Spanish

Purpose and Aims

Learning a foreign language is a key to connecting and understanding global communities and provides an acceptance to other cultures. Spanish has been selected as it is the second most spoken language in the world (21 countries currently), and it is used in many forms of international communication. Our ambitious language education fosters pupils’ curiosity and deepens their understanding; preparing pupils to participate in a rapidly changing world where daily activities are increasingly carried out in other languages. Our teaching is immersive, allowing pupils to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing. The teaching of Spanish, which is predominately phonetic in its early stage, provides the foundation for learning further languages, equipping pupils to study and work in other countries.

Organisation of the Curriculum

The focus of study in Spanish is on practical communication. It enables pupils to make substantial progress in Spanish. The teaching provides an appropriate balance of spoken and written language, fostering a desire for life-long language study.

By the time a pupil leaves KS2 at NET, they will be able to:

• understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of sources
• speak with increasing confidence and fluency, 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
• 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 reading and writing in Spanish and be enthusiastically prepared for future language study.

Planning and Assessment

Jerounds uses the Hola Español as a scheme of work, which is enhanced with school planned cross-curricular cultural links. This scheme is a progressive framework of units which are built upon in a carefully sequenced way to support the development of a foreign language. Each unit introduces a new strand and vocabulary and there are revised stands and vocabulary elements within units to aid memory retention. Pupils are introduced to elements of grammar and phonics accordingly.  This is a comprehensive programme, featuring online support to encourage accurate pronunciation.

The curriculum is set into domains that pupils will be exposed to throughout their primary years. These key skills are:

• Listening
• Speaking
• Reading
• Writing

MFL teaching begins in KS2 and pupils have opportunities for listening, speaking, reading and writing throughout each unit. Learning questions are devised for each unit and knowledge organisers contain essential vocabulary, grammar sheets and cultural information which are used for teacher and pupil support. Every lesson contains a recap and recall session, with elements of The Teacher Toolkit interwoven.

The sequence of lessons builds on vocabulary and learning in a progressive format:

Units are taught discretely but where links can be made to topics being taught they are, in order that our pupils make meaningful connections, whilst building up knowledge in their long term memory. For example, in geography, Mexican culture is explored when teaching this unit.

Enrichment

By enriching the curriculum we hope to provide extended learning opportunities for our children. Giving the pupils the chance to study concepts with greater depth, breadth and complexity, while also helping pupils to pursue their own areas of interest and strength.

Enrichment happens in the following ways:

Daily Greetings: Pupils are encouraged to answer the register and simple questions in Spanish daily. Lunch time is started with the Spanish greeting, ‘Buen Provecho’.

Spanish Ambassadors: Help to cultivate the culture of Spanish in school by ensuring that spanish greetings are heard throughout the school and set an example for others to follow.

Cultural Days: Pupils are exposed to cultural experiences, immersed in language, song, stories and traditions from Spanish speaking countries around the world

Cultural Comparisons: Our pupils are given opportunities to learn about other cultures, traditions and festivals, for example Christmas and Halloween. They make comparisons between their country and those from around the world.

Reading in Home Language: Parents are encouraged to visit the school as a Mystery Reader, whereby they can read a story from their own cultural heritage in their native language.

Knowledge Organisers