Spanish

Our Spanish Curriculum

Click here for our Spanish Curriculum Document

Intent 

In Spanish, we aim to foster a lifelong love of languages and a passion for culture; we hope to nurture a curiosity about the wider world through the medium of song, poetry, fun and games, embedding vocabulary through a building block process intertwining phonics, vocabulary and grammar – the three essential pillars of language knowledge and to prepare students for their transition to KS3. We have chosen Spanish as our focus Modern Foreign Language as this will best prepare them for our feeder secondary school where Spanish is the key language taught in Year 7. 

Implementation 

Here at Haslingfield we follow a sequential learning program which aims to provide clear teaching reinforced with gestures and images to enhance understanding of the planned language use for that lesson; focusing on cognates and patterns, on what students already know, then using our analytical skills and prior understanding from language 1 to work out language 2 with an emphasis on pupil interaction in an environment where mistakes are actively encouraged and participation maximised. Students need to reinforce this knowledge with extensive planned practice and use it in order to build the skills needed for communication.

Spanish culture is celebrated as we learn about the similarities and differences between our two cultures; about the ‘fiestas’, the weather, the geography, the people and traditions, the food, music, art, customs and major celebrations using authentic Spanish texts, poems, videos and listening exercises. Through these mediums students gain a systematic knowledge of the vocabulary, grammar and sound and spelling systems (phonics) of their new language and how these are used by speakers of the language, not just in Spain but in all Spanish-speaking countries.

Impact 

By the time children leave Haslingfield they will be able to: listen attentively and show understanding by joining in and responding, link the spelling, sound and meaning of words, ask and answer questions, express opinions and respond to those of others, ask for clarification and hep, speak in sentences, describe people, places, things and actions orally (to a range of audiences), read and show understanding of words, phrases and simple texts, appreciate stories, songs, poems and rhymes in the language, read aloud with accurate pronunciation, understand new words that are introduced into familiar written material, use a dictionary, write words and phrases from memory, adapt phrases to create new sentences, describe people, places, things and actions in writing, gender of nouns – definite and indefinite articles, singular and plural forms of nouns, adjectives (place and agreement), conjugation of key verbs (and making verbs negative), connectives and qualifiers, adverbs of time and prepositions of place. Above all this pupils have ignited that spark and passion for language learning and are fully equipped to carry that torch with them on their journey to KS3.

The welcome I get each week when I arrive to teach KS2 and am greeted in Spanish, with smiling faces, a plethora of questions based on prior learning and a hunger to learn and build on that knowledge, coupled with the AMAZING work that I see every week with active full- class participation and a mutual understanding and respect both during lessons and when I walk around the classrooms scrutinising the written work shows me that language learning is having a positive impact all around.