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Today, as a result of significant advances in technology, new theories of learning
have emerged amongst them Siemens’ Cognitivism(2004) which is based on the
limitations of the theories of conductivism, cognitivism and constructivism in
relation to the effects of technology on how we actually live, communicate and learn.

The children and youth of today have grown up with technology and have a manner
of learning in which technology plays a fundamental role in their cognitive
development. Virtual learning environments have contributed to the improvement
of the quality of the educational process, providing students with better access to
information and multiple opportunities for social interaction. Likewise, recent
studies have demonstrated that technology, multimedia and the internet are highly
effective as mediated tools for learning a foreign language.

METHODOLOGY
This investigation was carried out in six high schools in the municipality of Quibdó,
all of which were chosen at random. We studied students in the 11th grade at each
institution taking a random sample of 50% of the students. Additionally, we studied
of all the English teachers from all five of the institutions through a representative
sample per cluster. This was a qualitative study which sought to describe and analyze
the events we witnessed in the classrooms. For selecting and collecting the data we
utilize the following instruments: surveys for both teachers and students, interviews
and direct observations of the classes. The instruments were designed in order to
gather all of the information concerning teaching strategies, activities, teaching aids,
levels of motivation, students´ strategies and styles of learning. In the process of
analysis and interpretation, the information was interpreted using categorization
and codification techniques. We utilized methods of triangulation in order to
corroborate the information collected from the surveys, interviews and classrooms
observations. In addition to this, we used graphics, made reflections and conclusions
regarding the findings which will be described in the following pages.

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FINDINGS
The surveys and interviews given to the students revealed the most common
learning strategies for both individuals and groups of students in the municipality of
Quibdó, as it is shown in the following graphic:
Q1: Which of the following resources do you use the most when teaching English?

Graphic 1. Most used resources

Concerning the most commonly used resources for teaching English, the surveys
revealed that 40% of the respondents utilized photocopies as their principal teaching
materials. This indicates that the majority of exercises done in class are based on
photocopies provided by the teachers. While technological resources such as
televisions, cellphones and the internet are utilized much less frequently. In contrast,
the students prefer to use the previously mentioned resources, especially social
networks, videos and music. The survey also indicates that just 4% percent of the
students use text books as a main resource of learning.

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Q2: Which of the following activities do you enjoy the most and why?

Graphic 2. Students’ preferences for learning English

The survey indicates that 44% of the respondents prefer listening to music and 22%
prefer role-playing activities. In contrast, 9% of the respondents stated that reading
and writing are the least interesting activities while 8% said that grammatical
exercises are the least interesting activities.
Q3: Which of the following methods do you utilize the most when teaching
English?

Graphic 3. Common teaching methods

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Relating to the most common teaching methods we found that teachers primarily
focus on the Grammar Translation Method (GTM) and the Total Physical Response
(TPR) Method, for developing their classes. In contrast, teachers rarely use the
Communicative Language Teaching Method (CLT) to meet students’ linguistic needs.
Regarding teaching materials and resources we found that 55% of teachers utilize
photocopies as their primary teaching aids, and that teachers rarely use
technological resources in the classroom.
Q4: What do you do in order to memorize a word?

Graphic 4. Strategies for memorization

We found that students prefer to repeat words various times as a memorization
strategy for learning words in English. In contrast, strategies such as asking questions
in class and associating words with familiar contexts are used less frequently.
Direct classroom observations
The information obtained through direct classroom observations indicates that the
majority of teachers come to class unprepared and without a lesson plan. Similarly,
we confirmed that teachers rarely use English to give instructions, explain the
lessons, or to check that students understand what they are expected to do. The
direct observation also revealed that teachers depend almost entirely on the
blackboard and photocopies as their primary teaching resources, highlighting the
lack of resources to develop their classes. Another important aspect we observed in
relation to teaching the language skills is that teachers focus on reading and writing

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skills, not as a developed process but rather as isolated sentences and phrases.
Furthermore, teachers neglect listening and speaking skills. Finally, we also
witnessed the students’ low levels of motivation, participation, and interest in the
English classes.

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Why senior students of Primary Education undergraduate
program, at the Universidad Tecnológica del Chocó, have low
command of English teaching methodology

Ana Pinilla Machado

Magister en Didáctica del inglés, Quibdó, Chocó, Colombia
Email: nanysha23@hotmail.com

Karen Quiroz Mena

Magister en Didáctica del inglés
Docente Universidad tecnológica del Chocó
karenquirozmena@gmail.com

Abstract
This research project seeks to contribute to the understanding and possible solution
of the evident problem faced by the senior students of the Primary Education
Undergraduate Program in the Universidad Tecnológica del Chocó; with respect to
their insufficient command of methodology for teaching English. Through a
descriptive-analytic approach, two surveys were applied to 45 participants. The
findings of the instruments being implemented helped the formulation of a
pedagogical proposal; which led to the design of a course for minimal certification
on special didactics of English. This course is addressed to both pre-service teachers
mainly and in-service teachers, who are supposed to teach English in primary school.

