What is Spanish (MFL) at Westglade?

Language learning at Westglade is rooted in a passion for sharing Spanish language and culture with a clear, sequential and consistent scheme of progression to foster our children’s reading, listening, speaking and writing skills.  The Spanish curriculum offers an opportunity for children to not only learn skills but to also make intercultural links through its focus on a variety of topics and enrichment activities. We understand how learning another language deepens connections with other cultures and widens our knowledge of the world. We aim for children to show an enthusiasm and curiosity of the world. 

“The decision to learn a foreign language is to me an act of friendship. It is indeed a holding out of the hand. It’s not just a route to negotiation. It’s also to get to know you better, to draw closer to you and your culture, your social manners and your way of thinking.”  John Le Carre  

How is Spanish progressive? 

The National Curriculum sets out that MFL should provide an opening to other cultures which fosters children's curiosity and deepens their understanding of the world. Our MFL curriculum reflects the National Curriculum requirements and provides children with a love and interest for this subject. We believe that high quality MFL teaching should engage, inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with knowledge to add to their cultural capital and pave the way for them to become the best they can be. To achieve our aims, the knowledge path was designed to map out the minimum knowledge our children should have in music for each year group. The skills ladder demonstrates how children's skills will build from one year to the next. Our secure professional knowledge of the children underpins our curriculum making it meaningful and appropriate for all children. As children progress, they can think more in depth and have a deeper understanding of language. 

How do we teach Spanish?

Spanish is taught through these specific strands:

• Listening 
• Speaking/pronunciation 
• Reading/translating 
• Writing and Grammar

The delivery of MFL at Westglade is via the 'Language Angels' complete scheme of learning. Language Angels is a scheme designed by experts in MFL teaching in schools and completely follows the National Curriculum for MFL. There is a clear step by step approach which incorporates the 3 pillars to language teaching: phonics, grammar and vocabulary.

The scheme delivers MFL teaching via the 12 attainment targets set out by the DfE for MFL. It is one of the most widely used schemes for the implementation of MFL teaching in primary schools in the UK and has a fantastic reputation for learning and progress. The scheme was chosen for our children because it tailors to all stages of learning within MFL effectively and allows teaching staff to deliver great learning despite any language and experience barriers. 

Language Angels is devised into unit of learning blocks each of which are six weeks long. At the end of each unit, there is an assessment session which tracks the children's learning. The units are tailored to year group and stage of learning and progresses accordingly throughout. Medium and long term plans are detailed for which units are recommended to be taught to correctly tailor to children's level and ensure all children are appropriately challenged and stretched. Lessons include opportunities for a multisensory learning approach so that all learning styles can be reached and maximum progress made. Activities include games and songs as well as reading and writing elements.

Please see below for a link to the Langauge Angels scheme site and a unit planner. 

What does Spanish look like?