Intent

At Bramford, we consider languages to be an important part of a child’s learning journey through school. It widens their horizons to the multi-culturalism that exists in their society so we believe it is our duty to provide our children with an appreciation of and an understanding of other cultures and languages. It is our intent to provide all of our children with a high-quality education in Spanish (our chosen MFL). They will develop a genuine interest and positive curiosity about foreign languages, finding them enjoyable and stimulating. The intention is that they will be working towards becoming life-long language learners.

The curriculum provides an appropriate balance of spoken and written language and lays the foundations for further foreign language teaching at key stage 3. It enables pupils to understand and communicate ideas, facts and feelings in speech and writing, focused on familiar and routine matters, using their knowledge of phonology, grammatical structures and vocabulary.

Implementation

EYFS and KS1 are introduced to the language and culture through theme days. We teach Spanish across Key Stage 2.  The school uses the ”iLanguages” scheme of work to support the teaching and learning of Spanish. This provides a clear progression for the development of speaking and listening and vocabulary acquisition. The resources provided model good pronunciation which supports non-Spanish speaking staff in teaching it.

They use a variety of the following techniques to encourage children to have an active engagement with Spanish:

• Games – in order to develop vocabulary through repetition, reading, writing, grammar, speaking and listening skills.
• Role-play – these should relate to the situations the children may find themselves in the future.
• Action songs and rhymes – to develop phonetic skills, memory skills and to further vocabulary.
• Video clips
• Reading and writing quality materials.
• We build children’s confidence through praise for any contribution they make in the foreign language, however tentative.

Impact

Our MFL curriculum ensures that children are well equipped to transfer to KS3 effectively and successfully and will be well prepared to continue and develop their language skills.

The children are assessed continually throughout the year, with the teacher giving feedback through marking and verbal feedback. This process is supported by the end of KS2 statements in the National Curriculum 2014.
Our scheme of work, iLanguages, provides an end-of-year assessment to make judgements of the children’s language skills. This can be used to inform teachers’ judgements on Target Tracker and assesses progress and attainment across the key stage.