Micro-Glocal Project on Age-Related Issues at ‘‘Ramon Pando Ferrer’’ Elementary School 5th year Author: Lázaro Michel Fernández Jaramillo Adviser: Dr. C Diana R. Morales Rumbaut 2019-2020 Este documento es Propiedad Patrimonial de la Universidad Central “Marta Abreu” de Las Villas, y se encuentra depositado en los fondos de la Biblioteca Universitaria “Chiqui Gómez Lubián” subordinada a la Dirección de Información Científico Técnica de la mencionada casa de altos estudios. Se autoriza su utilización bajo la licencia siguiente: Atribución- No Comercial- Compartir Igual Para cualquier información contacte con: Dirección de Información Científico Técnica. Universidad Central “Marta Abreu” de Las Villas. Carretera a Camajuaní. Km 5½. Santa Clara. Villa Clara. Cuba. CP. 54 830 Teléfonos.: +53 01 42281503-1419 ACKNOWLEDMENTS I would like to express my deep and sincere gratitude to my adviser Dr. C Diana Rosa Morales Rumbaut for giving me the opportunity to do research and providing invaluable guidance througout this research. Her dynamism, vision, sincerity and motivation have deeply inspired me. It was a great privilege and honor to work and study under her guidance. I am extremely grateful to my mother and grandmother for their love, prayers, caring and sacrifices for educating and preparing me for my future. My special thank goes to my causin Mario Suarez for his guidence, support and understanding. To all my classmates including those who could not finish for lighting me up with their recommendations when I needed them the most. I am thankful to all my teachers and friends who have been always helping and encouraging me though out the years. I have no valuable words to express my thanks, but my heart is still full of the favours received from every person. ABSTRACT This research was conducted to Elementary Education students with the purpose of enhancing Citizenship Education, and to contribute promoting awareness mainly about age-related issues. After the implementation of some empirical methods like: survey, interview, analysis of documents and participant observation; this research reveals that elementary students lack knowledge, attitudes, acting ways and sensitiveness to the elderly. These research deeps into the theoretical and methodological background on the topic and it offers outstanding information regarding age-related issues connecting global and local perspectives. The final scientific result was gathered in a system of extracurricular activities by using storytelling and short stories through the teaching learning process of English in such a way to promote young learners’ awareness on age-related issues as to be better citizens ready to face the challenges of the 21st century. RÉSUMÉ Cette recherche s’adresse aux étudiants de l’école primaire. Le but de cette recherche est d’améliorer l’éducation civique chez eux en termes de connaissance, d’habileté, d’attitude et des actions, spécifiquement liée à la relation entre les enfants et les personnes âgées. Déférentes méthodes empiriques (comme l’enquête et l’observation participante) ont été menées pour évaluer les besoins des étudiants. Les analyses des résultats ont révélé que l’échantillon des étudiants enquêtés avait une connaissance très limitée sur le thème, c’est pourquoi leurs attitudes devaient être corrigées. Les bases théoriques et méthodologiques sur le sujet sont données. Elles fournissent des informations globales et locales remarquables sur le thème et des concepts. Le résultant ce un groupe des activités extrascolaires afin de sensibiliser les élèves aux problèmes liés à l’âge. ACKNOWLEDMENTS ..................................................................................................................... 3 ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................................... 4 RÉSUMÉ ............................................................................................................................................ 5 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................. 8 DISCUSSION .................................................................................................................................. 15 1. Needs assessment: ............................................................................................................ 15 1.1 Psychological characteristics of the subjects of research: ....................................... 15 1.2 Analysis of the results: ................................................................................................... 17 Knowledge: ........................................................................................................................................ 18 Attitudes: ........................................................................................................................................... 18 Skills and Actions: .............................................................................................................................. 19 1.3 Regularities: ..................................................................................................................... 19 Strengths:......................................................................................................................................... 19 Weaknesses: ................................................................................................................................... 20 2. Theoretical and methodological foundations about Global Education in Foreign Language Teaching. ...................................................................................................................... 21 2.1 Previous international experiences on global education in Foreign Language Teaching. ..................................................................................................................................... 21 2.2 The role of Foreign Language Teaching-Learning Process in the XXI Century. ....... 22 2.3 Global Issues in the Foreign Language Teaching-Learning Process in the XXI Century. ........................................................................................................................................ 23 2.4 Global citizenship education in the world and in the Cuban context. .......................... 24 2.5 Storytelling: a successful technique to attain global citizenship education in the Foreign Language Teaching-Learning Process in the XXI Century. .................................. 26 2.6 Micro-glocal projects as tangible extracurricular impacts of the relation University- Society in the Cuban Context. .................................................................................................. 29 3. Building-up process. ........................................................................................................... 31 3.1 Description of the building-up process: ............................................................................ 31 3.2 Evaluation of the transformations. ..................................................................................... 36 3.2.1 Philosophical foundations: .................................................................................................. 38 3.2.2 Pedagogical foundations: .................................................................................................... 38 3.2.3 Psychological foundations:.................................................................................................. 38 3.2.4 Methodological foundations: ............................................................................................... 40 3.2.5 Characteristics of the result ................................................................................................ 40 3.2.6 Final scientific result ............................................................................................................. 40 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................................. 50 SUGGESTIONS ............................................................................................................................. 51 References ...................................................................................................................................... 52 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................................... 53 Annex: .............................................................................................................................................. 55 Annex 1: Survey ......................................................................................................................... 55 Annex 2: Interview to the teacher that guides the group ...................................................... 56 Annex 3: Document Analysis: ................................................................................................... 56 Annex 4 ........................................................................................................................................ 57 Annex 5 ........................................................................................................................................ 57 Annex 6 ........................................................................................................................................ 58 INTRODUCION 8 INTRODUCTION Language is our primary source of communication. Through it we share our ideas and thoughts with others. There are several factors that make English language essential for communication in the XXI century. It is the most common foreign language in commerce, science, technology and cultural exchanges. It is considered a lingua franca because it is worldwide spread as a means of communication. That is why everyone must learn the language in order to approach an international level and to attain that goal foreign language teachers are essential. Foreign language teachers must convey an educational dimension to the class. One of the aims has been to bring real-world issues into the classroom. Hence, teachers of English can make a difference with the lessons they teach and the students they inspire. A growing number of professionals have come to believe that language teachers are more than just teachers of language. Through what they teach, their attitudes and practices, they have an enduring influence on the future attitudes and personalities of their students. Collateral learning in the way of the formation of enduring attitudes are as important as the lesson on grammar and vocabulary. There are no quick-fix solutions to the 21st global issues. But many would argue that the teacher of English has a major role to play in helping to change unhelpful mindsets, and in raising awareness of the problems and issues, rather than continuing to turn a blind eye to them. One of the key objectives of the UNESCO for the 2014-2021 is the Global Citizenship Education: Preparing learners for the challenges of the 21st century. This kind of organization has defined how education can develop