MFL - Spanish

Aims

The National Curriculum for languages aims to ensure that all pupils:

understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources
speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and asking questions, and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation
can write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt
discover and develop an appreciation of a range of writing in the language studied.

Intent

Children at Decoy Community Primary School’s learn a relevant, broad, vibrant and ambitious foreign languages curriculum that will inspire and excite our pupils using a wide variety of topics and themes. Our aspiration is for all pupils to achieve their full potential by encouraging high expectations and excellent standards in their foreign language learning - the ultimate aim being that pupils will feel excited to, and confident to, continue studying languages beyond Key Stage 2.

Implementation

Language Angels Scheme of Work

We follow the Language Angels scheme of work for Spanish from Year 2 onwards.

In our curriculum, there are four key language learning skills; listening, speaking, reading and writing are taught and all necessary grammar will be covered in an age-appropriate way.

Our aspiration is that all pupils will develop a genuine interest and positive curiosity about foreign languages, finding them enjoyable and stimulating. Learning a second language will also offer pupils the opportunity to explore relationships between language and identity, develop a deeper understanding of other cultures and the world around them with a better awareness of self, others and cultural differences. This enables pupils to use and apply their learning in a variety of contexts, laying down solid foundations for future language learning. In addition, the children are taught how to research language that they are unsure of and they have a bank of reference materials to help them with their spoken and written tasks going forward. This bank of reference materials develops into a reference library to help pupils recall and build on previous knowledge throughout their primary school language learning journey.

Impact

Decoy children will enjoy the process of learning Spanish. They will have opportunities to recognise the development of their burgeoning skills and have reflective chances to celebrate the successes that they will experience within this subject.

For staff, the successes achieved by children are observed both formally and informally, through assessment, feedback, participation, observations and discussions. Each year, as the children experience new topics and dive deeper into previously taught ones, they will gain both the breadth and depth of the curriculum offered at Decoy. Vocabulary is taught, recorded and utilised readily, and, as the children move into Upper KS2, conjugations of verbs are introduced, adding an extra layer of challenge.

The promotion of language and build-up of skills will support Year 6 pupils into their transition to secondary school, providing them with a rich vocabulary and grammar foundation and setting them up for future success in languages.

The children at Decoy will grow to understand the significance of learning a new language and the benefits that it can bring them moving forward in life. They will have opportunities to appreciate some of the cultures celebrated in Spanish-speaking countries, alongside songs and elements of popular culture. They will also recognise that they are part of a new community, connected through the skill of speaking a modern foreign language.