and I’m going to present my

syllabus and then I’ll go on to explain in detail unit number ?? from the syllabus, which as you
can see I’ve designed for the 5th grade of Primary Education.
But before going into detail about my syllabus, I would like to start with a quotation
I’ve read recently,from Federico Fellini: ‘A different language is a different vision of life’. And
I totally agree because learning a second language not only has cognitive or academic benefits:
it also supports a greater sense of openness and appreciation for other cultures.
In today’s world, in the era of technologies and instant communication with any part of
the world, the prominent role of English as an international language is more present than ever
in the educational policies, and consequently, in our regional curriculum.
In this sense, the attainment of a certain degree of communicative competence has
turned into the main goal established by the Ministry of Education, as it is stated in the basic
curriculum RD126/2014 and Canarian Decree 89/2014.
Nowadays, the concept of practical learning of a foreign language is closely connected
to the demands of a modern society, which requires learners able to communicate efficiently in
both oral and written ways. Indeed, today we know that English is a tool for learning,
communicating, progressing…amongst many others.
In this view of FLT, the learner is guided towards active participation and solving real-
life situations within the scope of competency learning. As it shall be laid out along this FL
programming defence, the principles for the development of my learner’s competences are put
down to practice through integrated tasks and activities covering the different competences,
gathering what my learners should be able to understand, know, apply and be able to do in the
FL.
In line with the previous considerations, it is worth noting that at the heart of this
programming proposal is the principle to create a pleasant classroom environment, where
children feel accepted and develop a sense of progress regardless of their abilities. Moreover, in
this positive scenario, children shall embark on a real adventure, which shall lead them to use
English with a motivating purpose, in the context of an eTwinning project entitled: ‘Four hearts,
one language’, with its own safe digital space to share learning experiences with children from
Portugal, India and Italy’. I shall delve into that relevant matter more in advance, since now, it is
time to meet the learners, who are the real protagonists in my programming design.
As we all know, a programming cannot be understood as a standard tool to be applied
regardless of the context and particular group it is aimed at. Given this, I shall proceed to
analyse the concrete group of students and their immediate reality, considering aspects such as
the learners’ developmental stage, heterogeneity of the group and specific needs of educational
support ot the socio-economic background…
Therefore, the programming has been designed for a group of 22 students in Grade 5 of
a primary school situated in a neighbourhood of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Moreover, the
development of my introduction highlights some interesting data, like a middle socio-economic
level with some ‘poverty pockets’, mainly concentrated on temporary workers and immigrant
people.
The initial evaluation, which includes revising the sts’ files, has shed light in relevant
aspects. The group shows a natural variety, concerning nationalities (Morocco and Colombia),
previous academic results (they define a medium level of competence with the FL), and
especially Students with Special Educational Needs (an Intarse and a Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder).
 Prior to moving on the curricular elements, backbone of this document, it is worth
remarking that the essence of this FL programming contributes to the development of the school
plans, such as the reading plan and the _______, and the main aim in the field of FLT, which is
producing competent users of the language in real contexts. In order to motivate children
towards this goal, I shall take advantage of their natural curiosity to meet other children and
play with them, in this case through the safe digital environment of an eTwinning program.
Accordingly, all units are built up under this real context, which at the same time shall involve
the classroom in a stimulating learning community. Besides, this project, launched by my
school, shall be carried out in cooperation with three schools from the countries I’ve mentioned
before.
The official curriculum establishes that the objectives are the references concerning the
outcomes that the learners must attain as a result of the teaching-learning experience. First and
foremost, all areas must consider the STAGE GENERAL OBJECTIVES (D89/2014), which
mainly refer to coexistence habits, valuing and using their mother tongue in a communicative
way, using ICT as a tool for learning, healthcare, development of a cultural and nature
awareness, tolerant attitudes, and finally road safety education.
In addition to the SGO, my programming framework includes a set of FL objectives for
Grade 5, which cover the four skills from a communicative and interactive perspective, leading
students towards the comprehension and production of oral and written texts that recreate real-
life situations according to their needs and interest. This action-based approach, as defined by
the CEFRL, views students as individuals in charge of solving different situations through the
use of the FL.
The CONTENTS represent the set of knowledge, abilities, skills and attitudes which
shall enable the acquisition of the KC. The regional curriculum establishes the content to be
implemented in each level in relation to the evaluation criteria and learning standards, which
represent the references to value the learners’ progress, defining the necessary results of
learning.