Key words: Pre-service teachers. Primary School teachers. Subject knowledge and
Subject application. Special Didactics. Course for certification.

Introduction
"A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops." - Henry
Brooks Adams

As this famous quote claims, teachers do have a strong influence on learners. What
they, the students, learn may affect them positively or negatively in the ongoing
process of life. We usually find parents saying that their children start high school
with no knowledge of English at all, and because of that, the learning of this language

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has turned into an obstacle for their kids. Hereby, Primary school teachers are to a
large extent responsible for this situation. In Colombia, for instance, national policies
of education demand the teaching of English in primary schools. Today, primary
teachers must know English, so they are able to teach the language to a population
that needs to start learning it from early ages.

“En el último censo, el DANE encontró que sólo el 4,09% de la población colombiana
mayor de cinco años hablaba inglés. Entre los jóvenes universitarios ese porcentaje
llega a ser ligeramente más alto, con el 7,2%...en un país donde, según el Ministerio
de Educación, la mitad de los maestros de educación básica y media alcanzan el nivel
básico de desempeño en esta área.” (Article, El Expectador. Edition ).

Above amounts are alarming, very few percent of our generation of young people
speaks English, and nearly 50% of the teachers of elementary and secondary
education have barely a B1 level in English.

The challenge of English teachers in Primary schools.
Introducing English into primary schools is not a temporary policy. It is rather a long-
term goal and an enterprise to enhance the cultural and educational quality of all
the citizens and promote quality-oriented education […] Some schools simply used
secondary school English textbooks for the primary level. The transition or continuity
from the primary to the secondary has long been a problem […] (Wang Qiang, 2000)
In Colombia, likewise, the transition from the primary school through the secondary
is always complicated for both students and parents when it comes to the learning
of English. First, because students approve to get into middle school, most of them,
not knowing English at all; thus they find themselves in the secondary school with a
subject they do not like or domain either, but frighten them instead. And one of the
major reasons why this problem occurs, it is the fact that English primary teachers
do not have sufficient and proficient competence on the language or the
methodologies, to teach it effectively. In the case of parents, they are also concerned
about the level of English that their children have, and about how they will
contribute to the language learning of their kids at home.

The Ministry of Education expects that educational departments at all levels be
energetic and committed to taking effective measures to train primary school English
teachers […] many problems still remain to be tackled. The first and foremost is the
training of enough qualified teachers. (Wang, Qiang, 2000).

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The process of training primary school teachers to teach English is a complex and
integral process; and being so, it requires special and close attention from the
Ministry of education and educational institutions. For, primary teachers are dealing
with a young student population, and this demands teachers to spend much more
time and preparation for: planning the lessons, selecting the materials, discussing
the activities and strategies, setting the objectives and roles, choosing a method and
getting prepared to teach (learning and using the language system, working on
language features such as pronunciation, functional grammar structures, useful
vocabulary and expressions, etc.).

However, teachers have to accommodate new beliefs and see themselves in new
roles and this can be very demanding (Wedell, 2001: 3).

Brown (1980) and White (1988) asserted that the role of the teachers is fundamental
for the implementation of new concepts and ideas. They need to be internally and
externally motivated for changing, re-learning and teaching.

We need to be fully aware of the fact that conceptual change is a difficult and lengthy
process (Champage et al, 1985; Fullan, 1993; Karavas-Doukas, 1998) and the new
beliefs or ideas will have to be gradually incorporated into the teachers’ own belief
structures through continuous practice and reflections so that adjustments can be
made in their own thinking (Lamb, 1995).

The teachers need a clear framework, models for pronunciation, a scheme of work
and teaching ideas. They must now be spoon-fed with lesson plans, detailed ideas
for games and activities and material for inter-cultural studies, as well as basic
structures, words and phrases for them to conduct classroom routines in English [...]
(Allen Katy, 2008, p. 16).

Here, the starting point is to change primary teachers’ attitude towards English.
Possibly, many of them see this foreign language as a difficult one; yet they need to
understand how important it is not only in the educational field, but also in everyday
activities. Also, they shall realize that they are now asked to teach English, and they
need to be able and proficient to do so. Probably, the support being given in the
Primary Education Undergraduate Program is inadequate in terms of presentation
and integration of the subject matter in the syllabus of the semester where it is
included.

