MFL Teaching

In 2018 we changed our MFL from French to Spanish.  We felt that Spanish was a more popular destination for the children, and therefore was a more relevant language to learn.  We also, at that time, had staff members with strong backgrounds in Spanish.

Since then, we have lost both staff members and due to Covid, no-one has gone anywhere!

The result of this has been a very stop-start implementation of Spanish as our MFL of choice since that time.

In 2021-2022, all of the children in KS2 have been working on the Y3 teaching materials as a starting point.  There is no merit in starting at the chronological year-group and missing out the fundamental blocks that come before.

The result of this is that all of the children in KS2, with the exception of Y3 will be below ARE in this subject until the full cycle of Y3-Y6 has been completed over four years.

Intent

The intention of the MFL (Spanish) curriculum at Camm’s is that children are taught to develop an interest in learning other languages in a way that is enjoyable and stimulating. We encourage children’s confidence, we strive to stimulate and encourage children’s curiosity about language. In planning with actively plan links to develop their awareness of cultural differences in other countries, through our protected characteristics, British values and curriculum enrichment opportunities. We strive to embed the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing necessary to enable children to use and apply their Spanish learning in a variety of contexts and lay the foundations for future language learning.

 Implementation

Children are encouraged and supported to develop their speaking and listening skills through conversational work, singing activities and games. As confidence and skill grows, children record their work through pictures, captions and sentences. 

• Displays are used to remind children of key vocabulary
• Practical activities, songs and games are used to help improve memory and recall.
• In the classroom whether possible instructions are given in Spanish to expose children to the language as much as possible and in day to day contexts.   
• Visual prompts are used to support children in translating new vocabulary.
• Word mats/ Knowledge organisers are available for children to have out on desks to support their learning and recap previous learning.
• Learning about the country or Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries to enhance knowledge of culture.

We use the resources from the CAM Academy Trust to deliver our teaching.

Impact

Spanish is monitored by subject leaders throughout all year groups using a variety of strategies such as book scrutinises, lesson observations, staff discussions and pupil interviews.  Feedback is given to teachers and leaders use the information to see if the children know more and remember more.

Essential Knowledge

We teach three core strands of essential knowledge: 

1. Phonics – the key components of the sound-writing relationship
2. Vocabulary – a set of the most frequently used words
3. Grammar – the essential building blocks required to create simple sentences independently (including gender of nouns, singular and plural forms, adjectives (place and agreement), and the conjugation of key verbs)

Our Spanish curriculum is designed to enable our children to:

• Develop linguistic and communicative competence
• Extend their knowledge of how language works
• Explore similarities and differences between [name of language], any heritage languages our children have, and English

The teaching of a foreign language to every child in KS2 is a statutory requirement, as set out in the National Curriculum Programmes of Study (2014).

In line with the NC PoS, our children learn to:

• Listen and show understanding by joining in and responding
• Link the sound, spelling and meaning of words
• Read aloud with accurate pronunciation
• Read and show understanding of phrases and simple texts
• Speak in sentences
• Describe people, places, things in speech and writing
• Ask and answer questions
• Express opinions
• Write phrases from memory
• Adapt phrases to create new sentences
• Use a dictionary

Our children also learn key cultural and country-specific knowledge. For example, by the end of KS2, our children:

• can name and locate on a map countries where Spanish is spoken
• know the key geographical features of Spain including continent, surrounding seas and oceans, main mountains and rivers, capital city
• know the name and some detail about at least one festival or tradition from Spain
• know at least one typical food from Spain

Curriculum Provision

Our KS2 children have a weekly Spanish lesson of 30 minutes.  In addition we aim to re-visit and deepen their learning for 5-10 minutes every day with structured language tasks that practise retrieval, improve retention and embed learning in long-term memory.

Further opportunities to recycle key vocabulary (e.g. numbers) and develop children’s confidence are often built into classroom routines including greetings, providing instructions, stating lunch preferences, registration, rewards and praise on a more regular basis, even just for a few minutes in the school day e.g. when children are lining up.

A detailed scheme of work with audio-enabled resources for every lesson is provided in order to minimise unnecessary teacher workload. Teachers may, if they wish, adapt the resources to support active engagement and meet different learning styles for different cohorts of children.

Assessment
Children are continuously assessed on the knowledge they are taught in lessons, whenever they are called upon to understand and/or produce language, without reference to resources.  Periodically they complete achievement tests in phonics, vocabulary and grammar covering all modalities (i.e. listening, speaking, reading and writing), which assess the specific knowledge they have been taught.  Their progress and attainment is recorded using our school tracking system

Equal Opportunities and SEND

All children irrespective of ability or special educational need, should be taught a foreign language. Every child has the statutory right to a broad and balanced curriculum.

A child with SEND should be actively encouraged to participate fully in MFL lessons with the necessary support and appropriate differentiation.

Teaching modern foreign languages is a vital way to directly address pupil perceptions and potential stereotypes. It allows us to actively promote positive attitudes and values towards cultural and or religious diversity and to directly tackle any form of cultural and negative stereotyping.

Role of the Subject Leader

The subject leader will:

• ensure staff are fully aware of statutory requirements and their associated responsibilities in terms of policy and practice
• support staff in terms of access to SOW and resources
• monitor the quality of teaching and learning
• draw upon advice, support and expertise where necessary and in order to improve provision
• liaise to organise training and support to develop teacher subject knowledge and expertise.