Topic 20B – The area of foreign languages in the curriculum. Criteria to be reflected in the school based on curriculum and school plan.

0. INTRODUCTION

1. FOREIGN LANGUAGES AREA IN THE CURRICULUM

1.1.GENERAL OBJECTIVES

1.2.CONTENTS

1.3. EVALUATION CRITERIA

2. THE EDUCATIVE PROJECT OF THE CENTRE AND THE CURRICULAR PROJECT

2.1. THE CURRICULAR PROJECT

2.1.1. BASES OF THE CURRICULAR PROJECT

2.2.2.OBJECTIVES OF STAGE AND OBJECTIVES OF CYCLE

2.2.3.EVALUATION

2.2.4.OTHER DECISIONS

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

0. INTRODUCTION

Language is a complex human activity that fulfils many functions,among them we can name two basic functions: communication and representation. These functions do not exclude each other, but they are interrelated within the linguistic activity. Representing_,either linguistically or not_,is the most important aim of communication. Communication at the same time contributes to represent the physical and social reality. Learning and education must serve this double function of communicating an representing.

Human beings communicate through different means and systems: gestures, music_,symbols_,numbers_,etc. Verbal language, the most universal means ofcommunication_, Iet us receive and transmit different types of information and influence other people_,as welI as they may exert their influence on us. Therefore, communication plays an essential role within society.

But language is not only an instrument of communication amongst persons. It is also a means to represent the world_,although the representation of the world around us may be done through other non-linguistic means.

In this topic, we will analize the general objectives of the foreign language area, the contents and the evaluation criteria. Finally, we will analyze the School Educational Project and the School Curricular Project.

1. FOREIGN LANGUAGES AREA IN THE CURRICULUM

The ability to communicate in a foreign language is an actual need nowadays. It is something fundamental wtthin the frame of the European Union not only because of the comings and goings of people throughout Europe_,either to work abroad or to visit different countries_,but also because of the world of telecommunications and techniqueetc.

However, the aims and functions of this area in compulsory education are not exclusvely determined by these social expectancies. There are also deeply educative reasons_, derived from the importance of this area in the general educative objectives. +The ability to communicate in a foreign language and the knowledge of the same provide a great help to understand and control our own language and behaviour. To contact other cultures through the channel of the language favours comprehension and respect towards other ways of thinking and acting. In a multilingual country as Spain is, learning a foreign language is highly interesting since languages are not competitive amongst them_,but they fulfil the same functions and contribute to the same cognitive development.

Communicating and representing through language are simoultaneous and interrelated functions within the linguistic activity. In the social exchange_,language helps us to transmit and receive information of very diverse nature_,and therefore, to influence other people, controlling and directing their activity, at the same time they are influencing ours.

But_,language is a priviledged instrument of communication_,thanks to its capacity to represent reality in a way that is shared by all the members of the community. Hence, when we learn a language we are learning a system of signs_,but also the cultural meaning these signs have, that is, dlfferent ways to interpret reality.

Together with these functional considerations_,we must take into account the structural features of language. From this point of view_,language is defined as a system of interrelated signs. When we describe the units of language we say that allof them have a meaning, because they are in relation to the whole system. For that reason_,we must forget that the discourse is the concretion of language_,since the use of the rules in the three levels (phonetic-phonological, morphosyntactic and semantic) depends on the communicative function we want to fulfill, and on the concrete situation of production and reception of the message. Therefore_, a study of the language must comprise not only the sentence but the whole text and the context as well.

It is important to say tnat the aim of this curricular area is not to teach a language, but to teach how to communicate through the use of it. This requires an approach based upon communication and aimed to acquire communicative competence. At the same time, communicative competence comprises:

-Grammatical competence or ability to put into practice the units and rules of the system of the language.

-Discursive competence_,or ability to use different types of discourse and to organize them according to the communicative functions.

-Sociolinguistic competence or ability to make language suitable in a concrete context.

-Strategic competence or ability to define, correct, or make adjustments according tothe communicative situation.

-Socio-cultural competence or the ability to attain a certain degree of familiarity with the social and cultural context in which language is used.

Summarizing, the development of the communicative competence implies to be able to use a certain amount of “subcompetences^”of different nature. “To say something” and “To use language for something” are key elements in the teaching of foreign languages. That is, communicative competence is taught through practice.

+The process of acquisition of a foreign language may be considered as a creative construction in which the student makes hypotheses to conform the rules, which constitute the new system. This process Iet him organize language comprehensively, with the aim of producing messages in the different communicative situations.

Although this process is common to all languages_,we must underline some special features in the case of a foreign language.

The learning of a foreign language is not linear, but global. The chiId progressively enriches the global idea of the new system. Therefore, the mistakes he does, cannot be treated as mistakes, but as the evidence of the progressive control over this new communicative system that he is acquiring.

We must say that the ways to process information also work when the student is not buiIding messages. The usual periods of silence that exist_,when the student is beginning to Iearn a foreign Ianguage, must not be understood as “siIence”, but as periods in which an intense activity that cannot be observed is being carried out. Through the receptive activities we may contribute to develop the concrete competences of comprehension, but also the general communicative competence.

The development of the linguistic skiIls (reading_,writing_,Iistening and speaking) must be understood as, a process of integration. In real life, the majority of activities contribute to develop different skiIIs. Threfore, they must not be studied separately. However_,students must be taught to create and consolidate these skiIIs in order to be able to produce written and spoken messages.

But, the Iearning of a foreign language, must go beyond a functional approach. The members of a linguistic community share, by means of the language_,some specific cultural meanings. Therefore, the teaching of a language must introduce, the students into the most relevant features of the social and cultural context.

In this way, the educative function of the foreign language becomes meaningful, because it allows students to understand reality, to enrich their cultural world and to favour the development of tolerant attitudes.

AIthough the idea that children learn languages faster than adults cannot be proved, there is enough evidence to show that Iearning must be done as soon as possible, because, in no way this Iearning interferes the Iearning of the own mother tongue_,but it consolidates it.

Learning a foreign language in primary school contributes to overcome the typical egocentrism and localism of the children.

We must take into account that this stage is a period in which we make the student “feel” this foreign language. The first contact must be carefully done_,because it is the warranty for a positive Iearning. It is important to use the most interesting fields for these children, as well as the games as the maximum expression of what they already control in their own mother tongue.

In the second cycle of primary education the students already have a fundamental basis: the knowledge of their own language and of many expressions and words of the foreign one, especiaIly learnt from the mass media. Besides, they have a vague idea of the country where this language is spoken.

If_,as we have already said, the Iearning of a foreign language is a process of creative construction from the received language, the receptive activities become considerably important in this stage. Messages will fundamentally refer to contents that are very close to the students to stimulate them. Besides, they must include the aspects of the new language that are subject to be used in a wide variety of situations. However_,we must not forget written language. Students already know the importance of the written code and its graphic representation. The fact that they are Iearning to read and write at the same time is a good way of integrating the written and oral skills in primary education.

