internship at Institucion Educativa Antonia Santos, gamification as a pedagogical strategy to teach english vocabulary in preschool

In Colombia, the government has only been promoting English teaching, with main focus, from primary to secondary education, although preschool is also recently suggested in the national educational policies. Consequently, there is a gap in the teaching-learning of the second language from the foundations of schooling. Nevertheless, early childhood education promotes different dimensions of development and competencies through a comprehensive environment where soft skills and competencies such as language acquisition and interpersonal skills are fortified. Thus, this report describes my experience during my internship teaching preschool students at Antonia Santos School in Monteria, trying to address this gap and contribute to the student’s communicative development in English as a foreign language. In this way, Gamification as an educational methodology was applied with the purpose of enhancing students' vocabulary acquisition. In addition, this document illustrates the findings and achievements related to my students’ growth, personal improvements, and professional advancement.1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………… 82. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………… 82.1. Second Language Learning in Early Childhood Education ……………………… 112.1.1. Early Childhood Learning Dimensions …………………………………… 122.2 The Use of Self-Determination Theory to Enhance Gamification …………………142.2.1. Teacher and Student’s Role in Gamification ……………………………… 142.3 The Use of Chants to Enhance Vocabulary in Early Childhood Education ……… 152.4 Soft skills in Early Childhood Education ………………………………………… 153. Methodology……………………………………………………………………............ 174. Findings………………………………………………………………………………….275. Conclusions, Recommendations, and Limitations ……………………………………...356. References……………………………………………………………………………. 377. Appendix……………………………………………………………………………… 39PregradoLicenciado(a) en Lenguas Extranjeras con Énfasis en InglésPasantía