Inglés para profesores no bilingües de escuela primaria: un programa de formación docente para apoyar el efl

Abstract

The Colombian educational system gives great importance to English in primary education. It is established that English must be taught for five years, from first grade to fifth grade, in both public and private schools. At the end of the fifth academic year, students must reach level A2.1, corresponding to basic level 1 of English proficiency. To achieve this, the government has created projects such as the Colombia Bilingual Program, which seeks to promote the use of English in all educational institutions. In 2016, the Suggested English Curriculum for primary education was created, providing tools for teachers to achieve learning objectives. This document divides the contents into four modules and includes prior knowledge and objectives useful for the teaching and learning process, considering the different grades of primary school. Despite the existence of these resources, in practice it is observed that non-bilingual teachers tend to focus on formal English with an emphasis on grammar, neglecting other methodologies and approaches. This could explain the lack of diversity in English teaching in the real context.