The contents in this programming are structured around the four blocks established by
the curriculum, namely, comprehension of oral texts, production of oral text, comprehension of
written texts and production of written texts, corresponding to the four linguistic skills.
These contents are sequenced along the different competency units following some
basic criteria: from simple to complex and more demanding, weight of oral abilities at this
stage, without neglecting the role of written English and ICT, and ensuring that the spiral in
which FL learning occurs is reflected by recycling their language periodically and in a hidden
way.
On the grounds of presentation coherence, I should now detail the operative relations
amongst the curricular elements, since the contents are not presented in isolation, but in relation
to the evaluation criteria and learning standards, In this light, it is interesting to identify the
hallmarks in these curricular components, as the teaching practice must accomplish their
requirements, In broad terms and in relation to the four blocks, the EC and LS for Grade 5 deal
with:
-Use of learning strategies to comprehend, infer, guess and predict meaning in oral and
written texts (for example predicting the plot from a frozen image of a story, as in the learning
situation number …)
-Sociocultural aspects to understand and express messages appropriate to the contexts.
Amongst them, and due to their importance according to the nature of the project, I should
emphasise those sociocultural facts that stem from the relation of a cooperative project , daily-
life matters, celebrations, common interests, arouse their curiosity towards other cultures, etc…
such as in the learning situation…)
-Identification of general and specific information in oral and written texts, and
mobilisation of their strategic competences to facilitate comprehension to solve tasks, getting
used to the sounds of the language in connected speech, improving their ability to understand
different accents and increasing their lexis and expressions, syntactic structures and
communicative functions to favour real communication in communication( for example, in a
Skype conversation with a partner group from Italy talking about their families).
The presentation of curricular elements in blocks corresponding to the four linguistic
skills is illustrative to facilitate programming design, however, we know that in real
communicative tasks all skills occur in integration. It is difficult to think of a real conversation
in which speakers are trying to identify their role as speakers. Therefore, the real finality is to
create the motivating learning scenarios for children to practise and automatise the natural
mechanism of the language, and in turn, progress in fluency.
In what follows, I shall briefly analyse the contribution of this FL programming to the
development of the KC. Instead of a set of definitions of what KC are, that on the other hand
should be presumed as teachers’ professional knowledge, I prefer to focus my presentation on
how this programming encapsulates complex tasks that mobilise my sts’ competences in real
contexts, and of course in coordination with the teaching team to plan common strategies and
stablish cross-curricular links.
In competency learning, the learning tasks are complex product that bring up all KC,
although there are always two or three prevailing ones, therefore, I shall now spell out some of
the learning products I have designed to integrate all KC, being aware that the FL contributes to
competences like LC in a direct way, and so it is always present in the products imagined to
engage and motivate children in real use of English. They are the following: recorded personal
introduction to be sent to our project partners, controlled and rehearsed Skype conversation,
writing an email describing our likes and preferences, taking part in a karaoke contest in which
they write their own Christmas carol, making a marketing campaign or creating a puppets play.
In order of appearance, perhaps we should start with the obvious contribution of LC, the
main competence involved in our area, through real, purposeful usage of English , LTL and DC,
as two outstanding KC related to processes usually applied in the projects methodology, Social
and civic competence is one of the cornerstones of collaborative work, a distinctive feature in
this FL proposal. Cultural Awareness acquires special meaning in the use of English as an
international language, Thus, I shall get children to practise the language, but also learn about
and learn to respect other children’s cultures. Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship
competence has to do with the initiative that children are demanded at some points, such as
taking decisions to play a game, and eventually Mathematical competence and basic
competence in science and technology appears in relation to use of mathematical concepts in
everyday living and with our main topic, the environment.
The next point under consideration, methodology, comprises several indispensable
elements to understand how this programming intends to be a valuable framework for the
development of my learners’ FL practical skills, from the very principles to guide my teaching
action, to the resources and integration of ICT, or organisation of the physical space in the
classroom. Nevertheless, even more important than explaining the foundations on how to teach
will be their practical implementation along the units.
 I strongly believe that motivation is the driving force for any human action, and learning
a FL is not an exception, for sure. In this sense, being aware of the ‘digital native genetics’ of
children, a digital learning community to share their learning products and experiences is a
highly motivating factor for FLL, as it has been proven by thousands of European schools
taking part in these projects during the last few years.
(CAROL READ???)