1.1. GENERAL OBJECTIVES

The teaching of the English language in Primary Education wiII have as main objectives the following ones:

1. To understand oral and written texts. To understand simple oral and written texts related to known objects, situations and events close to the students, using the general and specific information transmitted by these texts with specific purposes.

2. To use the foreign language oralIy. To use the foreign language orally to communicate with the teacher and the other students in the usual classroom activities and in the communication situations created to lead to that aim, paying attention to the basic rules of interpersonal communication and adopting a respectful attitude towards the others’ views.

3. To produce short and simple written texts. To produce short and simple written texts about topics which are familiar to the students, respecting the basic rules of the written code.

4. To read in a comprehensive way short and simple texts. Read in a comprehensive way short and simple text related to classroom activities_,using their knowledge of the world, and their experiences and interests with the aim of obtaining the necessary and specific information.

5. To recognize the value of foreign languages. To recognize and to appreciate the communicative value of foreign languages and the ability to learn to use them, showing an understanding and respectful attitude towards other languages_,their speakers_,and their culture.

6. To understand and to use linguistic and non-linguistic conventions. To understand and to use the linguistic and non-linguistic conventions used by the foreign language speakers in everyday situations (greetings_,farewells_,introductions, congratulations_,etc.) with the aim of making conversation easier and more fluent.

7. To use the previous knowledge and experiences with other languages. To use_, in the foreign language learning process_,the previous knowledge and experiences with other languages and to develop progressively learning strategies.

8. To establish relations among the meaning, the pronunciation, and the graphic representation of words and sentences. To establish relations among the meaning, the pronunciationand the graphic representation of some words and simple sentences in the foreign language_,apart from recognizing phonetic_,rhythm and intonation aspects of the foreign language.

9. To use non-linguistic and expressive devices. To use the non-linguistic expressive devices (gestures, body position_,diverse sounds, drawings, etc) to try to understand and be understood by using the foreign language.

1.2. CONTENTS

a) USES AND FORMS OF THE ORAL LANGUAGE

CONCEPTS

– Most habitual needs and situations to use the spoken language. Communicative functions and characteristics of these situations:

*Communicative intentions: Greetings_,identifications_,asking and giving information, identification and location of objects, descriptions, narrations_, expressing needs and wishes_,etc.

*Characteristics of the communicative situation: number and type of listeners_,moment and place of communication_,more or less formal situation_,etc.

– Vocabulary and linguistic structures required to express, orally, the basic needs of

communication

*Communicative intentions: greetings, identification_,giving and asking for information, identification and location of objects_,descriptions, narrations_,needs and wishes_,etc.

*General topics: Colours_,numbers_,weather, time, house_,family_,friends_,class_, food_,likes and dislikes_,daily routine_,animals_,human body, sports, spare time_, holidays,health_,etc.

PROCEDURES

– To recognize and make familiar the sounds of the foreign language and its rythm and intonation.

– To understand oral messages of different nature and from different sources (teacher_, other students_,video, tapes):

*Global comprehension of oral messages about familiar topics.

*Specific comprehension of concrete simple messages in contextualized situations.

-To react either linguistically and non-linguistically to different oral messages and communicative situations:

*Production of common expressions aimed to satisfy simple needs of communication (greetings_,identification, asking and giving information_, identification of objects_,decriptions_,etc).

*Use of basic messages previously learnt (polite expressions_,etc.) adjusting them to the specific features of the situation.

*Active participation in oral exchanges in order to express the most immediate communicative needs within the class and in contexts closer to the student.

*Participation in the linguistic exchanges with the aim of having fun (simulations_, performances_,etc.).

*Non-linguistic answers to oral messages (follow instructions_,etc.).

-To recognize the grammatical formulas that help them to make questions_,to assert_,to reject_,to express possession, to quantify_,to describe, to narrate, etc… and to use them in order to achieve efficient communication.

-To recognize and use the basic strategies of communication, both linguistic (use one word instead of another_,etc.) or extralinguistic (gestures, drawings, etc.) which help to overcome communicative problems.

– To use the native language’s strategies of communication, which let us take advantage of the limited knowledge of the foreign language.

ATTITUDES

-Awareness of the importance of oral communication in a foreign language.

-Awareness of the reality of a different culture_,reflected in the language.

-Receptive and respectful attitude towards the persons who speak a foreign language

– Wish to express themselves in a foreign language_,participating in the activities (games, songs_,etc.).

-Awareness of the corrections done when they interprete or produce a text.

– Positive and optimist attitude towards their own ability to speak in a foreign

language.

-Tendency to use imaginatively and creatively, oral messages previously learnt_,in different communicative situations.

b) USES AND FORMS OF THE WRITTEN LANGUAGE

CONCEPTS

– Most habitual needs and communicative situations to use the written language. Communicative intentions and characteristics of these situations.

*Communicative intentions: greetings_,identification and location of objects_, expressing needs and wishes, etc.

*Characteristics of the communicative situation: type of Iisteners_,more or less formal situation, etc.

– Vocabulary and Iinguistic structures required to express the basic communicative needs by writing.

*Communicative intentions: greetings, identification_,giving and asking for information, identification and location of objects, descriptions, narrations_,etc.

*General topics: colours_,numbers, time, house_,family, class, food, likes and dislikes, sports, etc.

– Names of the letters in a foreign language and their correspondence within the writing system.

– Relations between the meaning of the words_,their pronunciation and graphical representation.

PROCEDURES

– Production of written texts adjusted to the features of the reader and of the communicative situation.

– Understanding of the written messages of different nature.

*Global comprehension of written messages relatedthe activities done in class.

*Global comprehension of brief written messages related to the most immediate needs of communication and to the interests of the speakers.

*Global comprehension of easy authentic materials_,with visual backing about daily-life topics.

*Awareness of the specific elements, previously learnt, in texts which have unkown words and expressions, such as invitations for a birthday party, cards, magazines, etc.

– Use of the grapho-phonic correspondences to spell, for instance, the name and the surname, etc.

– Production of written texts directed to different readers, answering oral and written stimuli.

– Solution of games which require the knowledge of the vocabulary and the ortography used in class.

– Awareness of grammatical structures in written texts.

– Awareness of some sociocultural aspects which differentiate the foreign language from the mother tongue.

ATTITUDES

– lnterest and curiosity towards the written texts and appraisal of the role they play in order to satisfy communicatlve needs.

–Awareness and appraisal of the importance of reading and writing in a foreign language.

– Appraisal for the correct interpretation of easy written texts.

– Interest to know the vocabulary and the basic linguistic structures required to express the essential communicative needs in different situations.

– Disposition to overcome the difficulties that the use of a foreign language creates, by paying attention to the communicative strategies of the mother tongue.

c) SOCIOCULTURAL ASPECTS

CONCEPTS

– Social and cultural aspects of the countries where the foreign language studied is spoken.

*Expressions and gestures which go together with the oral expressions: tone_, gestures, etc.

*Daily-life aspects: Timetables_,habits_,images of that culture, etc.

*Spare time: games, songs_,sports, places, etc.

d) Presence in Spain of the foreign language learnt: labels, songs, films, etc.

