TOPIC 22: Variables a tener en cuenta en la organización de la clase de lengua inglesa: agrupación del alumnado,

distribución del espacio y tiempo, selección de metodologías, papel del profesor.

a task, we need to take into consideration other important aspects.

 Not only the number of students is relevant, but also the children who constitute the groups. Some students
are more participative and talkative; while shy and less confident pupils may need some extra support.
Consequently, in order to promote peer teaching and collaboration, it is interesting to mix pupils’ abilities,
creating heterogeneous groups in which proficient pupils can help the rest.
 It is necessary that all the students participate, so the ones who play the role of a leader cannot control the
whole activity.
 We can highlight that some teachers choose to maintain the groups over a long time (a month, a whole term)
to foster security and sense of belonging. However, it is also beneficial for the pupils to work with different
partners during the year so they can socialize and take advantage of the abilities of several partners.
 Generally speaking, it is important to remark that variety on groupings is essential since each individual may
have a different learning style, so a different grouping will fit best to visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, analytical or
communicative learners.
To begin with, I am going to analyse the organization of space. According to Harmer, these are some of the most
important aspects to consider.
 Arrangement of the class. The desks can be organized in different ways, depending on the needs: individually,
pairs, rows, groups or forming a U-Shape according to the necessities and with the intention to maximize
learning.
 Teachers have to decide if they will establish a teaching base, using their desk as a central point where
students can go when they need help.
 The organization is conditioned by the location of relevant resources like the digital smartboard or the
computers. It is important to leave the visual area of the students clear.
 We might need to use some space for corners with self-access materials like a reading, a listening or a
computer corner that will be used by fast-finishers or in specific activities that will promote autonomy among
pupils.
 A display area is also required, where we can show students' works, projects and visual aids such as posters
and flashcards.
 The location of students with sensory or movement impairment has to be a priority in order to facilitate their
access into and outside the classroom. Similarly, pupils with learning difficulties have to be carefully placed
next to the teacher and to supportive partners.
 Finally, I would like to mention that other facilities of the school can be used for certain tasks: the library, the
computer room, the gym or even the playground.
Now that I have reflected on the use of space, I need to continue with the management of time. Brewster proposed
the following guidelines.
 It is essential to set realistic timings for the lessons, preparing a right amount of work, having time for
explanations, enough practice, encouragement, corrections.
 The lesson should not finish when students are engaged in the middle of a task.
 It is advisable to work on the main contents of the lesson early rather than late, in order to avoid rushing.
Furthermore, students tend to lose their concentration after a while.
 Children have a limited concentration time span, especially the youngest ones, so we should move from one
short activity to another. Long tasks may become boring and difficult to follow.
Additionally, I would personally point out other important facts to consider.
 We need to have some supplementary activities prepared for fast-finishers, or just in case we finish earlier
than expected; as well as revision and reinforcement tasks
 We also have to take into account the moment when the lesson is carried out (early in the morning, in the
afternoon, after the break), because children's concentration varies depending on it.
 In order to maximize sessions, it is interesting to set a limited time for activities; and students should know
how long they will take. It is possible to display a timer on the digital smartboard for that purpose.
Finally, I would like to mention a practical scheme for the organization of a session or a whole didactic unit,
presented by Brewster. It is divided into four stages.

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 o The warm-up, at the beginning of the session prepares students for further work.
o During the presentation stage the students receive the meaningful input as the new contents are presented.
o In the practice stage students start assimilating the contents by practicing them in a guided manner. They
produce the structured output through code-controlled activities. The priorities are accuracy and correction.
o Finally, in the production phase, students use the language in a more freely way through tasks and
communicative games. They produce the communicative output and the priorities are communication and
fluency.
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4. SELECTION OF

I will continue the essay with the selection of proper methodologies. For that purpose, I am going to follow the
principles of the communicative approach, which is supported by our current legislation.

The main goal of this approach is the progressive acquisition of communicative competence, which can be
understood as the combination of five main elements presented by Canale and Swain. They are grammar,
discourse, socio-linguistic, strategic and socio-cultural factors. Therefore, we need to promote communication as a
whole, taking into account all the features mentioned above. (Comm. Compt *)
In order to achieve that goal, we need to reflect on how to organize and sequence the contents of a syllabus design.
According to Brumfit, a communicative curriculum should be organized with a grammar core, and the notions,
functions and communicative activities must be set up around it as a spiral.

Concerning the activities within this framework, I will mention the principles stated by Richards and Rodgers:
communication, task and meaningfulness. Hence, activities must convey real communication, they must be based
on real-life tasks, and they must include real and meaningful language.

In addition, I think it is important to mention the categorization of communicative activities provided by Littlewood.
 Communicative functional activities such as giving and following instructions, describing images and
comparing pictures.
 And social interaction activities like social-problem tasks, conversations and role-plays.
Another crucial factor in this approach is the role of the students: they must participate actively in the activities,
making decisions about their own process of learning. Learning should be achieved by self-discovery, and one of the
main priorities is to promote their autonomy.
As regards materials, they must be varied (written, audio-visual, computer-based, task-based), motivating and they
should be connected to the real world.

