DEFENSA UNIDAD DIDÁCTICA

Good…….my name is________, I´m going to develop my course design for

the …. grade of Primary Education.
ARCHIMEDES (example)
My course design is based following the instructions of the Resolution of
……….., published in BOCM on ………….., which establishes the “Concurso-
Oposición al Cuerpo de Maestros”.
After presenting my course design, I´m going to develop my didactic unit
number…… which has the following title …….
First of all, I would like to reflex on why a course design it´s important, that
is the Justification of my course design.
-The teaching process has to be planned and organized.
-To establish a common criteria for the teachers who work on the same subject.
-To develop a complete syllabus sequenced.
Now I´m going to talk about the Legal Frame.
……………………………………….
Following the index of my course design the next point is the context and
the characteristics of my students.
Focusing on the Analysis of the context, it´s important to know some
aspects:
The school is a Primary Centre, located in the outskirt of a large sized town. It is a
public non-bilingual school with all the supports of the public institutions.
It is a school of line 2. There are about 25 students in each class, so we have
a total of 420 students in the school.
The socio - cultural level of the families is middle to lower working-class.
They have a high degree of participation in the school life. That interest is
usually shown by participating in school activities that promote educational
goals, as well as the use of educational and cultural resources.
The percentage of immigrants (17%) is primarily comprised of South
Americans and some students from China and Arabic countries. And the
percentage of children with handicaps or special education needs (2%).
We cannot forget to point out some characteristics of the stage.
English, as a First foreign language, must be studied in each school year.
They are expected to be able to use the Spanish language, and where it is
required, the official language of the Autonomous Community.
Specifically, the knowledge of the English language in this stage, offers new
opportunities in an open and globalised society.
At the end of Primary Education, students should achieve a level A1 of the
common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
We are going to focus our attention on the student´s characteristics in the 2 nd
grade of Primary.
AFFECTIVE AND SOCIAL ASPECTS
In this stage we are going to pay special attention to their socialization
with adults and peers because there is a less protective environment.
Friendship is in this stage the big protagonist. Adults (parents and teachers) are
starting to lose their prevalence.
The games are necessary for the intellectual, affective and emotional
development and also for pleasure. Games foster their creativity and maturation.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
- Increase of the logical - concrete thought.
PSICHOMOTOR DEVELOPMENT
Movements are now more harmonic, precise and sure, which help to
achieve a thick and thin motor control. Children progress in the structure of
the space and time.
Regarding to the space, they recognize the concepts “right and left”.
Seven-year-olds can reproduce rhythm structures up to six elements.
They also acquire a correct position for drawing that allows them to reach more
elaborated pictures.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LINGUISTIC DEVELOPMENT