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Requirements for Primary English teachers
Teachers with insufficient subject knowledge have very little if any confidence.
Teacher training should be concerned with two elements (Sharp Keith, 1999, p. 127):
1. Subject Knowledge – ensuring that the future teachers know and understand
enough about what they are to teach to be able to teach it effectively.
2. Subject Application – ensuring that the future teachers know and understand
enough about how to teach what they are to teach to be able to do so effectively.
In effect, these factors are the elements that primary teachers need in order to
perform an effective language teaching and to better guide students in the process
of learning a foreign language. General speaking, a balanced subject knowledge and
subject application can inform learning and teaching processes.
Allen Katy (2008, p. 11) suggests how these elements underpin effective teaching of
a foreign language (eg English).

Tabla-1 Effective language Teaching

Subject knowledge SK1 Performance skills in the language
taught

SK2 Knowledge about the language in
general

EFFECTIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING

SA1 Understanding of teaching-
learning process

Subject application

SA2 General pedagogical
understanding

Consequently, this study aims at describing the curricular factors affecting the
development of those important aspects in order to demonstrate that student
teachers lack these two elements.

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Methodology
This section presents the procedures involved in the research design. It also
introduces the research questions, the background of the study as well as the data
collection and analysis.

General objective
The proposed study seeks to contribute on the understanding of the problem that
senior student teachers of the Primary Education Undergraduate Program
(Universidad Tecnológica del Chocó) face in terms of Special Didactics, Approaches
and Methods to teaching a foreign language and National Policies and
considerations as well, with respect to English Teaching and Learning. From the
findings, this research shall develop suggestions for further thriving this issue.

Research questions
 How often is the English subject matter presented and integrated in the
syllabus of the Undergraduate program?
 How much knowledge and/or understanding do the senior student teachers
have upon the different approaches and methods to language teaching to
children?
 How much knowledge and/or understanding do the senior student teachers
have upon the MEN policies and considerations for the teaching of foreign
languages?

To answer these questions, the following hypothesis is proprosed:

If the insufficient command of English teaching methodology of senior student
teachers of the Primary Education Undergraduate Program is related to the
improper integration of English courses in the syllabus; then a revision and further
accommodation of a course on methodology for teaching English to children will
contribute to provide seniors with minimal subject knowledge and proper subject
application.

This hypothesis would be tested with one set of data collected from Tecnológica del
Chocó University undergraduate senior students who are studying Primary
Education; and who can sparsely be leveled as A1.

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Sampling
The data for this study were collected from forty-five subjects, 40 prospective
primary teachers enrolled in the Primary Education Undergraduate Program who
were selected among 89 student teachers completing the ninth and tenth semesters
that showed interest in participating. Likewise, the 4 English professors who were in
charge of teaching English in 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th levels namely, and the Head of
the Program.

Two types of data were collected and examined: oral and written. For the oral data,
the Head of the program was interviewed about topics such as: qualification of the
English teacher educators, The foreign language in the Program’s Curriculum and the
New Policies for teaching English in Colombia.

For the written data, on the one hand, a questionnaire was designed for the pre-
service teachers. The questions have close-ended options and some of them were
of multiple choice.

On the other hand, the survey for teacher educators has 6 questions, 4 out of them
were closed-ended and the remaining 2 were open-ended. The participants
themselves demanded the survey to be applied in Spanish. Only two volunteers were
informally interviewed in English right after completing the survey; in order to gain
ample insights upon the curricular factors affecting their teaching.

The research was conducted in two places: at the Universidad Tecnológica del Chocó
with the senior students of the afternoon session as well as the teacher educators,
and at the Gimnasio Middle School (a Public school annexed to the university) with
the students of the evening session.

The data obtained were tabulated by means of the Microsoft Excel application, and
then they were subjected to in-depth interpretation and analysis.

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Table-2 Profile of Subjects

Instrument
For the collection of data, the researchers designed two surveys: one for student
teachers and the other for English teacher educators. The former focuses on
determining how much knowledge the senior students have about language
teaching methodology related to English and the National Polices with regard to
English Teaching and Learning. Additionally, the surveys are useful for revealing the

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current status of participants according to their personal views towards the foreign
language. Additionally, the surveys serve the purpose to compare the teacher-
educators considerations with respect to the content being taught in the
Undergraduate program. For the collection of oral data, an interview was applied,
considering the topics previously explained in the Sampling section.

Some content analysis was required for completing the description and data
obtained through the surveys. As a result, some documents such as the philosophy
of the Undergraduate program as well as the Curriculum and English Syllabi were
reviewed and analyzed together with the findings.

