GEP 2 - MVO

School context

This project is contextualised in a town (approx. 4,000 inhabitants) in the coastal region of Catalonia. The centre consists of an educational line made up of infant school and primary education (created in 2007) and secondary studies (added in 2018) with a total of 2 lines (group A and B) that make it a familiar centre with a total number of 510 students. It is not a centre of maximum complexity. There are 25 teachers, 20 of these are servants and 5 are internim teachers. There are also three ASP 3 members. 

The schedule for preschool and primary education is from 09:00 to 12:30 in the morning and from 15:00 to 16:30 in the afternoon. 

The schedule for secondary education is from 08:00 to 12:30 and from 14:30 to 16:30 from Monday to Wednesday and 08:00 to 14:30 from Thursday to Friday. This allows a better organisation of events in which all the students of the school participate.

Students don’t have academic books in most of the subjects. We do different projects, like “The Magic of reading and writing” at Preschool. They learn how to read based on this methodology. However, we have English textbook from 3rd to 6th grade of primary. Each student owns a laptop in 5th and 6th grade and also in secondary education. The school participates in other projects such as eTwinning and a French exchange. There are also 30 minutes a day dedicated to Reading Plan.

                           Reflection after the implementation 

YAIZA'S REFLECTION

In this occasion, due to the particular situation that the teacher participating in the GEP training is also the tutor of a Year 1 group and does not teach any other subjects in other primary levels, we had to fit the CLIL project into this year group. For this learning situation, we worked on a topic that is usually covered in Year 1: plants.

At our school, we have two Year 1 groups, with 15 and 14 pupils respectively. Since the other Year 1 tutor does not have the required level of English to carry out the project, we decided to join both groups together and organise the different activities during afternoon sessions, when we normally have learning corners and environments scheduled in the timetable.

We carried out two consecutive weeks with two afternoon sessions per week dedicated to the project. Additionally, the art activities were done by the 1A tutor and the teacher responsible for art in 1B, with a session of an hour and a half one afternoon.

In total, we ended up dedicating 7.5 hours to the project, although it was originally planned to last for 5 hours.

The pupils welcomed the idea of working on a science topic in English with a bit of confusion at first, as they had never done this before. However, they were also excited and eager to learn, motivated by the chance to try something new.

In terms of interaction in English, it was not too difficult between the teacher and the pupils, since most of the communication was based on repetition, songs, images, and a lot of body language and gestures to help them remember the key words. However, peer-to-peer interaction in English was much more challenging. At this age, they do not yet have the tools to communicate with each other using full sentences in English.

Even though they had a scaffolding document with images and very visual support, the teacher had to intervene constantly, as it was practically impossible for them to manage communication in English on their own. It was practically impossible for them to communicate in English beyond saying (and with some difficulty) the key vocabulary. In order to achieve a good result, these structures need to be worked on over a much longer period of time. With a project initially planned for around four sessions, this goal was completely unrealistic. 

In conclusion, although the experience was positive in terms of introducing pupils to content in English and motivating them through new and engaging activities, the number of sessions dedicated to the project was insufficient. Furthermore, the age of the pupils was not ideal for a CLIL project of this kind, as they still lack the necessary language tools to interact naturally in English. In order to achieve better results, it would be essential to extend this type of work over a longer period of time and to progressively build up their communicative skills before attempting more complex projects. 

JULI'S REFLECTION 

Introduction
The implementation of the learning situation “A Second-Opportunity Market in IE Montagut” for 3rd of ESO students has been a highly enriching experience. This project, developed within the framework of the GEP 2 program and supported by trainers Susan Hernandez and Carlos Izcara and the supervisor and corrector Nieves de la Flor, was designed to combine English and Social Sciences through CLIL methodology. Throughout the sessions, I had the opportunity to apply strategies such as cooperative and collaborative learning, literacy scaffolding, and dynamic assessment tools. The students were actively engaged and showed great enthusiasm for the topic of sustainability and eco-friendly consumption. The real-life connection of the project, culminating in a simulated market, increased motivation and gave the learning situation a clear purpose.

Cooperative and Collaborative Learning in CLIL
Group roles played a central part in the project’s success. From the beginning, students were assigned different responsibilities (salesperson, marketer, strategist, coordinator, and copywriter), which promoted team dynamics. For example, in Sessions 2 and 4, when researching real second-hand markets and preparing their sales pitches, students collaborated effectively, often helping one another with vocabulary or pronunciation without direct teacher intervention. The format of rotating tasks and mixed-ability groups helped support weaker students and pushed stronger ones to take on leadership roles. Although some students initially found it difficult to stay in role or to coordinate efficiently, especially in the early stages of the project as some students did not have a clear goal or task to do, these challenges improved as they became more familiar with the project. The hands-on, meaningful nature of the project encouraged a sense of community in the classroom, and the final market day showcased this teamwork clearly.

Support for Reading and Writing in CLIL
Supporting students' literacy development was a key focus during implementation. In Session 3, students wrote persuasive product descriptions, where I scaffolded the writing with sentence starters, model texts, and vocabulary banks. Students were also given a template to follow to write their product tags (see belowe in activity 8). Peer review strategies (bull's eye rubric) were introduced to foster reflection and improvement. Some students struggled at first with how to make their descriptions both clear and persuasive, especially in incorporating eco-friendly features, but eventually they most produced coherent and thoughtful texts. The infographic activity also required adaptation—some texts were challenging in vocabulary, so I used visual aids and oral summaries to aid comprehension. Some students with Individual Plans were given the opportunity of doing the activity in Catalan as English was a big impediment for them. I’ve realized the importance of activating background knowledge before reading and integrating listening opportunities, such as videos or recorded texts, to reinforce understanding.

