English Primary Education

Sofa Rosado Martn

1. INTRODUCTION
Primary Education is the first stage of compulsory education. It comprises six
academic years which are ordinarily taken from the age of six to twelve. Students
generally incorporate to the first course of this educative stage in the natural year in
which they turn six years old.
The present Teaching Planning, intended for the fifth grade, will try to respond to
the demands of a society that seeks in the educative system solutions to face up to
challenges of a changing and unpredictable future.
The legal regulations currently in force establish the subject of English as a
Foreign Language as an important part of the curriculum at this stage. The main aim of
foreign language learning is to achieve students communicative competence, which
will allow them to handle different situations in the foreign language, by means of
producing appropriate messages in the different communicative situations. Moreover,
from this area we can achieve many other aims of Primary Education such as the
development of their personality, their communicative skills and socio-linguistic
strategies, the improvement of their ability to feel empathy, the diversification of their
sources of information, and the establishment of social and cultural relationships with
tolerance in a world where international communications has an increasing relevance.
All these aims will contribute to the educational development of the students from a
global perspective.
The English teacher must elaborate a Teaching Planning prior to the development of
his/her area, always departing from the Educative Projects, with the aim of
contemplating all the necessary aspects for a correct approach to the teaching-learning
process, understanding it as an open structure that during the school year may go
through adaptations due to new physical or personal situations.

Autonomous Region of Madrid

English Primary Education

Sofa Rosado Martn

2. POINT OF DEPARTURE
For the elaboration of this Teaching Planning, the following elements have been
taking into account:

The existing legal regulations.

This Teaching Planning is based on the existing legal regulations which are the

Educational Goals established by the Spanish Constitution, which establishes in the

Article 27 that everybody is entitled to education; The Organic Law of
Improvement on Education 8/2013 passed on December 9th on which the rest of
legislation depends; and the Royal Decree 126/2014 passed on February 28h, which
establishes the Minima Teaching Requirements and the Key Competences for Primary
Education nationwide under the principles of LOMCE. It is also based on the Decree
89/2014 passed on July 24th which sets the Curriculum for all the areas in Primary
Education in the Community of Madrid, including the area of Foreign Language. This
will be then the most useful document for us as English teachers, regarding of course,
all the other regulations.

The School Educational Project and The Curricular Project.

The characteristics of the stage and the area.

The Primary Education stage is a basic education that prepares the student as a

person and as a citizen, giving special emphasis to formative over informative aspects
and trying to ensure a global and integral development covering motor, cognitive and
socio-affective aspects.
From this perspective the English as a Foreign Language area must try to achieve
the acquisition, on the part of the students, of an increasing communicative competence
that allows them to communicate and participate actively in economic, social and

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English Primary Education

Sofa Rosado Martn

cultural life in a world where international relationships are increasingly important,

fostering respectful attitudes towards other cultures and the differences among people.

Criteria for the specification and sequencing. These are:

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Evolutional characteristics of children.

Evolutional characteristics of the teaching-learning process

The own logic of the area.

3. CONTEXTUALISATION
Setting
The school in which this Teaching Planning is thought to be applied is located in an
urban environment, in a middle class neighbourhood in the North of the
Autonomous Region of Madrid. In general, the families have a medium-high sociocultural level. About a 10% of the population comes from other countries, mainly from
South America and Eastern Europe. In most cases, they have been living in the
community for a long time so they are well integrated in it. This neighbourhood has
some surrounding facilities such as a Parks and a Science Museum which I will take
advantage of along the school year.
School
It is a state school which includes both Infant and Primary Education. It consists
of two buildings:

Main building which is divided into two floors:

In the ground floor there are the spaces dedicated to common uses: library,
psychomotricity room, directors and secretarys office, reception, dining hall, kitchen,
teachers room, music classroom and toilets for teachers and students.
In the top floor there are 16 classrooms, ICT classroom and toilets.

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Infant Education building which consists of a hall and tour classrooms

each of which has its own toilet.

The school has a good equipment and it provides some facilities for the learning of
a foreign language such as a unique space for the English subject with a digital board,
which will allow me to arrange my students according to my preferences depending on
the activities carried out. In this classroom there are three different corners that I will
take advantage of in many ways: a Book Corner, an ICT Corner as well as having
displays of many topics on the walls and supplementary shelves. These will be
described in the General Teaching Resources section and we will see some practical
applications of them in many different activities from the Didactic Units. There is also a
School Library which I will take advantage of at some point. Lastly, the school has a
gym and a big playground with different sports courts where my students will perform
different TPR activities and learn the basic rules of traditional Anglo-Saxon sports like
cricket (see General Teaching Resources section).
In this Teaching Planning I have born in mind The Royal Decree 132/2010 which
establishes the minimum requirements for the educational centers in the 2nd cycle of PrePrimary Education, Primary Education and Secondary Education, since I consider it as a
very important legal document that every school, by the Administration support, must
try to achieve in the next future.
Students
My students are in the 5th year of Primary. They are aged between 10 and 11 years
old and I will teach them English as a Foreign Language three hours a week. This group
is formed by 24 students of which 11 are boys and 13 are girls. In this regard, it is
important to bear in mind that, according to recent research, boys and girls learn in a
different way as their brains are organised differently. Therefore, they have different

