Spanish

Intent

In teaching Spanish we aim to instil a love of language learning and an awareness of other cultures. We want pupils to develop the confidence to communicate in Spanish for practical purposes, using both written and spoken Spanish. Through our scheme of work, we aim to give pupils a foundation for language learning that encourages and enables them to apply their skills to learning further languages, developing a strong understanding of the structure of language, facilitating future study and opening opportunities to study and work in other countries in the future.

To foster enjoyment and enrich the children’s experience.
To develop the children’s language learning skills and foster a positive attitude to language learning.
To enable pupils to understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of sources.
To enable pupils to 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.
To support pupils in beginning to write at varying lengths, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt.
To help pupils discover and develop an appreciation of a range of writing in the language studied.
To increase the children’s cultural awareness.
To lay the foundations for further study in KS3 and beyond.
To satisfy local and government requirements and follow the National Curriculum.

Implementation

Spanish will be taught weekly in a whole-class setting, across Key Stage Two.

We base our teaching on six strands that run throughout:

Speaking and pronunciation
Listening
Reading and writing
Grammar
Intercultural understanding
Language detective skills

Teaching is in line with the recommendations of the National Curriculum. It takes full account of the different experiences, strengths and interests of the children whilst also complying with the requirements and guidance on inclusion.

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.

Lessons provide a model for the language, use games and songs to maximise enjoyment and make as many connections to real life situations as possible. Lessons focus on speaking and listening and are often multi-sensory and kinaesthetic in approach. They have clear, achievable objectives and incorporate different learning styles. All children have access to the curriculum through variation of task, grouping or support from an adult. Children’s confidence will be built through praise for any contribution they make, however tentative.

Whole class teaching is used, although pupils also work individually, pairs or in groups (to cater for different learning styles). Learning Intentions and Success Criteria are shared with the children. Lessons may include games, songs, oral work, role-play and active participation as well as listening and talking. Reading and written tasks are included with increasing frequency as the children advance through the key stage.

Impact

After the implementation of our Spanish scheme, pupils should leave school equipped with a range of language-learning skills to enable them to study Spanish, or any other language, with confidence at Key Stage 3. The expected impact of following our Spanish scheme is that children will:

Be able to engage in purposeful dialogue in practical situations (ordering in a cafe, following directions) and express an opinion.
Make increasingly accurate attempts to read unfamiliar words, phrases, and short texts.
Speak and read aloud with confidence and accuracy in pronunciation.
Demonstrate understanding of spoken language by listening and responding appropriately.
Use a bilingual dictionary to support their language learning.
Be able to identify word classes in a sentence and apply grammatical rules they have learnt.
Be able to construct short texts on familiar topics.
Meet the end of Key Stage 2 stage expectations outlined in the national curriculum for Languages.