Modern Foreign Language
The languages curriculum at Horizon is sequenced so that children develop knowledge and skills across the key language learning skills; listening, speaking, grammar, reading and writing. This will enable pupils to use and apply their learning in a variety of contexts, laying down solid foundations for future language learning and also helping the children improve overall attainment in other subject areas. In addition, the children will be taught how to look up and research language they are unsure of and they will have a bank of reference materials to help them with their spoken and written tasks going forward. This bank of reference materials will develop into a reference library to help pupils recall and build on previous knowledge throughout their primary school language learning journey.
The teaching of phonics underpins the teaching of foreign languages. Just as learning to read in English, using phonics to crack the code of a new language empowers children, and increases their enjoyment.
Units taught are progressive and increase in level of challenge, stretch and linguistic and grammatical complexity as pupils move through their language journey. Units in each subsequent level require more knowledge and application of skills than the previous teaching type. Activities contain progressively more text and lessons will have more content as the children become more confident and ambitious with the foreign language they are learning.
Pupils will continuously build on their previous knowledge as they progress in their foreign language learning journey through the primary phase. Previous language will be recycled, revised, recalled and consolidated whenever possible and appropriate.
Intent
At Horizon Academy Trust our vision for primary languages is to prepare our pupils for a future within the global society. We aim to open their eyes and minds to the wider-world, developing their multi-cultural awareness and linguistic skills, whilst broadening their horizons and understanding of language. We achieve this by taking our pupils through a sequenced journey of linguistic development and enabling them to experience cultures outside of their own.
We believe that a broad and balanced primary languages education is the entitlement of all pupils, regardless of ethnic origin, gender, class, aptitude or disability. It is our vision that all pupils during their journey will display the essential characteristics of linguistics:
- The confidence to speak with good intonation and pronunciation
- The ability to read and comprehend the main points of a short text
- The ability to convey meaning through writing
- Competence in listening
- A strong awareness of the culture of the countries where the language is spoken
- A passion for languages and a commitment for the subject
- The ability to use language creatively and spontaneously
- The ability to manipulate grammar, spelling and punctuation
- An independence in their studies and the ability to draw upon a wide range of resources.
Language knowledge and skills are progressive and are sequenced to provide the framework and approaches that provide a successful journey for all learners at Horizon.
Implementation
The teaching of languages at Horizon Academy Trust is carefully designed, planned and implemented to ensure that all pupils are challenged to fulfil their potential. Primary languages lessons are rich in resources, vocabulary, questioning and content enabling them to develop mastery of the aims of the National Curriculum.
Teachers have identified the key knowledge and skills of each topic and these are mapped across the school, ensuring that knowledge builds progressively and that children develop skills systematically. Existing knowledge is checked and reviewed at the beginning of each unit. This ensures that teaching is informed by the children’s starting points and that it takes account of pupil voice, incorporating children’s interests. Phonics is given high priority and is taught, recapped and revisited at the start of each unit.
Tasks are selected and designed to provide appropriate challenge to all learners, in line with each school’s commitment to inclusion. At the end of each topic, key knowledge is reviewed by the children and rigorously checked by the teacher and consolidated as necessary.
Cross curricular outcomes in languages are specifically planned for and these are indicated on the knowledge organiser for each unit of work.
Although there are no National Curriculum expectations for languages in KS1 and the Early Years, Horizon have decided that children should be given a gradual introduction to languages during their first years of schooling. In EYFS children may listen to and learn songs, stories and games. Teachers will decide when and what is appropriate based on topics and themes. KS1 will continue this approach and ensure they have covered the non- negotiables identified in the curriculum journey before children enter KS2. This may be covered in a variety of ways including topic links, celebration days, festivals and world events.
IMPACT
The curriculum subject leader is responsible for monitoring and evaluating. The information gathered from this process informs the impact that the teaching has for that curriculum area. Judgements are based upon a triangulation of book scrutiny, pupil voice discussions, outcomes of assessments and the quality of teaching and learning. Governors undertake regular learning walks for their subject responsibility and receive a termly report from the subject leader identifying strengths and areas for development.
Our aim is that at the end of each school year, pupils will have gained a deepening understanding of key Spanish language skills, as well as a love of languages and learning about other cultures. The impact of our MFL curriculum is that children are encouraged to understand the relevance of what they are learning in languages and how it relates to everyday life and travel, as well as how it could help them in another country or to talk to a Spanish speaker.
Through discussion and feedback, children talk enthusiastically about their MFL lessons and show a genuine curiosity and interest in the language they have explored. Pupils use vocabulary effectively to understand and communicate with others, both in spoken and written forms. They develop confidence and fluency when speaking, asking and responding to questions, as well as improving the accuracy of pronunciation and intonation. Children demonstrate that they can write for different purposes and audiences using the appropriate grammatical structures that they have learnt.
By the time our children leave Gillshill Primary School we will have equipped them with a breadth of knowledge, skills and experiences to give them a secure foundation for their secondary school learning. Our MFL curriculum will have instilled in them a love and enjoyment of learning new languages, and an understanding of the importance of being understood and respecting other cultures.
Throughout Key Stage 2, we use Language Angels to teach our Spanish lessons. Through this programme, children learn how to listen attentively to a spoken language, explore the pattern and sounds of language through songs and rhymes, engage in conversations, speak in sentences, develop accurate pronunciation and intonation, present ideas and information orally, read carefully and show understanding of simple words and phrases, broaden their vocabulary, write phrases from memory and understand basic grammar.Spanish Long Term Plan
Autumn | Spring | Summer | |
Year 3 | I'm Learning Spanish | Little Red Riding Hood | I can... |
Year 4 | Presenting Myself | The Family | At the Cafe |
Year 5 | What Is The Date? | The Weather | Habitats |
Year 6 | At School | Healthy Lifestyles | Verbs & Grammar |
As well as following our Language Angels programme, we find as many opportunities as we can to bring Spanish into other areas of the curriculum, such as: asking pupils to work out simple questions in Maths lessons using Spanish numbers rather than English, and teaching additional Spanish lessons that link with the children’s Science or Jigsaw topics e.g. healthy eating.
Children learn through a variety of techniques, to encourage active engagement in learning a foreign language, such as: repetitive chanting to learn new vocabulary, games, role-play, songs, rhymes and poems. Where possible, native speakers will be invited into the classroom, in order to expose the children to more than one voice.
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