PRACTICAL CASE STUDY: Inclusion, innovation and coexistence in the Foreign Language (English) subject area in a centro de especial dificultade

CASE 1

CONTEXT

• Type of school and setting: A state-funded "centro de especial dificultade" (a school officially designated as facing particularly challenging circumstances), located on the outskirts of a large city in the Comunidade Autónoma de Galicia (the urban area of Vigo). The families' socio-economic environment is vulnerable and there is a high rate of unemployment and considerable cultural diversity.
• Level/Year group: A mixed (multi-level) class bringing together pupils from Year 3 and Year 4 of Primary Education in the Foreign Language: English subject area.
• Point in the academic year: Second term. Project work and oral expression through daily routines are being consolidated.
• Regulatory approach: In accordance with the regulations on attention to diversity in Galicia (Decreto 229/2011 and Orden de 8 de septiembre de 2021), the school gives priority to ordinary educational response measures aimed at the group or the class 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 display very uneven learning paces and a low initial level of linguistic competence in the L2, conditioned by the lack of exposure to English outside school.
• Specific profiles:
  • Aitor (Year 3 of Primary Education): A pupil diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). He finds it difficult to sustain attention during long verbal instructions in English, becomes frustrated by extended writing tasks and shows a strong need for movement.
  • Lucía (Year 4 of Primary Education): A pupil in a situation of socio-educational disadvantage. She shows a one-year curricular delay in literacy competence (in both the L1 and the L2) as a result of intermittent school absenteeism during the previous year. She has no technological resources or academic support at home, but she shows great interest in practical and artistic tasks.

RESOURCES

• A classroom equipped with an interactive whiteboard (PDI) and an internet connection (with limited access for pupils).
• A reading corner with illustrated albums and simple stories in English (picturebooks).
• A range of hands-on materials (magnetic letters, flashcards, story dice or story cubes).
• Support from a Pedagogía Terapéutica (PT) specialist teacher inside the English classroom for one session a week (co-teaching).

MAIN QUESTION

As the English teacher, what didactic and organisational intervention would you implement on an ongoing basis during the second term in this mixed class in order to provide an ordinary response to the needs of Aitor and Lucía, guaranteeing inclusion and access to the Foreign Language curriculum through Universal Design for Learning (UDL)?

CASE 2

CONTEXT

• Type of school and setting: A centro de especial dificultade located in a seafaring neighbourhood of the Comunidade Autónoma de Galicia (A Mariña, in the province of Lugo) with strong local roots, but with social transformation needs.
• Level/Year group: Year 4 of Primary Education.
• Point in the academic year: Second term. The teaching team has detected a drop in pupils' motivation towards foreign language learning, which has an impact on the classroom climate.
• Methodological approach: Following Decreto 155/2022 of the Comunidade Autónoma de Galicia, and within the framework of Galician plurilingualism (Decreto 79/2010), the aim is to enhance plurilingual and intercultural competence through meaningful learning situations, active methodologies (such as cooperative learning) and gamification, as tools for combating disaffection and school absenteeism.

PUPILS

• General characteristics: The group is made up of 20 pupils. They are very active, creative and eager to take part in practical activities, but they show resistance to traditional methodologies based on English textbooks.
• Specific profiles:
  • Lucía (Year 4 of Primary Education): A pupil in a situation of socio-educational disadvantage (shared with Case 1). She shows low self-esteem and is reluctant to speak English in front of the group for fear of making mistakes. She does, however, stand 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 the 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 whiteboard.

MAIN QUESTION

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

CASE 3

CONTEXT

• Type of school and setting: An urban centro de especial dificultade in the Comunidade Autónoma de Galicia (Santiago de Compostela). The school is known for its Coexistence Plan and for its promotion of emotional education.
• Level/Year group: Year 3 of Primary Education.
• Point in the academic year: Second term. An increase in tension and minor relational conflicts has been observed during English sessions involving competitive games or fast-paced oral communication activities.
• Institutional approach: In keeping with the LOPIVI (Ley Orgánica de Protección Integral a la Infancia y la Adolescencia frente a la Violencia) and with Decreto 8/2015 on coexistence in Galicia (which develops Lei 4/2011), the Foreign Language area must contribute to the peaceful resolution of conflicts, to co-education and to the development of social skills.

PUPILS

• General characteristics: The class has 19 pupils. Although the group is affectionate, it finds it hard to tolerate frustration, to respect speaking turns and to accept the rules of the game during playful or communicative activities in English.
• Specific profiles:
  • Aitor (Year 3 of Primary Education): A pupil diagnosed with ADHD (shared with Case 1). In situations of high stimulation or during competitive games in the English session, he finds it difficult to regulate his emotions, which sometimes triggers disruptive behaviour (shouting, walking away from the activity or getting angry with his classmates). His family is concerned about his social integration but collaborates actively with the school.

RESOURCES

• A calm corner (cool-down corner) adapted to the English subject area, including emotional regulation cards in the 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

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