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English Primary Education

Sofa Rosado Martn

preferences that I will take into account when designing the activities to be used in the
classroom so that the learning experience results positive for everybody.
This group is an example of ethnic diversity because there are two students from
South America, who share our native language and, although they have different
idiomatic expressions, communication with them is always possible. There is also a girl
from Romania. Her level is low, but she can cope with English as long as difficult
activities are adapted. From my point of view, these three students enrich the learning
experience in the classroom as being in contact with them fosters the other students
cultural awareness. Moreover, they are well integrated within the group and their
relationship with other peers is good. There is also a boy with Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder who will be described in the Attention to Diversity Section
Regarding the students level and abilities, this class could be regarded as a mixedability group since the command of certain skills is different from one student to
another and they also have different learning styles.
Since this Teaching Programme follows a student-centred approach, knowing
how our students learn is of prime importance for us as teachers. Regarding their
learning styles, following on Gardners multiple intelligences theory, about a 70% of
my students are visual learners, that means they learn and remember better if they see
things; 15% are kinaesthetic learners, which means that they find it hard sitting still and
learn better through movement; and roughly a 15% are auditory learners1.
To sum up this section, it is important to remark that all their previous knowledge
and learning styles will be the starting point in familiarising them with the foreign
language.

see Appendix I to check the Multiple Intelligences Test that I have prepared for them

Autonomous Region of Madrid

English Primary Education

Sofa Rosado Martn

4. QUALITY CRITERIA
Before presenting and starting with the specification of the different curricular
elements it is necessary that every teacher reflects upon his/her own concept of
education. This will determine the whole teaching-learning process and it will help us to
solve the different problems we may come up with during the teaching practice.
In my case, the educative practice will be around three aspects that I consider to be
essential: education, learning and teaching. In them we find the reflection of the student,
to whom learning belongs, the teacher, of whom teaching depends, and the teachinglearning process, which embraces both the student and the teacher and results from the
interaction between them and the context.
According to these three core subjects on which the quality criteria depend, my
teaching practice will pursue the following aspects:
Educate students for an easy and correct integration in society.
Integral education for the students.
Education in values.
Constant improvement of my teaching practice by observing and judging the
success of the different materials and activities so that I can, if necessary, make
changes in the future.
Help students to have an easy and lasting learning.
Construction of meaningful and functional learning by helping students to see
the relationship between what was learnt and its connection with previous
knowledge and everyday life.
Active and responsible participation, open and flexible methodology.

Autonomous Region of Madrid

English Primary Education

Sofa Rosado Martn

Attention to diversity through the inclusion of adapted activities and different

levels of difficulty in most of the sessions.
Definition of curriculum
According to The Organic Law of Improvement on Education 8/2013 in its
Chapter 3, Article 6, curriculum refers to the objectives, basic competences, contents,
pedagogic methods, evaluable learning standards and assessment criteria of each
area regulated by the current Law. In the next pages, these concepts will be explained in
detail.

5. CONTRIBUTION OF THE AREA TO THE KEY COMPETENCES

We understand Competence as the ability to meet individual or social demands
successfully or to carry out an activity or task Treatment of the eight basic competences
in all the areas of the curriculum is one of the most relevant innovations of our current
educational system and through their inclusion in the curriculum, real world enters the
classroom enabling us to achieve effective and efficient learners.

The Key Competences in the legal framework

The Royal Decree 126/2014 passed on February 28 h incorporates these key

competences that must be developed by all our students to achieve their personal
fulfilment, be active citizens, incorporate themselves into adulthood satisfactorily and
be able to develop a permanent learning along their lives. Every area of the
curriculum will contribute to this development, and at the same time, every key
competence will be developed as a consequence of the work of several areas or subjects.
The Decree 89/2014 passed on July 24th also takes these basic competences and
establishes that, although they have to be acquired at the end of Compulsory Education,
the Primary Education stage will contribute to their development.

