At Roger Ascham, children will be excited and empowered by learning Spanish. They will be taught grammar and vocabulary, which they will be encouraged to use creatively and flexibly in order to create their own sentences and communicate their own ideas. Children will be taught to adapt their vocabulary to a range of contexts; improve their pronunciation and intonation; have conversations; perform plays; sing songs and understand native speakers of the language.

Children will be taught by their class teacher, who will not necessarily be an expert in MfL. This will reinforce the message that everyone can learn a new language. By teaching children in KS2, we intend to capitalise on their openness to language acquisition and to build confidence and curiosity that will lay the foundations for further foreign language learning in KS3 and beyond.  This will be facilitated by the teacher making explicit their role as teacher and learner in the classroom.

Our MfL curriculum will enable children to develop an understanding of how language works. Children will learn about some of the similarities and differences between English and Spanish. Through comparison, the children’s understanding of how language works will become deeper and broader.

Many children at Roger Ascham speak more than one language. In our school, MfL lessons formalise our appreciation of the benefits of bilingualism both to individuals and to society. Through Spanish lessons, children will see a new language as a window to another culture. Festivals, traditions and current affairs will be part of their language learning experience. We will share with the children how different languages can be used to express ideas in different ways, which will lead them to appreciate the richness of a diverse world.