knowledge, skills, values and attitudes. Learners need to build a more just, peaceful and sustainable world and to thrive as global citizens in the 21st century. GCE (Global Citizenship Education) it is not only about global themes, global problems and how to find solutions all together. It is also about how to envision a common future with better INTRODUCION 9 life conditions for all, connecting local and global perspectives. This can be worked at school as part of the curriculum but also in extracurricular activities. Global issues that affect mankind can also be found in the Cuban society due to different factors such as: stress, lowering of birth rates, increasing life expectancy among others. UNESCO actively contributed to the shaping of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. One of the main principles of the agenda is supporting countries in making this transformative change, through its work to ensure that all learners have the skills and knowledge they need to become responsible, green, global citizens; for the development of sustainable solutions to mitigate and adapt to global challenges developing strategies adapted to local contexts. This is explicitly expressed in the objective number four of the agenda and its indicators are shown on 4.7, those aspects will be critically addressed by the author in the theoretical chapter. Several specialists have carried out some researches on Global Issues as part of Global Citizenship Education such as: Cates (2002) and Rascón (2013) and also it has been objective of the research lines for students of Foreign Languages in our teaching program such as: Pérez (2018) and Gómez (2018). The first one on audio pollution and the second one on civic education but none on age-related issues, revealing an unexplored area in the Cuban context. Hence, it is the author’s view point, based on the practice carried out on 4th year and on the theory studied, that through the teaching of English, particularly through storytelling extracurricular activities many positive changes can be attained in the young generations such as: increasing knowledge and awareness in students on being sensitive to the elderly, which shows the concern on global and local issues in our society and the importance given to promote awareness among the students. This is considered the first cycle of the present research. The observation done to the students at “Ramón Pando” elementary school group 6th A, where the author carries out the teaching practice and the study of the students’ records have allowed the author to agree that these students have a INTRODUCION 10 potential to grow as human beings who can be better prepared to face the challenges of the 21st century since they have high levels of motivation to learn the language and they live in a community in which they face the challenges already mentioned above regarding age-related issues. On 5th year as a teacher at “Ramon Pando” Elementary School a surplus of information was gathered that allows the author to move to a second cycle of the present research. To carry out this research the author decided to perform extracurricular activities at “Ramón Pando” elementary school. It was decided to explore if the students were motivated to learn about the issues mentioned above and they showed high levels of motivation; they were all willing to participate and they agreed on doing the activities in an extracurricular way which will require extra planning. After some interviews were administered to the students, the author acknowledged that most of them live with elders and sometimes they do not show mastery on how to treat them. Some of the possible causes can be encountered in the lack of knowledge, skills, attitudes and actions regarding the way they deal with such issue. The author considered important to highlight the point that there is a positive learning atmosphere shown in the fact that the whole class is very motivated to learn how to be better citizens which is a good start for this research and it was also corroborated that curricular activities are very limited in elementary school, particularly in 6th grade but extracurricular activities can be enhanced so as to contribute to change the present reality. Hence, taking into account the existent problematic situation, the author identified the following scientific problem: Scientific problem: How to contribute to promote the students’ awareness on age-related issues in class 6th A from ‘‘Ramon Pando’’ elementary school? Object of a research: INTRODUCION 11 Glocal awareness through the teaching learning process of English in class 6th A from ‘‘Ramon Pando’’ elementary school. Objective: To Build–up a scientific result to raise the students’ awareness on age- related issues as better citizens ready to face the challenges of 21st century. Scientific Questions: 1. What strengths and weaknesses are found in class 6th A at ‘‘Ramon Pando’’ elementary school regarding age-related issues? 2. What theoretical background supports the role of age-related issues in the teaching learning process of English? 3. What changes could be introduced in class 6th A at Ramón Pando elementary school to promote students’ awareness on age-related issues. 4. What went well and what did not go well during the introduction of the changes in class 6th at ‘‘Ramon Pando’’ elementary school? 5. What are the main transformations that occur in the subjects of research with the glocal micro-project? 6. What scientific result will emerge of the building up process carried out during the research? Scientific tasks: 1. Diagnosis of the students' strengths and weaknesses concerning age- related issues. 2. Establishment of the theoretical and methodological bases that support the role of age-related issues in the TLP of English. 3. Introduction of the necessary changes in the teaching learning process (TLP) of English in class 6th A at ‘‘Ramon Pando’’ elementary school. INTRODUCION 12 4. Evaluation of the changes introduced to develop age-related issues awareness in class 6th A at ‘‘Ramon Pando’’ elementary school. 5. Evaluation of the transformations occurred in the subjects of research regarding age-related issues awareness. 6. The final scientific product that emerged as a result of the building up process. Scientific methods Theoretical level  Historical-logical It was used to evaluate the antecedents, evolution and tendencies promoting student’s awareness on age-related issues.  Analytic-synthetic It was used to process the theory, to obtain the necessary information from the different primary sources consulted on age-related issues.  Inductive-deductive It has been used mainly to analyze the data obtained through the different empirical instruments administered, and during the building up process of the final scientific result.  Systemic Approach: It was used to establish the relationship between the different activities of the built-up system to potentiate age-related issues awareness. Empirical level These methods were administered to gather all the necessary data to deepen in the problematic situation formerly described. INTRODUCION 13  Analysis of Document It was used to know about the role given to citizenship education within the 6th Grade book and textbook in Elementary School and in the Methodological guidelines for teachers of English as a Foreign Language in Elementary Education. It was also used to know about the guidelines established for the entire school year in the educative strategy.  Survey It was administered to the students in order to have more information about their knowledge, attitudes and awareness in relation to citizenship education and specifically about age-related issues and becoming sensitive to elderly.  Interview It was administrated to the teacher that guides the group, to the “Camacho- Libertad” community leader and to the principal of the school, to some other teachers of the staff and also to an informal group of discussion to gather information about what it is done about age-related issues awareness, and to evaluate the advantages of this proposal.  Participant Observation: To the subjects of research regarding knowledge, attitudes, and awareness in relation to citizen education and specifically about age-related issues.  Triangulation This method allowed the author to identify the regularities about the scientific problem detected using the data obtained through the administration of different empirical methods. Mathematical level  Percentage analysis INTRODUCION 14 It was used to process the information obtained from the implementation of the instruments before and after the building up process of the final scientific result, as a means to back up qualitative information given. DISCUSSION 15 DISCUSSION 1. Needs assessment: As a way of corroborating the problematic situation described in the introduction of this study, several empirical methods were administered to the subjects of research following some categories in order to obtain as much information as possible about the students’ weaknesses and strengths regarding their knowledge, attitudes, skills and actions on the glocal issues of the XXI century. 1.1 Psychological characteristics of the subjects of research: Cuban and Foreign researchers and teachers have studied the characteristics of young learners in elementary school. Among the foreign ones can be mentioned: Howard (2006), Chomsky and Greenburg (2004) and one of the most well-known in the Cuban context is Arias (2009). Primary students seek to belong. More important than any curriculum or instruction is a culture of love, warmth, and beauty. Children are keen observers of the environment and adult behavior – what they see when they walk into the classroom, how they are greeted by their teacher and classmates, and how they perceive social interactions all have a profound effect on their sense of belonging (Howard, 2006). It is the author’s believe that for attaining a successful teaching-learning process of English in elementary school, it is essential for teachers to understand children’s characteristics; instincts, interests in their cognitive, linguistic and emotional aspects agreeing with (Howard, 2006) stated before. Children are imaginative beings who love pictures to learn new vocabulary related to concrete meaning. They also enjoy imitating and are skillful in listening accurately and mimicking what they have heard. Children have limited knowledge about the world but it is a fact that they enjoy fantasy, imagination and movements. The subjects of research are 30 students who belong to a unique group at ‘‘Ramon Pando’’ Elementary School. They are children. All of them are 11 years old. They DISCUSSION 16 show interest to learn about different topics. They also show motivation to know about glocal issues and how to contribute to solve some of them but they lack knowledge, attitudes and awareness about age-related issues as a global issue of the 21st century. The selected categories and sub-categories in this research were extracted from the analysis of key concepts such as: glocal issues, citizen education and storytelling that revealed the ways to operate with glocal issues consciousness during the research and covered the elements that were prominent for the objective of this paper. Categories: Subcategories: 1. Knowledge: To help the social groups and individuals to acquire knowledge about elderly, being sensitive to elders’ handicaps, as part of the citizen education. -Identification of different kinds of global and local issues -Definition of concepts: global and local issues. -Knowledge up-dateless about elderly and age-related issues as one of the glocal issues of the 21st century. 