Pupils show a more abstract language. As they overtake their
egocentrism they start to take into account the different opinions and critics of
the others.
They progress on the control of the basic skills (reading and writing) so their
lexicon multiplies at the time that the knowledge does. The syntax becomes
more complex at the same time, and its use is getting more comfortable in
the social practice.
Now it´s time to analyze the objectives.
The Objectives are the references related to the achievements that students
should reach at the end of the educational process, as a result of the teaching-
learning experiences planned for it.
Objectives have two essential functions: firstly, to guide the teacher and the
teaching process and finally, to assess the learning process.
To achieve them, we consider the curricular contents and the key competences
developed in the Decree 89/2014. At the same time, they are based on the
contents and the assessment criteria in the Royal Decree 126/2014, and which
are evaluated according to the order 3622/2014. We have taken into account
that the main purpose of LOMCE is to acquire the key competences. Therefore,
each of our objectives will be related to at least one of the basic skills.
Due to objectives are not developed in the current law and neither in the
Decree, we will elaborate the objectives paying attention to the contents and
the key competences and bearing in mind the flexibility to adapt the objectives
to our student´s capacities and needs.
Some of the objectives created are:
1. To understand simple oral texts from different audiovisual and digital
supports with diverse accents, getting the key words and main ideas, with the
help of programs or tasks which develop this specific skill.
2. To read and recognise words with a common pattern, words that rhyme
and words with the same ending phonemes, spelling them in simple texts using
rhymes, songs and routines from the English culture.
9. To express possession, likes and dislikes, time, space, quantity and
modality for the exchange of basic information in written texts, taking care in the
presentation of them.
As far as contents, are the knowledge, abilities, skills and attitudes that
contribute to the achievement of the objectives of each teaching and educational
stage and the acquisition of key competences. They are based on the Decree
89/2014, they are:
The general contents of the foreign language in the 2nd grade of Primary
Education are based on the D 89/2014 which establishes Primary Education in
the Autonomous Community of Madrid.
A) Oral comprehension.
B) Oral expression.
C) Reading comprehension.
D) Written expression.
E) Syntactic and discursive contents.
F) English culture.
Teaching Methodology is a set of strategies, procedures and actions
organized and planned by the teacher in a conscious and reflective way in order
to facilitate the learning of students and the achievement of the planned
objectives.
Finally, it´s important to mention the English Specific Methodology for
Students in Primary Education …….. year grade.
I have created some tools in order to achieve what I have mentioned
before:
 1) Interactive Storytelling (IWB): One of the most powerful materials
that I have made in order to introduce every single topic is a story through the
ICT and paper. The main aim of the stories for children is to hear language in a
meaningful context and with colourful and large pictures. Stories also provide an
opportunity to develop strategies such as guessing and predicting and even
promoting the interest and pleasure for reading.
2) Game-based Learning: Pupils enjoy games. They provide a link with
the outside world and are lively and fun. Gibbs defines games as acts carried out
by competing or cooperating to achieve a goal within a set of rules adding an
element of fun.
Brewster (1992) establishes several advantages of using games for
language learning: they add variety, increase motivation and participation,
reduce the teacher dominance, create real communicative situations, practice
skills, reduce distance between teacher and student, renew pupils´ energy and
reveal weaknesses.
In every didactic unit of this syllabus design, I have developed some
sessions around games. First, making the components of the game linking the
English class with the arts and crafts area. They also are expected to copy and
understand the rules of the game. Other activities are centred on a first contact
with the game using real communicative situations and specific grammar
structures.
Finally the game is going to be used as an assessment tool to end the
unit.
3) Jolly phonics: Jolly Phonics is a fun and child centred approach to
teaching literacy through synthetic phonics. The letter sounds are split into seven
groups. According to this, on 2nd grade we are going to work on the 2nd
group that is (c k, e, h, r, m and d). So we will teach this phonetic method
through songs using Total Physical Response developed by James Asher
and written activities.
- Different organizations: mixed ability groups and the mobility of
furniture.
- Different “corners” or “atmospheres”: - Interactive White Board and a
Computer corner, - Stories and games corner. - Charts corner.
- Role of the teacher. HARMER (6)
- Role of the student. active role being the main protagonists
Assessment criteria are the specific reference to assess the learning of
students. They describe what wants to be evaluated and what students must
achieve both in knowledge and competences.
As the articles 17 of the MO 3622/2014 and 20 of LOMCE say, the
evaluation of the learning processes of students will be continuous and global
and we will take into account their progress in all areas.
Students will access to the next level whenever they have achieved the
objectives and they have reached the level of acquisition of knowledge and
relevant competences. If not, they may repeat in any level of the stage with a
specific plan of reinforcement or recovery.
Assessment has a triple perspective:
 Teacher assesses students.

 Students assess themselves.

 Teacher assesses him/herself.

These general assessment criteria are based in the RD 126/2014. I have

created the following General Assessment Criteria for my Course Design (some of
them are):
1. To identify the general meaning and main ideas in simple oral texts
through audiovisual and digital supports and with the right acoustic conditions to
get diverse accents.
2. To discriminate elements of sound, rhythm, stress and intonation in reading
aloud activities and where students take active part, using rhymes, songs and
routines from the English culture.
3. To take care about the presentation of written texts, expressing
possession, likes and dislikes, time, space, quantity and modality.
LOMCE has a new concept for evaluation that is the Assessable Learning
Standards; they are the specifications of the evaluation criteria that allow
defining learning results.
Measurable Learning Standards are fixed in the RD 126/2014. They are
divided into different skills:
A) Oral comprehension.
B) Oral expression.
C) Reading comprehension.
D) Writing expression.

Following my index program, it´s time to deal with the Key Competences.
Competences are the abilities to apply the contents of each teaching and
educational stage in an integrated way, in order to achieve the realization of the
appropriate activities and the effective resolution of complex problems.
The Royal Decree 126/2014 is based on the encouragement of the learning
through the competences in line with the Recommendation of the European
Parliament.
As the D 89/2014 says, the Foreign Language area develops the following Key
Competences:
  Linguistic Communicative Competence: Learning a foreign language
encourage our students to improve this competence in a direct way.
 Mathematic competence and Science and Technology basic
Competences: is the ability to develop and apply mathematical reasoning
to solve everyday problems.
 Digital Competence: Learning a foreign language offers the opportunity
to increase the information and communication with the new technologies.
 Learning to learn Competence: reflection period.
 Social and Civic Competences: Learning a foreign language implies the
knowledge of the different foreign language speaking communities,
knowing other cultures, developing relationships with other foreign
speaking people and favouring attitudes of respect and integration.
 Sense of Initiative and Entrepreneurship Competence: autonomy.
 Awareness and Cultural Expressions Competence: Foreign language
improves it with the introduction of literary texts and models.

My fifteen didactic units are going to be developed with a variety of content

areas: Arts and Crafts, Physical Education, Music, Language, Social and Natural
Sciences or Maths.
Regarding the educational needs the Organic Law 8/2014 points that
“students with performance problems should have specific programs that
improve their possibilities to continue in the system”.
In the law 2/2006, of 3 of May (in articles 71 to 79 bis) are established the
students who require an educational attention different from the ordinary. These
groups are the followings:
 Students with special educational needs.
 Students with high intellectual capacities.
 Students with a late integration in the Spanish Educational System.

