At Myddle CE Primary and Nursery School, we strive to prepare the children in their learning of a modern foreign language that will prove useful for their transition to secondary school and work closely with the staff at the Corbet Academy, where they learn an equal amount of Spanish and French in year 7. Our key stage one children are introduced to vocabulary through songs, games and activities. In key stage two, the children have weekly Spanish lessons (45 minutes) which follow the national curriculum for MFL.
Intention – Aims and Objectives
- To foster an interest in, and to stimulate and encourage children’s curiosity about other languages.
- To introduce children to another language in a way that is enjoyable and fun.
- To encourage children to be aware that language has structure, and that the structure differs from one language to another.
- To help the children develop their awareness of cultural differences in other countries.
- To develop their speaking and listening skills.
- To lay the foundations for future study.
- To raise staff awareness of and competence in Spanish.
Implementation and Organisation:
- In usual circumstances, at Myddle CE Primary School and Nursery, a specialist Spanish teacher teaches each KS2 class for 40 minutes per week.
- The lessons focus on introducing new topics and vocabulary, including Speaking & Listening, and the use of a variety of resources such as songs, short video clips, ICT, games, etc.
The MFL curriculum
We follow the statutory National Curriculum 2014, and have adopted a scheme of work developed by Language Angels, which allow for planning for our mixed-year groups classes, ensuring adequate coverage of the curriculum but avoiding repetition of topics unnecessarily.
Teaching approaches/Pedagogy
Lessons in Languages have a strong focus on speaking and listening skills as a priority and children are encouraged to practise new vocabulary within a supportive framework of existing knowledge of the language. Reading and writing is expected to be developed once children are confident understanding and saying new vocabulary. Lessons should be 80% verbal.
Impact
- Learning a foreign language helps children to develop an understanding of their own culture and that of others. Learning that people have different tastes, opinions and views of the world teaches them principles of tolerance and respect of each other’s values.
- The skills and knowledge gained through learning a new language make a major contribution to the development of children’s oracy and literacy. Thus by learning about the grammatical structure and patterns of another language, children can make connections and comparisons which will deepen their understanding both in the target language and in English.
- Learning a foreign language helps children to develop their confidence with their linguistic skills. Children learning a foreign language in primary school are more likely to also learn a foreign language during their secondary education.
Documents:
Harris Gough Federation – MFL_Policy