This version of the course guide is provisional until the period for editing the new course guides ends.

Logo UAB

Resources for Teaching and Learning English in Infant and Primary Education

Code: 103579 ECTS Credits: 6
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
Primary Education OT 4

Contact

Name:
Melinda Dooly Owenby
Email:
melindaann.dooly@uab.cat

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


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 Minor (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 minor in the fourth year, including this one. Students who are taking this course as an elective but not enrolled in the Minor in English language teaching (menció) must also document a C1 prior registration. In case they do not posses a language certificate, they can apply for an interview.

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.

- To understand the decree passed by the Catalan Government on inclusive education and be able to apply it to the design of pedagogical classroom proposals.

- To avoid the use of sexist, androcentric or discriminatory language.


Competences

  • Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Take account of social, economic and environmental impacts when operating within one's own area of knowledge.
  • Take sex- or gender-based inequalities into consideration when operating within one's own area of knowledge.
  • 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 the indicators of sustainability of academic and professional activities in the areas of knowledge, integrating social, economic and environmental dimensions.
  6. Analyse the sex- or gender-based inequalities and the gender biases present in one's own area of knowledge.
  7. Apply the theoretical framework on effective communicative both on a written and oral level, and from a multilingual and contrastive perspective.
  8. Assessing the value of Spanish language learning strategies and techniques appropriate to primary education.
  9. Being capable of self-assessment and of evaluating the written and oral productions of colleagues in English in a well-argued way.
  10. Communicate using language that is not sexist or discriminatory.
  11. Consider how gender stereotypes and roles impinge on the exercise of the profession.
  12. 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.
  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 linguistic and literary competence using the English language in a fun and creative way.
  16. Develop reading skills in English to be able to analyse the practical implications of carrying out theoretical proposals in the field of language teaching.
  17. Establish relations between the foreign language curriculum of nursery and primary education, and between both and that of secondary school.
  18. Establish relations between the language curriculum of primary education and that of other curricular areas.
  19. Establish relations between the nursery and primary foreign language curriculum and that of the first language.
  20. Identify the principal forms of sex- or gender-based inequality and discrimination present in society.
  21. Identify the social, economic and environmental implications of academic and professional activities within one?s own area of knowledge.
  22. 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.
  23. Incorporating appropriate CMO activities for the development of CLIL units in the context of national and international programmes (Comenius, etc.).
  24. Knowing how to use ICT to design tasks that promote the development of communicative competence in English in infant and primary school pupils.
  25. Perform tasks and criteria for training and integrated evaluation of content in French.
  26. Present products (teaching units, class analyses, etc.) produced in teams with people from different degree courses and levels of expertise.
  27. Produce didactic sequences for teaching and learning English in primary education.
  28. 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.
  29. 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.
  30. Propose projects and actions that incorporate the gender perspective.
  31. Propose viable projects and actions to boost social, economic and environmental benefits.
  32. Propose ways to evaluate projects and actions for improving sustainability.
  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. Weigh up the impact of any long- or short-term difficulty, harm or discrimination that could be caused to certain persons or groups by the actions or projects.
  43. 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.

Activities and Methodology

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, 12, 15, 35, 27, 19, 22, 24, 43, 37
Type: Supervised      
Small group work discussions on theoretical and practical issues related to the course contents 30 1.2 1, 4, 15, 14, 22, 37
Type: Autonomous      
Self-study, elaboration of course assignments and accessing course readings. 75 3 1, 4, 33, 13, 12, 16, 15, 35, 14, 27, 17, 19, 22, 24, 43, 38, 37, 8

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.
 
Our teaching approach and assessment procedures may be altered if public Health authorities impose new restrictions on public gatherings for COVID-19.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Active participation in the collaborative tasks and presentations carried out during our face-to-face sessions (individual assessment task) 15% 0 0 10, 12, 15, 14, 26, 24, 40, 39, 36, 8
Creation of an infographic based on the readings and topics covered in class related to the implementation of a topic from the English language curriculum in primary education. (Individual work) 20% 0 0 6, 4, 33, 10, 17, 13, 16, 35, 19, 20, 9, 38, 41, 11, 42, 8
Microteaching. Designing and presenting a communicative task (group work) 40% 0 0 1, 5, 3, 2, 7, 33, 17, 34, 25, 35, 27, 28, 29, 18, 22, 21, 23, 26, 32, 30, 31, 24, 43, 38, 8
Selecting a picture book and telling the story in class. Elaborating a reading card (individual work) 25% 0 0 33, 12, 15, 35, 14, 38, 41, 37, 8

CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT OPTION

1) All assignments are MANDATORY, as well as attendance and active participation in 80 % of the classes.

2) If the attendance requirement is not met, a compensatory test will have to be taken on the make-up exam day.

3) The minimum grade for each assignment to be included in the average with the rest is 5. If this is not achieved, the student will have to go to the make-up session.

4) All activities (individual and group) will be done in English, and linguistic accuracy, writing clarity, and formal presentation aspects will be taken into account. Students must be able to express themselves fluently and correctly and demonstrate a high level of understanding of academic texts. An activity may be returned (not graded) or failed if the instructor considers it does not meet these requirements.

