MFL (Spanish)

At St Charles’ Catholic Academy our intent is to provide all pupils an environment in which they can reach their full potential; intellectually, socially, morally, emotionally and culturally. Wherever possible we try to foster positive attitudes to language learning and broaden the cultural awareness of all pupils.

Languages are already a big part of who we are at St Charles’, indeed we already speak over 20 languages so we know just how important learning another language is. In school, we value the role languages has on our academic success and intend to create language learners who can express their thoughts in another language and respond to its speakers both in speech and in writing. We are committed to making our curriculum exciting and engage our pupils in an interactive way.

The teaching of MFL at St Charles’ Catholic Academy aims to be enjoyable and accessible to all pupils and to this end, a variety of approaches and activities are used to challenge, motivate and sustain interest. Lessons are interactive insofar as possible and provide an appropriate balance of spoken and written language. We currently offer lessons to to children in Y3, Y4, Y5 and Y6 and use the Kapow Spanish Scheme to support us with our learning.

Our Medium Term Plans show when each lesson is taught in the relevant year groups and that meaningful cross curricular links are made across subjects whenever possible.

Our Progression of Skills and Knowledge documents shows the skills that are taught and how these skills develop throughout the year so that attainment targets are securely met by the end of the year.

To further the language skills of our pupils we use proven techniques such as language games and learning songs, rhymes and stories. Often, we work in pairs and groups to help each other in our language learning. We not only practise speaking and listening activities but focus also on grammar and phonology. During the summer term, we plan to hold a ‘MFL Day’ in which we will immerse ourselves into the French speaking world. Some of the aspects which we plan to focus on include French cuisine, dance, and geography amongst others.

At St Charles’ Catholic Academy, we try to strike a balance between spoken and written language and use formative assessment to ensure skills and knowledge are progressing appropriately. In line with school policy, we complete assessment half termly, in which teachers assess children against objectives.

Teachers constantly monitor and assess the children in their class, their involvement and participation in lessons and the way in which they respond. Subject and school leaders also monitor the impact of our MFL curriculum through lesson observations across the year groups and listen to pupil voice from each year group. By developing their linguistic competence, we aim to lay the foundation for further language teaching at our local secondary schools.