Data analysis
For data analysis, focus was on the triangulation of responses among students,
professors and the Program administrator. In addition, the Curriculum and the
Philosophy of the Undergraduate Program were analyzed in contrast to the National
Policies embracing the teaching of English in Primary school.

Results
The main results, which interest us, have to do with the fact that some of the data
provided by the teacher educators were not consistent with previous findings from
the survey applied to the student teachers, who asserted that they lack most of
those English components.

Besides, neither senior students nor professors were clear about MEN policies for
teaching English Elementary school; that is, for example, the curriculum standards
and skills that should be work on all along the primary school.

Table-3 Student’s survey. Question # 21

Which from these English components do you lack?

1 Vocabulary. Pronunciation. Listening. Reading. Writing. Speaking. All of them. None of
them.

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Table-4 Student’s survey. Question # 42

Which from these Methods or Approaches to Teaching English do you know?
Table-5 Student’s survey. Question # 5

2 The Direct Method. The Natural Approach. Grammar Translation Method. Suggestopedia.
Communicative Approach. Audio-lingual Method. Presentation, Practice and Production.
Total Physical Response. Communicative Lanugage Teaching. Task-based Learning. Lexical
Approach.

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Table-6 Teacher’s survey. Question # 2
Which from these components do you consider most for teaching English in the
Primary Education program?

Table-7 Teacher’s survey. Question # 5
Do you take into account the following aspects within your English course teaching
process?

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Findings
50% of the student teachers agreed that their knowledge of English is quite low.
32.5% affirmed that what they know is not enough; and explained that for teaching
purposes, this is a worrying situation.

It was quite evident that 99% of the participants are aware of the components they
lack; which appeared to be nearly all of them. In the same arena, most of the student
teachers said to master simple topics such as: the family, greetings and days of the
week.

Though, through the findings in previous questions, the participants may have
minimal subject knowledge; hereby we have realized that they scarce criteria and
insights for subject application or language teaching methodology.

Basically, teacher-educators focus on grammar structures and pronunciation
patterns. They do not make emphasis on vocabulary, communicative competence,
skills, or the like. Namely, it can be concluded that they do not take into account the
teaching standards, national policies according to the context and the philosophy of
the Undergraduate Program Curriculum.

On the same hand, it is inferred that teacher educators do not integrate language
topics with English teaching methodology. In fact, just one affirmed to do so, but this
participant did not explain how or which items he use to considered.

In contrast to previous responses, teacher educators agreed to contemplate into
their syllabus both English standards and guidelines and the language topics that
should be taught in Primary school. Yet, none of them asserted to consider the
Common European Framework.

Accordingly, most of teacher educators came into the agreement that the pre-
service’s command of language and methodology is insufficient for getting prepared
to teach English to children. Therefore, it implies the necessity to design and
implement a complementary course on special didactics of English, with the main
purpose of providing student teachers with some foundations in teaching
methodology.

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Conclusions
Teaching English to Children is a process that requires high standards of language
knowledge and understanding of methodological foundations. Thus, primary school
teachers shall gain a proper and sufficient background upon English components, if
they attempt to effectively teach the language. As a result, two main elements are
needed: subject knowledge and subject application.

Most of the pre-service teachers realize that their knowledge about English teaching
methodology is quite scarce or even worse, null. Furthermore, it was also evident
that their English level is not sufficient for being able to teach this foreign language
in primary schools. For granted, these senior students shall take a course for
certification in special didactics of English; in order to have a grounded
understanding upon teaching English to children.

Teacher educators do not take into consideration such topics as strategies, methods
or techniques for teaching English; because they are only asked to plan lessons
focused on language, not on didactics of English. We recommend these professors
to try to, at least, give some hints or teaching ideas to the preservice teachers in
terms of classroom management, interaction patterns and use of instructional
materials.

To date, no pedagogical intervention has been taken to overcome pre-service
teachers’ difficulties with regard to language and methodology at the Universidad
Tecnológica del Chocó. Even though this issue is well known by the affected
population, the administrative and academic authorities of the university and the
local Elementary institutions, there have been insufficient discussions about it,
pushing the matter into the background.

Consequently, we provide some meaningful insights to contribute to the design and
development of a proposal focused on training. In this arena, we suggested the
planning and implementation of a Course for Certification that seeks to compile,
methodologically speaking, the appropriate tools, which pre-service primary
teachers need to become familiar with English basic components, and with some
approaches and basis to the teaching of this foreign language in our educational
setting; that is, the national, regional and local scenario.

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References
Allen, K. (2008) MBE Director, Village Education Project Kilimanjaro. Primary school
teachers and the problems faced with teaching the English language.

Brown, S. (1980) Key issues in the implementation of innovations in schools.
Curriculum 1(1). 32-39.

