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2020/2021

Resources for Teaching and Learning English in Infant and Primary Education

Code: 103579 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2500798 Primary Education OT 4 0
The proposed teaching and assessment methodology that appear in the guide may be subject to changes as a result of the restrictions to face-to-face class attendance imposed by the health authorities.

Contact

Name:
Maria Dolors Masats Viladoms
Email:
Dolors.Masats@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
english (eng)
Some groups entirely in English:
Yes
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
No
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
No

Teachers

Maria Mont Algamasilla

Prerequisites

To take this course students must demonstrate a C1 level in English. This is a requirement for all the courses that make up the specialization (menció) in English language teaching. Students in 3rd year will have to provide evidence that they comply with this requirement by the date indicated on the Faculty of Education webpage in order to be able to take any course in the specialization in the fourth year, including this one. Students who are taking this course as an elective but not enrolled in the specialization (menció) must also document a C1 by that indicated date in order to enrol.

Further consultations can be made at the academic management office of the Faculty of Education Sciences, UAB.

Objectives and Contextualisation

- To acquire the fundamental theoretical basis and teaching techniques that are needed to teach English effectively.

- To acquire the necessary criteria and techniques to select/adapt/create suitable materials for teaching hetereogeneous groups of young learners of English in multilingual milieus.

- To develop ones' sensitivity, literary skills and imagination.

- To become familiar with children's folklore and literature and become aware of their potential in the English class.

- To explore the potential of ICT for teaching English in primary and infant school education

 

Competences

  • Be familiar with the languages and literature curriculum.
  • Critically analyse personal work and use resources for professional development.
  • Develop and evaluate contents of the curriculum by means of appropriate didactic resources and promote the corresponding skills in pupils.
  • Develop autonomous learning strategies.
  • Develop critical thinking and reasoning and understand how to communicate effectively both in one’s own languages and in a foreign language.
  • Effectively address language learning situations in multicultural and multilingual contexts.
  • Express oneself orally and in writing in a foreign language.
  • Foster reading and critical analysis of the texts in different scientific fields and cultural contents in the school curriculum.
  • Foster reading and encourage writing.
  • Incorporate information and communications technology to learn, communicate and share in educational contexts.
  • Respect the diversity and the plurality of ideas, people and situations.
  • Understand the basic principles of the sciences of language and communication.
  • Work in teams and with teams (in the same field or interdisciplinary).

Learning Outcomes

  1. Adapt and write textbooks adjusted to the level of cognitive and communicative development of pupils in correct English and with the proper register.
  2. Analyse communication needs and control the process of learning the English language.
  3. Analyse experiences of good practice to address, produce and implement process of collaboration and telecollaboration among different educational agents.
  4. Analyse the communication needs and control the learning process of foreign language pupils.
  5. Analyse, individually and with fellow teachers, the practice of teaching, identify areas for professional improvement, and implement strategies to achieve that improvement.
  6. Apply the theoretical framework on effective communicative both on a written and oral level, and from a multilingual and contrastive perspective.
  7. Assessing the value of Spanish language learning strategies and techniques appropriate to primary education.
  8. Being able to analyse sociolinguistic processes critically, as well as expounding one’s own ideas coherently and in a reasoned way.
  9. Being capable of self-assessment and establishing and implementing a plan for improving communicative skills in English.
  10. Being capable of self-assessment and of evaluating the written and oral productions of colleagues in English in a well-argued way.
  11. Demonstrate critical thinking applied to the selection of literary texts and communicative design tasks based on the manipulation of these texts with the dual aim of promoting language learning and facilitating access by kindergarten and primary school children to literary culture in English.
  12. Demonstrate proficiency level B2 (CEF) in the use of the English language both in informal situations and in professional contexts, in reception, production and interaction activities.
  13. Demonstrate sufficient receptive competence in foreign languages to understand oral presentations and read professional documents (teaching materials, popular articles, etc.). with the help of tools to support comprehension.
  14. Design tasks that foster a taste for reading and the development of critical thinking in primary pupils.
  15. Develop critical thinking applied to the selection of appropriate digital tools and resources as instruments of learning aimed at primary school pupils.
  16. Develop linguistic and literary competence using the English language in a fun and creative way.
  17. Develop reading skills in English to be able to analyse the practical implications of carrying out theoretical proposals in the field of language teaching.
  18. Establish relations between the foreign language curriculum of nursery and primary education, and between both and that of secondary school.
  19. Establish relations between the language curriculum of primary education and that of other curricular areas.
  20. Establish relations between the nursery and primary foreign language curriculum and that of the first language.
  21. Identifying the linguistic and communicative requirements imposed by the context, the content and the type of task on the speakers-learners ('content obligatory' and 'content compatible' language) in order to plan didactic sequences full of meaning.
  22. Incorporating appropriate CMO activities for the development of CLIL units in the context of national and international programmes (Comenius, etc.).
  23. Know and use the main resources and tools of inquiry in linguistics.
  24. Knowing how to express oneself in the English language in oral and written form at an advanced level (corresponding at least to Level B2 of the CEFR).
  25. Knowing how to self-assess the level of knowledge of the English language and establish an improvement plan designed to obtain results aimed at excellence in communicative capability.
  26. Knowing how to use ICT to design tasks that promote the development of communicative competence in English in infant and primary school pupils.
  27. Perform tasks and criteria for training and integrated evaluation of content in French.
  28. Present products (teaching units, class analyses, etc.) produced in teams with people from different degree courses and levels of expertise.
  29. Produce didactic sequences for teaching and learning English in primary education.
  30. Produce structured teaching sequences in projects that promote both the integrated learning of the school’s languages and the development of digital learning and intercultural skills.
  31. Produce structured teaching sequences in projects that promote both the integrated learning of the school’s languages and the development of llinguistic, audiovisual and digital skills.
  32. Recognising languages as a set of varieties that are all equally respectable, and demonstrating the theoretical knowledge needed to describe and explain the variations in the English language and the processes of standardisation.
  33. Self-assess one’s own level of knowledge of English and analyse one’s own communication needs and establish improvement plans.
  34. Understand basic pragmatics and semantics applied to the teaching of English and be able to analyse oral discourse in the classroom.
  35. Use advanced communication skills and strategies in the English language to suit the level of cognitive and communicative development of learners and interlocutors and be understood in English while efficiently using scaffolding strategies.
  36. Using ICTs in the design, development and self-evaluation of self-learning activities in English.
  37. Using texts from children's literature in Spanish in order to develop English language learning activities in primary education.
  38. Using the English language as a common vehicle of communication in the university classroom and in the primary school classroom, as well as all academic tasks related to the subject.
  39. Using the most cutting-edge resources and the most advanced consultation tools in the English language.
  40. Using virtual environments as tools for written communication that respond to a variety of functions (recreational, academic, transactional, etc.) among learners.
  41. Using virtual platforms as a communication and management tool for directed and supervised activities.
  42. Working efficiently as part of a team and individually, both in theoretical and practical activities, seeking resources and strategies that are appropriate for each situation.