PROCEDURES

-Awareness of some aspects of the countries where the foreign language is spoken.

– Contextualized use in habitual situations of some rules and habits of the countries where this language is spoken.

– Comparison of the most relevant aspects of daily life in the countries where the foreign language is spoken, and our own country.

– Use of authentic materials with the aim of getting the desired information.

A TTITUDES

– Curiosity and respect for the most relevant aspects of daily life and for other sociocultural aspects of the countries where this language is spoken.

– Appraisal of the sociolinguistic behaviours which help cohabitation.

-Interest to know people from other countries.

1.3. EVALUATION CRITERIA

1. To recognize and reproduce the characteristic phonemes of the foreignlanguage. To recognize and reproduce the characteristic phonemes of the foreign language as well as the basic models of rhythm and intonation, in words and sentences which appear in the context of real use of the language.

2. To grasp the general meaning of oral texts. To grasp the general meaning of oral texts uttered in face to face communication situations, with the help of gestures and mime and the necessary repetitions, in which there will appear combinations of elements previously learnt and which deal with familiar topics, known by the student.

3. To extract specific information. To extract specific information, previous required, from oral texts with a simple structure and vocabulary which deal with familiar topics that interest the student (daily life, likes, preferences_,opinions and personal experiences).

4. To participate in short oral exchanges. To participate in short oral exchanges related to usual classroom activities producing an understandable discourse adapted to the characteristics of the situation and the communicative purpose.

5.To participate in simulated communication situations. To participate in simulated communication situations which have been previously practised in the classroom, using properly the most usual social interaction formulae in the foreign language.

6.To extract the general meaning and some specific information. To extract the general meaning and some specific information from short written texts with a lineal development_,simple structures and vocabulary_,which deal with familiar topics that interest the student.

7.To read simple children’s books. To read with the help of the teacher or, the dictionary simple children’s books written in the foreign language with visual backup and show comprehension by means of a specific task.

8.To produce short written texts. To produce short written texts_,comprehensible and adapted to the characteristics of the situation and the communicative purpose, in which those contents that have been worked in the class can be seen.

9.To recognize, some sociocultural aspects. To recognize, some sociocultural aspects typical of the foreign language speaking community which are implicit in the linguistic samples worked on in the classroom.

2. THE EDUCATIVE PROJECT OF THE CENTRE AND THE CURRICULAR PROJECT

+One of the aspects that the Educative Reform has put more emphasis on, is the need to give more independence to the centres, since they are the key of the educative system. This autonomy isextremely necessary, because the educative process cannot be the same in all the centres, since it has to answer the cultural and socioeconomic context in which centres are placed, as well as students and their families.

The reflection about all these specific needs must give the lines to establish the specific features that make the centre have its own educative style. It is good that all the centres have their own choices.

+The LODE (“Ley Orgánica del Derecho a Ia Educación”) provides that the centres will have autonomy to establish the optional subjects, to adapt the programmes and to adopt the teaching methods they wish, whenever they do not discriminate any member of the educative community, and always under the law.

+The Educative Project of a Centre is the document that comprises the decisions or ideas taken by the whole educative community with respect to the basic educative options and to the general organization of the centre.

In the Educative Project of a Centre and according to the sociocultural and economic context of the same, we must establish the decisions taken regarding questions such as who we are, what we want, etc., for instance:

– The signs of identity.

– The objectives or aims of the centre in which these signs are concreted.

– The revision of the general objectives of the Curriculum.

– The relations of cooperation amongst all the persons in charge of puttingthe objectives into practice.

– The organization that will make these objectives possible, which isspecified in the “Reglamento de Régimen Interior”.

2.1. THE CURRICULAR PROJECT

+The decisions established in the Educative Project must be specified in the Curricular Project where these principles are explained in order to answer questions like what, when and how to evaluate and teach.

+The most important idea of the Curricular project is that is a process and therefore, it is never ended and it has to be revised very often, because the quality of the teaching can always be improved.

+There are some steps that must be followed to elaborate the Curricular Project:

– Elaboration: Body of teachers of the Staqe

– Coordination: Committee of Pedagogic Coordination

– Approval: Teaching Staff of the centre

– Report: Educative Council

– Supervision: Technical inspection

+The aims of the curricular project are:

1. To increase the coherence of the educative practice through the decisions taken by the whole body of teachers of a stage.

2. To increase the competence of the teachers through the evaluation of their work.

3. To adjust the ideas of the M.E.C. to the context.

+In order to achieve these aims, the Reform has created a more opened curricular model. This model is characterized by the fact that the educative administrators, that is, the M.E.C., establish a lower level of prescription, and therefore they favour the autonomy of the teaching bodies.

+In the curricular project the prescriptions of the M.E.C. are specified according to the peculiarities of the Comunidades Autónomasand , then, of every centre. The objectives that the educative process tries to achieve in every stage, are explained in the “Reales Decretos de Currículo”. The internal decisions taken for every stage are specified in the Curricular Project. Therefore, a centre in which there are students from3 to 12 years old, will have a single educative project, but two curricular projects: one for the first stage (Infantil) and another for the second (Primaria).

+Once the curricular project has been established, the Programmes of Class will be made. This third level of concretion will comprise the decisions taken for every specific group of students.

2.1.1. BASES OF THE CURRICULAR PROJECT

+We have four great sources to elaborate the Curricular project:

-The educative project.

-The analysis of the background.

– The basic curriculum that the M.E.C. and the Comunidades Autónomas haveestablished.

-The experience derived from the teaching practice of the centre.

+The Educative Project will be a guide as long as the identity signs of the centre and its aims are specified in it.

+The analysis of the context is fundamental, since the aim of the curricular project is to concrete and adapt the decisions that the M.E.C. has taken regarding education in all schools, to the specific needs of every centre.

+In the curricular project, the context is analyzed according to the students of every stage, which usually have very difterent features. It also comprises the methodological options, the evaluation or the best way to organize the sequence of the abilities and contents in the cycle.

+Another source from which the curricular project is specified, and one of the most important, is the previous experience of the centre that will be more or Iess explicitly explained in its programmes.

2.2.2. OBJECTIVES OF STAGE AND OBJECTIVES OF CYCLE

+ As we have seen in the first section, the general objectives of stagehave the following characteristics:

– They are defined in terms of abilities and not of behaviours.

– These abilities must regard all the fields of development (motility, intellectuality, personal balance, interpersonal relations, social attitude and relations).

– They must try to comprise the abilities within the different fields, with the aim of underlining the relations that they have amongst them.

+ But apart from these objectives, The Real Decreto de Curriculo provides that:

“The cycle is the temporal curricular unit of programme and evaluation in the Primary Education(…).”According to what has been previously established, the same teachers wiII work with the same group of students throughout the whole cycle, if they are working in the same centre”(…).”The projects wilI comprise at least, the contents provided for an educative cycle, and they wilI have to be related to the general plan of the corresponding stage”.

+It is necessary to establish some previsions about the internal sequences of the cycle, according to the following criteria:

– Coherence of the evolutive development and the previous learning of the student.