2. Attitudes: To help social groups and individuals to acquire a set of values toward the elderly. -Recognition of respect and dignity as values and sensitiveness towards elderly through extracurricular activities. -Attitudes of global and local awareness such as developing empathy through storytelling. -Responsible citizenship attitudes connecting global to local issues. DISCUSSION 17 3. Skills and Actions: After working with glocal issue by means of storytelling putting in practice listening and reading skills, the social group and individuals will produce actions connecting global thinking to local acting. -Development of skills in the language and capacities, integrating deeper learning and creativity. -Active involvement in activities developing listening and reading skills such as identifying the general idea, guessing at unknown words and discriminating details. -Demonstrated actions in which the students have to think globally and act locally. 1.2 Analysis of the results: The following information was gathered by first analyzing the results of each instrument administered to the subjects of research during the needs assessment phase, and later by triangulating these results according to the categories and sub- categories defined in order to identify the regularities. The document analysis carried out revealed that in the English workbook, none of the units work with sensitiveness towards elders’ handicaps in order to improve citizen education, also there were not methodological suggestions about the teaching of such contents in the English syllabus, neither extracurricular activities planned. On the other hand, this content can be found in the subject of civic education which is part of the curriculum and the textbook for this subject contains illustrations which could be potentially useful for this research while attaining interdisciplinary relations. There are contents of the English syllabus that facilitate working with glocal issues particularly with age-related issues and student’ s sensitivity to elder people (family members, etc). As an extracurricular activity in the International Day of Older Persons (October 1st), there are also opportunities to work on providing knowledge and awareness in the students. DISCUSSION 18 Knowledge: Regarding this category, the survey applied to the subjects of the research showed that they could define some of the main global concepts such as: global and local issues but most of them could not define age-related issues as a glocal issue. While asking them through question number 2 in the survey to identify different kinds of glocal issues all the subjects of research could identify global warming, pollution, water pollution (Environmental education). On the contrary, they could not identify any issue related to age-related issues. Also questions number 3 and 4 of the survey were intended to check the students’ awareness of age-related issues, and here 8 out of the total which represents (27%) of the students were not aware of the presence of age-related issues. The participant-observation permitted to express that most of the subjects of research contribute to elders’ care because according to what they said they keep a correct behavior to elder people mainly the ones in their families. Many grandparents are the ones in charge of taking care of different activities the subjects of this research commonly do such as: attending school every day, attending extracurricular activities, etc. The interview to the teacher that guides the group showed that there is an educative strategy which contains some general actions to develop Environmental education mainly devoted to enhance curricular activities such as: global warming, pollution and water pollution. Some of these activities could not be completed. There is not a strategy dealing with citizen education in English subject. Attitudes: While deepening into this category the survey brought about light on the fact that the majority of the students considered themselves not ready to recognize values towards age-related issues but most of them are willing to learn. The self-observation carried out allow the author to corroborate that the subjects of research are ready to recognize values towards elder people. At the beginning of DISCUSSION 19 the extracurricular activity the subjects of research were misbehaving, but while and after the activity the subjects of research were getting more serious, respectful and sensible to the story. The changing faces and mood of the subjects of research allowed the author to corroborate awareness throughout the process. The interview to the staff showed that on the part of the teachers there have been actions devoted to develop attitudes regarding other kinds of glocal issues, mainly, environmental issues but still most teachers are not mindful of the need to develop awareness regarding age-related issues. Skills and Actions: The document analysis carried out to the contents of the subject and to the syllabus revealed that though there are no treatment conceived to age-related issues, neither explicit action to develop listening and reading skills in the students. The participant observation done to the subjects of research demonstrated that at the beginning the students showed a minimum of interest to the topic but as the extracurricular activity went on, the students showed signs of creativity and involvement by means of reflecting what they understood about the issue including capacities integrating deeper knowledge. The interview to the staff showed that though no activities have been included about this particular kind of issue in the educative strategy, here is a potential in the students that could be developed while motivating them about the topic by involving them actively in some extracurricular activities. The staff do not know of any organization in the community which works with this topic. 1.3 Regularities: Strengths: 1- The majority of the students know what glocal issues are. 2- There are contents of the English syllabus that facilitate working with glocal issues particularly with age-related issues and sensitiveness to elderly (family members, etc). As an extracurricular activity Ex: International Day of DISCUSSION 20 Older Persons (October 1st), there are also opportunities to work on providing knowledge and awareness in the students. Weaknesses: 1. The students lack knowledge about age-related issues and elder’ s handicaps. 2. Poor participation of social and mass organizations in promoting age-related issues awareness. 3. The students do not participate in any activity to develop skills on age- related issues awareness. 4. Teachers don’t take advantage of storytelling as one of the most powerful tools to educate young learners in the TLP of English. DISCUSSION 21 2. Theoretical and methodological foundations about Global Education in Foreign Language Teaching. The previously stated needs required the author’s deepening into the theoretical and methodological foundations about this issue which covered international experiences and the role of foreign languages lessons and teachers in attaining better results and impacts in the young generations. 2.1 Previous international experiences on global education in Foreign Language Teaching. For language teachers, the most significant attempt to deal with language teaching and world problems is UNESCO’s Linguapax project. The name comes from the Latin words lingua (language) and pax (peace) and refers to a series of seminars dealing with language teaching for international understanding. The first Linguapax conference, held in 1987 in Kiev, USSR, brought together such groups as the International Association of Applied Linguistics, International Association for the Development of Cross-cultural Communication, and World Federation of Modern Language Associations to discuss “Content and Methods of Teaching Foreign Languages and Literature for Peace and International Understanding.” The resulting Linguapax Kiev Declaration made four recommendations to foreign- language teachers:  Be aware of their responsibility to further international understanding through their teaching.  Increase language teaching effectiveness so as to enhance mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and cooperation among nations.  Exploit extracurricular activities such as pen-pal programs, video exchanges, and overseas excursions to develop international understanding. DISCUSSION 22  Lay the basis for international cooperation through classroom cooperation using language-teaching approaches responsive to students’ interests and needs. Global issues can be included in teaching content even when students are just starting to learn the sounds of the foreign language. One example is the Japanese junior high school EFL text Cosmos English Course (Oura et al. 1989: 5), which teaches the sounds of English by using the example word “peace” to teach the English sound /p/. Grammar, usually felt by students to be one of the dullest areas of language study, can also be taught with a global perspective through a change of content. One organization that promotes global education among language teachers in Asia is the “Global Issues in Language Education” Special Interest Group (GILE SIG) of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT). The GILE SIG was officially established in June 1991 and now has a history of over 10 years of research, education, and action. Its official aims are to:  Promote the integration of global issues, global awareness, and social responsibility into foreign-language teaching.  Promote networking and mutual support among educators dealing with global issues in language teaching.  Promote awareness among language teachers of important developments in global education, and the related fields of environmental education, human rights education, peace education, and development education. 