Modern Foreign Languages (MFL)
The National Curriculum for Modern Foreign Languages intends to ensure that all Key Stage 2 pupils are taught:
- To listen attentively to spoken language, and show understanding by joining in and responding.
- The patterns and sounds of language through songs and rhymes and link the spelling, sound and meaning of words
- Engage in conversations; asking and answering questions while expressing opinions and responding to others
- 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
- Broaden their vocabulary and develop their ability to understand new words that are introduced into familiar written material, including through using a dictionary
- Write phrases from memory, and adapt these to create new sentences, to express ideas clearly
- Describe people, places, things and actions orally and in writing
- Understand basic grammar appropriate to the language being studied
Intent
At St Andrews, we teach Spanish in Key Stage 2, aiming to instil a love of language learning in our children, embedding confidence when trying new things, with access to cultural learning. We use a progressive approach which repeats six topics throughout Years 3 to 6:
- My Family
- Celebrations
- School
- The weather
- Hobbies
- Holidays
Each topic and year builds upon vocabulary and sentence-building strategies with a strong focus on conversational language (speaking, listening and responding), whilst establishing the foundations for reading and writing.
The above topics offer the students a chance to compare their lives to those in Spanish speaking countries, encouraging St Andrews pupils to recognise and celebrate similarities and differences, creating a respect for a range of cultures.
Implementation
Once a week, staff teach and model the Spanish language using the ‘Salford MFL Scheme’. This comprises of engaging conversational games, stories, songs, videos, and listening, phonics, reading and writing activities, where the children are constantly involved and practicing the language.
Cross-curricular links are threaded throughout the curriculum: From looking at maps, to trying new foods, to researching how Christmas is celebrated in Spanish-speaking countries.
Impact
Throughout Key Stage 2, children will complete spoken work, and written tasks in books, dependent on the focus of the lesson. Teachers assess students understanding throughout all Spanish lessons through key, focused questioning, helping to move the children’s learning forward. We also greatly value our pupils’ opinions regarding their learning, hence our students self-assess their own progress and attainment at the end of each topic.
By the time our students finish their St Andrews journey, we endeavour that they have gained the confidence and mindset to try new things, whilst gaining a respectful attitude towards cultural differences. We aim for pupils at this age to be able to engage in a conversational manner; speaking, listening and responding in Spanish, with a focus on pronunciation. They will have written, read and presented their own written compositions, using their bank of sentence starters and structures acquired throughout Key Stage 2. Hence, they will be engaged and prepared to continue language learning at Secondary School.
Pen Pal Project
Over the past five years, we have enjoyed our ‘Pen Pal Project’ with Spanish speaking schools. We are currently very excited to be conversing in many different ways with Virgen de Guadalupe school in Camas, near Seville, in Southern Spain. We love video calling them, writing letters, cards and fact files, where we find out all about their lives and culture, whilst practising our growing Spanish skills.
MFL policy 2024 DOWNLOAD
MFL Progression Document DOWNLOAD
MFL Progression and year group objectives DOWNLOAD
MFL National Curriculum KS2 DOWNLOAD