Cadavid, C. (2003). Teaching English in Primary School through a Spiral Thematic
Curriculum. Research article. IKALA, Revista de language y cultura. Vol. 8 nº 14.
Universidad de Antioquia, Escuela de Idiomas.

Champage A. B., Gunstone, R. F. and Klopfer, L. E. (1985).Effecting changes in
cognitive structures among physics students. In L.H.T West and A.L. Pines (eds)
Cognitive Structure and Conceptual Change. New York: Academic Press.

Fullan, M. G. (1993) Change Forces London: Falmer Press.

Karavas,-Doukas, Kia (1998) Evaluating the implementation of educational
innovations: lessons from the past. In P. Rea-Dickins and K.P. Germaine (eds)
Managing Evaluation and Innovation in Language Teaching: Building Bridges. Essex:
Longman. 25-50.

Lamb M. (1995) The consequences of InSET ELT Journal 49/1:72-79

L. A. Boadi, D W Grieve, B Nwankwo (1968) Grammatical structure and its teaching
(Lagos: African University Press, 1968)

Satchwell, P. (1999) Teaching in the Target Language.

SHULMAN, Lee S. Knowledge and Teaching: Foundations of the new reform. Harvard
Educational Review. 57, 1987, p. 1-22.

Wang Qiang. (2000) Primary School English Teaching in China. New Developments.

Wedell, M. (2001). ELT curriculum changes in the 21st century: planning to support
the implementers in their wider and local contexts. Paper presented at the
International Conference on College English Teaching, organized by China College

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English Language Teaching and Research Association and Foreign Language Teaching
and Research Press, May, 2001. Beijing, China

White, R. V. (1988) The ELT Curriculum Oxford: Blackwell.

Notes 2011
1. Information taken from the web site of a Colombian journal.
2. El Espectador Newspaper. Article checked on March 23,
http://www.elespectador.com/noticias/educacion/articulo-249105-ingles-
neuronas.

How to reference this article:
Quiroz, K., Pinilla, A. (2015). Senior students of Primary Education Undergraduate
Program, at the Universidad Tecnológica del Chocó, have insufficient command upon
English language teaching methodology. New Ways Magazine. Research Group in
Didactics of English. Universidad Tecnológica del Chocó.

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Pedagogical Innovation

Juegos didácticos en el aula, estrategia transmedia y tecnología
de realidad aumentada: propuestas y productos para enseñar
inglés

Francisco Moreno Mosquera

Magister en inglés como segunda lengua o lengua extranjera
Diplomado en TIC aplicadas a la enseñanza del inglés
Diplomado en manejo de ambientes virtuales de aprendizaje
Diplomado en Web 2.0 para la docencia universitaria
framomo@hotmail.com

El presente artículo presenta, por un lado, algunas reflexiones en torno a las
potencialidades didácticas de la lúdica y de las más recientes tendencias tecnológicas
surgidas como producto de la evolución de las TICs, cuya explotación como aliados
pedagógicos nos ubica en un estadio más avanzado en el desarrollo de metodologías
modernas para la enseñanza de las lenguas extranjeras. Por otro lado, el artículo
hace una descripción de dos herramientas para la enseñanza del inglés, elaboradas
con base en los criterios pedagógicos y tecnológicos específicamente abordados en
estas reflexiones.

Razones para usar el juego en la enseñanza del inglés
Existe en pedagogía una vieja regla de oro, nacida de la experiencia, que aconseja
enseñar divirtiendo. El hombre, desde la Antigüedad, ha utilizado el juego en la
educación, consciente de su gran importancia como factor de motivación en el
proceso formativo del individuo. Las diferentes teorías de aprendizaje, desde el
Conductismo, pasando por el Cognitivismo, hasta el Constructivismo, y -más
recientemente- el Conectivismo de Siemens (una teoría emergente de aprendizaje
para la era digital), reconocen el rol que juega la actividad lúdica en la adquisición
del conocimiento. Los psicólogos de la escuela cognitiva, por ejemplo, destacan el
papel del juego en el desarrollo psicomotor, afectivo, social, cognitivo y lingüístico
del niño.

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Numerosos estudios en diversas latitudes del mundo han validado, desde una
perspectiva científica, la incorporación del juego como un elemento motivador que
fomenta la creatividad y espontaneidad del alumno. De acuerdo con la psicología del
aprendizaje, hay una relación íntima entre el jugar y el aprender, de manera que su
combinación en el aula propicia la participación espontánea del estudiante en un
ambiente ameno y cómodo.

