Languages
A high quality language education should foster children’s curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world.
The National Curriculum for Modern Foreign Languages aims to ensure that all children:
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Understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources.
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Are able to speak with increasing confidence and fluency, finding ways of communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and asking questions, and that they are continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation.
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Can write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt.
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Discover and develop an appreciation of a range of writing in the language studied.
At Regent Farm First School we are committed to ensuring that competence in another language enables children to interpret, create and exchange meaning within and across cultures. It also helps children develop skills that will open further opportunities later in life. The teaching of Spanish in Key Stage 2 provides an appropriate balance of spoken and written language and lays the foundations for further foreign language teaching once in Middle School and beyond.
How do we teach languages?
Children are introduced to Spanish from Key Stage 2 and receive a weekly 30-minute lesson, however they are introduced to songs etc in Key Stage 1 to help familiarise themselves with the language. This enables the children to develop early language acquisition skills that facilitate their understanding of the patterns of language and how these differ from, or are similar to, English.
Lessons across the Key Stage 2 support the skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing:
- Children are taught to listen attentively to spoken language and respond, joining in with songs, rhymes and games.
- Children develop an appreciation of a variety of stories, songs, poems and rhymes in French that are delivered through the curriculum.
- Children have the opportunity to share their experiences of Spanish life and culture.
- Children develop the ability to use language for their own purpose.
- Children are taught to read and show understanding of familiar single words.
- Children write and say simple familiar words to describe people, things and actions.
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What is the impact of our language curriculum?
Whilst at Regent Farm First School children begin a journey of fostering enjoyment and appreciation of the Spanish and Latin culture. They explore language through a range of rich, immersive activities and develop increasing confidence in using the Spanish language to communicate in a variety of ways.