Modern Foreign Languages

Modern Foreign Languages at Grange Primary School

Spanish

With approximately 470 million people speaking Spanish as a native language and it being the official language of 21 countries, we have chosen Spanish to be the Modern Foreign Language taught at Grange. In fact, Spanish is second only to Mandarin in terms of its number of native speakers worldwide.

At Grange, Spanish is taught from Year 3 onwards by a specialist teacher in our Languages Classroom. We follow the guidance in the National Curriculum programme of study for Languages which suggests that children should make substantial progress in one language through four years of study in Key Stage 2. The curriculum focuses on pupils developing their vocabulary, phonics and grammar knowledge and it has been designed in a way that enables pupils to revisit their prior learning frequently through retrieval activities.

We believe that language learning helps children to develop creativity, problem solving skills and supports oracy and literacy in English. Language learning also promotes children’s intercultural understanding and appreciation of the rest of the world. There are plenty of opportunities for pupils to learn about the culture of Spanish speaking countries such as Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia and Peru. 

Spanish lessons are interactive and practical; children learn the language through games, songs and stories. Initially, the focus is on developing speaking and listening skills as well as transferable language learning strategies. Our pupils are also given access to, and taught how to use, bilingual dictionaries. In years 5 and 6, children have opportunities to develop their reading and writing skills further.

Links are made to other areas of the curriculum such as English, Maths and Science. For example, we compare English and Spanish grammar rules and children learn to tell the time in Spanish and how to describe the Solar System.

We are developing opportunities for children to consolidate their Spanish learning outside of their weekly Spanish lessons. For example, across KS2, the children answer the attendance and lunch registers in Spanish daily and are regularly set home learning tasks to consolidate their Spanish learning. We have a few enrichment activities planned throughout the year to enhance pupils’ experience. Some of these include Spanish film events provided by the British Film Institute and Spanish storytelling sessions provided by Freshwater Theatre Company.

Through Spanish lessons, we hope to engender a lifelong love of language and cultural learning as well as ensuring our pupils are ‘secondary ready’ and prepared for life in a globalised world.