Modern Foreign Languages (Spanish)

At Gossops Green, we believe that learning a language provides an opening to other cultures and deepens pupils’ understanding of the world, as well as contributing to the development of their general linguistic competence through the learning of another language. We recognise its importance as a life-long skill.

Spanish Curriculum Intent

In terms of DELIVERING EQUITY, we envisage by the end of Year 6 that our pupils will be in a strong position to continue their language learning successfully at KS3. Starting from a basis of interest in – and appreciation for – other languages and cultures, combined with a secure understanding of a range of grammatical concepts, our pupils are confident in their language-learning abilities and approach new challenges with resilience. They are empowered to challenge stereotypes and value all people, irrespective of the country they come from or the language they speak. Our pupils understand that much can be learned from how countries do things differently. 

Progressive layering of knowledge, embedded in long-term memory, scaffolds pupils to:

Raise pupils’ awareness of their own language and enable them to make comparisons with the foreign language, thereby enriching their understanding of both
Develop their listening skills to enable pupils to understand and respond to spoken language
Help children to speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what they want to say and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation
Increase children’s confidence in writing at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures they have learnt
Enable all children to discover and develop an appreciation of a range of writing in the language studied

Application of Conceptual Understanding – occurs when new information and ideas are incorporated into pupils’ existing knowledge through:

Developing an enthusiastic and positive attitude to other languages and language learning
Increasing cultural understanding by learning about different countries and their people and customs
Developing tolerance and understanding of speakers of other languages and cultures
Stimulating children’s creativity
Supporting oracy and literacy, both in Spanish and in English, which has benefits across the whole curriculum
Supporting and celebrating the international dimension and helping children to become global citizens

Spanish Curriculum Implementation

To achieve our intent, our Spanish curriculum will provide the following:

Fortnightly lessons from Year 2 upwards, delivered by a Primary Languages Specialist
A personalised scheme of work, making use of a wide range of resources to ensure language progression
A focus on subject specific vocabulary to equip children with the language to express their knowledge
Assessment used in reference to the National Curriculum objectives and tracked throughout the year
A variety of tools and activities used to provide evidence of assessment, such as questioning in class, opportunities to share work orally with the class, work produced on whiteboards, written work, listening exercises, participation in games and songs and comments made by children when discussing patterns
Appropriately adapted work to allow all children to achieve well in this subject

Spanish Curriculum Impact

Pupils can discuss their language learning, including strategies and patterns, and are able to see that they are making progress
They can remember key vocabulary that they can apply to different topics
Pupils can develop language strategies, knowledge and skills which prepare them for future language learning
They make substantial progress in the learning of Spanish
Pupils feel confident talking in Spanish and asking questions to further their own understanding
Pupils develop an interest and curiosity about another country, culture, its people and its language