Spanish

Holy Trinity Catholic Primary School

Spanish

Intent

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

Holy Trinity is a school which places great value upon the importance of early language learning. We believe that, in today’s international and multicultural society, it is essential that our children develop skills and attitudes which enable them to communicate with, understand and respect other cultures. 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 target language.

At Holy Trinity, we strongly feel that learning another language gives children a new and broader perspective on the world, encouraging them to understand their own cultures and those of others. During Spanish lessons, the children are encouraged to show respect for different people’s cultures, experiences, feelings and opinions. Children learn that our world is made up of people from a vast array of different cultures and societies and they develop tolerance, appreciation and respect for themselves and for others. Throughout Spanish sessions and activities, we endeavour to ‘bring learning to life’ to ensure that our children are passionate about Modern Foreign Languages and to give them experiences of the local, national and international worlds around them. Children at Holy Trinity are immerged into activities that help to broaden the cultural capital of the children. These involve-writing letters to their pen pals abroad, Spanish Pupil Council, whole school themed ‘Spanish’ Days, food tasting, and studies of Spanish artists. 

Through the study of a foreign language, students learn to understand and appreciate different countries, cultures, communities and people. The teaching and learning of Spanish at Holy Trinity promotes cultural and social elements of Spanish and Spanish-speaking countries - in addition to linguistic and syntactic foundations. At Holy Trinity, it is essential that our children develop skills and attitudes which enable them to communicate with, understand and respect other cultures. We endeavour to instil in our pupils a ‘global’ and ‘outward thinking’ view of other people and places. In doing so, we help to promote the richness and diversity of the world that we live in.

 In line with all areas of our school curriculum, we have high expectations for all children to achieve their potential in Spanish - regardless of their starting points. The Spanish curriculum and assessment system at Holy Trinity is developed to ensure that we motivate pupils, monitor progress and achieve constantly high standards. By the end of Year 6, the children undertake Liverpool School Improvement assessments in the four core areas of language learning: speaking, listening, reading and writing. Our high expectations in this subject not only lay the foundations for extended language learning at secondary school - but also for life-long language learning.

Implementation

At Holy Trinity, we follow the Liverpool Primary Languages Scheme of Work for Spanish which demonstrates clear progression across year groups. All pupils from Year 2 to Year 6 are taught Spanish by a Foreign Language Assistant (FLA) from a Hispanophone country in addition to their class teacher. The FLA 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 receive one thirty-minute session with our FLA followed by one thirty-minute follow-up session with their class teacher per week.

Our aims are to fulfil the requirements of the National Curriculum for languages; providing a broad and balanced curriculum that provides excitement, enjoyment and challenge for children, helping to create enthusiastic learner and to develop positive attitudes to language learning throughout life.

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.

The National Curriculum states that pupils should be 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 word

· 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 phrase

· Present ideas and information orally to a range of audience

· 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

· 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

To meet the aims of the National Curriculum for languages, we employ an exciting and effective range of teaching methods and materials to build enthusiasm and motivation in our young, language learners. A great deal of emphasis is placed initially on listening and speaking skills and pupils are given the opportunity to learn vocabulary through games, rhymes, chant and song. KS2 teaching also provides regular opportunities to develop reading and writing skills.

At Holy Trinity, Spanish is constantly promoted and embedded into school life as much as possible. There is signage around school is in Spanish and many aspects of our daily routine – such as greetings, registers and prayers – are conducted in Spanish. Every KS2 classroom has a Spanish display. Each year, we hold a ‘Spanish Day’ which enables the children to experience many different aspects of Spanish culture such as traditional games and food tasting.

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 on-going teacher /FLA assessments

· Lesson observations

· Learning walks

· Spanish Pupil Council

· Pupil voice

The ultimate impact and measure of the Spanish curriculum at Holy Trinity is to embed a love of languages and other cultures that will lay the foundations for further language learning at Key Stage 3 and for life as an adult in the wider world.