MFL

Intent

At Our Lady’s, we celebrate our diverse community and enjoy sharing and celebrating a multitude of home languages with our children throughout the whole school. We are unique as we offer opportunities for our children in Key Stage One and Two to have weekly lessons of Spanish to build upon their speaking, understanding and learning using a range of learning strategies using songs, actions and visuals.

All pupils at Our Lady’s will be expected to achieve their full potential in their foreign language learning (Spanish) - the ultimate aim is that pupils will feel confident engaging in spoken Spanish, develop skills in reading, listening and writing, and know how important languages will be in their future. We hope that all pupils will develop a genuine interest and curiosity about languages, finding them enjoyable and exciting and show a desire to continue their language learning past KS 2.

Children in EYFS are not currently taught a specific language but we recognise how important it is for our youngest children to learn about different cultures, religions and beliefs. Children in EYFS are taught to have a growing awareness of the world around them. They are also offered opportunities to hear songs and rhymes in different languages and to include languages when answering the register.

In Key Stage One and Key Stage Two our Modern Foreign Languages curriculum is delivered through teaching the children Spanish to meet the unique context of our school. As a Roman Catholic school, we have chosen Spanish because Spain is a Catholic country and the scheme of work we follow incorporates learning about Christian festivals, including the Day of the Dead, Easter and Christmas. A high percentage of our children have English as an Additional Language and we recognise that being able to speak more than one language is an advantage so our whole-school approach helps all children to develop an understanding of how languages work. We also have a small proportion of Spanish-speaking students currently on-roll.

Our aims here at Our Lady’s in teaching a language are:

• To develop an interest in learning other languages.
• To introduce young children to another language in a way that is enjoyable and stimulating.
• To encourage children’s confidence and creative skills through the exploration of another language.
• To stimulate and encourage children’s curiosity about language.
• To help children develop their awareness of cultural differences in other countries.
• To develop listening, speaking, reading and writing skills.
• To lay the foundations for future language learning.

Intent

Our Lady’s Primary Spanish scheme of work aims 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 other languages, facilitates further language study and opens future opportunities to study and work abroad. Our Lady’s Primary’s Spanish scheme of work supports pupils to meet the National curriculum end of Key stage 2 attainment targets (there are no Key stage 1 attainment targets for languages). The Our Lady’s Primary Spanish curriculum aims to provide pupils with a firm foundation of language learning. For this reason, we have carefully planned and sequenced when to teach the three building blocks of a language system, known as our Primary knowledge strands:

• Vocabulary.
• Grammar. Pupils connect these building blocks of knowledge to create meaning in a variety of contexts, allowing them to develop their skills in the following strands:
• Language comprehension: listening and reading
• Language production: speaking and writing Ample opportunities are provided to ensure that children practise new learning across all four modalities.

Our National curriculum coverage shows which of our units cover each of the National curriculum attainment targets as well as each of the strands. Our Progression of knowledge, skills and vocabulary shows the knowledge, skills and progressive vocabulary that are taught within each year group and how these develop to ensure that attainment targets are securely met by the end of Key stage 2.

Implementation

Through Our Lady’s Primary’s Spanish scheme, pupils are given opportunities to communicate for practical purposes around familiar subjects and routines. The scheme provides balanced opportunities for communication in both spoken and written Spanish. Pupils first develop confidence and accuracy with oral skills then increasingly apply their knowledge to extended reading and writing as they progress through Key stage 2. The Spanish scheme is a spiral curriculum, with key skills, grammar and vocabulary revisited with increasing complexity, allowing pupils to revise and build on their previous learning. Cross-curricular links are included throughout our Spanish units, allowing children to make connections and apply their language skills to other areas of their learning.

 Lessons incorporate a range of teaching strategies from independent tasks, paired and group work including role-play, language games and language detective work. Our scheme of work focuses on developing what we term ‘language detective skills’ and developing an understanding of Spanish grammar, rather than committing to memory vast amounts of Spanish vocabulary. Each unit is based on a specific theme with a motivating end outcome which gives the children a context and clear purpose for their learning. Guidance for adapting the learning is available for every lesson to ensure that lessons can be accessed and enjoyed by all.

Our Lady’s Primary’s Spanish scheme has been created with the understanding that many teachers do not feel confident delivering the full language curriculum and every effort has been made to ensure they feel supported to deliver lessons of a high standard that ensures pupil progression with the inclusion of a Spanish specialist to deliver Spanish sessions to Key Stage One and Two classes each week.

Strong subject knowledge is vital for staff to be able to deliver a highly effective language curriculum. By staff being a part of the lessons taught by the Spanish specialist, they are able to develop their language acquisition skills and how to help children to learn in an active way. The implementation of the curriculum relates to how the learning is going to be delivered across your school, taking the intent of the learning and translating it into a progressive and effective curriculum.

Impact

Learning an additional language will 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. It is hoped that children will foster a love of language and a desire to further learning beyond the classroom and in their future.

The impact of Our Lady’s Primary’s Spanish scheme can be monitored continuously through both formative and summative assessment. Pupils frequently evaluate their own and their peers’ performance, respond to feedback and recognise their own progress. Each lesson includes guidance to support teachers in assessing pupils against the learning objectives

Through the high-quality delivery of Spanish, the curriculum aims to develop a range of skills that are transferable to other curriculum areas. Children will:

• listen attentively to spoken language and show understanding by joining in and responding
• explore the patterns and sounds of language through songs and rhymes and link the spelling, sound and meaning of words
• engage in conversations; ask and answer questions; express opinions and respond to those of others; seek clarification and help
• speak in sentences, using familiar vocabulary, phrases and basic language structures
• develop accurate pronunciation and intonation so that others understand when they are reading aloud or using familiar words and phrases
• present ideas and information orally to a range of audiences
• read carefully and show understanding of words, phrases and simple writing
• appreciate stories, songs, poems and rhymes in the language
• broaden their vocabulary and develop their ability to understand new words that are introduced into familiar written material, including through using a dictionary
• write phrases from memory, and adapt these to create new sentences, to express ideas clearly
• describe people, places, things and actions orally and in writing

After the implementation of Our Lady’s Primary Spanish, 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 the Our Lady’s Primary Spanish scheme of work, is that children will:

• Be able to use vocabulary to engage in simple conversations – learnt through actions, songs and a range of visuals.
• 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.
• 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. ● Develop a greater awareness of the wider world and an appreciation for the role of language learning in promoting cross-cultural understand.