Languages
At Curwen Primary, our vision for Languages is to prepare our children for life in a diverse and multi-cultural modern world. We want pupils to develop communication and literacy skills based on phonics, vocabulary and grammar so pupils become independent language learners. Learning another language will help our children to grow up and to be more accepting and tolerant adults.
Intent
- Give all learners the knowledge, skills and cultural capital they need to succeed in life.
- Set the foundations of future language learning.
- Children learn well with a coherently planned and sequenced.
- Prior knowledge is revisited; we continually revisit what pupils have learnt before, allowing pupils to know more and to remember more.
- Allow pupils to understand and communicate ideas, facts and feelings in speech and writing
- Clear progression of phonics, vocabulary and grammar.
- Phonics, vocabulary and grammar are intertwined and allow practice of all 4 skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking.
- Promote understanding and appreciation of different cultures, showing respect for different faiths and cultural diversity.
Language facts
- There are 6,912 languages in the world.
- 94% of the world’s population does not speak English as their first language.
- 75% do not speak English at all.
- Studying a foreign language develops your oral and written skills – even in your native language!!
- The number of careers requiring a qualification in a modern foreign language is increasing.
- More than 1,000 different languages are spoken on the Continent of Africa.
- Starting salaries for students graduating with ability in one or more modern foreign languages are at least 20% higher than for students who speak English only.
- Over 300 different languages are spoken in London.
- Young people who speak at least two languages do better at school than those who speak only one.
- Learning and using a second language helps to protect the brain from the effects of ageing.
- Learning a language will make you competitive in the job market. Learning 2 even more so. Many European young people now learn 2 foreign languages as well as their own.
Spanish Clubs
During the school year, Curwen offers Spanish clubs to those children who are enthusiastic and eager to broaden their language skills. The clubs provide the children with the opportunity to develop their Spanish beyond the classroom.
Languages Curriculum
In Early Years and KS1 children develop their understanding and knowledge of different languages through learning our 'Language of the Month' vocabulary each month.
This Autumn Term, Year 3 children are learning that Spanish is spoken not only in Spain but in different countries. It was introduced by colonists who came from Spain while they were looking for gold, silver, slaves and spices; and they forced the local population to learn Spanish.
Children will be also introduced to Spanish vowels –las vocales-
Yr 4 children will be able to count to 50 and identify numbers in Spanish.
Yr 5 are writing their own introduction on a short letter. We will send them to our school link in Spain. We are looking forward to receiving their replies!!
Watch out for the next update, we are planning to add a few videos with our presentation
Yr 6 children will start the year recapping numbers and practising them in context while shopping.
SUMMER TERM 2022-2023
During summer term, Yr3 children have learnt days of the week and talking about their likes and dislikes in Spanish. Children took part in a simple role-play activity answering a few simple question using the days of the week. With support child was able to copy language modelled by adult.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdiBJ8BqcpY
Think-Translate-Speak
Curwen continues promoting language awareness and celebrating the diverse languages in our school.
At the end of each lesson, children have had the opportunity to write or speak about what was learnt in the lesson but in their home language. The atmosphere in the classroom has been fantastic, everyone has felt comfortable teaching or learning a new language.
Yr 3 children were introduced to Spanish sounds, some vowels can be a bit tricky but they used songs to remember them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooXvME_Vq4E
Children enjoyed taking part in simple role-play activities; asking and answering simple questions about themselves, colours, numbers, days of the week and fruits. Children are beginning to communicate with their friends using the correct pronunciation in Spanish.
A favourite topic has been learning fruits using La sorpresa de Handa (Handa’s surprise)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix6BjXwPEas
Yr 4 children have used videos, songs and books to learn about farm animals, the weather or their families. They have continued using Spanish sounds and learning about Spanish grammar. Children can recognise negative statements; use their phonic knowledge to support accurate pronunciation; express simple opinions and manipulate language by changing a single element in a sentence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwYckV5hLjI
