Holy Spirit Catholic Primary School

"With languages, you are at home anywhere" - Edmund de Waal

  Spanish 

Learning a language enriches the curriculum. It provides excitement, enjoyment and challenge for children and teachers, helping to create enthusiastic learners and to develop positive attitudes to language learning throughout life. The natural links between languages and other areas of the curriculum can enhance the overall teaching and learning experience. The skills, knowledge and understanding gained can make a major contribution to the development of children’s oracy and literacy and to their understanding of their own culture/s and those of others.” The Key Stage 2 Framework for Languages (DfE 2005)

At Holy Spirit Catholic Primary School we believe that the learning of a foreign language provides a valuable educational, social and cultural experience for our pupils. It helps them to develop communication skills including key skills of speaking and listening and extends their knowledge of how language works. Learning another language gives children a new perspective on the world, encouraging them to understand their own cultures and those of others. 

Holy Spirit Catholic Primary School are very lucky to have our very own Spanish Teacher who provides age-appropriate learning opportunities for all children in ks1 and Ks2, although the Government’s statutory requirement only refers to Key Stage 2.

Through the delivery of MFL, we aim to improve pupils’ skills in these four areas:

• Listening and responding
• Speaking
• Reading and responding
• Writing

Children will develop their progression of skills through:

• -Listening and speaking/Oracy
• -Reading and writing/literacy
• -Stories, songs, poems and rhymes
• -Grammar

Purpose

Our aim is to ensure that children develop a deep interest and appreciation for other cultures and a love of languages. We believe that most children benefit from starting to learn a foreign language at an early age and that this will ease the learning of other foreign languages later in life. The use of MFL promotes initiative, confidence and independent learning and encourages diversity within society. As the second most spoken language in the world, learning Spanish will also prepare pupils to participate in our rapidly changing world in which work and other activities are often carried out in different languages.

Spanish is the official language in the following countries:  Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
There are 460,000,000 native Spanish speakers in the world .

We believe that language learning in its broadest sense has three core strands – oracy, literacy and intercultural understanding. Learning another language also promotes intercultural understanding, giving children a new perspective on the world, encouraging them to understand their own cultures and those of others. We want children leaving our school to have high self-esteem as well as understanding and respect for people from different cultures, lifestyles and customs. We want to expand their personal horizons, instill in them a love of learning and to foster inquisitive minds, self-discipline and self-motivation. We want them to be flexible and adaptable, to think outside the box, to be good communicators and problem solvers. It is for these reasons that we teach Spanish to every child from Reception to Year 6.

The aims and objectives of learning a modern foreign language in primary school are:

• to foster an interest in learning other languages;
• to introduce children to another language in a way that is enjoyable, fun and accessible to all;
• to make children aware that language has structure, and that the structure differs from one language to another;
• to help children develop their awareness of cultural similarities and differences;
• to support oracy and literacy, and in particular develop speaking and listening skills;
• to lay the foundations for future study, helping children to develop positive attitudes to language learning throughout life;
• to give an extra dimension to teaching and learning across the curriculum.

Assessment

Spanish is formally assessed by Juan, class teachers and the subject coordinator during the school year. The rest of the time, teachers will keep notes on pupils who are showing an aptitude for language learning, or parts of the curriculum which need revisiting later. Pupils will be assessed in their speaking, listening, reading and writing skills in Spanish, according to the expectations of their age group.

At the end of KS2 pupils should have been taught to:

• 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  

Bienvenidos!

Our Spanish Vision at Holy Spirit

INTENT

At Holy Spirit we believe that the learning of a foreign language provides a valuable educational, social and cultural experience for our pupils. It helps them to develop communication skills including key skills of speaking and listening and extends their knowledge of how language works. We believe that learning another language gives children a new perspective on the world, encouraging them to understand their own cultures and those of others.

Our intent is to provide broad linguistic and cultural experiences for our pupils that enable them to foster a love of languages and to develop their communication skills in the four key areas of language learning: speaking, listening, reading and writing. We endeavour to broaden the cultural awareness of our pupils, to create linguists who enjoy learning languages and who can express themselves confidently in the second most spoken language in the world. Holy Spirit Catholic Primary School are very lucky to have our very own Spanish teacher who provides age-appropriate learning opportunities for all children in EYFS, ks1 and Ks2, although the Government’s statutory requirement only refers to Key Stage 2.

The intent in ks1 is that children acquire basic skills and understanding in Spanish with a strong emphasis placed on developing their Speaking and Listening ability. These will be further developed in KS2 alongside Reading and Writing skills, gradually progressing to more complex language concepts and greater learner autonomy.

IMPLEMENTATION

All pupils from Year 1 to Year 6 are taught Spanish by a Foreign Language teacher with Spanish nationality in addition to their class teacher. The FLT represents a valuable source of cultural and linguistic capital that enriches the language learning experience of the children. FLAs can stimulate genuine communication, increase motivation for language-learning and encourage cross-cultural understanding.

 Children in both KS1 and KS2 receive one thirty-minute session with our FLT each week. Teachers then build on the skills learnt throughout the week. EYFS are also introduced to the language and have had the opportunity to engage in lessons with the FLT.

IMPACT

The impact of our Spanish curriculum is measured through a range of different strategies.

 Formal assessments at the end of KS2 – in the four key areas of language learning (speaking, listening, reading and writing)

• Data which is produced from termly assessment.
• Lesson observations
• Learning walks
• Pupil voice
• Book Scrutiny

The ultimate impact and measure of the Spanish Curriculum at Holy Spirit is to ensure that children develop a deep interest and appreciation for other cultures and a love of languages. We believe that most children benefit from starting to learn a foreign language at an early age and that this will ease the learning of other foreign languages later in life hence why children at Holy spirit are introduced to the Spanish language from the early years thus laying the foundation for further learning.

Long Term Overview for Spanish.

Curriculum overview Y3

Curriculum overview Y4

Curriculum overview Y5

Curriculum overview Y6

Long term plan Y1-Y6

Spanish road map

 To help with your learning, the following websites are a great way of improving your understanding of the Spanish language.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/subjects/zxsvr82

http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/mfl/mfl_spanish.htm

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

http://www.jmbeducation.com/ks2-spanish/

http://www.ks2spanish.com/