Spanish
Welcome to our Spanish Curriculum
At Cuddington, we aspire our children to learn all about the Spanish language and culture in order to instil a life-long of love of language learning which can equip them for their future.
Our Spanish Intent
Children will be able to understand and respond to increasingly complex spoken and written language whilst developing their written and oral communication skills. They will discover and develop an appreciation for the Spanish language and culture as well as recognising the similarities and differences between English and Spanish language and grammar. The exposure to a variety of aspects of the Spanish language will instil a life-long love of language learning which the children can take with them to Secondary School and beyond.
Implementation - how is Spanish planned and taught?
Each year group Spanish teaching from a specialist Spanish teacher every week. Each class in a year group covers the same topic, to meet the same objectives outlined in the National Curriculum, over the course of a half term. Work is differentiated according to the progress and needs of children and work is assessed through regular teacher marking as well as feedback in class.
Year 3 start by learning about the cultural similarities and differences between Britain and Spanish speaking countries. They explore the phonetics of Spanish through songs and rhymes and this provides them with the confidence to try the language out for themselves and lose any inhibitions. The focus of the rest of the year is to explore vocabulary through various topics which will allow children to build up a basic introductory dialogue which they can present both orally and in written form.
The Year 4 curriculum looks at a range of topics through which vocabulary is built upon. Our children are encouraged to expand their vocabulary independently within the topics by understanding how to use a bilingual dictionary. The other main focus in Year 4 is to be able to express and justify opinions both orally and in the written form as well as listen to and understand the opinions of others.
Year 5 is the start of a greater focus on grammar. The children learn about telling the time, local area and school subjects. By the end of the year, children recognise the way that a sentence is structured in Spanish (ie that adjectives follow nouns) and that adjectives and nouns must agree in gender and number.
Year 6 look at revisiting various topics so that by the end of the year they are able to accurately produce an ICT project all about themselves, their family, their likes/dislikes, home and local area. This requires the consolidation of all previous learning as well the introduction of verb conjugations in the present tense.
Impact - what does progress look like?
The Spanish curriculum develops many transferable skills which impact all year groups. Communication and listening are an integral part of all lessons which require the children to distinguish different types of sounds and helps them become more adept at focusing on relevant information and editing out the irrelevant. Speaking Spanish for a range of purposes means children must learn to recall information efficiently and deliver what they want to say with confidence. Exposure to a wide range of Spanish vocabulary can also help build knowledge of vocabulary in English, especially through translations tasks. The nature of language learning requires children to problem solve in lessons as they are continuously required to de-code and find creative ways to express what they want to say using alternative methods.
As part of our Phase 2 Carol Concert, the Year 6 children learn the Spanish version of 'Come All Ye Faithful' and perform this to the rest of the school which is a fantastic way to celebrate spanish in different parts of the curriculum.
