CASE STUDY 1

You teach in Year 4 of Primary Education in a state school which is located in a rural
area in Murcia. You have got 22 students, one of them suffers from dyslalia, one is
partially deaf and two of them have problems to establish personal relationships with
their classmates because they are very shy.
This term your school is developing a project to protect the environment. Apart from
that, it has been demonstrated that the implementation of games in the teaching
learning process increases motivation and help improve personal relationships among
students.
Taking into account this context:
Design an action plan. Which methodology and other techniques would you use? Justify
your answer.
How are you going to evaluate your students?
Do you think that the use of games is useful in the classroom? Why?

The aim of the present paper is to provide the reader with an Action Plan for a primary
4th group of students following some of the latest methodological approaches, bearing in
mind the particular characteristics of our students.
As the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages states, our goal as
Foreign language teachers is to help our students develop a certain degree of
Communicative competence. This goal can be challenged by the fact that our classroom
will often display a mixed/ability group, which implies the reality not only of different
learning styles among our pupils, but also their specific learning difficulties. Foreign
language teachers should, therefore, extend their basic knowledge in order to cater for
diversity in the classroom and offer the suitable assistance to each of their pupils.
Developing an action plan for digital natives within a relaxed classroom atmosphere
entails reflection on motivating activities, a balanced use of educational digital
technologies and the provision of final tasks which are both challenging and attainable
by our age group. Let’s not forget that gamification activities in the classroom appeal to
children while providing a secure context where they can lower their affective filter.
The element of fun that games add to the classroom can help our shiest students remove
part of their inhibitions and act more naturally.
The Spanish Legal Framework, LOMCE 8/2013 highlights the importance of the need
to develop our students’ knowledge and competences, in order to meet the requirements
of society. The ultimate aim is to develop our students’ potentialities, essential values
and autonomous learning. Competences can be defined as the ability to put the content
studied into practice to solve everyday situations.