2.2 The role of Foreign Language Teaching-Learning Process in the XXI Century. Before discussing the relationship between the 21st century skills and EFL learning and teaching, the author wants to start by briefly characterizing the EFL context today. Rogers (2000) stated that the 20th century saw an immense amount of activity in language teaching methods and approaches. One of the most well- known methods was and still is Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). With its DISCUSSION 23 emphasis on communicative competence, learner-centeredness and interaction, not only has CLT influenced syllabus design and methodology, it has also paved the way for new methodologies such as content and language integrated learning (Richards, 2006). English should not be treated as a simple linguistic code or, even, as a set of competences. Instead, English should be regarded as a global language that people can use to express their local identities and to communicate intelligibly with others. (Crystal, 2006). English language educators need to develop activities that engage learners in the kind of authentic tasks and problem-solving activities that they will actually need in the future. The importance of selecting content that can complement the cultural and civic education of students from the elementary education on, as a continuum has been expressed by J. Bricall et al.,2000; UNESCO,2009 a) and endorsed by Ortiz y Sanz (2016) Consequently, schools in the 21st century and EFL classrooms in particular, should provide students with practices and processes focused on acquiring and developing, among other things, creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, initiative and self-direction in order to face the challenges of the century. Ultimately, EFL classrooms need to be filled with meaningful and intellectually stimulating activities, practices, and processes that allow students to not just articulate thoughts and ideas effectively using oral and written communication, but to also understand different perspectives, make judgments and decisions, and work creatively. 2.3 Global Issues in the Foreign Language Teaching-Learning Process in the XXI Century. Global education is an approach to language teaching which aims at enabling students to effectively acquire and use a foreign language while empowering them with the knowledge, skills, and commitment required by global citizens for the solution of world problems. DISCUSSION 24 There are some Language Education Special Interest Groups and organizations that deal with global issues, one of the most important is Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT) which aims to: promote the integration of global issues, global awareness, and social responsibility in language teaching, foster networking and mutual support among language educators dealing with global issues. Also, promote awareness among students of important developments in citizen education in the 21st century taking to account some fields such as environmental education, peace education, development education and age-related issues education. Glocal is an adjective that is considered a well-formed acronym from global and local, which is frequently used in the economic field, but also in other field such as culture and education. According to the Oxford dictionary, glocal is an Anglicism that is defined as to both global and local factors or meets characteristics of both realities’. To explain this concept, the following phrase is often mentioned: "Think globally and act locally." It is an acronym based on global and local voices, identical and valid in both English and Spanish. This novel concept has been included in the 2020 Dictionary.com Thesaurus as follows: Glocal [ gloh-kuh l] of or relating to the interconnection of global and local issues, factors, etc. It is the author’s believe that Cuban teachers of English can benefit from the fact of establishing networks with the members of this association and at the same time they can exchange their experiences in the Cuban context regarding such issues which have been included in the 2030 agenda for sustainable development and are guiding our educational results to higher levels compared to the ones attained some years ago. 2.4 Global citizenship education in the world and in the Cuban context. Global Citizenship Education (GCE) is seen as a transformative pedagogy that can empower learners to resolve growing global challenges, building a more just and DISCUSSION 25 sustainable world. Researcher advocate for GCE as an approach to education that could help resolve growing global challenges in the 21st century. International education curricula will also be examined, to identify how they address the issue of global citizenship and what teaching and learning practices they suggest to develop students’ global awareness. A third level of analysis by the UNESCO will involve exploring teachers’ and students’ perceptions and practices towards GCE, seeking to grasp how key players in learning have acquired knowledge of global issues in different educational contexts. It is really important to find a way to connect intentional and national perspectives. According to Oxfam’s curriculum guide for schools (2006), the key objectives for what is considered to be a “responsible global citizenship” are categorized in knowledge, skills and values that students should acquire in order to become “good” and “responsible global citizens” GCE is an approach to education which according to a UNESCO allows learners to understand who they are, their place in the society, meaning to understand what are the global issues that affect their lives, how they can in their daily lives influence global issues, processes, phenomena, as well as how they can use their understanding of global processes to improve their lives on local level. One of the main values included in the Cuban context are: the pursuit of happiness, respect, honesty, peace, justice, human equality and solidarity. But some other can be improved like caring the environment, respect to elders and good values in the society. It has been our president constant claim to the whole Cuban society and particularly to educators to constantly contribute to the formation of better citizens. He has stated...” apart from the role of the family, it is the school role to form better human beings...” (2019). It is the author’s viewpoint that to provide the students with the necessary tools to do what is right-acting in the interest of the collective and humanity as a whole, is of great importance and in doing so, FL Teachers can be leaders because they are highly qualified professionals in the educational field ready to put into practice new ideas that can contribute to form better citizens for the 21st Century. DISCUSSION 26 2.5 Storytelling: a successful technique to attain global citizenship education in the Foreign Language Teaching-Learning Process in the XXI Century. Telling stories is one of the most powerful means that leaders have to influence, teach and inspire. Stories convey the culture, history and values that unit people. Good stories do more than create a sense of connection. They allow the listener more open to learn. Stories are more engaging than a dry recitation of data points or discussion of abstract ideas. Through a story, listeners experience a vicarious feeling for the past and a oneness with various cultures of the present as they gain insight into the motives and patterns of human behavior. Storytelling provokes a shared response of laughter, sadness, excitement and anticipation which is not only enjoyable but can help build up child’ s confidence and encourage social and emotional development. Frequent repetition allows certain language items to be acquired while others are being overly reinforced. Many stories also contain natural repetition of key vocabulary and structures. This help children to remember every detail. Listening to stories develops the child’ s listening and concentrating skills via: visual clues (for example, pictures and illustrations) and their general knowledge. (Dujmovic, 2005, p. 77) Many publishers produce simplified storybooks especially for children learning English. The advantage of using authentic storybooks is that they provide examples of “real” language and help to bring the real world into the classroom. Furthermore, the quality of illustration is of a high standard, appealing to the young learner, and it plays an important role in aiding general comprehension of “real” language. Language is an interactive process, children learning a language need ample opportunity to interact in a meaningful, interesting context and play with the language while developing vocabulary and structures. Children have an innate love of stories. Stories create magic and sense of wonder at the world. Stories bring a lot of benefits, promoting a feeling of well-being and relaxation, encouraging active participation by using imagination and creativity and also developing listening skills. DISCUSSION 27 Reading or telling stories in another language is more interesting and fun for students. Children will learn syllables, sounds and words of a new language, these words usually linked to the pictures on the page. It is the author’s believe that through storytelling many glocal issues can be analyzed. There is a general consensus among the authors that global citizenship education equips learners with the knowledge, skills, and values to navigate and live together in an increasingly interdependent world and to work collectively toward solutions to the planet’s pressing problems such as human age-related issues, global poverty, and environmental degradation (Abdi & Shultz, 2008; Davies, 2006; Hicks & Holden, 2007; Marshall, 2011; Schattle,2008). An emerging topic has raised concerns that global education practices tend to emphasize an awareness of “distant others,” thus reinforcing a “them/us” mentality at the expense of linking local and global challenges and engaging students in critical analysis of global issues (Andreotti, 2006; Jefferess, 2012; Mundy et al., 2007; Taylor, 2012). Although there is emerging way in which teachers are using storytelling to advance the goals of global citizenship education. Storytelling is evolving as a potentially powerful innovation to support the aims of global citizenship education. Creating narratives offers an opportunity for students to learn through stories about many of the problems we are facing in the 21st century. Storytelling leads participants through a process of sharing lived experiences in a story circle that results a blending of personal narratives with real content, including voice-over pictures and text. Storytelling in the development of listening skills. Storytelling highly contributes in the development of listening and therefore also improves pupil’s concentration and comprehension skills. While the teacher tells the story in the classroom, students have to pay attention and understand the meaning of different words, linguistic structures and so on in order to comprehend the already-above mentioned story. DISCUSSION 28 Storytelling in the development of reading skills. The process of comprehension when listening to the spoken word is similar in many respects to understanding the written word. In the article “The power of story: using storytelling to improve literary learning” Sara Miller and Lisa Pennycuff state that storytelling can be used as an effective means to increase early literacy and promote reading comprehension skills (Haven & Ducey 2007) Learners will need to listen to stories with pictorial information to provide a context for understanding the word. Gradually the children will become more confident in reading the written word on its own. Finally, it is said this skill can be also developed through different reading activities related to the story. Storytelling in the development of oral interaction. Storytelling contributes in the development of this skill. After telling a story the teacher normally will ask pupils different questions about it. Pupils then will answer establishing communication with the teacher. Also, while doing different storytelling activities pupils might speak to each other resolving doubts, they also might participate in group activities where they communicate with the teacher and so on. The author’s experience during the practicum in the Cuban context and the theory studied allowed to point out some key procedures to be followed while working with storytelling. Procedures suggested 1. Determine the glocal theme potential in the story. 