Programación Explorers 3 3º Prim. English - Oxford University Press

EXPLORERS 3
AREA OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ENGLISH
THIRD YEAR COMPULSORY PRIMARY EDUCATION
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INDEX 1. THEORETICAL JUSTIFICATION FOR THE PROJECT 3
2. METHODOLOGY 4
3. KEY COMPETENCES 5
4. ATTENTION TO DIVERSITY 19
5. CURRICULUM 21
5.1. OBJECTIVES 21
5.2. CONTRIBUTION OF THIS AREA TO THE ACQUISITION OF KEY COMPETENCES 26
5.3. CONTENTS 27
5.4. ASSESSMENT CRITERIA 31
6. PROGRAMME OF UNITS 33
7. TIMING EXPLORERS 3: YEAR 20--/20--* 77
Anexo I. THE DEVELOPMENT OF KEY COMPETENCES USING EXPLORERS 3 129
Annex II. DESCRIPTION OF CENTRE AND ORGANISATION OF ENGLISH DEPARTMENT 138 1. THEORETICAL JUSTIFICATION FOR THE PROJECT
THE advantages and opportunities offered by the current educational
legislation (LOE), the increasingly multicultural demands and needs of
our society, along with the directives established by the Council of Europe
in the Common European Framework of Reference for languages, are three key
aspects which are reflected in the Explorers project. With a marked vocation towards education and learning, where pupils learn
English through motivating activities of a ludic nature which allow the
foreign language to be acquired subconsciously and naturally, and which
involve the challenge of boosting the ability of students to perceive the
knowledge of a foreign language not only as one more subject but as the
discovery of an outside world of which we all form a responsible part, the
project promotes interaction in class in order to develop an attitude of
awareness towards social norms and values, within the psychopedagogical
principles upon which the curriculum design for the stage of Primary
Education is based. The aim of our project is to ensure that students acquire all the skills
stipulated by the LOE, focussing, logically, on the competence of
linguistic communication, and laying particular emphasis upon social and
civic competence, learning-to-learn and autonomy and personal initiative. In this project, teachers must create the necessary conditions for
learning, with particular emphasis upon diversity. They will prepare and
organise the work, helping to develop it; coordinate actions; encouraging
positive attitudes towards English language and culture, attracting and
developing pupils' interest in the new and the creative, intervening in an
active and reflexive manner, and treating mistakes as signs of progress..
Meanwhile, pupils must play an active role in in the learning process,
being, as the LOE recommends, the cbetween of the process, and thus
developing their autonomy and independence.
2. METHODOLOGY
Explorers is a six-level series which proposes fast grammatical
progression combined with a methodology focused on the four skills
(reading, writing, listening and speaking). Explorers transcends classroom teaching, promoting the values of family,
friendship, cooperation, help and gratitude. Vocabulary and grammar
New language is introduced in connection with the topic of each unit. It
appears in the students' book via the flashcards and recordings and is
practised with songs and games or activities designed to motivate
students. Skills
Every unit contains a five-page section devoted specifically to the
development of the four skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking. Stories
Each unit contains a story in which new words appear in a fun and
motivating context. These stories also permit cyclical revision of
previously studied linguistic structures and provide new opportunities to
practise material already encountered.
In Explorers 3 the unit story features the main characters of the course.
The three extension stories complement the language and offer students the
opportunity to give an answer. Every two units there is a comic story of
three episodes which allows for language to be revised in an entertaining
context. Exploring the real world
Explorers is a flexible method, which also pays considerable attention to
the real world, as is reflected by the contents of the DVD, coordinated
with the Class Book. The theme of the unit is explored in greater depth in
lesson 7. The DVD also includes material from the real world Songs and chants
In every unit there is a song in order for children to practise new
language, new vocabulary and new sounds. Melody and rhythm are essential
for the memorisation of new words. When they sing, children are able to
shrug off their fears and shyness and practise language in a natural way
with their peers whilst also enjoying themselves. Songs, then, provide a
good opportunity to introduce movement and fun into the classsroom Drama and Total Physical Response Students of any age, especially those who move well, benefit from methods
which associate language with actions. The more body language is connected
to the learning process, the more likely it is that students will absorb
and retain information. For this reason, children are taught actions which
accompany the songs or stories. In Explorers, children have the
opportunity to act out the stories and perform in simple plays. One of the
main obstacles when learning a language at any age is self-perception.
Theatre appeals to children's imagination and is an excellent way of
interesting them in the stories and improving their communication skills.
In this way children will learn to communícate and make themselves
understood and will develop skills which will enable them to express
themselves with greater fluency in everyday situations by practising in
class with a story before experiencing the same situation in a real
context. Values
Values or civic education are a fundamental part of Explorers. It is
essential to focus upon children as people beyond their linguistic skills
and improve their behaviour and development of correct attitudes; as well
as teaching them how their behaviour impacts upon their environment and
peers. 3. KEY COMPETENCES
In the Ley Orgánica de Educación (LOE) definition of the curriculum, we
find both the traditional components (objectives, contents, teaching
methods and assessment criteria) as well as key competences. This is one
of the guiding elements of the curriculum as a whole and, consequently, a
guide in the processes of teaching and learning. In fourth grade of primary
school pupils have to participate in the so-called diagnostic assessment,
in which they have to demonstrate the acquirement of certain skills. This
assessment does not have academic consequences for students, but the fact
that the results help guide cbetweens to take decisions regarding
students' learning gives us some idea as to how educational processes are
conditioned by this element in the sense of being much more functional. In
sixth grade of primary school the decision as to whether pupils are
promoted to the subsequent level is partly based on whether or not they
have acquired the key competences, as a result of which they become a
reference for student assessment. As opposed to an educational model focused upon the the acquirement of more
or less theoretical knowledge, often unrelated, an educational process
based upon the acquirement of skills emphasises, above all, the acquirement
of some vital know-how, practical and integrated, know-how which students
will have to demonstrate (this is rather more than functional training). In
brief, a skill is the putting into practice and demonstration of the
capacity to integrate knowledge, abilities and attitudes to resolve
problems and situations in different contexts. In a very graphic and
succinct manner, there is a definition of the putting into practice of
acquired knnowledge, knowledge in action, in other words, mobilising
knowledge and skills in a specific situation (real and different from the
one in which these were learned), activating existing resources or
knowledge (although one thinks they are absent because they have been
forgotten). There is one aspect which should be highlighted, regarding what might be
called the combined character of the skill: the pupil, via what he knows,
must demonstrate what he can apply, but also what he can be. In this way we
see how a skill integrates the different contents which are worked on in
the classroom (concepts, procedures and attitudes), an example of integral
training of the pupil. To summarise, we are acknowledging that the
academic instiitution wil not only prepare students in the knowledge of
technical and scientific know-how, but also as citizens, so they should
evince a series of civic and intellectual attitudes which imply respect
towards others, being responsible, team-work...
Another aspect is also important: acquiring competences allows one to
tackle the constant renewal of knowledge which occurs in any area of
learning. The student's academic training takes place in school over a
limited number of years, but the need for personal and/or professional
preparation never ends, so that a competence in the use, for example, of
information and communication technology, will enable access to this tool
to obtain the information necessary at any given moment (obviously, after
analysing its quality). If we also bear in mind that it is often impossible
to consider in d