MFL

Modern Foreign Languages: Spanish 

Intent 

Our curriculum is informed by, but not limited to the Primary Languages Network scheme and the national curriculum for MFL and aims to ensure that all pupils:

• Understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources. 
• Are able to speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, 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. 
• Can write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt. 
• Discover and develop an appreciation of a range of writing in the language studied. 

A high-quality languages education should foster pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world. At Town Farm, we are committed to ensuring that teaching enables pupils to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing. We recognise that competence in another language enables pupils to interpret, create and exchange meaning within and across cultures. 

At Town Farm we are committed to ensuring our MFL teaching provides the foundation for learning further languages, as well as the means to access international opportunities for study and work later in life.  Spanish has been chosen to mirror the language offer in the Secondary schools our pupils choose to attend. From the EYFS through KS1, pupils are encouraged to develop their speaking and listening skills through child-initiated activities alongside adult-led opportunities. In Key Stage 2, pupils apply their knowledge of phonics to read, write and speak in Spanish. 

The teaching of Spanish in KS2 provides an appropriate balance of spoken and written language and lays the foundations for further foreign language teaching at KS3, where only 6% of GCSE entries were for MFL (True Education 2021). Inspiring a love of languages is essential for nurturing global communicators. 

Implementation 

Pupils are introduced to Spanish in KS2, where each class has a weekly timetabled Spanish lesson. 

Lessons across the Key Stages support the skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing: 

• Pupils are taught to listen attentively to spoken language and respond, joining in with songs, rhymes and games. 
• Pupils develop an appreciation of a variety of stories, songs, poems and rhymes in Spanish that are delivered through the curriculum content. 
• Whole school celebrations like International Day and the annual Christmas card competition enable the whole school to be immersed in the inclusion of the culture and use the language meaningfully in context. 
• The curriculum enables pupils to explore the cultural context of Spain and other Hispanic countries by following key themes throughout the year. 

Knowledge and skills in Spanish are progressive from one year to the next and are mapped across the school, in line with the PLN scheme of work, following a spiral curriculum. 

Impact 

Our MFL curriculum ensures that pupils develop their knowledge of where different languages, including the range of home languages spoken by the families of the school, as well as Spanish, are spoken in the world. In the diverse community we serve, over a third of our pupils are EAL and bring rich experiences to enhance our curriculum sharing their own languages. Varied learning experiences, including ‘International Day’ and multiple opportunities in our RE curriculum also ensures that languages are celebrated throughout the school community whilst providing a context for language learning and developing the pupils’ understanding of different cultures.