Content

 1.   Oral, written and multimodal communication in the English class.

 2.   Planning learning tasks and projects.

 3.   The role of literature, folklore and culture in teaching English to young learners and very young learners.

 4.   Drama techniques as a resource for learning English.

 5.   Useful digital tools for EFL classrooms.

Methodology

During the 14 sessions in this course, we will present the theoretical knowledge needed to develop skills to teach English in Catalan primary and early years schools. Theory will be combined with practice contextualised within the framework of the Catalan curriculum for the area of English. We will analyze and create real classroom tasks, activities and resources and we will provide ample opportunities to share teaching strategies, didactic materials and digital tools.  
Students will be expected to work individually, in pairs and/or small groups to meet the course goals and requirements.

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Presentation of theoretical concepts, critical discussion on the contents of the assigned readings and elaboration and correction of classroom tasks 45 1.8 1, 4, 13, 11, 12, 16, 15, 35, 29, 20, 21, 26, 42, 37
Type: Supervised      
Small group work discussions on theoretical and practical issues related to the course contents 30 1.2 1, 4, 16, 14, 21, 37
Type: Autonomous      
Self-study, elaboration of course assignments and accessing course readings. 75 3 1, 4, 33, 13, 11, 12, 17, 16, 15, 35, 14, 29, 20, 18, 21, 26, 42, 38, 37, 7

Assessment

Assessment criteria:

1) All assignments are compulsory, including attendance (80%).

2) Assignments are marked from 0-10. To pass the course ALL assignments must a minimum score of 5.

3) Students cannot obtain a PASS mark if their assignments are too faulty.

4) Any form of plagiarism in one of the assignments results will FAIL the course. 

5) Assignments must contained references cited following the rules of APA citation style. 

 

Retake session: Monday 28th June 2020 from 16h to 19:30h. 

Only those students who have a pass mark in 3 out of the 4 evaluation tasks are allowed to participate in the retake session.

At the retake session, students can only take a maximum mark of 5 out of 10. 

 

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Creation of a web page in a cooperative way to categorize the different resources to be shared. (minimum 1 digital resource and another of free choice) (individual contribution) 15% 0 0 5, 23, 16, 15, 26, 42, 40, 39, 36, 41, 7
1 expository and reflective essay to discuss methodological issues related to the topics dealt with in class or in the course readings (individual task) 20% 0 0 4, 33, 18, 23, 13, 12, 17, 15, 35, 20, 8, 10, 9, 38, 41, 7
Microteaching. Designing and presenting a communicative task (group work) 40% 0 0 1, 3, 2, 6, 33, 18, 34, 12, 27, 15, 35, 29, 30, 31, 19, 21, 22, 28, 32, 26, 8, 42, 38, 7
Selecting and telling a story in class. Elaborating a reading card (individual work) 25% 0 0 33, 11, 12, 16, 35, 14, 25, 24, 38, 41, 37, 7

Bibliography

A+ Project (2020). StandAPP and Speak up: the game is about to start. APAC ELT Journal, 92, 20-32.

Cameron, Lynne (2001). Teaching languages to young learners. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Disponible a: https://didactics-a.wikispaces.com/file/view/lynne+cameron.pdf

Dooly, Melinda, & Dolors Masats (2015). A Critical Appraisal of Foreign Language Research in CLIL, YLL and TELL in Spain (2003-2012). Language teaching: surveys and studies, 48(3): 1-30.

Dooly, Melinda, Maria Mont, & Dolors Masats (2014). Becoming little scientists: A case study of technologically-enhanced project-based language learning. APAC Journal, 78: 34-40.

Masats, Dolors (2016). Recursos y materiales para aprender lenguas. En D. Masats y L. Nussbaum (Ed.), Enseñanza y aprendizaje de las lenguas extranjeras en educación secundaria obligatoria (pp. 225-251). Madrid: Síntesis.

Masats, Dolors ; Mont, Maria & Gonzalez-Acevedo, Nathaly (Eds). (2019). Joint efforts for innovation: Working together to improve foreign language teaching in the 21st century. Rothersthorpe: Paragon Publishing. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3064130

Mont, MariaDolors Masats (2018). Tips and suggestions to implement telecollaborative projects with young learners. In Melinda Dooly & Robert O’Dowd (Dirs.) In this together: Teachers’ experiences with transnational, telecollaborativelanguage learning projects (pp. 92-122). New York/Bern: Peter Lang. Gold open access.

 

Additional bibliography will be provided in class during the development of each session.