Desde el punto de vista lingüístico, el juego didáctico activa mecanismos de
aprendizaje de la lengua al tiempo que genera condiciones para el desarrollo eficaz
de la competencia comunicativa, pues el estudiante se involucra en actividades que
demandan el uso del idioma en escenarios de comunicación auténtica. Esto se hace
evidente cuando, por ejemplo, en el desarrollo de un juego el niño formula
preguntas en inglés y da información para llenar un formulario, o cuando participa
en simulaciones (o desempeños de rol), o cuando sigue las instrucciones que le dan
sus compañeros para encontrar un objeto que previamente ha sido escondido
dentro del salón de clases.

Las razones que respaldan la utilización del juego como estrategia de enseñanza del
inglés son múltiples y variadas. Para hacer un breve repaso de ellas, las agruparemos
en tres grandes categorías destacando aquellas razones que tienen mayor incidencia
en el desarrollo de la lengua extranjera.

1. De orden psicológico
2. De orden pedagógico
3. De orden lingüístico

1. Razones de orden psicológico

 El juego y las actividades lúdicas contribuyen al desarrollo de la creatividad,
la imaginación y conducen a que el niño se exprese con naturalidad.

 Se fortalecen ciertas capacidades mentales, como la aptitud verbal.
 Se favorece el desarrollo de habilidades de interacción social, el sentirse

parte integral de un grupo.
 Los juegos, por ser relajantes y entretenidos, dan a los estudiantes tímidos

oportunidad para expresar con libertad sus opiniones y sentimientos ya que
se sienten libres de inhibiciones.

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 Los juegos ayudan a crear una atmósfera agradable y afectiva, disminuyendo
la ansiedad que produce el temor a cometer errores.

2. Razones de orden pedagógico
 Se eleva la motivación. Hay que tener presente que éste es un factor
determinante en el aprendizaje: un alumno altamente motivado estará
mucho más predispuesto a aprender el idioma que uno que no lo esté.
 La enseñanza está centralizada totalmente en el estudiante, no en el
profesor.
 Se hace énfasis en la comunicación efectiva y no en los errores.
 La atención se concentra en el contenido (información) y no en la forma
(estructura gramatical); en otras palabras, el juego es un aliado perfecto del
enfoque comunicativo.
 En concordancia con lo anterior, se favorece la implementación de
estrategias metodológicas orientadas a la interacción y al intercambio de
información tales como group work (trabajo en grupo) y project work
(trabajo por proyectos).
 El juego puede servir en cualquiera de las etapas de la enseñanza de un
punto del syllabus: desde la presentación de un nuevo tema, hasta las etapas
de práctica controlada y de práctica libre. Igualmente puede ser utilizado
para la revisión de temas enseñados en lecciones anteriores.
 Los juegos proveen un elemento de diversión al acto pedagógico en el aula,
y sirven para “romper el hielo”. Inmersos en el ambiente ameno que
generan los juegos, los alumnos asimilan y recuerdan los contenidos de
manera más eficaz.
 Las actividades lúdicas crean un clima positivo, incitan a la participación y
favorecen el trabajo cooperativo, posibilitando que los alumnos más débiles
aprendan de los más aventajados.
 El juego permite la puesta en práctica de diferentes estilos de aprendizaje
(visual, auditivo, cinético, entre otros).

3. Razones de orden lingüístico
 En desarrollo del juego el estudiante tiene la oportunidad de usar el inglés
en situaciones comunicativas auténticas, con el propósito de intercambiar

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mensajes, y no en actividades mecánicas de repetición que la mayoría de las
veces resultan tediosas o aburridas.
 El estudiante usa las diferentes estructuras de la lengua para expresar
funciones comunicativas (pedir y dar información, dar instrucciones,
describir personas u objetos, etc.) y no como simples ejercicios gramaticales
estériles.
 Se ayuda a consolidar hábitos pragmáticos de conversación como respetar
el turno de la palabra y esperar el momento adecuado para intervenir.
 El juego es un recurso idóneo para practicar de manera integrada las
habilidades lingüísticas (escucha, habla, lectura, escritura) así como los
diversos aspectos de la lengua (estructuras, vocabulario, fonética) en
contextos significativos.

A las razones anteriores debemos agregar otras no menos importantes, de orden
axiológico, esto es, relacionadas con la formación en valores. Aunque el propósito
central de los juegos didácticos es -en nuestro caso- la enseñanza de la lengua
extranjera, no podemos olvidar que ellos igualmente contribuyen al fomento de
valores, tales como:

 Respeto
 Tolerancia
 Responsabilidad
 Solidaridad
 Honestidad
 Compañerismo

De lo arriba anotado se desprende una conclusión: es un error considerar el inglés
dentro del currículo escolar como una asignatura consistente en una serie de reglas
gramaticales que el alumno tiene que aprender. El idioma extranjero no debe ser
visto como una materia de estudio, sino como un sistema de comunicación verbal y
escrito que sirve para relacionarnos con otras personas y, hoy en día, para conocer
el mundo y acceder al conocimiento y la información. Por tanto, aprender la lengua
no es almacenar un cúmulo de reglas sino desarrollar habilidades verbales y escritas,
comparable al aprender a caminar, a nadar, a operar una máquina, a manejar un
vehículo, en otras palabras, es adquirir destrezas, cuyo desarrollo exige actividades
prácticas.

