Modern Foreign Languages

“With languages, you are at home anywhere.”
 

- Edward De Waal

Intent

At St Michael’s, MFL is taught in KS2 to widen the children’s knowledge and understanding of the Spanish culture and language. We want the children who leave us to have a clear understanding of basic pronunciation, how the genders have influenced the language grammatically and be able to have a simple conversation and ask for things. It helps them to develop communication skills including key skills of speaking and listening and extends their knowledge of how language works.  Learning another language gives the children a new perspective on the world encouraging them to understand their own cultures and those of others.

Implementation

We follow the National Curriculum for MFL and the children in KS2 progressively develop skills in Spanish through well-planned lessons using the Language Angels Scheme of Work. Spanish is taught weekly to children from Year 3, and lessons are focused on developing the four key language learning skills; listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Our children learn through active participation in actions, rhymes, stories, song, grammar focus, video clips, sentence structure, dictionary work and may other creative ways to extend, embed and combine language skills.

As well as each subsequent lesson within a unit being progressive, units increase in level of challenge, stretch and linguistic and grammatical complexity. Children in Year 3 begin learning Spanish and then their skills, knowledge and understanding progress throughout their time in KS2. The units of work contain progressively more challenging activities and lessons will have more content as the children become more confident and ambitious with the foreign language they are learning. Lessons offering appropriate levels of challenge are taught at all times to ensure children learn effectively, continuously building their knowledge of, and enthusiasm for, the language they are learning.

Pupils will continuously build on their previous knowledge as they progress in their Spanish language learning journey through the primary phase. Previous language will be recycled, revised, recalled and consolidated whenever possible and appropriate

Impact

Children at St Michael’s are encouraged to understand the relevance of what they are learning in languages and how it relates to everyday life, work and travel.  It is emphasised how the language could help them in another country or to talk to a Spanish speaker, both now and in their future careers. 

Teachers foster an enjoyment of languages through a variety of lessons including interactive, singing and outdoor sessions. Progression through a topic should be evident in the development of key skills and acquisition of main vocabulary. Evidence is kept of children’s work in books/digital floorbooks/displays as well as videos and voice recordings of children speaking Spanish.

Spanish is monitored by the subject leader throughout all year groups in Key Stage 2 using a variety of strategies such as book scrutinises, lesson observations, staff discussions and pupil conferencing.  Feedback is then given to teachers at staff meetings.