PRACTICAL CASE STUDY: Coexistence, inclusion and active methodologies in the English classroom in the third cycle of Primary Education

MINI 1

Context

In a Year 6 English session at an urban school in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, you detect repeated mockery and systematic exclusion of a pupil because of his accent when carrying out oral expression tasks. Subsequently, you discover that degrading memes about him have been circulated on social media, directly linked to the voice recordings made for the area of Foreign Language. The pupil presents a severe anxiety condition, selective absenteeism from your sessions and refuses to give any kind of oral presentation in the English classroom during this second term.

Question

How should you act as a Foreign Language: English teacher, applying the school bullying protocol and the Coexistence Plan of your school in the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands, in order to address this situation and coordinate effectively with the school counsellor and the families affected?

MINI 2

Context

During the second term, a pupil with total blindness who requires the use of Braille and tiflological materials in order to access written and visual information joins a Year 5 group. At present, the planning for the area of English envisages the development of a cooperative project based on an interactive map of an English-speaking city with QR codes and analogue visual supports. The pupil is highly motivated by the foreign language area, but lacks specific adapted materials for developing plurilingual competence in this task.

Question

Which inclusion measures, curricular access adaptations and specific didactic resources of the English specialism will you implement in order to guarantee the active participation and competence-based learning of this pupil in the interactive map project?

MINI 3

Context

During the second term, several families of a Year 6 group submit written complaints alleging a lack of objectivity in the marks awarded for the oral expression skill ("speaking") in the area of English. The dissatisfaction arises after the assessment of a competence-based task built around a "podcast"-style oral presentation on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As the school's English specialist, you must justify your process of formative and shared assessment on technical grounds before the educational community.

Question

How would you design a competence-based, formative and transparent assessment system for this oral expression task in English that responds to the assessment criteria of the curriculum in force in the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands and serves to justify the results obtained objectively before the families?

MINI 4

Context

You are implementing a digital gamification project in English by means of a cooperative "Escape Room" on British culture with your Year 5 pupils. During the sessions in the classroom, the use of the school's tablets generates strong conflicts over control of the device, the exclusion of pupils with lower digital competence and disruptive behaviour that alters the working climate. This situation is preventing the proper development of the oral dynamics in the foreign language planned for solving the challenges.

Question

Which methodological strategies, classroom management techniques and cooperative learning structures will you apply in your English sessions in order to steer the situation back on course, guaranteeing appropriate group management and the digital inclusion of all the pupils?

MINI 5

Context

In an English learning situation in Year 6 aimed at breaking down gender stereotypes and making family diversity visible, you use songs and adapted texts by contemporary British authors. A group of families at this urban school submit a formal complaint demanding that this material be withdrawn, as they consider that it conflicts with their moral and religious convictions. The management team passes the complaint on to you so that you may provide a formal, institutional response from the area of Foreign Language.

Question

How will you resolve this situation as an English specialist teacher, on the basis of the legislation in force in the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands on co-education, the school's Coexistence Plan and pupils' right to a comprehensive education?