Autonomous Region of Madrid

English Primary Education

Sofa Rosado Martn

We find the origin of these competences in two main sources: on the one hand,
HOWARD GARDNER gave the first framework in his Multiple Intelligences theory,
in which he claimed that individuals have al least seven different intelligences that can
be developed over a lifetime; on the other hand, our eight basic competences derive
from the eight European Key Competences established by The Council of Europe.
The Foreign Language area contributes to the development of the seven key
competences incorporated in The Royal Decree 126/2014 which are:
1. Linguistic communication. This competence refers mainly to the fact that language
should be used as an instrument of oral and written communication
2. Mathematical and basic competences on Science and Technology. Is the ability to
develop and apply mathematical thinking in order to solve a range of problems in an
everyday situation
3. Digital Competence. It involves the confident and critical use of information society
technology (IST) and thus basic skills in information and communication technology
(ICT).
4. Learning to Learn. It is related to learning, the ability to organise ones own
learning, either individually or in groups.
5. Social and civic. This competence refers to personal, interpersonal and intercultural
competence and all forms of behaviour that allow individuals to participate in an
effective way in social and working life.
6. Initiative Sense and Enterprising Spirit. It refers to the ability to turn ideas into
action, involving creativity, innovation and risk-taking.
7. Cultural Conscience and Expressions. It involves appreciation of the importance of
the creative expression of ideas, experiences and emotions in a wide range of media,
such as music, literature and visual arts.

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English Primary Education

Sofa Rosado Martn

6. CONTENTS
According to DE LA TORRE (2005), contents can be defined as the specific
subjects that our students need to acquire, such as facts, data and values among
others.

Official contents

In order to develop the abilities expressed in the objectives, we should work on the
official contents that our Educational Authorities have established. The Decree 89/2014
groups the contents to be taught in 5th grade into different blocks: oral comprehension,
oral expression, reading comprehension, written expression, syntactic-discoursive
contents and social and cultural aspects of the English culture. The main aspects that
these blocks cover could be summarized as follows:

Oral comprehension and oral expression: These blocks acquire special relevance
including the variety of discourse patterns, common expressions, phonetic and
prosodic aspects belonging to the different real communicative situations and the
capacity to use them for communicative purposes.

Reading comprehension and written expression: These blocks focus on the

knowledge of the written language. The progressive use of written language will
depend upon the degree of knowledge of the oral forms and upon the growing
confidence about the graphic representation of the sounds of the foreign language.

Syntactic-discoursive contents: This block includes both linguistic knowledge and

contents involving learning reflection. The starting point will be the speech
situations that promote the acquisition of rules about how language works so that
students can establish which elements of the foreign language work similar to those
in their mother tongue, developing confidence on their own capacities.

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English Primary Education

Sofa Rosado Martn

Social and cultural aspects of the English culture: It enables children to learn
about customs, social relation patterns, features and peculiarities of the countries
where the foreign language is spoken.
In the same legislation, the contents are established per area and cycle. Thus, in the

second level of concretion, the School Educational Project, they are adapted to the
characteristics of the school and the students as well as sequenced within the cycle.
Therefore, the contents for our 5th grade are included in all the Didactic Units, as I will
point out in the next section.

Personal contents

All the contents in my Teaching Planning are connected and organised in a cyclical
way to allow recycling, since children in the third cycle still have a short-span memory.
Therefore, some contents will be recurring throughout the year. They are organised into
fifteen didactic units, all of which have been designed taking into account my students
interests, likes and previous knowledge such as animals, food, clothes, sports or
Christmas. Following STEPHEN KRASHEN and his Natural Approach, contents must
be organised from the simplest to the most complex. In this way, we will start with a
unit called Welcome to Hogwarts!, in which students will connect English with their
everyday life at school and will review some basic vocabulary and classroom language
that will be useful for the school year. The following units will deal with topics which
are closely connected to my students everyday life: family and friends, the human body,
daily activities and the town among others.
All my units will contribute to an integrated development of the four linguistic
skills, since in everyday life they are not used in an isolated way, they are combined.
We will also introduce geographical, historical and cultural aspects of the Englishspeaking countries which will foster positive attitudes towards the foreign language and

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the people who speak it. In addition, as it is pointed out next to the specific contents,
evaluable standards and assessment criteria of each of them, these units will contribute
to the development of the seven key competences in a balanced and coherent way.
DIDACTIC UNITS
Didactic units can be defined as units of planning and teaching action designed
around a set of activities that are developed around a period of time, for the
achievement of specific objectives. Based on this definition, designing the didactic
units involves setting the contents, assessment criteria and evaluable standards for each
of them.
This Teaching Planning comprises 101 sessions distributed into 15 Didactic Units
which are timed as follows:

TERM

DIDACTIC UNITS

1st Term
2nd Term
3rd Term

Didactic Units 1-5

Didactic Units 6-11
Didactic Units 12-15

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