5) The authorship of the assignments must rest with the students who submit them. They must be original. Plagiarism, whether total or partial, or the use of artificial intelligence in any work automatically results in the annulment of all submitted assignments and a final grade of FAIL (0) for this course.

6) Bibliographic references in the assignments must be correctly cited using APA guidelines.


Submissions & Course Structure

This is a practical course, so active participation is expected in all sessions. On the first day of class, the schedule for assignment submissions will be created. Every day two students will tell a story. Every 2–3 sessions will be spent working on a competence or type of resource. At the end of each topic, the group that selected it will give their practical activity presentation and submit the written assignment. The infographic will be created upon return from practical sessions.

Feedback and grading for assessment activities will be provided within a maximum of 20 calendar days from the submission date.

Make-up date: Monday, June 22, 2026, from 18:00 to 20:00.

Only students who have submitted 2/3 of the coursework (by grade percentage) and have a minimum average of 3.5 may participate in the make-up session.

In the make-up session, the maximum possible score is 5 out of 10.


SINGLE ASSESSMENT OPTION

IMPORTANT: Opting for the single assessment does not exempt students from the attendance requirement. The single assessment refers to the type of assignments and their timing, but attendance and participation remain mandatory in this practical course.

On June 17, from 18:30 to 20:30, students choosing the single assessment must take an exam and complete the following tasks:

  1. Expository and reflective exam based on course readings and topics: 50 % – written task.

  2. Justified selection and narration of a picture book: 25 % – oral task.

  3. Design and implementation of an activity to develop children’s communicative competence: 25 % – oral task.

All three activities will be conducted in English, evaluating linguistic accuracy, writing clarity, and formal presentation. Students must express themselves fluently and correctly and show a high level of understanding of academic texts. An activity may not be graded or may be failed if the instructor judges it fails to meet requirements.

Make-up date: Monday, June 22, 2026, from 18:00 to 20:00.
Only those who have submitted 2/3 of the coursework (in percentage) and have a minimum average of 3.5 may attend the make-up session.
In the make-up session, the highest score attainable is 5 out of 10.


Final Important Notes:

a) If a student has not provided sufficient assessment evidence to allow a final grade, the grade will be recorded as “non‑evaluable.”

b) The use of generative artificial intelligence is not permitted. Any evidence of its use in an assignment will result in an automatic fail.

c) Students are expected to participate actively in sessions in a respectful, reasoned, and constructive manner.

d) Students enrolled in this course for the second time and met the attendance requirement during their first year of enrollment may, if they wish, they can request to take a synthesis assigment. To do so, they must let the instructors know in writing during the first week of the course.

If this evaluation option is chosen, the student is exempt from attending class, as the attendance requirement is considered fulfilled.

The synthesis assignment will take place on the same day as the single assessment option (June 17, from 18:30 to 20:30) and will consist of the following three compulsory tasks:

  1. Expository and reflective exam based on the course readings and topics – 50% (written task)

  2. Justified selection and storytelling of a picture book – 25% (oral task)

  3. Design and implementation of an activity to develop children’s communicative competence – 25% (oral task)

All three activities will be conducted in English, evaluating linguistic accuracy, writing clarity, and formal presentation. Students must express themselves fluently and correctly and show a high level of understanding of academic texts. An activity may not be graded or may be failed if the instructor judges it fails to meet requirements.


Bibliography

A+ Project (2020). StandAPP and Speak up: The game is about to start. APAC ELT Journal, 92, 20-32. Available at: https://www.apac365.org/s/APAC-ELT-Journal-n92.pdf

Álvarez, Yolanda (2022). Improving skills by playing: Trabajar las habilidades mediante actividades lúdicas. Sar Alejadría Ediciones.

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

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

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

Dooly, Melinda, Masats, Dolors, & Mont, Maria (2021). Launching a solidarity campaign: Technology-enhanced project-based language learning to promote entrepreneurial education and social awareness. Journal of Technology and Science Education, 11 (2): 260-269.   DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3926/jotse.1224

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

Mont, Maria,Masats, Dolors (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). Peter Lang. Gold open access.

Mont, Maria, & Masats, Dolors (2019). Training teachers for a new era. In EUSER (Ed.), New studies and research in education (pp. 115-123). EUSER & MCSER.

Otto, Anna, Cortina-Pérez, Beatriz (2023). Handbook of CLIL in Pre-primary Education. Springer.

Pinter, Anna Maria (2017). Teaching young language learners. Oxford University Press.

Rubavathanan, Markandan (2021). A comparative study on the theoretical development of functions of language with reference to Bühler, Jakobson, and HallidayNoble: Journal of Literature and Language Education, 12 (2), 277-29. 

Shin, Joan, & Crandall, Joann (2013). Teaching young learners English. Heinle & Heinle. 

 


Software

No special software is required to enrol in this course.


Groups and Languages

Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(TE) Theory 90 English second semester afternoon