Assessment Tips
Assessment throughout the project was both formative and summative. I used checklists for each task, encouraged students to use exit tickets after key sessions (e.g., after the product pitch practice), and collected peer assessments after the final market simulation. One of the most effective tools was the use of video recordings during the role-play activity in Session 4. Watching their own performances allowed students to self-evaluate with more awareness. Feedback was also ongoing during group work, and I’ve moved from giving only final grades to integrating “in-process” feedback, encouraging students to revise, improve and reflect. This shift in assessment has made me rethink the role of feedback in learning: it’s not just a summary of what they did, but a tool for them to grow. Moving forward, I aim to include more self-assessment tools and reflective writing tasks to consolidate metacognitive skills.

Conclusion
In conclusion, “A Second-Opportunity Market in IE Montagut” proved to be a motivating and successful learning situation that allowed me to apply CLIL principles in a meaningful context. The focus on real-world issues like sustainability and responsible consumption sparked student interest and promoted the use of English in purposeful ways. The project also made me reflect on the importance of integrating production and interaction activities more regularly into my planning. I have seen first-hand how giving students ownership of their learning—through roles, creativity, and collaboration—makes them more engaged and confident. This experience has reaffirmed my commitment to project-based and interdisciplinary approaches in the CLIL classroom.

                           Videos

 YAIZA'S VIDEOS

Teacher-Student interaction: 

In this video, we can see the beginning of a CLIL session where the teacher is doing a brief review of the content covered in the previous session, about the conditions necessary for a plant to live. The teacher uses gestures and shows images to help the students remember the words. She makes them repeat the words, using gestures to help them internalize the vocabulary. Then, she also briefly reviews the parts of the plant, again using gestures and images from a song video they had worked on in the previous session. The children repeat the same words she says throughout the activity. They sing the song while the teacher continuously makes the learned gestures for the parts of the plant. 

At these ages, repetition and following set patterns in songs or spoken phrases are very important, so that the students can internalize the vocabulary and grammar structures. It’s also important to use gestures and intonation while speaking, to catch the atteention of students. 

Moreover, it is absolutely necessary to review the content from the previous session, as the students will need this knowledge in order to keep progressing with the activities planned for this session. 

Student-student interaction: 

This video shows different interactions between students working in groups. They have to decide which type of plant each photograph belongs to, using the pictures they had previously cut out. On the screen, they have a poster projected with the five words they need to know and an example of each type of plant. In addition, each table has a document provided as scaffolding to help them communicate in English. The document, as can be seen in the project PDF, is very visual and clear. However, since these are first-year primary students, who are still in the process of reaching an optimal reading level in Catalan, it is not really necessary to use this scaffolding document. They do not yet have enough resources to read that dialogue and replace the example word with the one they need.

It would be much more useful to previously carry out games to practice that question-and-answer structure and dedicate a few sessions to it. Each interaction only lasts a few seconds, and some students don’t really know what to say. For this reason, I decided to make a video joining all the possible interactions. At this age, it is very difficult to carry out oral activities like this while expecting them to communicate in English. It would be more realistic to simply focus on whether or not they say the five key words for the types of plants, instead of expecting them to hold a short dialogue. 

JULI'S VIDEOS

Teacher-Student interaction: 

In this video, we observe a CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) session in which both the content teacher and the English teacher collaborate to support student learning. The lesson focuses on the concepts of circular and linear economy. At the beginning of the video, the content teacher introduces the main topic, while the English teacher plays a key scaffolding role, especially supporting students who may need additional help understanding or expressing themselves in English.

One particularly noteworthy moment occurs at minute 02:05, when a student says “donar-li una segona vida.” The English teacher seizes this opportunity to connect language and content by asking, “How do you say ‘donar-li una segona vida’ in English?” Students respond actively, engaging with both the vocabulary and the conceptual content. This moment reflects a meaningful integration of language and subject learning, and demonstrates how spontaneous language support can enhance understanding.

Later, at minute 03:05, the content teacher encourages students to brainstorm apps that promote sustainability, prompting real-world connections. The English teacher then takes a more active role, proposing a hands-on activation activity involving participation through questions and raised hands. This interactive strategy encourages student engagement and consolidates understanding.

Before wrapping up, the English teacher revisits key vocabulary and concepts — such as upcycling — using real-life examples and interactive questioning. This approach reinforces comprehension and ensures that students can transfer the language and ideas beyond the classroom context. The collaborative dynamic between the two teachers not only supports content acquisition but also promotes English language development in a natural and contextualized way.

Student-student interaction: 

This video captures several moments of student collaboration in group work, highlighting peer interaction and role distribution. In Part 1, we see Group 1 working on a project, each student clearly taking on a defined role: the coordinator oversees task management, the marketer solicits feedback on slogans and design, and the copywriter checks the language accuracy. Their collaboration shows a well-structured group dynamic where students actively listen to one another, respect each other's contributions, and remain focused on their responsibilities.

In Part 2, Group 2 engages in a digital task using Padlet. Students help one another with the technical and content aspects of the activity, demonstrating mutual support. The teacher facilitates the process by encouraging participation, but it is evident that students are the ones driving the task forward through peer assistance.

Part 3 features Group 3 discussing their ideas for selling products at a market. The conversation is centered around product choice, pricing strategies, and selling techniques. The interaction is fluid and collaborative, with students building on each other's suggestions and problem-solving together. There is a sense of collective decision-making and creativity at play, showing how peer interaction can foster deeper engagement with the task.

Across all three groups, students use English as a working language to varying degrees, and although fluency may vary, the willingness to communicate and support one another is evident. These interactions not only enhance language practice in an authentic context but also develop soft skills such as leadership, negotiation, and teamwork.