Being one of the most challenging professions one could ever have, especially in terms of demanding and always changeable situations to deal with, teachers must be always ready and on their toes, not only when the crunch comes, but also in the daily chores that require the same attention.

Needless to say, the class, stage or school in which we are working are factors that should not affect our efforts to get the best of our teaching, yet we must always leave a door open for adaptation in order to suit the needs of our students.

Additionally, the increasing interest in teaching a second or more foreign languages effectively according to the current regional, national and international legislation or policies, implies the responsibility on our behalf, if there was any doubt yet, to thoroughly plan our methodological guidelines and pay attention to the variables both in the teaching-learning process and the relationship between teacher and students.

-          The main spine of our legislation which is formed by the most known LOMCE (National Act for the Improvement of Quality in Education), Regional Decree 97/2015 and the Directive of March 17^th, 2015. These documents recognize the need to assist the specific needs of all students with specialized attention.

-          Secondly, both the Regional Directive of July 25^th, 2008 and the Instructions of March 8^th 2017, confirm the principles of non-discrimination and achieving the integration of all students.

-          Finally, within the School Plan, we could include PARCEP (Support and Reinforcement Plan in Primary Education) to foster the cooperation among the components of the Partnership Triangle of Support, being the families, children and school.

To conclude with this section, we can highlight once more the importance of cooperation among all the agents involved to deal with this situation as soon as possible, taking decisions such as the degree of attention and the number of individual class hours, as well as taking care of the physical and psychological welfare of students.

The school is situated in a village in a coast area of Malaga, where tourism coming from different parts of Europe is the main source of income. There is one line per grade and a number of facilities including a library, a gym, a computers’ room and teachers’ room.

The classroom is located on the second floor and it has 21 desks, grouped in fours to favor cooperative work. It has an Interactive Whiteboard and a reading corner with graded readers to assist both slow learners and fast finishers. 

From working class backgrounds, the class is made of a heterogeneous group with 21 students, 12 boys and 9 girls. There are two Moroccan boys, a Romanian girl and an Irish boy, but all of them attended to this specific school the previous year, so they do not have major problems with Castilian language.

However, a student diagnosed with ADHD has a behaviour much more extreme in these areas than other kids their age.

This said, the first step is to become acquainted with ADHD and its most relevant symptoms. They can be divided into:

-          Inattentive: makes careless mistakes, easily distracted, has trouble organising tasks or often loses homework, books, jackets, etc.

-          Hyperactive-impulsive: has trouble staying in his seat or playing quietly, blurts out answers and intrudes continuously.

The majority of them have a combination of both, which make it very difficult for them to function in school, so we can develop a series of strategies to help them foster positive behaviours as we will see in the following section.

-          With the help of students, we can establish short, simple rules in positive terms. For example, instead of saying: “No loud talking when you enter class”, say, “Sit down and then you can talk quietly to your neighbor”.

-          Define each rule as clearly as possible: Discuss what does it mean to “Use materials appropriately” with its consequences and have each student agree to post it.

-          Classroom routines, which usually comfort students with ADHD, are a great strategy, even if you diverse from it from time to time. Write the day’s schedule on the blackboard, and erase items as they are completed

-          Reduce potential distractions, for example, sitting the student in a low-distraction work area and establishing eye contact.

-          Allow for movement: Recess is perhaps the most powerful tool for promoting focus in ADHD children, so don’t use it as a time to make-up missed schoolwork. Throughout the day, provide opportunities for physical action, permitting particularly fidgety students to play with small objects kept in their desks, such as a soft squeeze ball.

-          Hands on learning: Have students write and act out a play, record an assignment on videotape, or build a model.

-          Provide frequent, positive feedback, as they respond best to immediate feedback. Using positive words and tone always, for example, when the student is wrong, it’s better to ask questions to make him think and reprimanding. In the same way, discipline, when it’s necessary, should be immediate, short, and swift.

It considerably reduces the rate of failure and favors their social and professional integration in the future, by fostering the key competence of Personal Autonomy and Entrepreneurship. In this case in particular, the approach should take into account both the necessities of the student and the reality of the school and class. Only in this way can we ensure that the student will be sufficiently motivated to be able to work on a par with the rest of the class.

Besides, the methodological choices we adopt when developing our profession must be continuously evaluated and submitted adaptation and modification.

The important thing is to let children uncover information for themselves. If they discover the joy in learning at an early age, they’ll be lifelong learners — and really, that’s every teacher’s goal, isn’t it?