2. Determine the educative objective (s) 3. Design tasks to meet the glocal issue impact in terms of knowledge, skills, values, attitudes and actions. 4. The teacher should create a positive atmosphere in the classroom. 5. Organize the class in a different way proving a sense of sharing. (semicircles, story corner) DISCUSSION 29 6. Speak clearly and slow. 7. Use visual supports and make comments about them. 8. Use gestures and facial expressions in order to help meaning. 9. Evaluate the main transformations attained in the students and in the community. 2.6 Micro-glocal projects as tangible extracurricular impacts of the relation University-Society in the Cuban Context. Despite the fact that there is a growing awareness about the importance of concrete realizations of the link university-society in our country and particularly in Universidad Central “Marta Abreu” de Las Villas, as a need to go on attaining higher social impacts, there are still gaps that can be filled and ideas that can be put into practice to transform the present social reality. One of the ways to contribute to the change is by developing socio-cultural projects in our communities. They can constitute one of the main ways to be developed from the University in order to improve the cultural life in the community and in the whole country. In them, schools play an essential role as institutions and teacher and students can work together in order to contribute to solve identified problems in the community. A macro project is a long term project that involves different institutions and which allows for broader view of what you want to transform in the community while micro projects are those that conform a macro projects and are considered very intense. Venue, (2019) These projects allow the direct approach to the reality in the community and the evaluation of possible solutions to the problems. Community projects are characterized by proposing, based on the needs and interests in the community and in correspondence to the professionals’ profiles involved, creative solutions to a glocal problem. Authors, will develop activities, actions and tasks that allow the positive transformation of the reality to an upper level leading the participants and beneficiaries to a social transformation. DISCUSSION 30 In the present research the author tackles age-related issues, as one glocal problem determined in the community where the practicum is carried out by developing extracurricular activities ECAs which have experienced a renewed interest since they can provide complementary learning experiences to those occurring within the classroom. ECAs develop skills such as initiative, problem solving, leadership, planning, and social relations not traditionally part of the academic curriculum specifically youth report feeling a sense of motivation, challenge, and engagement during the extracurricular activities. (Larson 2000) DISCUSSION 31 3. Building-up process. One of the recommendations presented by Cates was to exploit extracurricular activities while using language teaching approaches responsive to student’s interest and needs. (Cates 2002: 43) The need assessment and the deepening into the theoretical and methodological backgrounds regarding age related issues, as one global issue, allow the author to create his own contribution to change the present situation and to meet the challenges of an increasingly fluid 21st century paradigm by enabling students to meta-learn across different contexts and using different skills, knowledge, and values and actions that will arm them with the capacity to develop and contribute to multiple knowledge communities, which is of primary importance in the 21st century. 3.1 Description of the building-up process: The author of this paper carried out the 4th year practicum at ‘‘Ramon Pando’’ elementary school during the academic year 2018-2019, considered as the first cycle of the present research. Throughout this time, it was considered to apply a system of extracurricular activities entailed to develop consciousness and sensitiveness regarding age-related issues since it had been determined as a central topic to be tackled in the students as one of the glocal issues of the 21st century which requires attention and transformations. This system was composed by 5 activities but only 3 were applied as a way to contribute to lessen negative impacts regarding this matter which is a priority in the Cuban population and an unexplored, up-to-date field. The result obtained were presented as a major paper in June 2018. The second cycle of the present action research was carried out during the period September 2019-February 2020. During this period some changes were introduced to improve the system such as: two more extracurricular activities were created, DISCUSSION 32 others were re-planned taking into account the theory and practice and the characteristics of the group. The discussion group created for the research analyzed the initial proposal of extracurricular activities, and it was recommended that it must be flexible to any adaptation so as to attain the needs of the subjects of research which is singular because they are in elementary school. Besides, it was considered that the extracurricular activities could be created by the author, but these ones should be revised by the discussion group and teachers of the year staff. Following these suggestions, the author made a thorough analysis of the results of each activity once it was implemented by means of several peer observations that were carried out to the subjects of research. Notes were taken down about what went well or not in the extracurricular activities, what the students’ reactions were, whether verbal and non-verbal because they were all considered of importance for the research. The first story used was entitled “Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge” by Mem Fox The first activity was designed with the objective that the subjects of research could become familiar with the main concepts regarding age-related issues mainly its mental handicaps. In the pre-activity the author introduced the vocabulary that is going to be used in the classroom. The author made use of the pictures from the book and some techniques to teach vocabulary in context. During the While- Activity, the author reads a short story called “Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge”. The majority of the subjects of research found difficult to understand some of the concepts and its meaning like: memory, elderly, youth, friendship and Alzheimer’s disease as one of most common mental handicaps in the elderly. The author used gestures, expressions and change intonation when precise. It is the author’s believe, based on the theory studied that teaching vocabulary by means of pictures and posters makes easier the understanding and enlargement of DISCUSSION 33 it to the subjects of research. The author used many of the cognate words because they are very similar to Spanish equivalents. The author considered important to mention that four students could understand almost everything, this is a potentiality that they made good use of since it was positive for the rest of the students, as a way to attain a good psychological atmosphere in the classroom as more students understand during the activity. The author could observe in these students that they were eager to help the rest of the subjects of research all over the activity. It is also important to mention that the author could become aware of many non- verbal signs of awareness and sensitiveness to the topic such as: some students nodded with their heads, others looked very attentive and concentrated once they attained a global comprehension of the story. During the after-activity the subjects of research expressed the concepts they liked the most according to the story and taking into account the pictures. The activity was interesting and motivating for all of them. The second activity was designed in order to let the subjects of research reflect on positive values such as respect, dignity, sensitiveness and manners towards elderly and its handicaps so as to be more active citizens regarding this topic. In the pre-activity the author asked to the subjects of research if they remember some of concepts like memory in order to activate the vocabulary studied. After, in the while-activity the author retold the story this time to reflect on positive values and ways of acting towards the elderly. Most of the subjects of research answered positively to the question. They also showed sensitiveness to the elder of the story and her mental handicap, it is also important to mention that all of them demonstrated empathy to the main character of the story. These facts mean that all the subjects of research showed positive values and feelings to the topic. The third activity was very motivating for them because they like doing things on their own. In this activity, the subjects of research had to create products of their own thoughts, based on main concepts, characters of the story and general DISCUSSION 34 understanding which resulted differently in each student in accordance with their potential. Most of them preferred paintwork and writing. A collaborative environment and motivation was observed all over the activity. In the pre-activity the subjects of research do an extra class activity. Then, while-activity, the subjects of research worked with their grandparents or any older person creating some paintwork, poetry etc. As a result of this activity the students were supposed to gather all the products created to form a collage with their own paints and works. This was even more motivating for them because more collaborative work could be done and this time a whole group activity was done to show one unique product. The second story used was entitled “The Lighthouse Keeper’s Rescue” by Ronda and David Armitage The first activity is very similar to the first one in the story “Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge”. Because, mastering