Intent

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”- Nelson Mandela

The intent of our Spanish offer is for our children to develop knowledge of the language and culture of Spanish speaking countries. This will be achieved through a mix of written and oral skills as well as through cultural studies of different countries and celebrations.

The intent of our MFL offer is to deliver a curriculum which is accessible to all and that will maximise the outcomes for every child so that

they know more, remember more and understand more. As a result of this they will:

❖ Develop their understanding of other cultures

❖ Express their ideas and thoughts in another language

❖ Develop curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world

❖ Develop an interest to learn other languages

❖ 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

❖ Continually improve the accuracy of their pronunciation

 Implementation

The Legal Position

The National Curriculum sets out the expectations for MFL teaching at KS2. There is no legal requirement to teach MFL to KS1, although opportunities for Spanish “taster sessions” will be provided for our younger learners. The National Curriculum emphasises a need for a balance between oral and written language teaching and a focus on practical communication skills for students. Teaching should enable students to make substantial progress in one language and to prepare students for further foreign language teaching in KS3. Most of our local secondary schools provide Spanish as a modern foreign language, but teaching should create a strong foundation of skills and knowledge which will encourage them to learn other foreign languages too.

Planning

From the long-term overview, teachers plan a sequence of lessons, using the skills and knowledge progression. Teachers aim to provide content with rich vocabulary for each topic covered, through conversation, practical activities and cultural experiences. Lessons are planned to have an even balance of conversational learning and written learning as they go through key stage 2, gaining more confidence. Opportunities for pupils to communicate with one another will be planned for to enable students to practise their fluency and intonation, showing their understanding of the language. In order to help children with their intonation and reading, specific phonics focuses will be provided termly and grammar elements will also be explicitly taught to students to help them gain knowledge.

Assessment

Pupils will be assessed using a variety of methods. In the first instance, children will be provided with opportinuties to self-assess in every lesson, and will be taught how to track their progress using assessment for learning clouds stuck into the front of their books. These assessments will be checked over and tracked by the teacher, so that the confidence level and gaps children perceive can be addressed. At the end of each half-termly unit a short “puzzle it out assessment” will be carried out to check the target learning has been achieved by each pupil. The teacher will also assess using differentiated statements for each year group derived from the aims for MFL learning from the National Curriculum. These statements show progress throughout the year and will be used to assess both written work, but most importantly oral and conversational work in the moment using checklists. From both of these assessments, children will be assessed as either “working towards” (WTS) or at the “expected standard” (EXS) by the end of the year.

Enhancements

Students at Grove will be taught by a native Spanish speaker, thus giving them the opportunity to gain accurate and strong pronunciation and intonation, as well as a further insight into cultural practices in Spain and other Spanish speaking countries. There will be half-termly assemblies, focussed on a particular element of culture; examples of these may be how Easter and Christmas is celebrated, the Spanish festival of “Carnaval” and the “dia de los Muertos” celebrations of South America. These will provide students with opportunities to gain more knowledge of other cultures. At the end of year 6, children will have the opportunity to write and present a short sketch to the rest of the school and parents. There will be an opportunity for KS1 children to learn Spanish as part of an after school club.

Impact

By the time the children at Grove leave our school they should have developed:

❖ A passion for learning another language and keen to learn it in greater depth.

❖ An understanding of the importance of being able to speak another language.

❖ Knowledge of a culture different to their own.

❖ Confidence to communicate in another language.

❖ An enjoyment of languages.