Spanish

You live a new life for every language you speak. If you only know one language, you only live once.

Czech Proverb

teaching-and-learning-books-2

Spanish Lead:

Mrs Hollywood

Follow the Twitter hashtag #STMSpanish to see Spanish in action throughout St Michael’s, from Nursery to Year 6.

Spanish: Intent

Intent

The chosen language for our school is Spanish which is delivered by our specialist Spanish teacher, Senorita Worral. The children at St Michael’s know Spanish as ‘the language spoken in Spain.’ Our aim at St Michael’s is for the children to talk, read and write like a Spaniard. As part of our Explore Curriculum, we aim to provide children with the opportunity to exceed their full potential of learning Spanish. We provide opportunities for children to explore the Spanish language so that in return, our children develop a love of learning Spanish. We hope that our pupils will grow to widen their understanding of the language and be respectful, inclusive and tolerant of traditions in the Spanish culture.  We aim for St Michael’s children to value the learning of a language and understand that it is worthwhile. In school, our pupils will develop skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing in Spanish.

Implementation of Spanish in Key Stage 2

The Three Pillars of Language

Through our Spanish teaching, we allow children to explore and learn the Spanish language through the Three Pillars of Language: Vocabulary, Phonics and Grammar. Through this, our pupils progress in Spanish through the four modalities of listening, speaking, reading and writing. Our pupils are taught Spanish from Year 3 up to Year 6 however, EYFS and KS1 children are introduced to the Spanish language through songs.

Talk like a Spaniard

Our Spanish curriculum aims to support children in their speaking of the Spanish language. As vocabulary is one of the Three Pillars of Language, this is an area that is crucial in our pupil’s progress. Speaking in Spanish is encouraged in St Michael’s through our ‘My turn, Your turn’ whole school teaching approach where the children repeat new vocabulary, phrases and sentences in a range of voices. Our children also practice speaking through song, interactive games and through daily retrieval such as, taking the register in Spanish. The children are able to extend their vocabulary knowledge throughout KS2. For example, in Year 3, children are taught the different body parts in Spanish and then in Year 5, the children say Spanish sentences to explain what body part hurts.

Reading Across the Curriculum

At St Michael’s, we pride ourselves in the love our children and staff have for reading therefore, we aim to promote this reading for pleasure in all curriculum subjects. Our Spanish reading spine highlights the stories that Senorita Worral reads with each year group but it also highlights the additional Spanish reading books that the children are encouraged to explore in their ‘Drop Everything and Read’ time.

Impact

Through our direct teaching of Spanish at St Michael’s, we use the National Curriculum to help equip our pupils with the knowledge of the Spanish language but also we provide the time for children to apply that knowledge into different skills. This skill (speaking, listening, reading, writing or grammar) can be practiced within lessons or throughout a unit. To ensure that our pupils know and remember more in Spanish, we provide retrieval time for them to recap on prior learning. This can be from the previous week, term or year. We also schedule a whole-school retrieval quiz/kahoot in our time table each Friday to assess the children’s understanding of certain concepts in Spanish. Evidence of our Spanish work is updated on our school Twitter page and through children’s written work in their own Spanish folders.

Spanish at St. Michael's

Useful Links: Spanish

Resources: Spanish

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