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Y es aquí donde el juego didáctico cobra su mayor relevancia, ya que éste ofrece al
estudiante diversas oportunidades no sólo para practicar sino para usar la lengua
con la mente puesta en el cumplimiento de un objetivo, en dar instrucciones, en
debatir una idea, en socializar, en convencer, en negociar, en hacer reír, o en ganar
una competencia. Es decir, el juego ayuda a crear conciencia de que el idioma es
mucho más que un conjunto de estructuras: al jugar, el alumno descubre que el
inglés no es una asignatura sino una herramienta que le sirve para expresarse,
transmitir pensamientos, persuadir, comunicarse.

100 juegos y actividades lúdicas para enseñar inglés: un libro que explota las
potencialidades del juego en el aula.
Un producto didáctico (creado en el departamento del Chocó, Colombia) que toma
en consideración estas reflexiones, y que está siendo utilizado con éxito en varios
países del mundo (Colombia, Argentina, Chile, México, Brasil, Estados Unidos,
España, Reino Unido, Japón y Australia) es el texto titulado “100 juegos y actividades
lúdicas para enseñar inglés”. El libro propone un centenar de actividades sencillas
para practicar en el salón de clase que fomentan la participación de los estudiantes
en actividades comunicativas. El propósito de estos juegos y actividades lúdicas es
brindar espacios para utilizar la lengua en contexto de manera significativa y
divertida. Están concebidos para ser aplicados en momentos posteriores a la
presentación dentro del continuo de la lección, es decir, en las etapas de práctica
controlada y práctica libre, lo cual supone que ya los estudiantes deben estar
previamente familiarizados con las estructuras y el vocabulario que se utilizan en
ellos. Por lo tanto, los juegos propuestos pueden ser usados para revisar contenidos
y, al mismo tiempo, generar oportunidades que les permitan a los estudiantes usar
el inglés para comunicarse en un ambiente ameno y de relajación.

Clasificación de los juegos
El libro contiene un total de 100 juegos y actividades lúdicas, distribuidos por
niveles: elemental, intermedio y avanzado, cada nivel con dos subniveles, ajustados
a los estándares del Marco Común Europeo de Referencia, de acuerdo con su grado
de complejidad, en la siguiente escala:

NIVEL ELEMENTAL NIVEL INTERMEDIO NIVEL AVANZADO
Elemental bajo (A1) Intermedio bajo (B1) Avanzado bajo (C1)
Elemental alto (A2) Intermedio alto (B2) Avanzado alto (C2)

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La cantidad de juegos por niveles es la siguiente:

Nivel No. de juegos
A1 27
A2 25
B1 21
B2 17
C1 6
C2 4
100
Total

Esta distribución cuantitativa obedece a razones estadísticas: la gran mayoría de
estudiantes del inglés está ubicada en el nivel elemental bajo (A1), reduciéndose el
número de alumnos en cada nivel a medida que se asciende en la escala. Por ello
esta distribución se asemeja a una pirámide, con una mayor cantidad de juegos en
la base (27) y una cantidad menor en la cúspide (4).

En el índice temático del libro se encuentra una clasificación de todos los juegos por
temas (habilidades, vocabulario, gramática), de tal manera que el docente encuentra
rápidamente el juego o los juegos que le pueden servir para practicar una estructura
determinada, un vocabulario específico u otros aspectos del inglés.

Transmedia y realidad aumentada: tecnología avanzada para la enseñanza del
inglés
La transmedia, generalmente concebida como una expresión narrativa, consiste en
presentar una historia o contenido a través de diferentes plataformas de
comunicación (página web, videos, radio, televisión, cine, redes sociales, escenarios
presenciales, etc.). La característica principal de este tipo de comunicación es que
cada plataforma exhibe una pieza diferente de la historia y motiva al usuario a
acceder a las demás plataformas para tener una visión global del contenido.
Igualmente se caracteriza porque invita al usuario a involucrarse en el desarrollo de
la narrativa.

