Our vision statement & intent
Though opportunities for travel may be limited for some pupils, all children are citizens of a multi-lingual world. In order to ensure that our pupils are empowered to exceed when they leave Sunnybrow Primary, we want to ensure that our pupils have the opportunity to sample another language and build cultural understanding and a deeper insight into how other people see the world.
We want to expose our children to a modern foreign language that is accessible to them. It is for this reason that we have chosen to study Spanish as Spain is the destination that most of our pupils are likely to visit. Some of our children struggle with speech and language and Spanish is a more user friendly language. It is also one of the most widely spoken modern languages.
At Sunnybrow Primary School, we aim to provide children with a wealth of opportunities to practise Spanish speaking, listening, reading and writing. We want children to develop strong, lifelong linguistic skills and become passionate, curious and confident about their own foreign language learning abilities.
We have produced an ‘end-of-year’ expectation document for each year group. This is where we intend each pupil to be at the end of their academic year.
Implementation
At Sunnybrow Primary, Spanish is taught throughout Key Stage 2 weekly in order to give children greater opportunity to retain vocabulary and language skills acquisition. In addition, teachers will use it daily in incidental learning to support recall and retention of knowledge. We use Language Angels to deliver an interactive immersive experience. The programme uses native speakers to enhance the delivery and ensure accurate modelling of pronunciation. Although there are no language specialists in school, teachers feel confident to carry out the Spanish curriculum through using the Language Angels scheme. Regular subject leadership courses are attended and information is relayed to other members of staff within school.
In our MFL curriculum, children explore topics such as families, pets, food and hobbies as these are topics that are relevant to their lives. These topics, along with Spanish basics such as greetings, numbers, days of the week and months of the year, prepare children for their secondary school experience as well as Spanish speaking beyond school.
‘Basic’ topics are taught in LKS2. Vocabulary is more limited but provides a good grounding ready for UKS2 where topics become more complex. Some topics taught in LKS2 are repeated in UKS2; this ensures children recap prior learning and retain vocabulary they have learnt, as well as providing opportunities to explore topics in greater depth.
In order to support children with their language learning, phonics lessons take place at the beginning of each year. Specific sounds may be focused on in these lessons, which will then be repeated and reinforced as the curriculum progresses. Opportunities to reference sounds that different letters make take place in each lesson. This is so children will not only learn to pronounce correctly the Spanish vocabulary introduced, but will gain skills to tackle new vocabulary with confidence. This will be particularly useful for reading Spanish books that are freely available for children to read in LKS2 and UKS2. These books will also be used to support learning in lessons.
MFL Planning documents
MFL End of Year Expectations for Languages.
MFL Small Steps of Knowledge & Key Vocabulary
Impact
MFL is monitored through lesson observations, book and planning scrutiny and termly teacher assessments. Pupil voice is heard through interviews and questionnaires conducted throughout the year to evaluate the effectiveness of the curriculum and understand which techniques are found to be the most effective and enjoyable for children.
There is evidence of a range of activities in our books. In LKS2, children engage in more practical activities, phonic learning and speaking/listening activities which means there is less written evidence. Work in books may be matching activities, games and small written words/phrases as well as pictoral evidence where appropriate. As children progress into UKS2, more written evidence is available as children develop their Spanish writing skills. As some lessons may be entirely speaking/listening orientated, there may not always be weekly evidence of learning in books. Oral and written feedback is regularly provided to children.
Formative assessment is implemented throughout topics with mini-plenaries and speaking skills/understanding of what they hear being checked. This is particularly relevant in lessons specifically focused on developing children’s speaking and listening skills, in which no written work may be produced in books. Teacher assessment is recorded in through Language Angels, observing listening, speaking, reading, writing and intercultural understanding.
Throughout their time in KS2, children will develop their intercultural understanding through MFL lessons. Our curriculum enables children to understand and respect different people and cultures, understanding that many languages are spoken across the world and that cultures studied have many similarities and differences to ours.
Through monitoring MFL and hearing pupil voice, it is evident that children enjoy Spanish lessons and appreciate learning about cultures other than their own. They are eager to share what they have learnt and are proud to be able to speak a language other than English. Staff work hard to promote a love of Spanish writing and reading, as well as speaking and listening.
