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In the educational field, there is a huge lack of leadership initiatives due to school administrations are the ones in charge of analyzing school matters to make decisions. This issue has been affecting teacher’s role in the community since as good professionals, they are expected to be immersed in learners’ development as part of an institution and know how to beneficiate the entire school by providing relevant ideas as potential leaders. However, the prospective participation of teachers has been unnoticed in many ways. Thus, this proposal attempts to provide two significant insights on how to improve teacher’s autonomy to persuade a positive change in his/her work environment towards the purpose of beneficiating a whole school community. Having the opportunity of participating in some school changes to remove an obsolete educational system and the creation of projects with the contribution of learners and teachers, is our plan to raise leadership in school settings.

Project-based learning or PBL as short is a teaching method that offers students fundamental tools for both cognitive and personal development through the completion of a project aimed at providing alternatives to a real-world problem. Although some researchs have been done on the benefits of PBL, little have emphasized on the characteristics of materials that can be used during the learning process including required standards for improving oral participation. The purpose of this study was to investigate through document analysis the characteristics of materials that must meet the PBL method to improve students’ oral participation. Data included observation, archival data, and reflection. The results showed that the characteristics of the materials to improve oral participation employing PBL must be based on communicative tasks and the learner-centered approach integrated into the general English materials to achieve the purpose. The conclusion is that, although it was difficult to find a document specifying the characteristics needed to help learners improve their oral participation through PBL, teachers are free to create or adapt authentic materials based on approaches whose purpose meets the requirements that learners need to improve

La enseñanza de la escritura en la clase de idioma extranjero puede ser una tarea desalentadora que exige tiempo y esfuerzo de los maestros, pero también requiere que aumenten la conciencia sobre cómo lo hacen actualmente y las razones por las que lo hacen. Muchos docentes no parecen estar conscientes de cómo enseñan la escritura, si lo hacen como práctica del lenguaje o como práctica social. Por lo tanto, esta investigación buscó identificar la comprensión de los docentes acerca de enseñar a escribir en inglés en los cursos de Comunicación en el Programa de Inglés, así como los desafíos que podrían enfrentar al enseñarlo. Los datos se recopilaron de observaciones de clase, el diario del investigador, entrevistas con tres docentes del Programa de Enseñanza del Inglés en la Universidad de Córdoba, y fuentes secundarias como actividades de escritura y los programas del curso. Los resultados mostraron que los docentes tienen creencias sobre cómo enseñar la escritura, generalmente siguiendo un enfoque orientado al producto y al proceso. Sin embargo, los participantes descubrieron instancias en las que han enseñado a escribir como práctica social; aunque, no parecen estar completamente conscientes de las causas. Además, los maestros revelaron que enfrentan desafíos que hacen que la enseñanza de la escritura sea abrumadora y difícil. Se sugiere que se necesita más investigación para continuar explorando cómo los maestros pueden superar los desafíos que enfrentan y hacer uso de un enfoque más equilibrado que integre las formas textuales, centradas en el individuo pero también en lo social.

Listening is the English language skill that models language for students to understand sounds, intonation, pronunciation, differences in accents, and so forth as stated by Tomlinson (1984, cited by Hamouda 2013, p. 117). This skill allows people to share messages effectively making it possible to communicate. After initial observations carried out in a primary school, it was possible to identify students’ difficulties when understanding L2 listening activities. This action-case study explores how primary students’ listening skills may change when using animated cartoons in L2 lessons. The study also investigate students’ perception about this tool. Data was collected through observations, one semi-structured interviews for the students, one structured interview for the teacher, and an initial and final test for the students. Results showed that there was an improvement in students’ listening skills and they recognized it as a good tool for developing the L2.