What does MFL look like at Chisenhale?
Intent
At Chisenhale Primary, we recognise that competence in another language enables children to interpret, create and exchange meaning within and across cultures. Our school has a very diverse cohort; we have families from many different countries. These families then many different languages at home. We are fortunate enough to have many children who already speak their home language and English, and on some occasions a third language because of time they have spent in another country. A focus on language and communication is evident to all of our children, who see first-hand the importance of being able to communicate in another language in order to learn and engage in our society. We are committed to ensuring our MFL teaching provides the foundation for learning further languages, as well as the means to access international opportunities for study and work later in life. We aim to provide an appropriate balance of spoken and written language that will lay the foundation for further foreign language teaching at KS3.
Implementation
Children are formally introduced to Spanish in KS2. Each week children from Year 3 to Year 6 have a Spanish lesson lasting at least 30 minutes.
In these lessons children are introduced to the three foundations of language learning: phonics, grammar and vocabulary. Each lesson also provides them with the chance to practise their conversational Spanish with a partner and to speak aloud in front of their peers. Every term a new topic is introduced and children learn their vocabulary through this theme (My Town, My Family, Pets, Fashion, etc). Children are encouraged to add vocabulary from this topic to their own Spanish Dictionary so that they always see a purpose to what they are learning. Each lesson begins with them revisiting the previous learning and adding relevant vocabulary to their conversations with their peers.
At Chisenhale we use an online learning platform called Language Angels which provides us with a huge variety of resources to support the teaching and learning of Spanish including many different songs and games, so that the children are actively engaged throughout the lessons and truly enjoy them. Lessons across Key Stage 2 support the skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing in line with National Curriculum expectations. Knowledge and skills in Spanish are progressive from one year to the next and are mapped across the school, in line with our scheme of work (see further information below).
At the end of each term children are given a written task to complete, often in the form of a letter or a personal description in which they are encouraged to include as much of the vocabulary they have learned throughout that term and from any previous learning. This task is a wonderful chance for teachers to assess what children are learning and where any gaps still exist which informs future planning.
Impact
Through the high quality teaching of Modern Foreign Languages taking place we will see the impact of the subject in different ways:
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Children will be provided with opportunities to communicate with each other in Spanish.
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Children will learn how language skills can be applied to a range of languages.
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Children will become aware that language has structure, and that the structure differs from one language to another.
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Children will develop their language through development of the four key skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing.
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Children will enrich their language learning by developing an understanding of the Spanish culture.