the vocabulary and main grammar aspects is the beginning of a global comprehension of the story. In this story, there are some new concepts to deal with like: feelings, patient, usefulness, helping, work and some other already dealt in the previous story like: elderly and its handicaps. Working with the vocabulary and grammar aspects was a little bit more difficult for them. That is why the author had to use some different strategies from the ones used in the story “Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge”. In the pre-activity the author wrote on the board all the compound words like: lighthouse, coastguard, schoolchildren, pushchair in order to analyze them and clarify their meanings. The author also elaborated a chart with the verbs in past and past participle found in the story because they could be very difficult and confusing for 6th grade students. The author had to explain in the mother tongue the ending -ly in the adverbs because there is a good use of adverbs in the story. Dealing with the vocabulary and grammar aspects from this book was more complicated than in the one entitled “Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge” due to the complexity of the language. DISCUSSION 35 In the while-activity the author made use of the best students who were eager to help the rest of students. Two of these students could achieve a global comprehension of the story in the foreign language, for the rest of them, the author had to work deeper for a successful activity. After-activity the subjects of research were encouraged to read the story at home together with their brothers, sisters or friends and to select the fragment they like the most. The second activity was totally new for the class; it consists of a whole group work. First in the pre-activity the author created a positive atmosphere in the classroom by organizing the class in a different way proving a sense of sharing. While-activity The author read the story as many times as needed and each of the subjects of research wrote down on his-her notebook a selected fragment of the story, which they will practice, so as to be ready for a recording. The author was helping them while they were reading in order to improve pronunciation and fluency. Then, the author recorded with a cellphone each of the readings and voices. After-activity, the record is edited by the author. The recording will be listened by all the subjects of research with the author and he will ask the subjects of research to critically recognize any mistake and also reflect on the importance of the topic by using an adjective to qualify the activity such as: important, interesting etc. This activity was entitled “Camara Chica” British Council in association with MINCULT This activity is entitled “Camara Chica”, it allowed the development of researching skills and curiosity which are considered important for any child to be ready to face the 21st century challenges. It also allowed the subjects of research to use the new technologies to search for information, it consisted on raising the students' motivation by having them search on the Media what it consists of. In the pre- activity the author created a positive atmosphere in the classroom motivating the subjects of research to search on the Media what “Camara Chica” consists on. Secondly, they gathered themselves in teams with the help of the teacher. While- activity the subjects of research created audiovisuals through which they reflected DISCUSSION 36 any main learning experience related to the age-related issues studied during the storytelling extracurricular activities done. The author considers worthy to mention that the subjects of research needed to be assisted and guided not only by the author but also by advanced students and family members to acknowledge accomplishment of these activities. This activity was entitled Identity and Cultural Icebergs It is hard to include all aspects of culture and global issues in one definition; therefore, it is easier to show it with the help of the iceberg analogy. In this analogy both deeper (invisible) and exterior (visible) layers of culture are depicted. In the pre-activity, the author explained this analogy to students. Then, he divided the class in groups of 3-4 students. After that in the while-activity, he provided each team with a picture of an iceberg and a set of different aspects of culture and global problems (print figure and cut the aspects separately one by one). Next, the students completed the iceberg with the given aspects of culture and global issues by dividing them into visible and invisible layers of culture. Let students have a discussion within their teams is really useful; they should complete this task by agreeing where to put each aspect among themselves. After-activity, the subjects of research could watch the video about the Iceberg Analogy and compare their completed icebergs with the video. Finally, finish with a discussion about different aspects and glocal issues of the 21st century. Watch the video “Cultural Iceberg” on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woP0v-2nJCU Exterior aspects (behavior) it has been learned, easily noticeable, objective knowledge. Interior aspects (belief and values) it has been acquired, harder to notice, subjective knowledge. 3.2 Evaluation of the transformations. DISCUSSION 37 The author of this research took into account the pieces of advice given by the advisor of the research and by the research methodology teacher who was part of the discussion group, during the implementation of the activities, to know if the subjects of research’s needs were attained and to back up their progress. After several participant observations carried out, while the extracurricular activities were implemented, the author states that consciousness and awareness on age-related issues was perceived all over the process. The author analyzed the results obtained in each activity by means of participant observations, surveys and interviews that were administered to students. Notes were taken down about what went well or not in the activities, students’ reactions, and the reasons why the activities did or did not work, and what needed to be improved or added to make the final proposal. The full implementation of this proposal contributed to reinforce the students’ awareness about age-related issues mainly mental handicaps in the elderly. It motivated them to work with the topic once they had the knowledge to face this glocal issue. Also, the students learned good models for their present and future role as citizens who need to attain a set of knowledge, attitudes and actions regarding age-related issues. The author, while being the researcher of his own practice has received many benefits from the action research process. One of the benefits has to do with the pleasure of working in collaboration with classmates and teachers of the year while re-adapting the activities in order to satisfy the student needs. Also, making decisions to find out solutions to the challenges of the 21st century and fine-tuning activities to the local context in the Cuban present conditions which gives relevance to the contents taught through English as a Foreign Language in primary school as an elementary level of education. 3.2 Foundations of the scientific result. The final scientific product that emerged as a result of the building up process is a proposal of activities to raise the students’ awareness on age-related issues as DISCUSSION 38 better citizens ready to face the challenges of 21st century rooted on foundations from different fields. 3.2.1 Philosophical foundations: The philosophical foundations of the result of the present research are grounded on the Marxist-Leninist philosophy, specifically the negation of negation law because during the implementation of the result the author took into consideration the aspects that did not go so well, to improve them next time. In addition, the dialectical materialism studies, the nature of human beings and its laws to turn the prior objective laws into method of further knowledge and transformation of reality. The study of the historical antecedents of Citizen Education in the Cuban Society and Education system have demonstrated that the procedures devoted to citizen education in elementary school and in our society in general have not yet been effective. So, this result paves the way for the creation of a raising awareness environment about this topic to help the subjects of research to become aware and sensitive to age-related issues and to have good models that can be replicated or at least motivate them to have a correct behavior towards the elderly in the near future so as being aware of this challenge. 3.2.2 Pedagogical foundations: The school offers the requirements for the development of an appropriate teaching learning process of English. The different class organization and sceneries that were used to put into practice the result facilitated the implementation of the extracurricular activities creating a good learning environment. The subjects of research were central and active once they attained a global comprehension of the story. Besides, the subjects of research were given the chance to learn about this important issue we are facing nowadays. Letting them becoming aware of age- related issues is a way to face this challenge: thinking globally and acting locally. 3.2.3 Psychological foundations: L. Vygotsky (1979), who explained that psychological growth and human learning occur through continuous scaffolding, a process of personal progression from a given stage towards new successive levels (zones) of proximal development. This DISCUSSION 39 is accomplished with the help of “others” in accordance with the historical-cultural context in which the individual lives.  Learning begins through interaction with others – parents, teachers, friends, classmates, co-workers, social agencies (school, mass media, community institutions, work places, etc.). These agents mediate between each person and socially accumulated knowledge and experience; i.e., they transmit to the learner the culture built up in their society.  