St Luke's C of E Primary School

Trust in God
and give of your best

"For each one of us to shine with God’s light
believing we can make a difference in His world." Matthew 5:16

Select Language

Primary Languages-Spanish

Intent

All Saints offers a relevant, broad, vibrant and ambitious Primary Languages curriculum to inspire and excite our pupils using a wide variety of topics and themes. Our intention is for pupils to establish an enthusiasm, an interest and a positive curiosity about other languages, to explore more deeply other cultures and the world around them and to develop language strategies, knowledge and skills which give children a sound base for Languages learning in KS3 and beyond. 

Implementation

At  All Saints, Spanish is taught weekly from Reception to Year 6, with well-planned, high quality lessons based on the Language Angels scheme of work and resources. Classes are mostly taught by a specialist Languages teacher. In addition, a French Club is offered as preparation for High School Language learning for children in Years 5 & 6.

Our aims in teaching a Language are to allow children to –

  • 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
  • Write for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt
  • Discover and develop an appreciation of a range of authentic writing in Spanish

We help children to develop and demonstrate substantial progress in the five key language skills necessary for learning Spanish: speaking, listening, reading, writing and grammar. Songs, mimes, video clips, interactive whiteboard materials, rhymes and poems, puzzles and challenges, art, craft, quizzes, role play, puppets, active games, surveys, differentiated desk-based consolidation activities and physical activities all form part of lessons which are designed to engage and challenge all learners. 

As well as a weekly, timetabled 45 minute lesson, Years 3 and 4 complete weekly Spanish morning work which consolidates their knowledge and aids the retention of new language. Spanish Ambassadors in Years 4-6 promote Spanish during the week through a weekly take home bag for Year 4 and playground activities for KS1 delivered by Years 5-6.

During our annual Languages Day (either European Day of Languages or International Mother Tongue Day) the enriching experience and benefits of speaking other Languages are promoted and celebrated throughout the school.

Impact:

As well as each subsequent lesson within each teaching unit being progressive, units themselves are ordered to drive progressive learning and challenge. The units increase in level of challenge, stretch and linguistic and grammatical complexity as pupils move through the Key Stages. Units in each subsequent level of the teaching type categories require more knowledge and application of skills. Activities contain more text (in both languages) and lessons have more content as children become more confident and ambitious in their Language learning. Early learners start at noun and article level with short phrases; by the time children reach progressive units they are exposed to much longer text and are encouraged to formulate more personalised responses based on a much wider bank of vocabulary, linguistic structures and grammatical knowledge. They are able to create longer pieces of spoken and written language and are encouraged to use a variety of conjunctions, adverbs, adjectives, opinions and justifications. 

Pupils continually build on previous knowledge as they progress on their Spanish journey through the primary phase. Previous language is recycled, recalled, revised and consolidated wherever possible and appropriate. Pupils in KS2 keep a record of Spanish learned in a vocabulary book which is just one of the ways the they are aware of the progress they have made in Spanish. 

Progression is regularly assessed and measured against the 12 D of E Languages Programme of Study for KS2 attainment targets; data is recorded and monitored by the Languages Subject Leader and is used to ensure that teaching is targeted and appropriate for each pupil, class and year group. Children are expected to make good, or better than good progress in Spanish. 

Looking ahead to the future, children will continue to learn Languages at KS3 as part of the National Curriculum. Their primary progress will serve them well in the next stage of their Language leaning journey. Much of their previous experience will be invaluable, regardless of whether they continue to learn Spanish or take up a new Language in Year 7 because many of their skills and knowledge are transferable across a range of languages: linking spellings with sounds; how to decode or listen to longer pieces of text; how to manipulate or piece together chunks of language; how to apply different grammatical rules to different languages. 

How can parents/ carers help?
Languages learning is a lifelong journey, so why not learn along with your child?
  • If you're lucky enough to travel abroad for a holiday, you'll have many opportunities to experience different language and culture: tasting different foods; writing and posting a postcard; exploring different traditions; practising some simple conversations in a shop or café.  However, foreign travel isn't necessary to improve your language skills!
  • Try out the Language Angels App where you can sing songs and play games related to a variety of topics. Suitable from Early Years to Year 6, children can enjoy revising topics that they've already covered (but might have forgotten about!) or challenge themselves to learn new vocabulary. 
  • Also from Language Angels is a new App called Glurbs, for more language practice. Year 6s who are moving to High School could try the free Duolingo App in the language they'll be learning in KS3 to give them a head start in Year 7. 
 
  • YouTube has a vast selection of clips teaching numbers, days and months, family members, colours, clothes, weather, foods, hobbies, pets etc - all useful topics which come around again and again in language learning. 
 
  • For those who love an experience, why not cook a traditional dish from another country or turn dinner into a Spanish restaurant complete with menu and waiters? Or for those with enquiring minds, you could create a fact file about a famous Hispanic musician/ sports player/ figure in history/ city or country. 
 
Never say to your child  "I wasn't any good at French at school!"  Children have an amazing capacity to learn and they prove that every day at All Saints! Language learning is all about communication, having a go, broadening your horizons and enjoying the learning journey.