Modern Foreign Languages
At Plaistow, we see the teaching of languages as a gateway into learning about other cultures as well as preparing our children for life in a diverse and multi-cultural modern world.
We have made the decision to teach children Spanish from Nursery to Year Six.
Curriculum Aims
The National Curriculum for languages aims to ensure that all pupils:
- 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.
Learning in Context
Although it is not a National Curriculum requirement, we start our language learning in the Early Years, with a primary focus on vocabulary, alongside speaking and listening skills up to Year 3.
In Years 4 to 6, we expand our children's learning to delve deeper into vocabulary and grammar, reading and writing, alongside speaking/listening skills.
As much as possible, we tie our learning to the wider curriculum. For example:
- Year 4 - La Historia de la Antigua Gran Bretaña (Ancient History of Great Britain)
- Year 5 - Los Planetas (The Planets)
- Year 6 - La Segunda Guerra Mundial (the Second World War)
As we currently have no native Spanish speaking teachers, we encourage a judicious use of technology and video to support and facilitate the development of foreign language knowledge and skill.
