How to teach English using general content to third grade students

Abstract

During the pedagogical practice process lived in three different schools, where I experienced three different analysis stages (Observation, Planning and Interaction), an interesting idea emerged according to the learning process that students were living in these places and the teaching process that teachers were applying with each of the analyzed courses. For some students, the learning process of a new language or a foreign language (FL) might turn too difficult since they have not been involved in a real learning process where the acquisition of a foreign language is not only based on memorizing content but on practicing according to what the environment gives us and how the language is used in real context. The teaching process of English in these schools (Colegio Mayor Almirante Colon, Colegio Mayor Alferez Real and the Institución Educativa Celimo Rueda) was aimed in students to learn grammatical contents based on a book already established by the school and structures that were not related to students’ interests or even to their socioeconomic status, in addition, these classes were presented in a standardized way, not taking into account real students’ needs. Thus, schools must modify traditional practices and implement other procedures which help to develop and reach real students’ needs, like Content and Language Integrated Learning does.