Resources for Teaching and Learning English in Infant and Primary Education
Teachers are bombarded with proposals to innovate in their lessons but teaching English is sometimes a rather solitary task. The course's main purpose is to offer people interested in the field of foreign language teaching “food for thought” and resources to make children’s learning experiences much more updated, fun, simple, dynamic and adapted to the 21st century competencies and skills they need to master.
The course is divided into 14 three-hour thematic sessions. Each session will evolve around one particularly relevant topic related to the teaching of English to young and very young learners (students aged 3-12), but connections will be made between one session/topic and the others. All sessions will combine brief theoretical explanations with a broad array of practical activities in which participants are expected to take an active role. Attendees will also be asked to participate and/or lead group discussion to share (and contrast) their opinions, ideas, knowledge, beliefs, doubts, and experiences upon the implementation of the practical activities done in class.
No prior experience in teaching English to children and very young children is required. Yet, the course is designed to suit the needs of in-service teachers, too. The lessons will be carried out entirely in English; consequently, participants are expected to have a good command of this language and a genuine interest in the field of foreign language teaching.
Courses generally have little or no prerequisite knowledge required for a given topic, however if students face any doubts, we recommend they contact course professors to clarify.
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This is a PRACTICAL COURSE, therefore listing here all the teaching/learning activities we will experiment in class is far from being a worthy task. Theory will be constructed while participants conduct the tasks proposed by trainers in a virtual environment. These tasks will engage participants in the process of discovering and exchanging educational materials. All tasks are interactive and combine theory and practice. Some of the tasks are to be done individually and are self-corrected. Other tasks will be done collaboratively, but asynchronously, among participants in the virtual environment. Students will always receive direct feedback from the course trainers.
Please notice that although the course is online, and you can freely organise your schedule, you need to invest three hours every day to go through all the materials and complete the tasks successfully.
From Monday to Friday. Online.
From 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
In order to get a pass mark in this course (minimum total score 50/100), participants will be asked to complete three tasks, each of which is compulsory. A minimum score of 40/100 is required in each task to be considered complete.
TASK ONE: Formative Tasks (40% of the course mark). Accessing the materials and taking active participation in class activities and discussions is compulsory. On doing so, participants are expected to display a positive attitude and to demonstrate critical thinking. As the course is very experiential, the completion of a minimum of 80% of the individual and collective tasks proposed in the virtual classroom (16 out of 20) is requested. Formative assessment tasks can only be delivered on the same week they are presented. Tasks submitted on the following weeks will not be assessed and will count as not done. Deadline: July 11.
TASK TWO: Caring is sharing (40% of the course mark). A special effort will be given in having time to share. Attendees will be asked to share with all course participants and the two trainers 1 method and 3 resources for teaching English to young and very young children:
3A. Your own teaching method. Deadline: June 27
3B. Realia. Deadline: June 30
3C. Song. Deadline: July 4
3D. Digital tool. Deadline: July 8
All these tasks are related to specific course contents that must be accessed and completed beforehand.
TASK THREE: Micro-teaching simulation (20% of the course mark). During the course, participants will be provided with a pool of resources, practical tools, and teaching strategies. In return, they are expected to contribute to this pool by designing a practical class activity in our course and commenting on one designed by a peer. More detailed instructions will be given in due course. Deadline: July 10.
- A+ Project (2020). StandAPP and Speak up: the game is about to start. APAC ELT Journal, 92, 20-32
- Copland, F. (2012). Crazy animals and other activities for teaching English to young learners. London: British Council.
- Dooly, M., & Masats, D. (2015). A critical appraisal of foreign language research in CLIL, YLL and TELL in Spain (2003-2012). Language teaching: surveys and studies, 48(3): 1-30.
- Dooly, M., Masats, D., & Mont, M. (2021). Launching a solidarity campaign: Technology-enhanced project-based language learning to promote entrepreneurial 5 education and social awareness. Journal of Technology and Science Education, 11 (2): 260-269.
- Dooly, M., Mont, M., & Masats, D. (2014). Becoming little scientists: A case study of technologically-enhanced project-based language learning. APAC Journal, 78: 34- 40.
- Masats, D., Mont, M., & Gonzalez-Acevedo, N. (Eds). (2019). Joint efforts for innovation: Working together to improve foreign language teaching in the 21st century. Rothersthorpe: Paragon Publishing.
- Murphy, V. A. (2014). Second language learning in the early school years: trends and contexts. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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Torras-Vila, Berta (2021). Music as a tool for foreign language learning in Early Childhood Education and Primary Education. Proposing innovative CLIL music teaching approaches. CLIL Journal of Innovation and Research in Plurilingual and Pluricultural Education, 4(1), 35-47. https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/clil.60
- Wright, A. (2011). Storytelling with children. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Dolors Masats is a lecturer and teacher-trainer from the Department of Language and Literature Education and Social Science Education and a member of the Research Centre for Plurilingual Interaction & Education (GREIP). She has ample experience as a teacher of Catalan, Spanish & English as foreign languages in formal and non-formal settings. She is also a materials designer and a curriculum advisor. Additionally, she has led and participated in different national and international projects on plurilingual education and published widely in this field. She studies plurilingual practices in classrooms that apply pluralistic approaches to languages and cultures. She has won the John McDowell Award twice.
- E-mail: dolors.masats@uab.cat
Maria Mont is an accomplished English teacher, a translator, and an educational researcher with over 15 years of experience teaching in state schools in Spain. She holds a master’s degree in education and ICT from the Open University of Barcelona. She has pioneered the use of ICT and telecollaborative projects in foreign language classes. Maria has also served as an educational advisor for the Catalan Government and was an adjunct lecturer at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) from 2014 to 2023. She is currently a PhD student in the use of AI to teach young children English. A passionate advocate for innovative teaching, she has presented her work internationally and won the prestigious John McDowell Award twice. Maria’s expertise spans project-based learning, gamification, early language acquisition, and 21st-century skills, with numerous publications and a book edited on these subjects.
- E-mail: maria.mont.algamasilla@uab.cat