MFL

VISION

The intention of teaching Spanish at Sholing Junior School, which is our foreign language of choice throughout KS2, reflects the National Curriculum’s belief that we can liberate our children from insularity and provide an opening to other cultures. We intend to give a language education that will foster our pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world. They should be able to express their ideas and thoughts in another language whilst understanding, and responding to, its speakers, both in speech and in writing. We intend to provide opportunities for pupils to communicate for practical purposes, learn new ways of thinking and become exposed to literature and culture from Spanish speaking countries.

We believe that it is important that the children gain experiences of other languages and we aim to heighten their awareness of these through European days and Intercultural celebrations. The teaching of Spanish in KS2 provides an appropriate balance of spoken and written language and lays the foundations for further foreign language teaching at KS3. Most of our children continue to study Spanish in their local secondary schools as their main foreign language.  We have a practical approach to the teaching of a modern foreign language at Sholing Junior School. There is a strong emphasis on speaking, listening and enjoyment and the children are given many opportunities to speak with each other, in Spanish, during their lessons and around the school.

There are also opportunities in class for children to access Spanish beyond their weekly lesson. Instructions are often given in Spanish to extend the children’s access and enhance the opportunities they have to develop new vocabulary. The children themselves are enthusiastic in demonstrating their Spanish skills and are actively encouraged to take part in lesson demonstrations and lead speaking and listening tasks. We hope that, by learning Spanish, our children will be inspired to have respect for and interest in other languages, cultures and people from around the world.   

The National Curriculum

Purpose of study

Learning a foreign language is a liberation from insularity and provides an opening to other cultures. A high-quality languages education should foster pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world. The teaching should enable pupils to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing. It should also provide opportunities for them to communicate for practical purposes, learn new ways of thinking and read great literature in the original language. Language teaching should provide the foundation for learning further languages, equipping pupils to study and work in other countries.

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.

Attainment targets

By the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes specified in the relevant programme of study.

Subject content

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.