Through this process the individual moves towards internalization of cultural heritage, to its personal appropriation and re-creation. That is to say; each individual assimilates new contents learned in collaboration with “others”, but integrates them into the system of concepts, abilities and values s/he already has, and does so according to his/her own experience, needs, goals and interests. Vygotsky (1982), in particular, highlights the part language plays in these processes. The interaction with others implies “social use” of the language as a means of communication; the internalization of the social legacy requires the use of the language as a “psychological tool” of cognition. Thus, Vygotsky considers language is an essential tool in transmitting social knowledge and experience, in the formation of concepts, in the analysis and classification of phenomena from reality, and in ordering and generalizing facts and experiences. Likewise, A. Leontiev (1981) underlines the role of language in learning, emphasizing that through the appropriation of linguistic meanings, the learner assimilates the system of thoughts and standpoints prevailing in his/her social context. In short, learning and personality development are seen as both a social process, supported by the historical-cultural framework provided to each member by society, as well as an individual one, involving particular needs and features of personal cognitive and affective-moral growth. DISCUSSION 40 3.2.4 Methodological foundations: The result is based on the principles and theories of the Communicative approach for the teaching of foreign languages since practice has proved the success of the CLT principles -stated by Morrow K. in 1983, N. Naiman in 1989 and redefined and adapted to the Cuban context by Alfredo Camacho Delgado, Ph.D. in 2002-as an important basis for the fulfillment of the objectives of the result These principles are: meaningful practice beyond the sentence level, student-centered class, task orientation of classroom activities, development of strategies for learning beyond the classroom, as well as peer correction and group work. The criteria followed to plan the final result were the accumulated information in the teachers’ diary, the reflection carried out after the implementation of the extracurricular activities, the suggestions of the discussion group and the subjects’ regularities detected in the need assessment. 3.2.5 Characteristics of the result The final scientific result was contained within a system of extracurricular activities to promote in the student knowledge, awareness, values and actions towards age- related issues as part of the citizen educations strategy carried out all over the implementations of the extracurricular activities. This result is formed by two stories for children that covered age-related issues, 7 activities that were designed to work with this issue and that were distributed as follows: 3 activities for the first story, two for the second one and two other comprehensive activities which allows the students to go on learning and getting motivated about age-related issues for further studies. All the activities designed are thought as a system because they all have age- related issues as a central theme, they are thought following the categories extracted from the theory that backs up how to deal efficiently with global issues such as: knowledge, attitudes, skills and actions, they are conceived with pre, while and post activities as important moments in attaining a system approach to all of them. 3.2.6 Final scientific result “Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge” by Mem Fox DISCUSSION 41 ACTIVITY 1 Time(min) Objective The students should be able to follow the story in order to acquire a global comprehension and get familiar with the main concepts and vocabulary about age- related issues. The student should cooperate to carry out tasks in the classroom. Pre-Activity Task: Look at the following pictures and tell what the story is about. The teacher will introduce the vocabulary that is going to be used in the classroom. The students will repeat some sentences to get familiar with the new words and structures in context. (use pictures to teach vocabulary) The teacher shows the cover of the book. Then, he tells the students this is an old woman who has lost her memory. Vocabulary is briefly reviewed again. The teacher now goes back to the book cover and introduces a new character: The boy. Then, he asks the students about the relationship between the old woman and the boy. Finally, the teacher asks the students to pay attention and to listen to the story. 20’ While-Activity Task: Listen and identify what memory is. The teacher tells the story while he will use 15’ DISCUSSION 42 ACTIVITY 2 Time (min) Objective: To recognize values such as respect, dignity and sensitiveness towards elderly Pre-Activity Task: Look at the book again and say what memory is. The teacher will ask to the students if they remember what a memory is and activates the vocabulary studied. In order to motivate 20’ gestures, expressions and change intonation when precise. The teacher will explain concepts and meanings by using different techniques of some essential words like: memory, elderly, youth and friendship in order to start becoming aware to this topic. After-Activity Task: Work in teams to express the concept about memory you like the most. Students are encouraged to take a look at the book again and to use the pictures from the book to express the concept the like the most about what memory is and other words like elderly, youth, friendship and Alzheimer’s 15’ Teacher’s role Guide, Informer and motivator Skills Oral interaction Reading Listening DISCUSSION 43 them the teacher will ask them about the picture they liked the most. While-Activity Task: Listen to the story and as the teacher reads say “R” for phrases that show respect, “D” for dignity, and “S” for sensitiveness towards elders. The teacher will retell the story this time emphasizing on positive values and ways of acting towards elderly and he emphasizes on the pictures and sentences that most clearly show those values. Students will be able to follow the story without problems and to say a letter that corresponds with each value. 15’ After- Activity Task: Work in teams to practice questions and answers. The teacher will organize the class in groups of 6 (cooperative work). The students should answer the main question (What’s a memory?) taking into account the different character’s opinions. Everything will be written on the blackboard for visual support. 15’ Teacher’s role Guide and motivator Skills Reading Listening Speaking ACTIVITY 3 Time (min) DISCUSSION 44 Objective: The students should be able to create a collage with some: paintwork or piece of writing, etc. The teacher will take into account the motivation and collaboration between the students and the grandparents (older persons). Pre-Activity Task: Work together with your grandparents to create an interesting product to sensitize other people about elders. The teacher invites the students to do an extra class activity together with their grandparents. He will explain what the activity consists on. 15’ While-Activity Task: Select or draw your own pictures to create a collage and include pieces of poetry as well. The students are going to work with their grandparents or any older person creating some paintwork, poetry, etc. The students are invited to create their products taking as bases their own thoughts, the main concepts studied, the characters of the story and the general understanding of the story as well. 30’ After-Activity Task: Put together all the products obtained and show it as a group result. Then, the students are going to use their works in order to build-up a collage as a 15’ DISCUSSION 45 whole group activity in the class and finally, they will present a group result. Teacher’s role Guide and motivator Skills Oral interaction Writing “The Lighthouse Keeper’s Rescue” by Ronda and David Armitage ACTIVITY 1 Time (min) Objective: The students are going to attain a global comprehension of the story such as becoming familiar to the main concepts, new vocabulary and some grammar aspects in order to raise student’s awareness on age-related issues, promoting values and positive ways of acting towards the elders. Pre-Activity Task: Understand the new words present in the story. The teacher will introduce the vocabulary that is going to be seen in the classroom. The students will repeat some sentences to get familiar with the new words and structures in context. (use pictures to teach vocabulary) The teacher will explain some grammar aspects like verb tenses, and vocabulary such as the use of compound words, and the ending -ly in adverbs. 20’ While-Activity Task: Listen to the story and get what the 15’ DISCUSSION 46 story is about. The teacher tells the story while he uses gestures, expressions and change intonation when precise. The teacher is going to explain new concepts like: feelings, patient, usefulness and helping in order to start becoming aware to this topic. After-Activity Task: Read the story again together with a relative or friend and select the fragment you like the most. Students are encouraged to read for pleasure. 15’ Teacher’s role Guide, Informer and motivator Skills Oral interaction Reading Listening ACTIVITY 2 Time (min) Objective: To create a Radial Play related to the story “The Lighthouse Keeper’s Rescue” in order to raise awareness on the topic and create a material to be presented in other lessons. Pre-Activity Task: Select a character from the dialogue to perform it in a radio program. The teacher will create a positive atmosphere in the classroom by organizing the class in a different way proving a sense of sharing. (semicircle) 20’ DISCUSSION 47 The teacher will explain to the students that they are going to create a Radial Play with the help of the teacher and performing some of the voices from the story. While-Activity Task: Copy on your notebook the fragment you will perform in the radio program and practice it following the teacher’s model. The teacher reads the story as many times as needed and each student copies down on his-her notebook a selected fragment of the story, which they will practice, so as to be ready for a recording. Then, the teacher records each of them by using a cellphone, till he gets all the students readings and voices. 