PRACTICAL CASE STUDY: Inclusion, innovation and coexistence in the area of Foreign Language (English) in a school of preferential educational attention

CASE STUDY 1

CONTEXT

• Type of school and setting: State school of preferential educational attention, located on the outskirts of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The socio-economic environment of the families is vulnerable and there is a high rate of unemployment and cultural diversity.
• Year/Group: Mixed (mixed-age) classroom bringing together pupils from Years 3 and 4 of Primary Education in the area of Foreign Language: English.
• Point in the school year: Second term. Project work and oral expression through daily routines are being consolidated.
• Legislative approach: In accordance with the Canary Islands legislation on attention to diversity (Decreto 25/2018 and the Orden de 13 de diciembre de 2010 on the assessment of pupils with NEAE), the school gives priority to additional educational response measures aimed at the group or classroom and to Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in order to avoid exclusion.

PUPILS

• General characteristics: The class group is made up of 18 pupils (8 from Year 3 and 10 from Year 4). They show very uneven learning rates and a low initial linguistic competence in L2, conditioned by the lack of exposure to English outside school.
• Specific profiles:
  • Aitor (Year 3): Pupil diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). He has difficulties maintaining sustained attention during long verbal instructions in English, becomes frustrated by lengthy writing tasks and shows a high need for movement.
  • Lucía (Year 4): Pupil in a situation of socio-educational disadvantage. She presents a one-year curricular gap in reading and writing competence (both in L1 and in L2) owing to intermittent school absenteeism during the previous year. She has no technological resources or academic support at home, but shows great interest in practical and artistic tasks.

RESOURCES

• Classroom equipped with an interactive digital whiteboard (PDI) and an internet connection (with limited access for pupils).
• Reading corner with illustrated albums and simple stories in English (picturebooks).
• A variety of hands-on materials (magnetic letters, flashcards, story cubes).
• Support from a Therapeutic Pedagogy (PT) specialist teacher inside the English classroom during 1 weekly session (co-teaching).

MAIN QUESTION

Which didactic and organisational intervention proposal will you, as the English teacher, implement on an ongoing basis during the second term in this mixed classroom in order to give an additional educational response to the needs of Aitor and Lucía, guaranteeing inclusion and access to the Foreign Language curriculum through Universal Design for Learning (UDL)?

CASE STUDY 2

CONTEXT

• Type of school and setting: School of preferential educational attention situated in a fishing neighbourhood of Arrecife (Lanzarote) with strong local roots, but with needs for social transformation.
• Year/Group: Year 4 of Primary Education.
• Point in the school year: Second term. The teaching team detects a drop in pupils' motivation towards foreign language learning, which has repercussions on the classroom climate.
• Methodological approach: Following the LOMLOE-based Canary Islands Primary Education curriculum (BOC, 2022), the aim is to strengthen plurilingual and intercultural competence through meaningful learning situations, active methodologies (such as cooperative learning) and gamification, as tools for combating disengagement and school absenteeism.

PUPILS

• General characteristics: The group is made up of 20 pupils. They are characterised as being very active, creative and participative in practical activities, but they show resistance to traditional methodologies based on English textbooks.
• Specific profiles:
  • Lucía (Year 4): Pupil in a situation of socio-educational disadvantage (shared with Case Study 1). She shows low self-esteem and reluctance to speak in English in front of the group for fear of making mistakes. However, she stands out for her skill in drawing and visual design.
  • Peer group: There is a small subgroup of pupils who tend to monopolise oral tasks in L2, which inhibits the participation of the most vulnerable pupils such as Lucía.

RESOURCES

• The teacher's mobile device and a digital voice recorder.
• Visual scaffolding cards (sentence starters and visual prompts) for oral expression.
• Classroom space organised flexibly (tables grouped together to facilitate teamwork).
• Free digital gamification platforms (ClassDojo or similar) projected onto the classroom's interactive digital whiteboard.

MAIN QUESTION

How would you design and carry out a cooperative and gamified learning project in the area of English for this Year 4 group that actively includes Lucía by drawing on her strengths, fosters the oral communicative competence of all the pupils and reduces the participation gap?

CASE STUDY 3

CONTEXT

• Type of school and setting: Urban school of preferential educational attention in San Cristóbal de La Laguna (Tenerife). The school stands out for its Coexistence Plan and for its promotion of emotional education.
• Year/Group: Year 3 of Primary Education.
• Point in the school year: Second term. An increase in tension and in small relational conflicts is observed during English sessions involving competitive games or fast-paced oral communication dynamics.
• Institutional approach: In line with the LOPIVI (Ley Orgánica de Protección Integral a la Infancia y la Adolescencia frente a la Violencia) and the Decreto 114/2011 on coexistence in the educational sphere of the Canary Islands, the area of Foreign Language must contribute to the peaceful resolution of conflicts, to co-education and to the development of social skills.

PUPILS

• General characteristics: The classroom has 19 pupils. Although the group is affectionate, they show difficulties in tolerating frustration, respecting turn-taking and accepting the rules of the game when playful or communicative activities are carried out in English.
• Specific profiles:
  • Aitor (Year 3): Pupil diagnosed with ADHD (shared with Case Study 1). In situations of high stimulation or in competitive games during the English session, he experiences difficulties in regulating his emotions, which sometimes triggers disruptive behaviour (shouting, walking away from the activity or getting angry with his classmates). His family are concerned about his social integration but collaborate actively with the school.

RESOURCES

• A cool-down corner adapted to the area of English, including emotional regulation cards in L2 ("How do I feel?", "I need a break"), stress balls and short readings on emotional education.
• Digital visual timers for managing playing time.
• A daily home–school communication diary and a calendar of teaching coordination meetings.

MAIN QUESTION

Which plan of coordinated action with the class tutor, the Therapeutic Pedagogy (PT) specialist and Aitor's family will you design, from your role as English specialist, in order to manage the pupil's difficulties with emotional self-regulation during communicative and game-based dynamics in L2, while at the same time guaranteeing an improvement in coexistence and in the classroom climate of the whole Year 3 group?