About our 7th. grade "A" 2009 class

The course is formed by 20 Middle School students, attending 7th grade in Colegio “Ambrosio Plaza” in Los Teques, Venezuela, whose ages range from 10 to 12 years old. Many of them have received English classes since Pre–school. In this particular school, English classes are mandatory to all three levels of education: Pre- School, Elementary and High School, and students from Eight Grade to High School receive an extra hour per week, over the three hours a week stipulated in the official Curriculum.

Every class is divided into a “basic” and an “advanced” group, according to the grades obtained during the previous year, or to the results in a mandatory placement test for the newcomers. In this particular school, we English Teachers work with the half of each group in every session, having 25 or less students per class.

With regard to the academic aspects of English Classes in this educational level, the major guidelines we teachers have to follow are those from the Official Curriculum. However, accordingly to their ages, students show great interest in topics related to extreme sports, music, movies and TV shows, and favored the use of audiovisual activities and materials. Therefore, in order to increase motivation the teacher might select texts referring to these subject areas.

The main goal to attain at this level is communicative competence, the capability to communicate proficiently, applying both formal and sociolinguistics aspects of the language and all the components of this syllabus are designed to meet it, as well as to fulfill the needs and interests expressed by the students, this way increasing and maintaining the motivation towards the subject.