Following Candlin and Edelhoff, teachers can incorporate some authenticity to the materials through the goal of the
activities, the task to accomplish, the environment or the text.

As far as attention to diversity is concerned, I would personally highlight an approach called Universal Design for
Learning (UDL), specifically mentioned in LOMLOE and supported by several pedagogues such as Meyer and Rose. It
makes special emphasis on variety and flexibility, giving all students an equal opportunity to succeed by providing
them with different ways to learn; and it is based on the following main principles.
 Representation: presenting contents in a variety of ways and formats to support comprehension.
 Action and expression: providing more than one way to interact and work with the materials and to show
what they learn.
 Engagement: stimulating and sustaining motivation and effort among pupils, by setting up a safe, relevant and
engaging learning environment.
Taking into consideration those principles, I would personally like to present some specific techniques and
resources to include within a communicative syllabus design.
• Songs, used for presenting and revising the contents in an appealing way. They facilitate memorization and
reduce the affective filter of the students.
• Games, which incorporate fun and variety to the class, promoting participation and motivation.
• Drama activities, like simulations and role-plays, which allow teachers to set up a contextualized environment.
They are a great opportunity to experience the language in a meaningful way.
• Literature, which can be used in many different ways (story-telling, reading, writing poems). It promotes the
cultural awareness and expression competence of the students since it introduces the poetic function of the
language.

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• Projects, they are long-term activities that involve putting into practice cognitive and metacognitive abilities
(resourcing, summarizing, elaborating, planning…).
• Information and communication technologies: blogs, apps, interactive activities and games and other
computer-based materials are beneficial because promote the digital competence, but also because they
engage students into working.
 [Self-access corners, such as a listening, reading or a games corner will give students the opportunity to practice
autonomously. They are especially useful to provide additional work to fast-finishers, as well as treat the
diversity of the class with revision, reinforcement and extension activities and tasks.]
All the techniques mentioned above should be included in the classroom dynamics with the purpose to set up
meaningful, active and contextualized tasks based on students’ interests and experiences. They will make students
put into practice key and specific competences, as well as working on the contents and constructing their own
knowledge. This is to say, they are useful techniques to use within learning situations, which are established in the
Royal Decree 157/2022 as the basis of the teaching-learning process from a methodological point of view.

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5. ROLE OF THE TEACHER. ASSESSMENT.

In this part of the essay, I am going to focus on the role of the teacher.
First of all, it is necessary to understand that teachers should not play such a predominant role like they traditionally
used to do. We must adapt our role depending on the necessities.
Some of the roles we can frequently play are the following.
 Controller: for the presentation of new contents, when the difficulty is too high or when accuracy has to be
assessed. Teachers need to guide the whole activity.
 Organizer: in many cases, students just need to be explained what to do, and then they can work
autonomously.
 Monitor is used when students are working on their own and teachers can observe and evaluate how they
perform, assessing their work.
 Prompter: in this case the main function is to encourage the students to participate, making sure that all of
them take some advantage from the task.
 Resource, serving as a support for the children when they need some help.
 And finally, participant, giving the students a good model of English when we join them in games and
conversations.

Apart from the points treated above, I also consider very important to take into account some principles for
managing behaviour and discipline.

 Rules and rewards have to be explained and in some cases negotiated with pupils when the academic year
starts, so they know what is expected from the very beginning.
 In order to be respected we need to be fair and consistent.
 In many cases, it is quite effective to pay less attention to those students who want to stand out among the
rest of the partners behaving badly.
 As we are dealing with children, immediate feedback and decision making is required.
 It is also recommendable to communicate and collaborate with parents and the rest of the teaching staff,
establishing a coherent model in the school.
 In order to get the best results, we have to focus on positive reinforcement as much as possible. For that
purpose, I would recommend to establish a rewarding system using points and rewards, using a system based
on gamification.
 Finally, it is interesting to reflect on the possible reasons of bad behaviour or underachievement: too
demanding or too easy tasks, boredom or the presence of learning difficulties, among others. A varied and
engaging methodology is essential to keep students’ motivation high.
With the intention to find out those reasons, a careful process of assessment is needed. In fact, assessment is one
of the most important functions of teachers, as it helps us to make the necessary adjustments in order to increase
the overall quality of the teaching process. Therefore, we need to consider various aspects.
 Regarding what to assess, we must assess both learning and teaching processes.
 Concerning who assesses, it is necessary to set up hetero-evaluation; and also co-evaluation and self-
evaluation among the students.

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 Depending on when to assess, implementing initial, formative and summative evaluation is also important.
This way, we will find out the previous knowledge of the students, we will detect aspects to improve during
the course of the sessions and we will check the final level of achievement of pupils, allowing us to know
which contents have been properly acquired and which require further revision.
 Finally, as regards how to assess, I want to highlight that we should use a variety of tools and techniques like
daily observation, a classroom diary, worksheets, tests homework and rubrics.
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