“Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things.” – Flora Lewis

Spanish

We are Linguists

"You can never understand one language until you understand at least two" - Geoffrey Willans

Why should we learn Spanish?

Hola!

At St Matthews CE Primary School, we place great importance on learning a modern foreign language to support children in today's global society.

At St Matthew's we understand it is a necessity to be aware and accepting of other cultures and countries. We also want to promote the idea of continuously broadening our knowledge of the world. As it is currently the second most popular language with around 410 million people speaking Spanish as their native, this lesson is a perfect way to engage children with meaningful yet fun activities.

How will Spanish help children in later life?

We can all agree that language is a vital part of life, giving people a way to express themselves and transmit expressions. It is there a relevant skill to use in real life situations and can help children to interact with those who speak the language. They will have a deeper understanding of those who speak Spanish as well as being able to identify various words and phrases. They will learn words, phrases and even sentences orally which they can develop into written pieces of work as well.

What do we want for St Matthew's children?

At St Matthew's, we celebrate our rich, diverse pupils who collectively speak many different languages. Spanish provides children with an opportunity to widen their outlook on the world. At St Matthew's, we aim for a high quality Spanish curriculum which equips children to become confident and competent communicators and which inspires pupils to explore the world around them with greater curiosity and an open mind.

High quality Spanish provision not only equips pupils with the skills they require to communicate confidently with others, but also provides a vehicle through which children are enabled to learn more about the world around them including different cultures. Language learning supports children’s understanding of identity and their place in the world. In addition, learning key grammatical concepts in Spanish not only serves to improve pupils’ communication in that language but also strengthens their understanding of English grammar and sentence structure.

Our Spanish curriculum incorporates fundamental Spanish subject knowledge and language learning skills and affords pupils a firm foundation in the subject to develop their studies when they transition to secondary school, no matter which language they study. The following principles, drawn from the 2014 National Curriculum [1], drive Spanish at St Matthew's:

Learning a foreign language is a liberation from insularity and provides an opening to other cultures.
High-quality languages education should foster pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world.
Pupils should be enabled to express their ideas and thoughts in another language, and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing.
Language teaching should provide the foundation for learning further languages, equipping pupils to study and work in other countries.

As with all subjects at St Matthew's, the learning of key vocabulary is the cornerstone of the Spanish teaching that takes place throughout Key Stage 2. As pupils progress through our school, they are taught the necessary skills to enable them to move from understanding key vocabulary within the context of a unit, to being able to use and manipulate this language across different units and to understand key grammatical concepts.

Our Spanish curriculum begins in Year 3 by building children's curiosity and cultural awareness. We adopt a fully inclusive, gradually challenging approach, where children enhance in their vocabulary and understanding steadily. All teachers (from Years 3-6) follow a clear teaching sequence, using the Primary Languages network scheme. This subject forms the foundation for many opportunities in secondary schools and colleges.

PLN1

What does this look like?

At St Matthew's, we ensure that our Spanish lessons are planned around key language and grammatical concepts. Spanish lessons are designed to give children ample opportunity to develop their communication skills across the breadth of the Spanish curriculum, and to harness pupils’ natural curiosity and inclination to learn about new languages and cultures.

Our Spanish lessons are designed to be interactive, engaging and memorable. We use an exciting scheme with attractive visuals. Lessons are designed to be interactive and multi-sensory, often involving opportunities for pupils to watch or listen to Spanish speakers, manipulate key resources and play games or sing songs to enhance their learning. Communication is an active process in which pupils are fully engaged, and they are encouraged to use their developing language skills throughout the school day.

Our pupils listen to the accurate phrase with the correct intonation and pronunciation. Pupils are taught to listen attentively to the spoken language and demonstrate their understanding by responding and joining in.

Intent

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
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.

Implementation

Spanish is taught weekly in Key Stage 2 (Year 3-6) following the National Curriculum. Lessons are fun and interactive, using songs, games, role-play, stories, and digital resources. Pupils build their vocabulary and grammar skills over time, with regular practice and opportunities to use Spanish during the school day.

Curriculum Map and Progression

Impact

By the end of Year 6, pupils can hold simple conversations, read and write basic sentences, and understand key Spanish words and phrases. They also gain an appreciation for Spanish-speaking cultures and are well prepared for continuing language learning in secondary school.

Progression in Knowledge, Skills and Understanding

Our Spanish curriculum is divided into half termly units and these are carefully sequenced to ensure that key communication skills and grammatical concepts are built on year on year and that language learned can be used cumulatively. This ensures that content is embedded and creates a strong basis for pupils’ future language learning. The detail of this progression is set out in ‘Progression of Knowledge, Skills and Understanding in Spanish.

Resources and Inclusion

We are constantly building upon known skills in Spanish and lessons will include repetition in order for children to become comfortable with the new words and phrases they are learning. As well as this, many lessons are heavily oral based, meaning that even children who may find writing large amounts of information tricky can still access the information. Finally, children will be carefully guided through the work with a variety of visual and interactive resources such as child-friendly Spanish dictionaries and flashcards to retrieve key words.