De otro lado, la Realidad Aumentada es una tecnología que permite visualizar el
mundo físico combinado con un entorno virtual. A través de la mediación de un

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dispositivo electrónico, es posible ver los objetos reales aumentados con
información adicional no tangible a simple vista.
Un ejemplo de cómo explotar estos avances tecnológicos con fines educativos es el
proyecto titulado “English for Chocó”, materializado en un curso para la enseñanza
del inglés dirigido a estudiantes del departamento del Chocó.

Descripción del proyecto
English for Chocó está concebido como un proyecto transmedia con alcances que
van más allá del aula de clase. Está diseñado para favorecer el aprendizaje del inglés,
facilitando el acceso a sus contenidos a través de diversos canales. Se orienta hacia
el desarrollo de habilidades comunicativas mediante la interactividad y busca, al
mismo tiempo, que emerjan habilidades de aprendizaje autónomo y que los
estudiantes desarrollen destrezas para descubrir otras fuentes de aprendizaje. El
proyecto igualmente tiene una dimensión étnica y cultural, ya que utiliza el idioma
como vehículo para familiarizar al estudiante con valores de la cultura afro
colombiana.

Objetivo general
Contribuir a la formación integral de niños y jóvenes del Chocó mediante el
desarrollo de competencias comunicativas en inglés, la apropiación de las TIC como
herramientas de aprendizaje y el conocimiento de valores culturales a través del
idioma extranjero.

Objetivos específicos
Estos se agrupan en tres campos, a saber: (1) comunicación, (2) apropiación de las
TIC y (3) culturales.

1. Objetivos de comunicación:
Desarrollar habilidades y destrezas para:
-Saludar y presentarse
-Describirse físicamente
-Usar expresiones cotidianas para expresar necesidades inmediatas.
-Responder a preguntas sobre personas, objetos y lugares de su entorno.
-Demostrar comprensión de preguntas sencillas sobre sí mismo, la familia y su
pueblo.
-Comprender descripciones cortas y sencillas de objetos y lugares conocidos.
-Reconocer palabras y frases cortas en inglés

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-Seguir la secuencia de una historia sencilla.
-Escribir palabras que se usan con frecuencia en el salón de clase.
- Responder brevemente a las preguntas “qué, quién, cuándo y dónde”, si se refieren
a la familia, amigos o el colegio.
- Escribir información personal en formatos sencillos.
- Demostrar conocimiento de las estructuras básicas del inglés.

2. Objetivos de apropiación de las TIC
-Fomentar el uso de dispositivos móviles como instrumentos de aprendizaje y fuente
de conocimiento.
-Promover el uso de la Internet como espacio de interacción y fuente de recursos.
-Desarrollar destrezas para el aprendizaje autónomo.

3. Objetivo culturales
-Acceder al conocimiento de aspectos de la cultura chocoana a través del inglés.
-Utilizar el inglés para hablar sobre el departamento del Chocó y sus personajes más
representativos en las artes y el deporte.

Metodología transmedia del proyecto
El curso se desarrolla a través de tres plataformas, cada una con sus propios
objetivos y roles:

1. Plataforma física
2. Plataforma digital
3. Plataforma virtual

La plataforma física está conformada por una cartilla equipada con tecnología de
realidad aumentada. Su objeto es introducir el tema de aprendizaje y ofrecer espacio
para la práctica de lectura, escritura y escucha. Aquí surge una pregunta inevitable:
¿cómo es posible escuchar en una cartilla impresa?; la respuesta está en la
tecnología de realidad aumentada. Con la mediación de un dispositivo móvil, que se
enfoca en las páginas del libro, los textos se hacen audibles y, además, las imágenes
estáticas cobran movimiento (se observan videos en donde se aprecia el uso del
inglés en contextos auténticos).

La plataforma digital está conformada por una app para celulares y tabletas. Su
objetivo particular es el desarrollo de habilidades orales (escucha, habla y

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pronunciación). Implementada con herramientas de reconocimiento de voz, los
ejercicios interactivos permiten practicar el inglés “en vivo” con actividades en las
que el alumno habla e interactúa con personajes virtuales y, además, realiza
ejercicios lúdicos. Mediante un test audio oral el estudiante podrá evaluar sus
habilidades de pronunciación, a través de un sistema de calificación y
retroalimentación automática.
La plataforma virtual es una página web (http://framomo.wix.com/echo) que tiene
por objeto ofrecer recursos adicionales relacionados con el curso y propiciar una
interacción fluida entre estudiantes y docentes. Aquí habrá materiales de
aprendizaje y de enseñanza cuidadosamente seleccionados destinados a alumnos y
profesores, además de foros y salas de chat para la comunicación en tiempo real.
Será un acopio de instrumentos orientados a complementar, reforzar y consolidar el
aprendizaje.

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