Faculty of Education

English Language Teaching Program

Work Experiences Coordination

Guidelines for the design of classes

I. General outline
Throughout the Practicum I course students have the opportunity to design and implement
different learning experiences. By doing this, students will demonstrate that they have acquired the
necessary knowledge and developed the essential competencies to design meaningful learning
experiences contemplating the needs, characteristics, and interests of the students as well as the
national curriculum. Each tutor will observe two complete classes during the semester, and they will be
assessed considering both their design and implementation; consequently, the pre-service teacher will
have to submit the planning, the theoretical justification and a final reflection once the classes have
been taught.

II. Technical Aspects

The planning of the observed classes include the following elements:

1) Design of the class

When designing the classes, pre-service teachers must consider the most appropriate teaching
approach according to the needs of the context and progression of the unit. This means that the
organization of the class might vary depending on whether it is the beginning of the unit or the end of it.
In the planning, students must include different strategies for the development of affective, cognitive
and linguistic skills as well as classroom management and use of the language.

2) The theoretical justification of the design

The design of your activities should be the result of the work pre-service teachers do to inform their
decision-making process. Accordingly, along with the planning of the class, students should submit a
theoretical justification that supports their decisions. To do so, they must include a minimum of 6
resources that contemplate the pedagogical and the methodological dimensions.We strongly advise
them to explore other sources other than the ones assigned in the different courses contemplating the
needs of the context. Consequently, the theoretical justification should refer to the following elements:
teaching approach, strategies used to develop skills aforementioned, classroom management,
materials, and use of the language.

3) Reflection on the decision-making process of the design

Once pre-service teachers have taught the class, they should reflect on the decisions they made while
designing the activities, materials and strategies used; and whether they were pertinent for the context.
They are expected to evaluate their work and propose future actions to strengthen or improve the
teaching practice. This reflection should refer to both classroom management and language teaching.
The word count for both the theoretical justification and the reflection is 1000 words each.

III. Learning objectives

1) Design learning experiences that are meaningfully contextualized to students’ needs,

characteristics and interests.
2) Design learning experiences that are framed under the requirements of the National Curriculum.
3) Design didactic material to support the learning process of a diverse group of students.
4) Justify pedagogical and methodological decisions when designing a class;
5) Analyse and reflect upon teachers’ practice in the classroom, its importance, consequences and
impact on students’ learning;

IV. Dates

● Submission date of the interventions will vary depending on the dates agreed with your tutor
and guide teacher. However, the design of the activities and strategies to be used in the
intervention plus the theoretical justification must be submitted before the class observation
whereas the reflection must be submitted up to three days after the class observed.

V. Assessment

● Task weight: 30% (15% each)

● Hand in a printed and a digital copy of the task. The hard copy of the first part should be
submitted in the pre-intervention meeting with your tutors. You can send the reflection via email
up to three days after the intervention. Late submissions will not be received.
● If the student does not schedule the pre-intervention meeting at least a week before the
intervention, the tutor will not approve the design of the activities and the observation will not
take place; therefore the student will be assessed with the minimum mark 1.0.
● If the student fails to meet the tutor on the agreed date, the tutor will reschedule the meeting
only if it takes place 5 days before the intervention; otherwise, the observation will not take
place and the student will be assessed with the minimum mark 1.0.
● This task contemplates assessing 70% of content and 30% of language. Please, refer to the
instruments to be used.

VI. Considerations

● Plagiarism is a serious offense which will be dealt with severely. The first offense will be given
a 1.0. If a second offense occurs, course suspension and program expulsion may take place
(Reglamento académico Título VI, Art.21)
● Mind: academic writing, punctuation, APA (cover)

Design of the class

Criteria Indicators 4 3 2 1 Evidence

1. Design of the ● The planning responds to the needs,
class
characteristics, and interests of the students.
● The planning is aligned with content, skills, and
attitudes established in bases curriculares for the
level.
● The planning responds to the principles of current
teaching approaches (Communicative, task-
based, CLIL, collaborative learning).
● Activities in the pre-stage fulfil the purpose of
activating previous knowledge, presenting and
engaging students through appropriate
activity(ies).
● Activities defined in the while section respond to
understanding development; they develop
receptive skills and provide students with the
input.
● Activities in the post section respond to
productive skills, language practice and function.
They move from controlled to freer practice
accordingly. The process is scaffolded.
● The planning includes the use of suitable
strategies that support the development of
different skills.
● The planning includes strategies to manage the
class which are appropriate for the students’
context and needs.
● The planning includes suitable strategies
pertaining to the use of the language (introducing
the use of English, adapting language, use of
visual support, etc.).
● The planning considers the use of resources that
might enrich the learning experience according to
the characteristics of the students.

● The planning integrates activities that promote

critical thinking, respect and discussion about
personal and other people’s culture.
● The planning integrates opportunities for
formative assessment that is focused on the
development of linguistic skills and the
achievement of an intercultural communicative
competence.
2. Pedagogical
and
● The theoretical justification includes a brief
methodological description of the context that allows to identify
justification the characteristics that had to be considered in
the design of the class.
● The theoretical justification provides strong
support for the teaching approach to be used.
● The theoretical justification provides strong
support for the use of strategies pertaining to
each stage.
● The theoretical justification provides solid support
for the use of strategies pertaining to the
management of the class.
● The theoretical justification provides solid support
for the use of the language in EFL contexts.
● The theoretical justification provides strong
support for the use of resources that enrich
learning experiences.
 ● The theoretical justification provides strong
support for the use of strategies that integrate the
formative assessment as part of the class.

3. Reflection
● The reflection critically analyzes the applicability
of the approach selected to the needs and
characteristics of the context.
● The reflection critically analyzes the decisions
pertaining to the design of the activities and their
pertinence to the context.
● The reflection critically analyzes to decisions
pertaining to classroom management and their
pertinence to the context.
● The reflection critically evaluates how the overall
design of the class promotes the holistic
development of students.
● The reflection critically discusses overall process
(teaching, learning, classroom management) and
proposes actions that might improve or
strengthen the teaching practices.
Final score
/ 92 points

5th 2,0 4,0 5,5 7,0

The text shows frequently
a coherent organization of
ideas with occasional
weaknesses in
topic/supporting sentence
relationship. Fluent use of
simple structures linked
correctly mostly with
FANBOYS is evident.
Common content words
are used and spelled
correctly. Correct use of
basic punctuation is
frequent.
The text is fully coherent
with no digressions from
the topic with enough
supporting sentences to
make the point. Topic -
supporting sentence
relationship is made using
a variety of frequent
discourse markers.
Content words are used
and spelled accurately
with some errors in low-
frequency terms. Simple
language structures and
basic punctuation prevail
with some errors in more
sophisticated elements.
The writing expresses mostly
coherent flows of ideas and
sentences show a clear
relation among themselves
linked with a variety of linking
elements. Content words,
idiomatic expressions, and
technical terms are used and
spelled accurately most of the
time and so are simple and
some complex language
structures. Basic and
sophisticated punctuation is
adequate and precise with
some negligible errors in
sophisticated forms.
The writing expresses
complex flows of ideas
logically at the sentence as
well as at text level and
exhibits an accurate use of
complex cohesive devices
throughout the text. Content
words as well as idiomatic
expressions and technical
terms are used and spelled
accurately and flexibly while
there is a consistently high
degree of grammatical
accuracy. Basic and
sophisticated punctuation is
adequate and precise.