MFL Intent

All pupils in Key Stage Two at St John XXIII Catholic Primary School have the right to learn an additional language, the study of which liberates children from insularity and provides an opening to other cultures. MFL lessons give children opportunities to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both verbally and in writing. They also provide opportunities to read age-appropriate literature and learn songs in the target language. Ultimately, MFL lessons at St John XXIII Catholic Primary School aim to provide a firm foundation for further language-learning, equipping children with the skills that they need in order to become life-long language learners, both for the pleasure that can be derived from doing so, and for the practical purpose of equipping pupils to study and work in other countries.

We teach a curriculum that enables our pupils to become effective users of language and show an understanding and respect of different cultures in our local, national and global communities. Through the teaching of high-quality Spanish lessons at St John XXIII Catholic Primary School, we aim to: 

• Ensure that each child in Key Stage Two has the opportunity to study Spanish as a foreign language over four years, fostering their interest in the culture of Spain and the Hispanophone world.
• Teach vocabulary and linguistic structures informed by the National Curriculum and the skills expressed therein: Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing (as well as Cultural Understanding).
• Enable children to ask and answer a range of questions about themselves, which would allow them to confidently address a Spanish speaker and exchange simple, personal information.
• Create opportunities for children to manipulate language for their own purposes, drawing on their knowledge of increasingly complex sentence structures.  
• Teach children the basics of phonics in Spanish to allow them to spell in a phonetically plausible way and read and speak with increased confidence and improved pronunciation.
• Enable children to draw comparisons between Spanish and English vocabulary, using their knowledge of cognates and near-cognates to decode unfamiliar texts of increasing complexity.
• Encourage children to draw comparisons between Spanish and English grammar, syntax and sentence structure, both as a tool for developing their understanding of the Spanish language and their understanding of English.
• Give children opportunities to make, and learn from, mistakes in the target language, thereby building resilience.
• Develop children’s understanding of Spanish as a global language, and the reasons why it is spoken in countries other than Spain.
• Enable children to understand their place in the wider world and the concept of interdependence.