As an added valued, these principles and orientations are put into practice in the context
of a project-based model, defined by Libow and Stager as a kind of work which is substantial,
shareable, and personally meaningful. In this light, I intend to challenge my learners and get
them to cooperate towards the creation of a final product. This process shall entail giving them
the necessary information regarding the goals in each case, and careful guidance on the stepst to
be followed for the attainment of that final product. This process of construction of knowledge
through the use of the FL to create something real, brings about a powerful motivating factor.
Moreover this motivation is finally enhanced, since students are aware that their product is
going to be shared through the classroom blog, our digital learning community and so forth.
Before moving to the next point, it is of utmost importance to consider that demanding
active participation on the part of the students must go through the creation of a positive
learning environment, where error does not stigmatise students; and they feel cared and
supported, despite their personal abilities or levels.
In this methodological framework, the rest of aspects must be in clear connection. In
guise of an example: regarding sts’ organisation, the cooperative work through heterogeneous
groups is a distinguishing mark of the PBA applied to FLT. In these small learning
communities, children learn to collaborate, assume different roles, etc.
In addition to technological resources, it is worth highlighting the eTwinning space as
an invaluable resource to promote real communication, arouse and sustain motivation.
Similarly, there is a vast array of digital apps whose educational value is out of discussion,
especially when it comes to teacher-produced material. Some of these apps, used in this
programming are Kahoot, Glogster of Comiclife.
On the other hand, the direct contact with other children and the tasks demanded
comprise series of transversal elements, like positive communication and use of the language,
gender equality, peace and emotional intelligence or entrepreneurial spirit.
With no less importance, a complete project requires the intervention of different
subjects, and this entails approaching the links amongst subjects, or cross-curricular links, from
the systematic coordination amongst the teaching staff.
Moreover, I have also outlined the contribution to the development of school plans and
the design of related complementary activities, which enhance children’s learning in joyful
contexts.
However, it is high time to pay attention in this presentation to those children with some
kind of SNES(Specific Needs of Educational Support). The diversity profile of the class, in
addition to the natural varieties of intelligences, aptitudes and learning paces, gives evidence of
the two children with learning difficulties. The support measures with these children are
directed towards their inclusion in the common tasks, although sometimes from a different
perspective, with a different level of attainment of LS (for example, graded tasks), or simply
assuming a role in the group more adapted to their possibilities. The specific case of the student
with ADHD requires focusing on Using visuals, testing him in the way he does best, such as
orally or filling in blanks and making sure he has a system for writing down assignments and
important dates and uses it.
The final point in this oral presentation has to do with the EVALUATION PROCESS,
which as we know refers to both the learning process and teaching practice. Not to extend
myself so much due to obvious time limits, I shall underline how the most prominent features of
evaluation competences are taken down to practice in my programming:
-The set of LS evaluated in each unit constitute the rubric, defined by Brookhart
as coherent set of criteria for students’ works that includes descriptions of levels of performance
quality on those criteria’. Therefore, I have defined different levels of attainment in a scale from
one to five, to measure the grade to which students attain the different LS.
-Each LS has to be clearly connected to an evaluation instrument. In this
concern, communicative English teaching implies considering the learning tasks as
contextualising evaluation instruments. In this sense, all tasks somehow entail an evaluation
character, although in each unit I have clearly established this connection.
-Taking the necessary notes and observations to value the LS implies counting
on appropriate data gathering instruments, like simple and practical charts, teacher’s diary, and
even recording some parts of the lessons.
-The evaluation process entails effective communication with parents, but also
with students. On the whole, fluid communication amongst all participants of the learning
process is beneficial in its own way.
In relation to the bibliography consulted for the elaboration of my programming, I
considering worth noting the updates titles, especially concerned with the crucial aspects I have
stressed along my presentation. They are motivation, contextualised and practical use of English
and specific techniques of the PBA(Project based approach), like collaborative learning, or
some other titles like ‘Managing ADHD in School’, which covers a very peculiar case in my
group of students.
Finally, before bringing this first part of my presentation to an end, I would like to say
that I really do believe that programming is imagining, as Scrivener says, therefore, I have
imagined this programming as if there were my real students to start working with next school
year.
Similarly, in this imaginary scenario, I have designed realistic proposals in motivating
real contexts, because I am also convinced that there is nothing like hooking children in an
adventure to boost their motivation…In addition, as I shall now illustrate, the unit subject to the
next presentation is surely one of those motivating learning scenarios.