PRACTICAL CASE STUDY: Coexistence, inclusion and active methodologies in the English classroom of the third cycle of Primary Education
MINI 1
Context
During an English session in Year 6 of Primary Education at an urban school in Vigo (Pontevedra), you detect repeated mockery and systematic exclusion directed at a pupil because of his accent when carrying out oral expression tasks. You subsequently discover that degrading memes about him have been circulated on social media, directly linked to the voice recordings made for the Foreign Language subject area. The pupil is showing severe anxiety and selective absenteeism from your sessions, and he refuses to take part in any kind of oral presentation in the English classroom during this second term.
Question
How should you act as a teacher of Foreign Language: English, applying the bullying protocol and your school's Coexistence Plan in the Comunidade Autónoma de Galicia (Decreto 8/2015, which develops the Lei 4/2011 on coexistence), in order to address this situation and coordinate effectively with the school's guidance counsellor and the families involved?
MINI 2
Context
During the second term, a pupil with total blindness joins a Year 5 Primary group; he needs Braille and tiflological materials in order to access written and visual information. The English subject area planning currently includes a cooperative project based on an interactive map of an English-speaking city with QR codes and analogue visual supports. The pupil shows high motivation towards the foreign language area, but he has no specific adapted materials for developing plurilingual competence in this task.
Question
What inclusion measures, adaptations for access to the curriculum and specific teaching resources from the English specialism will you implement in order to guarantee this pupil's active participation and competence-based learning in the interactive map project?
MINI 3
Context
During the second term, several families of a Year 6 Primary group submit written complaints alleging a lack of objectivity in the marking of the oral expression skill ("speaking") in the English subject area. The dissatisfaction arises after the assessment of a competence-based task consisting of a "podcast"-style oral presentation on the Sustainable Development Goals (ODS). As the school's English specialist, you must technically justify your process of formative and shared assessment 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 Comunidade Autónoma de Galicia (Decreto 155/2022) and serves to justify the results obtained objectively to families?
MINI 4
Context
You are implementing a digital gamification project in English through a cooperative "Escape Room" about British culture with your Year 5 Primary pupils. As the classroom sessions unfold, the use of the school's tablets is generating serious 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 foreign language oral activities planned for solving the challenges.
Question
What methodological strategies, classroom management techniques and cooperative learning structures will you apply in your English sessions in order to turn the situation around, guaranteeing appropriate group management and the digital inclusion of all the pupils?
MINI 5
Context
In a Year 6 Primary English learning situation aimed at breaking gender stereotypes and giving visibility to family diversity, you use songs and adapted texts by contemporary British authors. A group of families at this urban school submits a formal complaint demanding that the material be withdrawn on the grounds that it conflicts with their moral and religious convictions. The senior leadership team passes the complaint on to you so that you can provide a formal, institutional response from within the Foreign Language subject area.
Question
How will you resolve this situation as an English specialist teacher, drawing on the regulations in force in the Comunidade Autónoma de Galicia on co-education, the school's Coexistence Plan and pupils' right to a comprehensive education?