“To have another language is to possess a second soul” – Charlemagne

At St. Thomas More we currently teach Spanish in KS2.

Intent

Our intent is to: 

  • Learn a foreign language to be a part of a multi-cultural society. 
  • Promote curiosity about other cultures and languages. 
  • Provide opportunities for children to communicate for practical purposes. 
  • Establish a foundation for learning further languages at primary age or later. 
  • Understand and respond to spoken and written language. 
  • Speak with increasing confidence and fluency. 
  • Write at varying length for various audiences and discover a love of writing in Spanish. 

Implementation

In line with the National Curriculum for MFL, pupils at St. Thomas More are taught to:   

  • Listen attentively to spoken Spanish language and show understanding by joining in and responding. 
  • Explore the patterns and sounds of the Spanish language through songs and rhymes and link the spelling, sound and meaning of words. 
  • Engage in conversations; ask and answer questions; express opinions and respond to those of others; seek clarification and help. 
  • Speak in sentences, using familiar vocabulary, phrases and basic language structures. Develop accurate pronunciation and intonation so that others understand when they are reading aloud or using familiar words and phrases. 
  • Present ideas and information orally to a range of audiences 
  • Read carefully and show understanding of words, phrases and simple writing. 
  • Appreciate stories, songs, poems and rhymes in the language. 
  • Write phrases from memory and adapt these to create new sentences. 
  • Describe people, places, things and actions orally and in writing. 
  • Understand basic grammar appropriate to the language being studied, including (where relevant): feminine, masculine and the conjugation of high-frequency verbs; key features and patterns of the language; how to apply these, for instance, to build sentences; and how these differ from or are similar to English. 
  • Develop confidence and autonomy to access new and unfamiliar language through the use of decoding skills brought about by the teaching of phonics and sound patterns.  

Impact

At St. Thomas More, our pupils will:  

  • Become confident and fluent speakers of Spanish. 
  • Enrich their language learning by developing an understanding of Spanish culture. 
  • Be aware that a language has a structure, and that the structure differs from one language to another. 
  • Develop their language through development of the four key skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing.  
  • Transfer to KS3 effectively and successfully and will be well prepared to continue and develop their language skills. 
  • Develop awareness that language skills can be very useful for travelling and conducting business across a global market 

Curriculum Overview

You can find details of what Spanish looks like across an academic year: CLICK HERE