Spanish | Mexborough St John

The National Curriculum 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.

Key stage 2: Foreign language

Teaching may be of any modern or ancient foreign language and should focus on enabling pupils to make substantial progress in one language. The teaching should provide an appropriate balance of spoken and written language and should lay the foundations for further foreign language teaching at key stage 3. It should enable pupils to understand and communicate ideas, facts and feelings in speech and writing, focused on familiar and routine matters, using their knowledge of phonology, grammatical structures and vocabulary.

The focus of study in modern languages will be on practical communication. If an ancient language is chosen the focus will be to provide a linguistic foundation for reading comprehension and an appreciation of classical civilisation. Pupils studying ancient languages may take part in simple oral exchanges, while discussion of what they read will be conducted in English. A linguistic foundation in ancient languages may support the study of modern languages at key stage 3.

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 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
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.

The starred (*) content above will not be applicable to ancient languages.

Intent

At Mexborough St John the Baptist Primary School we believe that studying a foreign language at Key Stage Two is an important part of our children’s education. It is a lifelong skill which can help to develop young people into well-rounded, culturally aware global citizens. Through the teaching of Spanish, we hope to foster children’s curiosity and in turn, deepen their understanding of the world around them. We believe that through learning about cultures different from their own, we can teach children respect; a value very important to our school ethos. Through high quality language teaching, we aim to provide children with the knowledge, transferable skills and confidence to express themselves in many situations. We also hope to lay the foundations for further language study in the future, opening a world of possibilities.

Implementation

Learning is embedded through the development of knowledge and skills over time. The schemes of work utilised at Mexborough St John’s show a clear progression of skills and teachers use a range of on the spot assessment techniques to ensure that all children build and develop their knowledge of language. In order to meet the needs of our children our scheme of work has been developed to ensure each year group from Y3 to Y6 have opportunities to engage in learning that encourages developing knowledge, reflecting and enquiring.

At Mexborough St John the Baptist C of E Primary the Spanish curriculum is planned in accordance with the Spanish department at Swinton Academy. The scheme of work is set out carefully to ensure that topics studied build on prior learning. Children of all abilities are given opportunities to develop their skills and knowledge in each unit and the progression planned into the scheme offers the children an increasing challenge as they move on up through the school.

Units of work:

Impact

Pupils’ learning over time, reflects the intended curriculum. The concepts and big ideas provide the schema through which meaning is made and helps to ensure long term knowledge growth. This in turn ensures pupils know more and can do more.

Research shows that repetition of course content leads to sticky learning; the transfer of knowledge from the short term to long term memory. At Mexborough St John’s, we achieve this through regular retrieval practise. Children can speak with confidence about what they have learnt and how they can apply this to other parts of their learning.

The impact of our curriculum will be seen not only in measurable attainment and progress but that St John the Baptist Primary School creates polite, well-mannered caring members of our school community who understand and respect everybody’s differences and needs.

Spanish Progress Model

Please follow the links below to view our Spanish progress models. These document outline our rationale for sequencing learning in Spanish and how progress happens placed in the context of long-term knowledge growth and skills development.

Year 3 - Getting to know you / Animals / Food and drink

Year 4 - Getting to know you / Shapes and Colours / My family

Year 5 - Classroom language / Sports / Music

Year 6 - Weather / Around town / My opinion / Holidays

Knowledge Organisers

Knowledge organisers are a summary of the key facts and essential knowledge that pupils need about a unit of work or a curriculum subject.

Knowledge organisers can be a valuable tool for both children, staff and parents. Class teachers are usually the ones who write the knowledge organiser, to set out their expectations of what pupils should learn about a topic – and to clarify their own thinking around what is important.

Pupils will review, revise and quiz themselves using their knowledge organisers. They are also useful tools for parents as they make them more aware of what their children are learning how to support them.

Spanish Knowledge Organisers

Autumn Term - Getting to know you / in my pencil case

Spring Term - Animals / stories and songs

Summer Term - Food and drink / At the café

Mexborough St John the Baptist Church of England Primary School
Together we believe, together we succeed

Spanish
“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Acts 2:4

Spanish “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Acts 2:4

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Spanish
“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Acts 2:4