– Coherence of the learning.

– Contents as the basis of the sequence.

– Limited basic ideas.

– Continuity and proggression.

– Balance (the abilities developed in the objectives must be balanced).

– Interrelation (the different types of contents, concepts, procedures and attitudes must be conveniently related amongst them).

– Cross-curricular/Transversal themes (very important in Primary education).

– Didactic strategies that will be used throughout the stage

2.2.3.EVALUATION

+We wiII evaluate.

– The students’ Iearning,

– The process of teaching and our own teaching practice, with relation to theachievement of the educative objectives of the curriculum.

– We will also evaluate the curricular project itself, the teaching programme andthe actual development of the curriculum.

+In order to evaluate the Iearning process we have to take some decisions regarding the situations, strategies and instruments of evaluation. The requisites that the procedures of evaluation must fulfill are:

– To be varied.

– To give concrete information.

– To use different codes.

– To be applicable to more or Iess structured situations of the learning activity.

– To evaluale the transference of the Iearning to different contexts.

+The evaluation is determined in the Curricular Project and, therefore, it must also be decided how to communicate its contents to parents, students, and the rest of the teachers.

+In conclusion ,in the Curricular Project we must also concrete when, how and what we have to evaluate.These aspectsmust follow three basic lines:

–Initial evaluation: Through this, the teacher knows the actual and previous knowledge his students have in order to develop the didactic unit with the best results. Previous knowledge is what the students already know both regarding the conceptual aspects, and the procedures and the attitudes that are going to be involved in the development of the unit. However, through the activities, the knowledge of the students in these three aspects must be checked. This helps the teacher to readjust his teaching to the reality of his students in order to make them capable to relate the new information with that they already have and therefore, to achieve a significant learning.

–Formative evaluation: The different activities the unit has, constitute by themselves a procedure of formative evaluation. Throughout the whole didactic unit the students have the chance of analyzing their own progress, since every activity includes a moment to reflect, comment or contrast, their achievements and learning problems. The teacher also readjusts the following settings depending on the results they get.

–Summative evaluation: It is the evaluation of the learning that the students have achieved throughout the unit. The activities designed to evaluate, follow the same patterns of the activities done throughout the whole unit. This make possible that the teacher judges their work according to the same criteria established to achieve the objectives proposed in the development of the unit.

+In the Curricular Project, we must as weIl include the criteria to promote the students to the next cycle:

“In the context of the process of continuous evaluation when the progress of a student does not globally respond to the programmed objectives, the teachers wiIl adopt the suitable measures of educative reinforcement and of curricular adjustment“.

2.2.4. OTHER DECISIONS

+In addition we have to take many other decisions:

1. Groups:

– Level of learning.

-Groups which favour a better interaction.

-Groups with different or special needs

2. Time and spaces:

– Use of the common spaces.

– Distribution of the space within the class.

– General timetable of the centre.

– Excursions and common activities of the whole centre or of the groups.

+That is to say, the distribution of time within the class must be organized according to the Project. There must be enough time to develop global units, to make some activities that require a specific sequence of time to be done, time to make activities with other groups outside the class, etc.

3.Materials and didactic recourses

+The materials and didactic recourses are another fundamental factor ofthe educativepractice. For that reason, it is important to select those that are going to be used and to establish the criteria for their use in the curricular project since they are decisions that the whole teaching body must share.

+Regarding the latter_,that is, the materials directed to the students, we must identify the kind of materials we need: texts, workbooks, exercises, tapes_,plastic materials, etc. We must also differentiate which materials will be used in every cycle.

+The selection of materials the centres do_,must take into account the followingcriteria:

– They must not be discriminatory.

– They must be used by all the students.

– They must not spoil the environment.

– They must not be excesively sophisticated.

– They must be suitable for the age of the students_,whom they are directed to.

– They must include the norms for the security that their use requires, as wellas their components and other features (size,weight_,etc.).

+In the case of printed curricular materials, we must take into account the following criteria for their selection:

1) To know the educative objectives that these texts have and to check to what extent they are corresponding to those established in the centre for a certain group.

2) To analyze the contents worked in order to check if there is a correspondence between the objectives and the contents. We must develop the different types of contents (concepts_,procedures and attitudes), as well as the transversal themes.

3) To revise the sequences of learning that are proposed for the different contents. It is important to analyze the progression that the objectives and the contents follow_,both in their distribution throughout the different cycles and in their internal organization.

4) To analyze the suitability of the criteria of evaluation proposed by the curricular project of stage.

5) To analyze the activities proposed in order to see if they fulfil the conditions for a significant learning. In this point_,it is specially important to pay attention to the activities that must be done in the different moments of the process of learning and teaching.

6) To adapt these materials and didactic recourses to the educative context in which they are used.

+From a communicative point of view, in our area, language teaching sees materials as a way of influencing the quality of classroom interaction. The primary role of materials is therefore to promote communicative language use.

4.Methodological principles:

+In the case of our area, as explained in the first part of this theme we will have to take into account the guidelines given in the introduction of our Primary Curriculum, Royal Decree 14/9/ 91, which establishes the minimum teachingrequirementsin PrimaryEducation.

1.English teaching does not involve teaching a language, but teaching to communicate in English. This means that we will adopt a communicative approach which aims at the acquisition of a communicative competence.

2.We should favour functional learning. This means that the students should be able to use the language in communicative situations.

3.We should promote meaningful learning. This entails that the learners will build up their own linguistic competence by using learning strategies and by making hypotheses about me way in which language works starting from the linguistic input.

4.English teaching should provide students with both a new linguistic experience and a human/social experience. In this light, we will develop attitudes such as cooperation and respect to the others and contribute to develop the learners’ socialization skillsby promoting social relations through pair work and group work.

5.The four linguistic skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) must be developed in an interrelated way,, since in real life we cope with communicative situations which require different skills.

However, at this stage receptive skills (especially listening) are more important than productive skills.

6.Variety.Variety involves using a wide range of materials and activities In the classroom.

We should introduce variety for three reasons:

·The students motivation will be better.

·Our pupils’ attention span is short and they thus need to do different things.

·Lessons will be more enjoyable.

7.The language items should be presented in context. Give that any languageis a system of interrelated signs, the linguistic elements should appear in discourse where their meaning depends on the communicative function and communicative situation.

Besides, the new language must be sensitive to being used in a wide range of communicative situations.

8.Foreign language teaching must introduce the most relevant sociocultural features of the foreign culture, since any language reflects a way of understanding and constructing reality.

9.It is important to teach contents and plan activities which meet the students’ interests and needs in order to develop a positive attitude towards English learning. In this way the pupils will be more likely to succeed.

10.We should take into account the students’ previous knowledge about the foreign language (foreign sounds and words) and the foreign culture (famous people, films, songs,…).This will reinforce the meaningful character of learning contents, since the pupils willbe able to linkwhat they already know with what they are learning, thus increasing their motivation to learn English.

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Materiales para la Reforma. Primaria. MEC. Madrid, 1992.

M.E.C. : L.O.G.S.E. Madrid. 1991.

