Foreign Languages

Intent

At Rode Heath Primary School, we believe that a high-quality modern languages education should ignite pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world. It is now widely recognised that the early teaching of a modern language has a positive impact on improving literacy, building self-confidence and widening cultural horizons. The teaching should enable pupils to express ideas and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing. There should be opportunities to listen, copy and respond to native speakers, as well as have access to engaging literature in the target language. Spanish is an interconnected subject with links to other subject areas, such as Geography, English, Art, Music, PE, DT and RE.

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 through discussion and asking questions, and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation.
• 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.

Pupil Premium is well used to ensure that those entitled to funding are able to receive necessary resources. Similarly, for children with SEND, activities are carefully planned and adapted to the individual needs of the child and appropriate resources or modifications are made to ensure that they are able to access the learning. Our MFL curriculum enables all children to learn a second language and to experience Spanish culture in the local or wider context, challenging them to fulfil their potential.

Finally, the school’s values of teamwork, fairness, resilience and curiosity are embedded in all that we do. The expectation of children across all year groups is that they should maintain the same high standard of work as they produce in the core subjects. We passionately believe that all children can reach these high standards.

Implementation

In KS2, each class has a timetabled Spanish lesson of 60 minutes each week for either one or two terms of the year. The Scheme of Work ensures that lessons provide an appropriate balance of spoken and written language and that lessons build on prior learning.

The Spanish lessons taught at Rode Heath Primary School are primarily based on the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority’s Languages scheme of work 2007, although these have been modified and updated over many years of teaching to be more relevant to pupils’ interests and experience, with positive engagement and enjoyment at their heart.

The two underlying principles of the Scheme of Work are that:

• Children should enjoy their early years of learning Spanish and value the sights and sounds of Spain, the rhythm of the language and gain pleasure from accessing and understanding the written word.
• Children should make real and measurable progress through fun and practical activities, challenging tasks and the desire to understand more as they listen to, speak and read Spanish and begin to write at greater length.

Linguascope, the online language learning platform, is used in the classroom and also provides an opportunity for pupils to practise their Spanish at home.

Impact

Rode Heath pupils will set off on a language learning journey, which will prepare them for whichever modern foreign language they choose to study at KS3, as well as equip them to study and work in other countries.

They will learn to:

• Appreciate traditional Spanish songs, rhymes, poems and stories.
• Explore the patterns and sounds of language and link the spelling, sound and meaning of words.
• Present ideas and information orally and in writing.
• Engage in conversations, ask and answer questions and express opinions.
• Demonstrate an understanding of, and respect for, cultural diversity.
• Develop a love of languages and learning about other cultures.

The school monitors pupils’ progress in the following ways:

• Learning, understanding and application is monitored through numerous strategies, including formative and summative assessment tasks.
• Prior learning is recapped and built upon through a progression of skills.
• End points demonstrate lesson-by-lesson learning.
• Composite tasks are included in each unit of work.
• Flashback 3 reviews ensure previous learning is retained.
• Data is analysed and books are checked to ensure that there is a progression of skills.

Below are some interactive websites the children can visit at home to have fun with Spanish whilst learning:

https://www.linguascope.com  

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zxsvr82

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/ks2spanish.html

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