This article reports a mixed-method research project aimed at improving the practices of public sector English teachers in Cali (Colombia) through a professional development program. At the diagnostic stage surveys, documentary analysis, and a focus group yielded the teachers' profile and professional needs. The action phase measured the program's impact via surveys, evaluation formats, a focus group, researchers' journal, and documentary analysis. Findings revealed that an eclectic approach tailored to the participants' needs and interests and a practice-reflection-theory cycle improved the teachers' quality.Key words: English teachers' profile, professional development, teacher quality.Este artículo versa sobre una investigación mixta que buscaba mejorar la enseñanza de un grupo de profesores de inglés del sector público en Cali (Colombia) a través de un programa de desarrollo profesional. En el diagnóstico, encuestas, análisis documental y un grupo focal arrojaron el perfil y las necesidades profesionales de los docentes. La implementación evaluó el impacto del programa a través de encuestas, formatos de evaluación, grupo focal, diario de investigación y análisis documental. Los resultados revelaron que un enfoque ecléctico ajustado a las necesidades e intereses de los participantes y un ciclo de práctica-reflexión-teoría fortalecieron la calidad de los profesores.

This article presents a description of the proficiency level of a group of English teachers who participated in the study about the conditions of implementation of the National Bilingual Program in Santiago de Cali. To offer a view of teachers’ proficiency beyond tests results, and in an effort to understand the make-up of this proficiency, focus group interviews and survey data were also used. Findings were analyzed following the models of teacher development of Richards (1998) and Roberts (1998), as well as theory about language proficiency from different authors. The results show that teachers from both public and private sectors are still in the process of building the proficiency levels sought by the Ministry of Education. The study also found that the elementary level, especially in the public sector, provides a frail basis for teaching and learning English at the secondary level.

This article reports an action-research project aimed at designing, applying, and assessing a didactic sequence for teaching English as a foreign language in the first grade of a public school in Cali. The article comprises the context, reasons that justified the research, theoretical support, methodology, and results, analyzed through descriptive statistics and a data matrix. The findings suggest that the didactic proposal was easy to use for the teacher, understandable for the students, and appropriate for the students' proficiency level due to its emphasis on the oral skills. It was concluded that didactic material should follow the pacing of the teachers' academic work and has to be closely linked to the reality of teachers and students.Key words: Didactics, didactic sequence, English as foreign language, primary school.Este artículo reporta una investigación-acción cuyo objetivo fue el diseño, aplicación y evaluación de una secuencia didáctica para enseñanza de inglés en grado primero de una escuela pública de Cali. Se presentan el contexto, las razones que originaron el estudio, el soporte teórico, la metodología y los resultados obtenidos. Los hallazgos sugieren que la propuesta didáctica fue de fácil uso para la docente, comprensible y acorde con el nivel de proficiencia de los estudiantes, dado su énfasis en las habilidades 11A Didactic Proposal for EFL in a Public School in Cali orales. Se concluyó que un material didáctico en este nivel debe ser acompañado del trabajo académico de los docentes de área y estar ligado a la realidad escolar.Palabras clave: didáctica, escuela primaria, inglés como lengua extranjera, secuencia didáctica. IntroductionTeaching English as a foreign language has increasingly become a priority for the Ministry of National Education in Colombia. This process dates back to Law 115 (Ministerio de Educación Nacional [MEN], 1994), Curricular Guidelines for English Teaching (MEN, 1996), Basic Competence Standards for English (BSCE) (MEN, 2006), and National Plan of Bilingualism (MEN, 2004) with its subsequent variations (PFDCLE in 2010, Colombia Very Well or PNI in 2014[MEN, 2014, and Colombia Bilingüe in 2015). However, despite the interest of the government in developing the teaching of English, most primary school teachers do not have the proficiency level or the formation in didactics for teaching a foreign language because they are general homeroom (all-subject) teachers, not English teachers per se; they do not have any formation in English or language didactics other than the one they received in secondary school (Cadavid, McNulty, & Quinchía, 2004;Cárdenas, 2001;Cárdenas, Chaves, & Hernández, 2015); they have not increased their proficiency or developed their teaching of English because BAs and professional development in this area are offered only for secondary teachers (Bustos & Chamorro, 2003;Cárdenas et al., 2015;González & Sierra, 2011). Research has found that the current situation in Colombian public schools does not reflect effective actions aimed at promoting prima...