Spanish

At St Mary’s Bryanston Square, the learning of Spanish begins at an early age. In our Nursery and Reception classes, children learn to greet one another in Spanish, count and sing songs.

In Key Stage 1, this continues and in addition, children learn rhymes and begin to listen to familiar stories, translated into Spanish. Throughout Key Stage 2 (years 3-6), Spanish is taught as a discreet curriculum subject. Children learn to speak, write and read Spanish and in addition learn about the culture and traditions of some Spanish speaking countries.

At St Mary’s, we take an active approach to learning Spanish. Throughout Key Stage 2, children receive a 40 – 50 minute Spanish lesson each week where they have the opportunity to learn new vocabulary and phrases, practise their spoken Spanish and as they progress throughout Key Stage 2, children are expected to read and write in the language as well.

We use interactive dual language books to enable children to use strategies they learn in literacy, to decode Spanish texts. In addition, we use songs, role play and games to reinforce vocabulary which in turn, enables children to become more confident Spanish speakers.

At St Mary’s Bryanston, we teach the children to know and understand how to, ask and answer questions, use correct pronunciation and intonation, memorise words, interpret meaning, understand basic grammar, use dictionaries, work in pairs and groups to communicate in Spanish and look at life in another culture. Children are taught to develop their listening skills through understanding and responding to authentic spoken language, this includes video conferences with our partner school in Valencia, Spain. Accuracy in pronunciation and intonation is developed through conversation and speaking and listening activities. Pupils learn about grammatical features such as masculine and feminine nouns and learn how to build sentences. Children also learn songs, poems and rhymes that help them to understand the cultural practices and festivals of Spain and other Spanish speaking countries.

Parents can help by encouraging children to share the vocabulary and songs they learn in Spanish at home as well as practicing the new vocabulary that is included in the weekly Family Update.​

Why we teach Spanish

• It is our intent to provide all of our children with a high-quality education in Modern Foreign Languages (MFL), which develops their love of learning about other languages and cultures.
• Facilitates the learning of languages and language structures in their next phase of education and beyond.
• By the end of our children’s primary education, they have acquired an understanding of both spoken and written Spanish, confidence to speak in Spanish with others (including native Spanish speakers), are able to read and decipher Spanish and know how important other languages can be in their future.
• To ensure that children are able to speak a language that is the second most widely spoken language in the world, ensuring children’s ability to be global citizens.

How we teach Spanish

In the Foundation Stage (Nursery and Reception), children will be introduced to rhymes and stories in Spanish. They will hear familiar English language stories, in Spanish. Children will learn to count to 10 and begin to learn nouns relating the classroom environment and to use common greetings.

In Key Stage 1, children will continue to learn to count in Spanish and will begin to learn songs and rhymes in Spanish. They will play number, animal and colour games to enable them to build up vocabulary in Spanish and will be expected to respond orally to some simple questions.

All children in KS2 will have regular language lessons using a bespoke scheme designed with the school’s intent in mind. The Modern Foreign Languages curriculum has been designed, to develop not only children’s fluency with language skills, but also their love of learning a language. It progressively develops language skills, through weekly taught lessons. This allows the children to acquire new language then use and apply it in a range of different scenarios and topics. Children are encouraged and supported to develop their speaking and listening skills through conversational work, singing activities and games. As their confidence and skill grows, children record their work through pictures, captions and sentences. Children will be given the opportunity to speak to and write to children in a partner school in Valencia, Spain, using video link as well as traditional letters and cards.

Annually, we mark European Day of Languages (in September) in assemblies and have a focus on languages and language acquisition, as well as cultures and traditions around the world, during International Week each March.

Impact

Our MFL curriculum will ensure all pupils develop key language learning skills set out by the national curriculum, as well as a love of languages and learning about other cultures.

The language skills are as follows:

• understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources

• speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and asking questions, and 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 and begin to read children’s fiction in Spanish.