Databases

El Portfolio como herramienta de trabajo

“IES Valle del Jiloca” Secondary School is located in Calamocha (Teruel) and each academic year it hosts 350 students approximately coming from Calamocha itself and the rural schools in the area. Due to changes in the school atmosphere throughout the last academic years, in 2004-05 a Project on Coexistence was created, reaching its highest point in school year 2005-06 with the creation of a Spanish classroom for immigrant students. Within this challenging context to address the welcome of immigrant students in the school, on the one hand, and the improvement in the acquisition of language competences for all the students in the school, on the other hand, in school year 2008-09 a group of teachers of the same school was trained on cooperative learning so as to deal with the school diversity. Besides this, the different language departments: French, English and Spanish, after considering the important role of languages in the acquisition of the linguistic competence and its aid in the development of other competences, decide to adapt the European Language Portfolio (ELP) to their school context. That ELP is focused on the language and culture diversity of the school itself and it will be the tool by which the teachers and students will work cooperatively, using an electronic language portfolio to record their reflections and findings. After an initial diagnosis of the situation of each language area and methodological approach in the teaching and learning of languages involved, as well as addressing its implementation in three complementary methodological levels, thus: staff coordination, coordination in the preparation and implementation of the ELP activities at school and in the classroom and coordination for the assessment of language skills, this initiative using the ELP as the key approach to the teaching and learning of languages has been a very enriching experience that has led to its adaptation to the real context of the school. It has also promoted the use of other more comprehensive methodologies (portfolio folders, cooperative learning) and the encouragement of the learning of different languages and cultures, favouring intercultural understanding and integrating both language assistants and students of the Spanish class together with their families. Finally, this initiative has also stimulated social inclusion with the completion of a greater number of joint activities.