This dissertation, inserted in the field of Applied Linguistics (MOITA LOPES, 2006, 2013), aims at building understandings about the English teachers work developed in the early years of schooling, about the school as a place of affection and the learners participation in the research. The teacher and the learners, children aged 10-11, worked together to reflect on classroom life in a private school in Rio de Janeiro. With an emphasis on collaboration, this study is characterized as qualitative, interpretative and interdisciplinary (DENZIN; LINCOLN, 2006), as well as based on the principles of Exploratory Practice (ALLWRIGHT; HANKS, 2009; MILLER, 2010; MILLER; CUNHA, 2017; HANKS, 2017), a kind of practitioner research (COCHRAN-SMITH; LYTLE, 2009). The data was generated during regular school hours under the formal consent of the seven participants and their legal guardians. The set of data includes Potentially Exploitable Pedagogical Activities (BARRETO et al., 2019) and audio recorded exploratory talks. By integrating pedagogical practices and research, the activities were used as opportunities to stimulate reflections during the conversations. The themes that emerged focused on the learners understandings about the English teacher, the school, and their participation in the research. The discursive analysis of the transcription of the exploratory talk has as its central point the evaluation based on Appraisal Theory (MARTIN; WHITE, 2005; VIAN JR., 2009; NOBREGA, 2009), a theoretical framework inscribed in Systemic Functional Linguistics (HALLIDAY, 1994). The analysis of the lexical-grammatical choices in the students discourse, focusing on the sub-systems of affect, judgment and appreciation points towards the participants reflexive maturity, as they express their beliefs and emotions about the context of teaching and learning English. The detailed discourse analysis contributes to the enrichment of practitioner research, leading to further reflections and the recognition of the teacher and the seven students as producers of local understandings, as subjects-agents.