Spanish

Modern Foreign Languages

Spanish 

Vision: 

At Blackpool School our aim is for all children to leave our setting with a sound foundation in the Spanish language. Through learning Spanish, we want to foster our children’s curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world, broadening their cultural capital. We offer a relevant, broad, vibrant and ambitious foreign languages curriculum that will excite and inspire our pupils. We aim to ensure our children have the skills and knowledge to continue to learn languages and eventually equip them to study and work in other countries.  

The intent of our curriculum content will be continuously updated and ensures that the foreign language knowledge of our pupils progresses within each academic year.  

The 4 key language learning skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing will be taught, and all necessary grammar to succeed in learning Spanish, will be covered in an age-appropriate way.  

Modern Foreign Language is a key component in many of our curriculum threads at Blackpool. Most obviously, ‘communications and connections’ and ‘life-long skills’ to ensure that future opportunities are not limited and children will be confident to communicate in Spanish in later life.  

We have chosen to use Language Angels as a scheme of work to support our subject knowledge and pronunciation. This is especially important for supporting teacher knowledge for non-specialists. The Spanish curriculum is carefully planned to ensure the building blocks of the 3 pillars: phonics, vocabulary and grammar, are delivered and embedded in a progressive way. 

Learning about languages begins in EYFS, with a focus on recognising that a range of languages is spoken across the world. As pupils progress to KS1 they learn how to greet others using different languages, acknowledging and building skills to respect and celebrate the diversity of languages.

Pupils formally learn Modern Foreign Languages in Key Stage 2 and by the end of this phase of learning, we want them to  achieve the National Curriculum objectives for all 4 key language learning skills. Each year builds on prior knowledge with key skills being revisited and rehearsed through a range of relevant themes to bring the learning to life. 

Lessons are made engaging through songs and interactive games. Teachers are encouraged to model the use of spoken Spanish outside of lessons and children are given opportunities to apply learnt Spanish, offering opportunities for rehearsal. Our aim is for pupils to have automaticity and fluency in Spanish. 

Through collaboration with feeder secondary schools, we have ensured that our curriculum prepares our pupils well for language learning in Key Stage 3. 

Classrooms have display resources to complement each unit of work to enable key vocabulary and images to be easily accessible to the children to support their learning. 

Aims: 

The national curriculum for languages aims to ensure that all pupils:  

• 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  

• can 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 a range of writing in the language studied. 

Outcomes:

By the end of Key Stage 2: 

Listening: 

• 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  

Speaking:

• 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 

Reading:

• 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  

Writing: 

• 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 Languages 

Grammar: 

• understand basic grammar appropriate to the language being studied, including (where relevant): feminine, masculine and neuter forms and the conjugation of high-frequency verbs; key features and patterns of the language; how to apply these, for instance, to build sentences; and how these differ from or are similar to English. 

Assessment monitoring and review: 

Pupils will be assessed on their Spanish knowledge and skills against the planned curriculum for each unit of work. By the end of the year, attainment is assessed against the intended curricular goals. Assessment can be carried out in a number of ways, these can include; work produced, peer assessment, teacher assessment and pupil presentations and celebrations.  Subject leaders and senior leaders will use discussions with pupils and teachers, alongside our curriculum plans and evidence of work to assure that all essential elements of our curriculum have been delivered. 

SPANISH CLUB 

This is what our children say about Spanish in our school...

'Spanish lessons are really fun and we get to use our new Spanish vocabulary all the time - not just in lessons, like when we take the register.' Year 4

'I have learnt how to say our school motto is Spanish, which really impressed Mrs Cox!' Year 5

'I think it is really important to learn another language so that we can use it when we go to a country that speaks that language.' Year 6