Pozuelo, M.L. & Rodriguez, M.A. Proyecto curricular del área de ingles. Escuela

Española. Madrid. 1994.

Propuesta de Secuencia. Lenguas Extranjeras. MEC-Escuela Española. Madrid, 1992.

EVALUATION

+We wiII evaluate.

– The students’ Iearning,

– The process of teaching and our own teaching practice, with relation to theachievement of the educative objectives of the curriculum.

– We will also evaluate the curricular project itself, the teaching programme andthe actual development of the curriculum.

– To be varied.

– To give concrete information.

– To use different codes.

– To be applicable to more or Iess structured situations of the learning activity.

– To evaluale the transference of the Iearning to different contexts.

+The evaluation is determined in the Curricular Project and, therefore, it must also be decided how to communicate its contents to parents, students, and the rest of Ihe teachers.

Finally, it is convenient to use the Curricular Project to establish the function of the tutor, as the last responsible of the evaluation. The role of the psychopedagogic counsellor of the centre must also be determined here. From the resulís of Ihe evaluation, Ihe teachers wiil adopí Ihe necessary measures, as indicated in Ihe Real Decreto de Currículo:

¹‘AI Ihe end of every cycle and as a consecuence of Ihe process of evaluation, Ihe tutor of Ihe studenís wiII dec¡de if lhey can promote lo Ihe next cycle· laking mío account Ihe other teachers’ reporís”.

‘When Ihe evaluation ¡5 continuous, and Ihe progress of a studení does nol globaIly respond lo Ihe programmed objectives, Ihe teachers wiIl ado pl Ihe necessary measures of educative reinforcemení or of curricular adjustment”.

In conclusion ,in the Curricular Project we must also concrete when, how and what we have to evaluate:

–Initial evaluation: Trough this, the teacher knows the actual and previous knowledge his students have in order to develop the didactic unit with the best results. Previous knowledge is what the students already know both regarding the conceptual aspects, and the procedures and the attitudes that are going to be involved in the development of the unit. However, through the activities, the knowledge of the students in these three aspects must be checked. This helps the teacher to readjust his teaching to the reality of his students in order to make them capable to relate the new information with that they already have and therefore, to achieve a significant learning.

+In the Curricular Project, we must as weIl include the criteria to promote the students to the next cycle:

(initial, formalive and summative evalualion). of course, initial evalualion musí be done al Ihe beginning of every cyc;le in order lo determine Ihe level of Ihe students. However, ¡lis also very profitable lo do Ihis evaluation al Ihe beginning of eve~ unit, in order lo specifv Ihe previous knowiedge of Ihe students about Ihe contenis.

· We musí also evaluale the teaching process lhroughout Ihe academic vcar. The besí momení lo do so~ ¡5 al Ihe end of a cycle, and s~eciaIly, Ihe momení in which a group finishes a síage, because Ihe leachers may evaluale Ihe Curricular Projecl.qlobally, as ¡1 ¡s provided in Ihe “Real Decreto de Régimen Orgánico de los Centros de Infantil y Primaria”.

+In the Curricular Project, we must as weIl include the criteria to promote the students to the next cycle:

T .THE EDUCATIVE PROJECT OF THE CENTRE AND TH-E CURRICULAR PROJECT

2.1. THE EDUCATIVE PROJECT OF THE CENTRE

@ One of-the aspects that the Educative Reform has put more emphasis on, is the need to give more independent S, Since they are the key Of the educative system. This autonomy is ëktremely necessary, because the educ-liL–lve process cannot be the same in all the centres, since it has to answer the cultural and socioeconomic context in which centres are placed, as well as students and their families.

The reflection about all these specific Meeds must give the lines to establish the species features that make the centre have its own educative style. It is good that all the centres have their own choices.

* The LODE (”Le-v Oroénica del Derecho a Ia Educaciön”) provides that the centres will have autono ‘ e o tional sub’ects, to adapt the programmes and to adopt the teaching methods th ye wish. whenever they do not discriminate any member of the educative community, and always under the law.

* The Educative Pro’ect of a Centre is the documentthat comprises the decisions or ideas taken b the whole educative commune with respect to the basic educative options and to the general organi/qtion of the centre.

In-the Ed-ucative Project of a Centre and according to the sociocultural and economic context of the same, Fe must es-tablish the decisions taken regarding questions such as w-ho we are, what we want, etc., for instance:

– The signs of identity.

– The objectives or aims of the centre in which these signs are concreted.

– The revision of the general objectives of the Curriculum.

– The relations of-cooperation amen st all the arsons in charge of putting the objectives into practice.

– The organization that will make these objectives possible, which is specified in the ”Reglamento de Regimen Interior”.

* The decisions establishe ‘ – ‘ve Pro’ect must be s edified in the Curricular Project inci les are explained in order to answer questions like what, how, when 4 and how to evalua and-leach.

:.2. THE GENERAL PROGRAMME OF THE CENTRE

* The General Pro-gramme of the centre is done according to two types of information:

a) The decisions that due to their nature, will change every ear.

b) The decisions taken from the revision of the educative project ànd of the curricular project.

k In this sense, the general annual programme will include the following elements:

– The complementafy-ac-tivities that the centre is going to develop.

– T% of the centre.

– The administrative records. .

– The new decisionsthat must be included in the educative project and in the curricular

ln this way, the centres will not have to do these projects every year, and they will only be those aspects of the same that the evaluation of the centre requires.

7.3.1. Aims of the curricular project (e-,i

1. To increase the coherence of the educative tactile throw h the decisions taken by the whole body of te-achers o-f a stage.

2. To increase the competence of the teachers through the evaluation of their work.

3. To adjust the ideas of the M.E.C. to the context.

4. In order to achieve these aims, th-a -Reform has-created-a more ope-nod curricular model.

This model is characterized by the fact that the educative administrators, that is, the M.E.C., establish a lower Iqvel of prescription, and therefore they favour the autonomy of the teaching bodies.

1 In the curricular project the prescriptions of the M.E.C. are specified according to the e peculiarities of eve centre. The ob’ectives that the educative recess tries to achieve in every sta e are ex gained in the ”Reales Decretos de Currfculo”. The internal decisions taken for eve stage are specified in the Curricular Project. Therefore, a centre in which there are students from 3 to 12 years old, will have a sing e educative project, but two curricular projects: one for t e first stage (lnfantil) and another for the second (Primaria).

a/ Once the curricular reject has been established, the Pro ramies of Class will be made. This third level of concretion will comprise the decisions taken for every specific group Uf Qf students.

2.3.t7.Bases of the curricular Project: -.- .

We have four great sources to elaborate the Curricular p Jro’ect: -‘

– The educative proles.

– The analysis of the background.

– The basic curriculum that the M.E.C. has established.

– The experience derived from the teaching practice of the centre.

The Educative Pro-ect will be a uide as long as the identity signs of the centre and its aims are specified in it.

