Spanish

Statement of Intent for Spanish

Students are introduced to Spanish in Year 8 following their introduction to MFL with French in Year 7. Year 8 Spanish aims to build on the language skills learned in Year 7 French.

The Spanish curriculum is wide ranging and incorporates Hispanic culture as well as the Spanish language. It is, however, intended to reflect our students’ lives, exploring their likes and dislikes and their personal relationship with the world and others. It gives our students the opportunity to present themselves and to understand themselves within a multicultural context.  Our students will be challenged at all stages to learn new vocabulary and grammatical structures and to be able to recognise them in listening and reading and produce them in writing and speaking. Our key stage 3 curriculum is designed to build upon existing language knowledge and extend it whilst exploring a wide range of topics and themes which are linked to the GCSE and ultimately, A level courses which the students may continue with after key stage 3.

Students are presented with a skills-based curriculum which focuses on independent learning skills, resilience, and self-efficacy. Knowledge acquisition and recall are important features of a student’s learning journey and ultimately, we intend for these life skills to enhance our students’ ability to engage with the external world both at present and in their future lives.

Students at all key stages will find their lessons engaging, challenging, and inspiring and they will make their best progress when they fully engage in the activities and the learning.  We support the development of all learners and aim to create a safe space for children, of all abilities to take chances and thrive.

Students will have an opportunity to study Spanish at key stage 4 which explores a variety of themes wholly relevant to young people in Hispanic countries and our students who discover differences and similarities.  Our curriculum key stage 3-5 has been carefully mapped out to enable the students in key stage 4 to build on the skills and knowledge acquired at key stage 3. Many students will continue their Spanish journey into Key Stage 5, where they will be exposed to more mature themes covering historical people and events, politics, immigration, religion, society, work, and culture and where students are encouraged to delve deeper into topics which inspire them to become even more proficient in the four language skills developed over the key stages.

Key stage 3

Key stage 3 language curriculum is designed to build students’ knowledge and confidence in steps with each new topic exploring new language and grammar but also recalling prior learning. Students see how vocabulary and structures can be manipulated across a wide range of topics and become competent in manipulating the language that they know, in order to give a wide range of opinions.

Key stage 4

Students in key stage 4 take their language knowledge for Year 8 and Year 9 and apply it at a deeper level across similar themes. Verbs are explored in more depth and students become more capable at expressing their points of view and discussing more mature themes such as work life and environmental issues.

Key stage 5

Students who choose to develop their linguistic skills beyond GCSE are invited to explore themes at a deeper level with more mature content and of a more demanding nature. Politics and historical influences on present day society, religion, culture, immigration and employment are themes which students discover and research independently to a higher degree but some of which have been touched upon in their earlier years.

Other resources

• Language Gym
• Linguascope
• A Tantot

Beyond the classroom    

• Y8 – Lunch time Games club
• Y9 – European day of Languages Carousel Day
• Hispanic day celebrations

The MFL department takes the lead with whole school Enrichment for European Day of Languages and Hispanic day with specific activities for Year 8 and Year 9