Sara McGarry

1. “Ría de Vigo” School
1. School profile
• Contact details:
Address: the school is located in Policarpo Sanz Street number 8, in Vigo (province of
Pontevedra, Spain).
You may contact the school through the telephone number: 986768574 or through the
E-mail: riadevigo@edu.xunta.es
In addition, you can find all the information related to the school on the website:
www.centros.edu.xunta.es/riadevigo
• Description of the school:
“Ría de Vigo” is an urban school, located in the city centre of Vigo. The socio-
economic level of the students and their families are medium-high in most cases and the
parents have a medium-high level of studies.
• Profile of the class and the students:
The class we imagined is second class of junior school. On this stage, the students are
about 7-8 years old. In this class there are 18 students and there are children of different
nationalities: one Chinese, one English, one Muslim and fifteen Spanish. We don’t have
any student that has special needs.
That is the profile of our class, but in total, in the school Ría de Vigo there are 158
students.

2. • The philosophy of our school
In Ría de Vigo we think that education is the pilar of our society. That’s why we
provide students with skills that they’ll use for their whole life: learning how to look for
information, learning rules for daily coexistence, being creative… Our teachers are well
qualified to work in a multicultural atmosphere, to encourage each student to develop
his/her personality, to use motivating activities and ICTs, and in short, to build a good
education.
• Resources:
“Ría de Vigo” is the most important school of Vigo and has very good resources:
In the school there is a soccer field, a basketball court, a swimming pool and a huge
yard for the students to play during breaks or when they go out with friends in the
evenings.
Inside the school there is a computer room with 30 computers, 4 televisions, 4 DVD and
one whiteboard. The computer room can be used with the licence of the headteacher.
There is also a library and a dining room where the students can have lunch at the end
of their classes, in addition to the classrooms for the different levels.
• Staff
Because it is a big school, there are many professionals in different areas:
Our administrative staff is composed of a headteacher, a deputy headteacher and an
assistance headteacher. There are also three coordinators (for early years, key stage and
special education needs, respectively) and one teacher for each class (12 in total).
Additionally, the school has a sign language interpreter because in third class there is
one deaf child.
And we can´t forget the cleaning staff, even though their work begins when classes end.

3. • Members of the English department:
The members that form of the English department in our school are:
Daponte Campos, Jairo.
Figueroa Fernández, Mª Alicia.
McGarry Arena, Sara.
Reigosa Galáns, Francisco.

4. 2. Initial diagnostic
This survey will be given to the parents of the children on the first day of class to know
about their health, their personality, their cultural atmosphere, their way of studying,
their free time and if they do any other studies or activities. They’re open questions:
parents can reply in whatever words they want.
Survey to the parents:
Dear parents,
We are the English teachers of the school Ría de Vigo. We are sending this survey to all
the parents to have more information about our students. By this, we want to improve
the attention we give and to know their likes and dislikes.
1º Has your child any important disease?
2º Does your child have any psychological problem?
3ª Does your child have any allergy?
4º Is your child shy?
5º How many hours does your child study a week?
6º How does your child go to the school? (Way of transport)
7º Does your child assist to extracurricular activities?
8º Where does your child live, in the city or in the rural?
9ª What´s your child’s favourite subject?
10º Do you and your family practice any religion?

5. 3. Activity to know our students in class
Title: Our big house
Description: For this activity, students will draw
their ideal room (bedroom or other), drawing in it
some elements that represent their personal likes
(for example, if they like football they can draw a
ball, if they like One Direction they can draw a
poster, etc). With all the drawings, the class will
make a house mural.
Justification: We think that this activity is appropriate for an urban context with
children from different nationalities, as it encourages each one to develop his/her
personality and finally to unite every picture as a community. We believe that it is ideal
for second class because it’s a simple activity in which they have to use some
vocabulary that they know and some that the teacher will help with.
Steps:
1. The teacher will encourage the students to say some things that you can like or
dislike, giving some example like a food or a film, so that the class makes a list
of items such as “favourite animal”. We make a list of “favourite things”
2. The teacher will explain what the students have to do: A pick whatever items
they want, B think a personal answer to each one (for example, “going to the
park” as an answer to “favourite hobby”) and C draw something that represents
this answer. The teacher will talk in english as much as possible. Students
choose some favourite things and draw them in our room.
3. Each student will follow these steps.
4. Each student will make a brief presentation of his/her room, following the
structure that the teacher will give: “In my room, there is ______ because
______”. The teacher will help out the students with the vocabulary that they
don’t know. Students present their room with the estructure “In my room,
there is ______ because ______”.

6. 5. Each students will stick his/her paper sheet on a big paper and then everyone
will decorate the paper to make it look like a house. We make a big house for
the class.
Resources: one teacher and some students, a black board, paper sheets, some material
to draw or paint (colored pencils, crayons, tempera, magazines to make collage…), blue
and a big roll of paper.
Timing: two sessions.

7. 5. Each students will stick his/her paper sheet on a big paper and then everyone
will decorate the paper to make it look like a house. We make a big house for
the class.
Resources: one teacher and some students, a black board, paper sheets, some material
to draw or paint (colored pencils, crayons, tempera, magazines to make collage…), blue
and a big roll of paper.
Timing: two sessions.