 Students with Specific Learning Difficulties: ADHD, personal

conditions or school history.

Curriculum adaptations at this level can alter contents or not. ‘Non-

significant Curricular Adaptations’ consist in altering only the methodology,
didactic materials used, procedures, timing and sequence of contents, etc. When
the alterations involve teaching contents they are called ´Significant Curricular
Adaptations´.
The only student who may need some special attention is a student who
has a small loss of the sense of hearing. She will be placed in the first line of the
class in order to make her easier to listen to me, in that way she will be able to
pay attention on my explanations.
Sometimes when a listening practice is done, she will be provided with the
copy of the transcript. However, in all groups of Primary Education there are
students with different learning rates and different degrees of motivation; so we
need to make all the students participate in the process of learning with total
satisfaction and to be as successful as it corresponds to their capacity and
interest.
 Along my course design I´m going to use the following materials:
On my course design, I use the new technology (computer, Internet, interactive
whiteboard).
In order to show what material I am going to use, it is better to point out that in
all the odd units we are going to use materials related to promote cultural
traditions and in the even units we are going to use songs to develop the jolly
phonics method. I have created general materials for all the units. Those are:
stories, flashcards, worksheets, games, songs, vocabulary wheels and
crosswords as well as adapted materials created and/or adapted in order to
develop my Didactic Units in a more suitable way.
Talking about ICT´s we have to mention that in the article 111bis of LOMCE
there are several points that deal with it.
The Ministry of Education offers an educational and technological platform
with an access directed to the Education Community where it gathers didactic
resources.
The use of the information and communication technologies facilitates the
development of a digital culture in the classroom.
The use of the new technologies in the classroom is seemed as an answer to our
students’ needs, interest, circumstances and values.
The new technologies that we are going to used are:
- The computer.

- Internet.

- Interactive whiteboard.
In order to foster a reading plan, the habit of reading and to promote the
pleasure about English literature we will dedicate a daily time to it.
In order to encourage the habit of reading and to promote the pleasure about
English literature we will dedicate a daily time to it.
● Strategies: to decorate the classroom; to give a positive reinforcement.
● Activities: Individual and voluntary reading using the classroom library books
when the programmed activities for that day are finished, whole class reading,
reading worksheet, acting out.
● Timing: It is important to point out that every day we will read in English
when the students read a sentence or a word on the blackboard, in the rules,
word cards, etc. But also I have created one story for each didactic unit. Apart of
the daily reading in class, we will have two readings each month, chosen from
the classroom library to be read at home.
● Resources and materials: Stories, tales, comics and magazines of the
classroom library, posters, flashcards, word cards and materials found in
computer games.
● Classroom library design: In the English classroom there is a small library.
All these materials can be taken by the pupils to be read in class, at the end of
the programmed activities or to take them away and read them at home. They
will also have to fill in a reading comprehension worksheet. This material will be
exposed in class to motivate other students to read that book. We will have a
register poster that will motivate them to read other books in order to increase
their personal list of books read called “Book Eaters”.
Along the academic year there will be several celebrations and
Complementary activities which will be share by the whole school as an
important way to achieve the Awareness and Cultural Expressions Competence
and Social and Civic Competences.
The objective of these celebrations is to develop the social relationship between
all the members of the school community.
 The contents that will be worked during these celebrations are the ones
presented in the English culture block.
 The assessment criteria that will evaluate these celebrations is to appreciate
the foreign language and its culture (customs, values, celebrations, traditions,
etc.) and to recognize the linguistic diversity comparing it to one´s own as an
enriching element.
 These celebrations are:
 Halloween.
 Thanksgiving.
 Christmas.
 USA National Hat Day.
 Carnival.
 Easter.
 May Day.

Finally, I have to mention the timing of my fifteen Didactic Units that conclude
my course design for the 2nd grade of primary education.
A Didactic Unit is a teaching planning that includes a sequence of activities or
tasks with a final goal and common Objectives, Key Competences, Contents,
Assessment Criteria and Assessable Learning Standards. Didactic Units are
designed around a specific topic; but the real use of a foreign language involves
much more than the knowledge of some lexical fields.
My fifteen Didactic Units have been planned according to the current School
Calendar, taking into account the festivities and bearing in mind that the law
stipulates 3 hours a week of English Language Teaching with a minimum of 175
school days.

As a conclusion I have to point that the teaching program is one of the essential
pedagogical instruments of concretion. In fact, it is the 3rd level of concretion. My
teaching program has been planned to attend to a specific teaching-learning
process, indeed it is referred to the ……….. year of Primary Stage.

LEYENDA
AMARILLO: ejemplos para modificarlo con lo propio.
AZUL: no es necesario mantenerlo.