Royal Decree 126/2014 establishes the curriculum for Primary Education, where
competences, Objectives and Evaluation Criteria and Learning Standards are set, as well
as the Stage General Objectives (SGO from now onwards). In the case of an Action
Plan contextualized in a Project to protect the environment, we will be working
specifically work habits, acquisition of a FL competence, fundamental aspects of
Natural Science, the use of information and communication technologies and the
acquisition of respect towards our fauna and flora, basically SGO A, B, F, H, I and L.
They will also be dealing with the improvement of their affective capacities, as stated in
Objective M.
It is worth mentioning that Transversal Elements, which are an important part of the
aforementioned Royal Decree, are also an important part of any action plan and, in this
case, sustainable development and enterprising spirit fostering will be essential elements
to be taken into account.
As we Know, our Regional Decree 198/2014, promotes the design of integrated
learning activities which enable the students to acquire more than one competence at
any given period. It states the importance of individual and team and cooperative work
and the promotion of research and development of tasks which suppose an intellectual
challenge for students. As teachers, we should follow these methodological orientations
using varied didactic resources and topics which are interesting and familiar to children,
in order to facilitate significant learning.
In connection to these general methodological guidelines mentioned in the curriculum,
it is well worth mentioning two approaches which shall be essential in the present case
study. First, as the subject involved is the environment, Content Language Integrated
Learning (CLIL) methodology will obviously be a part of our Formative Unit. CLIL,
according to Coyle and Marsh, is an educational approach in which content and
language are taught in an additional language. CLIL follows the principle of offering
challenging activities in a positive atmosphere and enhances authentic learning,
presenting language and content in meaningful contexts.
On the other hand, regarding to the implementation of games in the teaching/learning
process and its beneficial applications in Foreign Language teaching, we will now
introduce the concept of Gamification in the classroom. A number of studies on
classroom practice at different levels support the use of ludic principles in the classroom
and their use as an integral part of the language syllabus. In order to justify these
conclusions, experts pinpoint that games are an essential element in children learning.
Games seen as an activity with rules, a goal and an element of fun raise motivation,
engagement and a good atmosphere. They help to develop interaction among students,
who play in equal conditions in an anxiety free environment where error is seen as part
of the process. Gamification activities offer challenges to students. Grades are
exchanged by badges or experience points, second and third chances are allowed, and
instant feedback provides our students with the stimulation needed to engage in their
tasks. Assignments are now Quests for this group which now has a mission to
accomplish. We as foreign language teachers know how important variations in
terminology can result into a different perspective on school work. We should then take
advantage of how any task can be transformed into an interesting adventure. Why not
do it then?
Once we have analysed the situation described in this case study and after providing an
introduction on the legal and methodological framework to refer to, we will now
describe an Action Plan for our group which follows the methodological guidelines
stated above and which will take our students to the execution of a Final task where
they will share their acquisitions in a personally meaningful and fulfilling activity.
The Unit has been arranged into seven sessions of 50 minutes. We can be heroes is
aimed at raising our students’ awareness of the need to protect fauna and flora in danger
in the Region of Murcia, as well as learning to work cooperatively in order to obtain the
information needed to complete different tasks. They will develop their valuing of other
living creatures and ultimately their communicative, digital and entrepreneurship
competences will be enhanced.
What follows is a brief description of the main activities carried out in the lessons
planned.
Lesson 1. Did you Know? Here students will take an assessment test about some
animals of the Region of Murcia and they will be shown a Slide presentation on the
population of animals in danger as well as some fauna species. They will work on their
vocabulary with digital flashcards made with Brainscape. They can use this platform at
home and at school to review the vocabulary.
Lesson 2. Your mission. In this session, the teacher has prepared a presentation of the
final project. This time, in order to gamify the session, it will not be set as a formal
project, but as an online mission created in PLaybrighter, which states which steps the
children will follow to prepare for their final task. Later, the teacher will introduce a
story of the situation and important aspects of nature in the region in the form of a
digital book, created on the platform Storyjumper.
Lesson 3. The visit. On this occasion, students and their teacher will visit the Centro de
Recuperacion de Fauna Silvestre del Valle”, where they will learn important facts about
the extinction of native species and the actions undertaken in order to protect them.
Educational talks are provided, and later children will participate in a Gymkhana to
reinforce what they have learnt so far.
Lesson 4. Escape the room! Help them survive. In teams, children will participate in
activities involving problem solving, by cracking codes, solving puzzles, decoding
messages, etc. This activity will provide them with some useful information for their
next session.
Lesson 5. Let’s be heroes! This session will be devoted to the preparation of their final
task. Children will reflect on alternative options to save and protect one of the animals
in danger in the region and write a book on Storyjumper.com with their suggestions.
The goal is to present their productions to the class in the next session.
Lesson 6. Heroes work. This session consists of the presentation of their final works as
well as self_assessment and peer assessment based on rubrics and dialogue.
Lesson 7. Lots to remember! This final session will be an opportunity to create a
discussion group in order to foster their oral skills when giving opinions. They will also
be assessed through a Socrative quiz and will be given extra experience points
according to their classmates votings on the previous class presentations.
As refers to our students with Special Educational needs, as our legislation and common
sense state, we need to cater for all through different learning strategies. Natural
heterogeneity, present in any group, involves planning differentiated activities, giving
our students enough time and promoting different learning strategies. Let us now
remind about their special characteristics.
The student with Dyslalia suffers from articulation disorder, which can be described as a
disruption in the pronunciation of a sound or a group of sounds. First of all, a correct
diagnosis should have been established as the pupil is now in grade 4. Different
approaches will be taken into account whether the disorder is physiological, audiogenic,
functional or organic. In any case, some general guidelines to follow in order to deal
with this disorder include exercises for lips and tongue mobility, breathing exercises or
drama techniques where different voices and intonations are practiced. Every student
will benefit from their practice, as these are techniques which aim for the improvement
of phonological organs. Nevertheless, the teacher should also take into account the level
of anxiety that the student experiences and not overcorrect the child or embarrass him,
contextualizing pronunciation techniques and choosing when is the appropriate time for
the student to be exposed.
As for the student suffering from Hearing impairment, having considered whichever
external devices he or she may use, we cannot forget the importance of visual aids, such
as gesturing or adding captions to videos. The teacher will check regularly to allow for
engagement and understanding on the part of the child, have a large wall chart for
vocabulary and, when possible, have a computer station near the student. The use of
amplifiers, headphones or any other devices that can support a better understanding will
be vital. Preferential seating that allows the student to have no visual obstacles and
some general signs to be used by the whole classroom community will be helpful.
Regarding shy students, a gamified context where children interact with each other,
while the teacher is not the main character of the game, and a relaxed atmosphere will
act as invaluable tools for these children. Relaxation and drama techniques have been
tested with these students, as their attitude is in many occasions a product of their lack
of confidence. It is our duty to provide them with the right amount of oral practice
without overwhelming them. In order to do so, finding the right times during team
games practice or children interaction will allow them to express more freely. At the
same time, instructing our pupils to face stage fright and some techniques to overcome
it, will help reinforce their self~esteem and confidence. Breathing, yoga, singing and
gesturing, whispering games, the use of avatars or puppets in extreme cases, can work
wonders for these children.
Evaluation is without a doubt another key element in the teaching and learning process.
According to RD 126/14, the evaluation in primary education must be global and
continuous, having the evaluation criteria and learning standards as the main references
to give proper qualifications. Special consideration should be given to the acquisition of
the basic standards. It is essential to take into account the Initial Evaluation, which gives
the teacher a general gist of the students’ previous knowledge of the topic. Formative
assessment will help the teacher keep a record of the students’ progress along the
activities, while summative assessment will allow for a general perspective of the unit
as a whole. Different assessment tools can be used, based on rubrics which score the
achievements of each pupil. Self-assessment rubrics both for students and teacher are an
invaluable material for an honest revision of their level of satisfaction, in academic,
effort and participation terms.
In short, along this essay we have implemented an action plan which follows the
guidelines of modern methodology in Foreign Language teaching. Gamification allows
children to learn while following a natural path for them. Although some theories object
to the results of a gamified method, it is undeniable that our society is in need for some
ludic techniques which unleash the noticeable tension of our daily tight schedules,
which are equally hard for the little ones. On the other hand, the Foreign Language area
seems to be the perfect scenario, as communication is essential when playing. We shall
finish this paper by quoting an expert in teaching through games, the unforgettable
Mary Poppins, “In every job that must be done there is an element of fun”.