T-he analysis of the context is fundamental, s-ince the aim of the curricular project is to concrete and adapt the decisions that the M.E.C. has taken regarding education in all schools, to the specific needs of every centre. ‘

In the curricular project, the context is analyzed according to the students of every stage, which usually have very different features. It also comprises the methodological options, the evaluation or the best way to organize the sequence of the abilities and contents in the cycle.

A-nother-source-from which the curricular project is specified, and one of the most important, is the precious experience o-f the centre that will be more or less explicitly explained

2 3..7:: objectives of stage:

– They are defined in terms of abilities and not of behaviours.

– These’ abilities must regard all the fiends of development (motility, intellectuality, ersonal balance, interpersonal relations, social attitude and relations).

Pi the abilities within the different fiends, with the aim of they must try to comer se underlining the relations that they have amongst the .

a. Sequences of objectives according to the cycles:

The Real Decreto de Curricula provides that:

”The cycle is the temporal curricular unit of programme and evaluation in the Primary Educat–.qpi ”(…).”According to what has been previously established, the same teachers will work with me same group of students throughout the whole cycle, if they are working in the same centre”(…).”The projects will comprise at least, the contents provided for an educative cycle, and they will have to be related to the general plan of the corresponding stage”. ‘

It is necessa to establish some revisions about the internal sequences of the cycle, according to the follow-i-ng oriterig-.-

– Co-herence of-the evolutîve development and the previous learning of the student.

– Coherence Of the learning. —

– Contents as the basis of the sequence.

– Limited basic ideas.

– Contin’uity and progrqAnînm.

– Balance. (the abilities developed in the objectives must be balanced).

– Ir-trf-.l–?t el ti n (the different types of contents, concepts, procedures and attitudes must be conveniently related amongst them).

– Transversal themes (very important in Primary education).

b. Didactic strategies that will be used throughout the stage, must be determined

….. ”” ” ….. –M when we elaborate the Curricular Project.

T.3. .q. M-eth-o-dologjca-l de-cisions:—

1 . Methodological principles.

2. Groups.

3. Time.

4. Spaces.

5. Materials.

1. Metho-dological prin-ciplestto achie-ve a significant Iearning:lg-yAdwt//xoy Cc.t

– To start from the level of development of the students and, therefore, according to their previous learning.

– To make sure that they achieve a significant learning, using their previous knowledge and a comprehensive memorization.

– To make possible that the students significantly learn by themselves.

– To create situations in which they must put their knowledge up-to-date.

– To motivate l-p>tr l-e-a-r-rl.-i..-nq.. – .. … . . …. . …- .. . .

– To create learning situations that require an intense mental activity from the student.

– To encourage interaction within the class as the basis of the learning.

2. Criteria to group the students-:

– Level of learn-ing.

– G- roues which -favour a better.interac-tio-n-. e?

– Groups with different needs must be separated. .

..-.— mw.

N..x

3. & 4. Organization of span.-es and .times: ‘–w…Nu.

– Use of the common spaces.

– Distribution of the space within the class.

– Ge-ne-ral timetable –of the centre.

– Excursions and common activities of the whole centre or of the groups.

The distribution of time within the class must be organized according to the Project.

There must be enough time to develop global units, to make some activities that require a specific sequence of time to be done, time to make activities with other groups outside the class, etc.

5. Materials and didactic recourses:

. The materials and identic recourses are another fundamental factor of edu ‘ e practice. For that reason, it is important to select-those that are going to be used and ‘ to establish the criteria for their use in the curricular pro’ect since the are decisio s that the whole teacher bod must share. ‘ ‘

We must distinguish between the curricular materials and those materials directed to the students. The former must serve to guide the teaching process. Théy may be used in two main situations: in the elaboration and realization of the curricular project of stage, and’ in the elaboration of the programmes, because they will concrete the didactic objectives, the activities, etc.

. Regarding the latter, that is, the materials directed to–sludents- we must identify thy kind of materials we need’. te-‘- s, wor-kb-ooks, exercises, tapes, plastic materials, etc. We must also differentiate which materials will be used in every cycle.

”< .

‘ ‘NNN. ..

. The selection of materials the centres do, must take into account the following criteria:

– They must no-! be discriminatory.

– They must be used by all the students. . ‘

– They must not s oil the environment.

– The.y must not be excesively sophisticated.

– T e must be suitable for the age of the students, whom they are directed to.

– They must include the norms for the security that their use re wires, as Well as their components and other features (sipe, weight, etc.).

xx-a

. ”W

. .=

* In the case of printed curricular material we must take into account the following

i – ctibn-criteria or .

To know the educative objectives that these texts have and to check to what extent they are corresponding to those established in the centre for a certain group.

z To analyze the contents worked in order to check if there is a correspondenc-e between the objectives and the contents. We must develop the different types of contents (concepts, procedures and attitudes), as well as the transversal themes.

p To revise the sequences of learning that are proposed for the different contents. It is important to analyze the progression that the objectives and the contents follow, b0th in their distribution throughout the different cycles and in their internal organization.

L1 To anal ze the suitabili of the criteria of evaluation ro used b the curricular ro’ect of stage.

S T-o analyze the activities proposed. in -order to see if they fulfill the conditions for a significant learning.. In this point, it is specially important to pay attention to the activities that must be done in the different moments of the process of learning and teaching. The same activity may help the student to learn and the teacher to have information about the previous knowledge. The following activities must appear in every didactic unit:

. Activities-of introdu-ction-motivatio–n: They must motivate the students to learn the reality they are going to be taught.

. Activities of previous knowledge: They are done in order to know the ideas and opinions of the students about the contents they are studying.

wActivities of development: They help to know the concepts, the procedures or the new attitudes.

1 Activities of synthesis-summary: They are those which make the relation between the different contents already learnt easier.

. Activities of consolidation: They are programmed for the students who have not achieved a significant knowledge.

. Activities of extension: They let the students go on learning! after doing the activities of development and those which are not essential for the learning process.

. Activities of evaluation: They will include the activities directed to the initial, formative and summating evaluation, which were not covered by the previous activities.

6 To adapt these materials and didactic recourses to the educative context in which they

. .

.. . .. . . —–. . …

. Evaluation within the curricular project

@ Teachers will evaluate be-th the s-tud-ents’ learning, th-a process of teaching and their own teaching practice, with relation to the achievement-of the educative objectives of the cu. rriculum.

*—*— .. . —-.—-.. . –‘ .. .- —. —.

The will also evaluate the curricular ro’ect itself, the teaching programme and the actual

development of the curriculum. 3

There are two main aspects, to be considered to establish the criteria of evaluation:

– The peculia-rities of the pwn context of the centre. – The criteria of evaluation of every centre.

The function of the criteria is mainly formative. It is essential to have criteria of evaluation

for every cycle.

* In order to evaluate the learning process we have to take some decisions regarding:

the situations, strategies and instruments of evaluation. The req-uisites that the procedures of

evaluation must fulfill are:

– To be varied..

– To give concrete information.

– To apse diff. event codes.

– To be a likable to more or I caused situated s of the learning activity.

– To evaluate the transference of the learning to different contexts.

The evaluation is determined in the Curricular Project and, therefore, it must also be decided how to communicate its conte agents students, and the rest of the teachers.