15’ After-Activity Task: Listen to the recording and say if you like it by qualifying it. Finally, the recording will be listened by all the students together with the teacher and he will ask the students to critically recognize any mistake and also reflect on the importance of the topic by using an adjective to qualify the activity such as: important, interesting etc. 15’ Teacher’s role Guide and motivator Skills Oral interaction Reading Listening “Camara Chica” British Council in association with MINCULT DISCUSSION 48 ACTIVITY 3 Objective: The students are going to reflect on any main learning experience related to the age-related issues studied during the storytelling extracurricular activities done. Pre-Activity Task: Work in teams to say what you know and feel about elders and get ready to record the opinions. The teacher will create a positive atmosphere in the classroom motivating the students to search on the Media what “Camara Chica” consists on. Secondly, they will gather themselves in teams with the help of the teacher. While-Activity Task: Create an audiovisual about your learning experience with the stories. The students are going to create audiovisuals through which they reflect any main learning experience related to the age-related issues studied during the storytelling extracurricular activities done. After-Activity Task: Watch the video you created about the experience. The video is going to be edited by the teacher and some other specialist of the school. Teacher’s role Guide and motivator Skills Oral interaction Identity and Cultural Icebergs ACTIVITY 4 Objective: The students are going to recognize a set of glocal and cultural aspects already studied and unstudied ones in DISCUSSION 49 order to fill a cultural iceberg analogy so as to motivate them to go on learning about the topics in their community. Pre-Activity Task: Remember some of the vocabulary items related to age and say what you know about them. The teacher explained the analogy of the activity to the students. Then, he divided the class in groups of 3-4 according their potentials so as to be ready to work on this activity. While-Activity Task: Match the cultural aspects and global issues in the upper or lower part of the iceberg. After that, he provides each team with a picture of an iceberg and a set of different cultural aspects and global issues. Next, the students will place them on the visible or invisible layers of culture within the iceberg so as to identify them with the given cultural aspects and global issues and noticing that there many aspects that still can be understudy. After-Activity Task: Value the importance of learning and acting properly regarding elders. The teacher evaluates the knowledge acquired throughout all the activities and he assigned a research about the aspects that were not studied but they considered important for further activities because of their presence in the community and that will require their actions in the near future. Teacher’s role Guide, motivator CONCLUSIONS 50 CONCLUSIONS 1. The diagnosis carried out showed that there are potentialities in the Foreign Language Teaching process to deal with age-related issues which are not fully taken into account hence, there is lack of knowledge, attitudes, skills and actions in the students regarding such an important issue for living in the 21st Century. 2. The deepening into the theory allowed to up-date the value of age-related issues within global citizenship education in the young Cuban generations and to highlight the role of Foreign Language Teaching-Learning process in attaining better prepared citizens in the elementary level of education. 3. Introducing storytelling as extracurricular micro-glocal project contributed to develop awareness about age-related issues in the students by widening their knowledge, demonstrating attitudes such as respect, dignity, responsibility and sensitiveness toward elders, and actions by being active citizens who think globally and act locally and in the researcher himself since he could discover the potential of storytelling during the teaching learning process of English to form better citizens. 4. Using storytelling as extracurricular micro-glocal project is a concrete realization of the relation University-Society in the Cuban context which proves to be effective and motivating to students, teachers, family members, community leaders and the researcher since it was a creative scientific result to a 21st Century challenge. SUGGESTIONS 51 SUGGESTIONS 1. To socialize the results in local, national and international events as a way to show how foreign language teachers in Cuba contribute to raise the student’s awareness regarding glocal issues. 2. To socialize the results on international professional websites. References 52 References Cates, K. A. (2002). Teaching for a Better World: Global Issues and Language Education. Human Right Education in Asia Schools, 5. Chomsky, N. (2018). Global English Teaching English to Kindergarten and Primary Learners Course. McLean, L. (2015). Digital Storytelling for Transformative Global Citizenship Education. Canadian Journal of Education / Revue canadienne de l’éducation, 2(38). Rogers, R. (2004). An Introduction to Critical Discourse Analysis in Education., 1- 18. Richards, J. (2006). Communicative language teaching today. Cambridge University Press. Crystal, D. (2006). English worldwide. In R. Hogg & D. Denison (Eds.), A history of the English language, 420-439. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Dujmovic, M. (2005). Storytelling as a Method of EFL Teaching. 3(26), 88. Haven, K., Ducey, M. (2007). Crash Course in Storytelling. W., L. R. (2000). Toward a psychology of positive youth development. . American psychologist (55), 170-183. Bibliography 53 Bibliography Bisch, P. Citizenship Education for the 21st Century. A culture of democracy: a challenge for schools, UNESCO, 12. (1995) Brown, D. (2010). Civics & Citizenship Education: Professional Learning Package. Cates, K., & Jacobs, G. M. (2006). Global Issue Projects in the English Language Classroom. JF New Paradigm Education, Singapore, pp. 167-180. Cates, K. A. (2003). Teaching for a Better World: Global Issues and Language Education. 49. Cates, K. A. (2012). Global Issues in Language Education Newsletter. Japan Association for Language Teaching(#85), 24. Chiyoda, K. (2013). Teaching Matherial Collection 2013 C. o. L. A. f. I. R. C. 2013 (Ed.) Danju, I., & Uzunboylu, H. (2016). A Content Analysis of Citizenship Education. Global Journal on Humanites & Social Sciences(No. 4), 8. doi: 10.18844/gjhss.v0i0.440 Erfani, M. (2012). The Rationale for Introducing “Global Issues” in English Textbook Development. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, Vol. 2,(No. 11), pp. 2412-2416. doi: 10.4304/tpls.2.11.2412-2416 Jacobs, G. M., & Cates, K. . (1999). Global Education in Second Language Teaching. SEAMEO Regional Language Centre(No. 1), 44-56. Koutselini, M. (2008). Citizenship education in context: student teacher perceptions of citizenship in Cyprus. Intercultural Education, 15. doi: 10.1080/14675980801889690 Lütge, C. (2017). Global Citizenship Education in English Language Teaching. Language Teacher Education, Vol.4(No.2), 10. Morales, D. (2018). Project Work Handbook Rascón, M. Global Issues in the Teaching of Language (2013) Pérez, V. (2017-2018). The Development of Audio-Pollution Awareness in Non- University Teacher Education Crash Course. Universidad Central ʽʽMarta Abreuʼʼ de las Villas, Santa Clara. Villa Clara. Cuba. Bibliography 54 Gómez, Y. (2017-2018). An Environmental Interest Group for 5th grade students from “Ramón Pando Ferrer” Elementary School. Universidad Central “Marta Abreu” de Las Villas, Santa Clara. Yakovchuk, N. (2004). Global Issues and Global Values in Foreign Language. 8. Pratama, H. (2016). Global Education in English Classroom: Integrating Global Issues into English Language Teaching. 6(9). doi: 10.18178/ijssh.2016.6.9.739 Rezende, C. (2011). The role of storytelling in language learning: A literature review. 1(1). Horiguchi, S. Foreign Language Education in Japan Vol. 3. Retrieved from https://www.sensepublishers.com/ Veselinovska, S. (2000). Global issues and English as global language. Maley, A. (2017). Integrating global issues in the creative English language classroom: With reference to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Retrieved from www.britishcouncil.org Omidvar, R. (2013). The Effects of Global Education in the English Language Conversation Classroom Vol. 6. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/elt.v6n7p151 doi:10.5539/elt.v6n7p151 Bricall, J. M. e. a. (2000). Informe Universidad 2000, UNESCO, Barcelona. Final Declaration, South, South-West and Central Asia Sub-Regional Preparatory Conference on Higher Education. (2009). https://www.sensepublishers.com/ Annex 55 Annex: Annex 1: Survey Objective: To corroborate the students’ awareness about global issues mainly aged-related issues. Dimensions:  Knowledge about what global issues is.  Awareness on global issues minly age-related issues.  Attitudes towards age-related issues Estimado alumno: Como estudiante de 5to año de Lenguas Extranjeras de la Facultad de Educación Media de la Sede “Félix Varela Morales” se está desarrollando una investigación orientada a la formación de la conciencia ciudadana en relación a los asuntos globales y locales. La mayoría de las respuestas son de selección y puedes marcar todas las opciones que consideres necesarias para una respuesta correcta. Quisiéramos que respondieras con la mayor sinceridad posible. Sus respuestas son confidenciales por lo que tiene toda la libertad para responder. Datos Generales: Edad ______ Sexo _____ Grado escolar ______ 1. Yo considero que:  Los problemas globales son ____________________.  Basándote en los problemas globales los locales son ____________________. 2. Marca con una cruz cuáles de los elementos que te relacionamos a continuación son problemas glocales. a)__Contaminación atmosférica b)__Deterioro de la capa de ozono Annex 56 c)__Industrialización d)__Salud e)__Ruido f)__ Discapacidades en los ancianos (vejez) 3. Consideras las discapacidades en los ancianos (vejez) como problema glocal. Sí, no por qué. 5. El cuidado al adulto mayor le compete a: la dirección de la escuela____ a los trabajadores ____ a los vecinos____ a mí ____ a todos ___ Annex 2: Interview to the teacher that guides the group Objective: To know about the role given to global and citizen education in the educative strategy for the group. Estimado profesor, necesitamos de su cooperación para la realización del trabajo de curso, para ello es muy importante que usted responda las siguientes preguntas: 1. ¿Qué actividades se realizan en la escuela relacionadas a la educación ciudadana, en especial hacia el adulto mayor y sus capacidades? 2. ¿Son los alumnos consientes como dirigirse a las personas mayores, muestran sensibilidad hacia los adultos? Sí, No, ¿Por qué? 3. ¿Tiene el curso diseñada alguna estrategia para que los alumnos desarrollen conciencia y sensibilidad hacia el adulto mayor? Sí, no, ¿Cuál? 4. ¿Los profesores relacionan los contenidos de las asignaturas en especial la asignatura de inglés con la educación de os estudiantes hacia el adulto mayor? Sí, no, ¿Cómo? Annex 3: Document Analysis: Annex 57 Objective: To know about what is already established in the English syllabi about the global issue mainly age-related issues. The book and workbook of English Indicators: 1. Objective, contents and guidelines related to glocal issues. 2. Activities designed to develop glocal issues awareness. Annex 4 Participant Observation: Objective: To corroborate the students’ knowledge, attitudes, skills and actions regarding glocal issues. Categories:  Awareness about global issues mainly age-related issues.  Demonstrated values towards elderly.  Skills and actions to raise students’ awareness about glocal issues mainly age-related issues Annex 5 The aging in Cuba constitutes a demographic problem with an 18,3% of the population with 60 years old and more, it is expected that for the 2025 the 25% represents the total population, in the 2050 the world population’s proportion will be duplicated with more than 60 years old. Territory (Villa Clara) 23,4%(60 years and more) Santa Clara 23,1 Placetas 25,2 Remedios 24,7 Cifuentes 24,7 Annex 58 Camajuaní 24,2 Annex 6 “Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge” by Mem Fox Annex 59 Annex 60 Annex 61 Annex 62 “The Lighthouse Keeper’s Rescue” by Ronda and Dav id Armitage Annex 63 Annex 64