Spanish

The Intent, Implementation and Impact of our Spanish Curriculum.

Intent

At South Farnborough Junior School, we believe that learning a language for children is an important part of their education as the long-term benefits of learning another language go beyond being able to communicate with others: it makes them into excellent learners. Studies suggest that children learning an additional language develop better listening, observation, problem-solving and critical thinking skills.

By learning a language, children can also develop their cultural understanding as they can learn about another culture. In turn, this develops their understanding of their own culture.

Implementation

At South Farnborough, Spanish is taught twice weekly in the mornings. We believe that by having two sessions, children will not only have a better chance of grasping the language through repetition, but that also, in this way, skills such as speaking and listening, and writing can be separated as appropriate so that they can focus on one skill at one given time.

Lessons should all involve a speaking and listening element and the language should be taught using a variety of strategies to engage and enthuse learners, allowing them plenty of opportunity to repeat and consolidate the new vocabulary they learn.

Every class should have a Spanish display and the date should be written on the board in Spanish and English daily. We hope that this will help to expose the children to the language on a daily basis, therefore giving them the opportunity to consolidate what they have learnt.

We believe that by learning a language, all children, no matter their ability, culture or needs, can be placed on a level playing field. This can increase their confidence and provide opportunities for all children, no matter their background, to work together and support one another.

Impact

By the end of their time with us, all children should have achieved the National Curriculum objectives:

• 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 impact and measure of this is to ensure children not only leave us prepared to learn Spanish, or another modern foreign language in the secondary school, but with an enthusiasm and love of languages and a greater understanding of a different culture. By doing this, they will have a greater appreciation for the world around them and have a thirst to continue to learn and develop so that they can further explore with world with confidence and excitement.