Finally, it is convenient to use the Curricular Project to establish the function of the tutor, as the last responsible of the evaluation. The role of the psychopedagogic counsellor of the centre must also be determined here. From the results of the evaluation, the teachers will adopt the necessary measures, as indicated in the Real Decreto de Currfculo:

”At the end of eve? cycle and as a consequence of the process of evaluation, the tutor of the students will decide if they can promote io the next cycle, taking into account the other teachers’ reports”

‘When the evaluation is continuous, and the progress of a student does not globally respond to the programmed objedives, the teachers will adopt the necessary measures

of educative reinforcement or of curricular adjustment”.

l articular Pro’ed we must also concrete when we have to evaluate (initial,formative and summarize evaluation). Of course, initial evaluation must be done at the beginning

. – -.

of every cycle in order to determine the level of the students. However, it is also very profitable to do this evaluation at the beginning of every unit, in order to specify the previous knowledge of the students about the contents.

@ We must also evaluate the teaching grocer. s thro-u-ghout the a-cademic year. The best moment to do s-ot is at the end of a cycle, and s eciall , the moment in which a roup knishes a stage! because the teachers may evaluate the Curricular Pro’ed. Ioball , as it is provided in the ”Real Decreto be Regimen Organics de Ios Centros de Infantry y Primaria”.

In the Curricular Project,.we must as well include the criteria to promo-te-the students to the next cycle. As it is provided in Section 1 1.4 of the ”Real Decreto de Currfculol’, a student can only re eét the same stage once during the Primary Education’.

”lo the context of the process of continuous evaluation. When the progress of a student does not globally respond to the programmed objectives, the teachers will adopt the suitable measures of educative reinforcement and of curricular adjustment”.

”Within the framework of these measures, at the end of the cycle, they will decide if the student is promoted or not”. (…) ”These decisions require the previous audience of the parents or legal tutors of the student, in case he does not promote to the next c ole”.

œ3miElabor#lipn of th: curricplarprolvp.t

There are some steps that must be followed to elaborate the Curricular Project:

– Elaboration . . . . .

– Coordination

– Approval

– Report . . . . . . . . .

– Supervision . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . Body of teache-rs of the Stan-a- Committee of Pedagogic Coordinati-on Teaching Sta-! of the centre lenitive Council- e . . . . Technical inspection

The most im octant idea of the Curricular pro’ect is that it is a recess and therefore, it is never ended d it has to vised ve often, because the quality of the teaching can always be improved.

It is also very important to analyze the different Curricular Projects that have been done before, in order to see the changes produced in them. Therefore, the Curricular Project must be written, in order to be able to analyse the necessary changes and the ones that have been already done. In this sense the project is the ”report of the centre”. Eve It can be elaborated ”upside-down” (from the pedagogic committee to the cycles) or ”downside-up” (the pedagogic committee will revise it), but whichever the strategy, it will have ‘ to be done in both senses.

ç25

The second strategy of elaboration is inductive-dedudivek

7.8.A Decisions taken in the curricular project

– What to teach?

. Suitability with the context of the general objectives of stage of the official curriculum, taking into account the educative reality and the choices established in the educative Project of the centre.

. Suitability of the general objectives and the contents of every area of the optical curriculum, taking into account the educative reality of the centre.

– When to teach?

. Sequence per cycles of the objectives and contents of every area (intercycle sequence), according to the adjustment of the general objectives and the contents.

. General precisions about the organization and the temporalization of the greatest focus of contents of every area selected for every cycle (intercycle sequence).

– How to teach?

. Criteria and basic options of didactic methodology that may affect either all the areas of the cycle or some of them.

. Decisions about the groups of students.

. Decisions about the organization of .times and spaces.

. Curricular criteria and basic didactic recourses that are going to be used to teach the contents of every area in the different cycles.

– What, when and how to evaluate?

– – –

. ElaboratiUn of the criteria of evaluation per cycle according to the criteria of evaluation of the stage that are explained in the official curriculum and to the decisions taken about every cycle in the rest of sections of the Project.

. Procedures, instruments and dates of the evaluation of the learning throughout the cycle.

. Example of a report of evaluation throughout the cycle, specifying the procedure for its elaboration, the dates and the wqy to communicate the results to parents and students.

. Procedures, instruments and dates to evaluate the teaching practice, to revise the programmes and to introduce the suitable corrections.

. Criteria to decide the promotion of the students from a cycle to another (or from a stage to another).

. Pedagogic actions taken in the case of students that do not achieve the level established in the criteria of evaluation per cycles, either if they promote or not.

Measures of attention to diversity:

Tutors-a-es: Organization-and function-inn.

– ” (culture” Whenever this is a distinctive feature of the. Specific treatment of the mutt centre. v – diustment: for stMdents With special educatiye..-q#.#–.-Fd u Organization Of times)

. A

materials and backings.

l.g.tstages of elaboration of the curricular project

To elaborate all these elements is a work which re i e s to be done and it must be understood Ilke that the whole teaching body. For-that reason it is a work which must be divided ‘ ‘ . eve centre are res onsible of or anilin this work. However, the M.E.C. must also determine when the basic decisions must be taken. From this point of view, the following stages of elaboration are established, for instance:

– n Se temper 199 e teaching bodies elaborate, at least, the basic aspects of the following elements of the Curricular Project:

1 . The objectives of the cycle within the general objectives of stage, adjusting them to the context.

2. The distribution of the contents per cycle, with special attention to those referring to the first cycle. .

3. Curricular materials and didactic recourses that are going to be used in the areas of the first cycle.

4. Procedures to evaluate the progress of the learning of the students during the first cycle.

5. Criteria of evaluation and promotion of the students.

6. Organization and functioning of the tutorages with special attention to the treatment of the ”multiculture” (whenever it is a distinctive feature of the centre).

– In – – the teaching bodies’ develop these elements,

completing the following aspects:

1. Pedagogic actions for the students who do not achieve the level established in the criteria of evaluation.

2. Adjustments for the students with special educative needs.

3. Procedures to evaluate the teaching practice.

– September 19+

1. To incorporate the elements worked and developed during the year as well as the modifications derived from the evaluation done.

k1C

z 2. To establish for the rest of the cycles the elements that were elaborated for the

/’ first cycle in September 1992.

. , /

– e end of the Introduction of Primary Education:

After the evaluation of the different cycles, and at the end of the introduction of the Primary Education, the Curricular Project will be completed including all the aspects explained before, paying special attention to those referring to the whole stage, with the aim of securing the general coherence of the established agreements, with themselves and with the educative project of the centre. –

N’xx.

www-.- . vp..x

. — U a-xx

.- y gjgkjgggàgyy

R.D. 134411991 ‘dei 6 de Septiembre por el que se establece el curricula de Ia Education

Primaria.

B.O.E. Suplemento namers 220.

M.LC. PRIMARIA. PROYECTO CURRICULAR. LIBROS MULES, 1992.

