At Calstock and Stoke Climsland we are committed to ensuring that experience of another language enables children to interpret, create and exchange meaning within and across cultures. We believe that a high quality languages education should foster children’s curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world. We also believe that through language learning children develop skills that will open further opportunities later in life.
Intent
The intent of our curriculum is that effective language learning at Calstock and Stoke Climsland takes place through the explicit teaching of Spanish based on the objectives taken from the National Curriculum. The teaching of Spanish in KS2 provides an appropriate balance of the four skills areas (speaking, listening, reading and writing) as well as intercultural understanding, and lays the foundations for further foreign language teaching at KS3. It is also our belief that early introduction to languages is extremely beneficial – consequently children in KS 1 receive regular exposure to Spanish culture, language and vocabulary.
Implement
n both schools, children are introduced to Spanish from Year 3 and receive weekly lessons throughout their time in key stage 2. This enables the children to develop early language acquisition skills that facilitate their understanding of the patterns of language and how these differ from, or are similar to, English. Children follow units of learning (named Group 1, 2 and 3) that build progressively from cohorts’ starting points and ensure that all age groups develop their knowledge and skills in a thorough and systematic way.
Lessons support the skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing through:
Children being encouraged to listen attentively to spoken language and respond, joining in with songs, rhymes and games
The development of an appreciation of a variety of stories, songs, poems and rhymes in Spanish that are delivered through the curriculum content
Opportunities to orally rehearse new vocabulary and join to form basic sentences
The use of bi-lingual dictionaries to find and translate vocabulary
Applying skills in a written context, such as describing likes/dislikes, describing where they live, who is in their family etc, evidence of which can be found in topic books.
Exposure to Spanish vocabulary and everyday phrases is encouraged in Key Stage 1 throughout the day through the use of videos and songs and the use of Spanish phrases in the classroom.
In order to support the delivery of Spanish at Calstock and Stoke Climsland, we follow a scheme of video lessons prepared by the subject leader. These lessons are based on the Rachael Hawkes Languages Programme. We believe that an additional benefit of this approach is that non-specialist teachers are able to develop their knowledge and skills alongside the children.
Understand and respond to spoken and written language
Write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt
Demonstrate knowledge and appreciation of a variety of cultures, recognising similarities and differences with their own
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
Impact
Our Spanish curriculum will ensure all pupils develop key language learning skills set out by the national curriculum, as well as a love of languages and learning about other cultures. As a result of our curriculum and languages provision, we will expect children to:
In order to achieve this, children will 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 Spanish 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
This impact will be measured through:
- Regular and ongoing quizzing
- Ongoing assessment checklists based on objectives from the half-termly subject progression
- Learning Conversations – pupils are able to talk confidently about their learning in Spanish to adults and to each other.
