The Spanish Curriculum

Learning a foreign language is a liberation from insularity and provides an opening to other cultures.

Spanish Curriculum Intent at LCA

At Lincoln Carlton Academy we offer a relevant, broad, vibrant, and ambitious foreign languages curriculum that will inspire and excite our pupils using a wide variety of topics and themes. Teachers will always have the highest expectations of pupils in their foreign language learning - the aim being that pupils will feel willing and able to continue studying languages when they leave LCA for the next stage in their educational journey.

All content will be reviewed annually, creating a dynamic programme of study that will be clearly outlined in both long-term and short-term planning. This will ensure that the foreign language knowledge of our pupils progresses within each academic year and is extended year upon year throughout the primary phase and, in doing so, will always be relevant and in line with meeting or exceeding national DfE requirements.

The four key language learning skills; listening, speaking, reading, and writing will be taught and all necessary grammar will be covered in an age-appropriate way across the primary phase. This will enable pupils to use and apply their learning in a variety of contexts, laying down solid foundations for future language learning and helping the children improve overall attainment in other subject areas. In addition, the children will be taught how to look up and research language they are unsure of and they will have a bank of reference materials to help them with their spoken and written tasks going forward.

Pupils will develop a genuine interest and positive curiosity about foreign languages, finding them enjoyable and stimulating. Learning a second language will also offer pupils the opportunity to explore relationships between language and identity, develop a deeper understanding of other cultures and the world around them with a better awareness of self, others, and cultural differences. The intention is that they will be working towards becoming life-long language learners.

How will this be implemented?

Language learning starts at LCA in the Early Years foundation and the progression through the school can be seen on the progression documents below. Children will progressively acquire, use, and apply a growing bank of vocabulary, language skills and grammatical knowledge organised around age-appropriate topics and themes - building blocks of language into more complex, fluent and authentic language.

From Key Stage Two, children will begin to have a weekly, 30-minute language lesson. This begins with early language units in Year 3 and progresses through to intermediate and progressive units in years 4, 5, and 6, lasting 45 minutes. Wherever possible, Spanish will be taught by one of our Spanish speaking specialists.

Units, where possible and appropriate, have been linked to cross curricular themes. Children will build on previous knowledge gradually as their foreign language lessons continue to recycle, revise, and consolidate previously learnt language whilst building on all four language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Knowledge and awareness of required and appropriate grammar concepts will be taught throughout all units at all levels of challenge. Grammar is integrated and taught discreetly throughout all appropriate units.

Spanish Curriculum Impact

When pupils complete their language learning journey at LCA, they will:

• Have a deeper understanding of other cultures around the World, particularly those that are Spanish speaking.
• Have a greater awareness of cultural differences around the World.
• Understand and respond to spoken and written language
• Speak with increasing confidence, fluency, and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and asking questions, and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation.
• Write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt.
• Have developed a love of language learning.