RESOLUCIGN 5,3.92 POR 1-A QUE SE REGULA LA EMBOMCIUN DE PROYECTOS CURRICULARES PARA LA EDUCACIUN PRIMARIA Y SE ESTABLECEN ORIENTACIONES PARA LA DISTRIBUCIUN DE OBJETIVOS, CONTENIDOS Y CRITERIOS DE EVALUACIUN PAM CADA UNO DE LOS CICLOS (B.O.E., ‘

24 de Marzo de 1992).

LT9

2.1.3.1.2. procedures:

– To recognize and make familiar the sounds of the foreign language and its rythm and intonation.

– To understand oral messages of different nature and from different sources (teacher_, other students_,video, tapes):

*Global comprehension of oral messages about familiar topics.

*Specific comprehension of concrete simple messages in contextualized situations.

-To react either linguistically and non-linguistically to different oral messages ana communicative situations:

*Production of oommon expressions aimed to satisfy simple needs of communication (greetings_,identification, asking and giving information_, identification of objects_,decriptions_,etc).

*Use of basic messages previously learnt (polite expressions_,etc.) adjusting them to the specific features of the situation.

*Active participation in oral exchanges in order to express the most immediate communicative needs within the class and in contexts closer to the student.

*Participation in the linguistic exchanges with the aim of having fun (simulations_, performances_,etc.).

*Non-linguistic answers to oral messages (follow instructions_,etc.).

– To recognize the grammatical formulas that help them to make questions_,to assert_,to reject_,to express possession. to quantify_,to describe, to narrate, etc… and to use them in order to achieve efficient communication.

– To use the native language’s strategies of communication, which let us take advantage of the limited knowledge of the foreign language.

Attitudes:

-Awareness of the importance of oral communication in a foreign language.

-Awareness of the reality of a different culture_,reflected in the language.

-Receptive and respectful attitude towards the persons who speak a foreign language

– Wish to express themselves in a foreign language_,participating in the activities (games, songs_,etc.).

-Awareness of the corrections done when they interprete or produce a text.

– Positive and optimist attitude towards their own ability to speak in a foreign language.

-Tendency to use imaginatively and creatively, oral messages previously learnt_,in different communicative situations.

2.1.3.2. Uses and fomis of the wrltten language:

2.1.3.2.1. Concepts:

– Most habitual needs and communicative situations to use the written language. Communicative intentions and characteristics of these situations.

*Communicative intentions: greetings_,identificatIon and location of objects_, expressing needs and wishes, etc.

*Characteristics of the communicative situation: type of Iisteners_,more or less formal situation, etc.

– Vocabulary and Iinguistic structures required to express the basic communicative needs by writing.

*Communlcative intentions: greetings, identification_,giving and asking for information, identification and location of objects, descriptions, narrations_,etc.

*General topics: colours_,numbers, time, house_,family, class, food, likes and dislikes, sports, etc.

e) Names of the letters in a foreign language and their correspondence within the writing system.

f) Relations between the meaning of the words_,their pronunciation and graphical representation.

2.1.3.2.2. Procedures:

– Production of written texts adjusted to the features of the reader and of the communicative sltuation.

– Understanding of the written messages of different nature.

*Global comprehension of written messages relatedthe activities done in class.

*Global comprehension of brief written messages related to the most immediate needs of communication and to the interests of the speakers.

*Global comprehension of easy authentic materials_,with visual backing about daily-life topics.

-Awareness of the specific elements, previously learnt, in texts which have unkown words and expressions, such as invtations for a birthday party, cards, magazines, etc.

– Use of the grapho-phonic correspondences to spell, for instance, the name and the surname, etc.

– Production of written texts directed to different readers, answering oral and written stimuli.

– Solution of games which require the knowledge of the vocabulary and the ortography used in class.

– Awareness of grammatical structures in written texts.

– Awareness of some sociocultural aspects which differentiate the foreign language from the mother tongue.

2.1.3.2.3. Attltudes:

– lnterest and curiosity towards the written texts and appraisal of the role they play in order to satisfy communicatlve needs.

-Awareness and appraisal of the importance of reading and writing in a foreign language.

– Appraisal for the correct interpretation of easy written texts.

g) Interest to know the vocabulary and the basic linguistic structures required to express the essential communicatlve needs in different situations.

h) Disposition to overcome the difficulties that the use of a foreign language creates, by paying attention to the communicative strategies fo the mother tongue.

2.1.3.3. SocIo cultura! aspects:

Concepts:

– Social and cultural aspects of the countries where the foreign language studied is spoken.

*expressions and gestures which go together with the oral expressions: tone_, gestures, etc.

*Daily-life aspects: Timetables_,habits_,images of that culture, etc.

*Spare time: games, songs_,sports, places, etc.

i) Presence in Spain of the foreign language learnt: labels, songs, films, etc.

j) 2.1.3.3.2. Procedures:

-Awareness of some aspects of the countries where the foreign language is spoken.

– Contextualized use in habitual situations of some rules and habits of the countrles where this language is spoken.

– Comparison of the most relevant aspects of daily life in the countries where the foreign language is spoken, and our own country.

– Use of authentic materials with the aim of getting the desired information.

2.1.3.3.3. Attltudes:

– Curiosity and respect for the most relevant aspects of daily life and for other sociocultural aspects of the countries where this language is spoken.

– Appraisal of the sociolinguistic behaviours which help cohabitation.

– lnterest to know people from other countries.

– Appraisal of the sociolinguistic behaviours which help cohabitation.

– lnterest to know people from other countries.

2.3 Evaluation criteria.

1.To recognize and reproduce the characteristic phonemes of the foreignlanguage. To recognize and reproduce the characteristic phonemes of the foreign language as well as the basic models of rhythm and intonation, in words and sentences which appear in the context of real use of the language.

2. To grasp the general meaning of oral texts. To grasp the general meaning of oral texts uttered in face to face communication situations, with the help of gestures and mime and the necessary repetitions, in which there will appear combinations of elements previously learnt and which deal with familiar topics, known by the student.

3.To extract specific information. To extract specific information, previous required, from oral texts with a simple structure and vocabulary which deal with familiar topics that interest the student (daily life, likes, preferences_,opinions and personal experiences).

4. To participate in short oral exchanges. To participate in short oral exchanges related to usual classroom activities producing an understandable discourse adapted to the characteristics of the situation and the communicative purpose.

5.To participate in simulated communicatlon situations. To participate in simulated communication situations which have been previously practised in the classroom, using properly the most usual social interaction formulae in the foreign language.

6.To extract the general meaning and some speciflc information. To extract the general meaning and some specific information from short written texts with a lineal development_,simple structures and vocabulary_,which deal with familiar topics that interest the student.

7.To read simple children’s books. To read with the help of the teacher or, the dictionary simple children’s books written in the foreign language with visual backup and show comprehension by means of a specific task.

8.To produce short written texts. To produce short written texts_,comprehensible and adapted to the characteristics of the situation and the communicative purpose, in which those contents that have been worked in the class can be seen.

9.To recognize, sorne sociocultural aspects. To recognize, some sociocultural aspects typical of the foreign language speaking community which are implicit. in the linguistic samples worked on in the classroom.