If you were not limited by the demands of the national/regional curriculum, what would you say is the most important thing you would teach your students about your subject (in a CLIL context)? How would you assess their learning?

The school is one of the most important places in our society because it is there where children develop all their skills and where they learn to solve all the problems that society presents. I wish teachers in schools had more freedom to raise issues or activities. That in the current school is not possible because teachers are limited by the demands of the national and regional curriculum.

If I were not limited by the curriculum in my class, I would work on projects that arise from students’ concerns. For example, I would not work in class all the conceptual contents that the curriculum stipulates because I think that there are many contents that the curriculum does not propose to study and which are very important. In my class, I would work oral language skills harder. For this reason, I believe that in the current school is an aspect that is not given the importance that it deserves, but I consider that it is very important that students improve their oral skills, in spite of the fact that I consider is the most important matter is learning to make reference to daily life and student’s environment. Because, in this way, their learning will be meaningful.  

As for evaluation, the most important matter is to assess the learning process, it is not achieving goals the most important matter but student’s process while achieving them. The assessment has to be adapted to the characteristics of each student and teachers should recognize the different types and speeds of learning. Assessment in my classroom would be continuous, assessing all activities, promoting dynamic activities and students participation. Therefore, I would evaluate all the skills and content such as language skills, learning to learn, social and civic, etc. It is important for students to take part in the process actively as well as in their own. Due to that, students must know the items that will be evaluated and become aware of their own evolution through the process of teaching and learning.

Finally, we should not forget, that, if used properly assessing in the classroom, it can be a very valuable tool for students’ learning.