Foreign Languages

The language of Spanish opens doors to global communication and cultural understanding. Learning Spanish develops essential skills that enrich our children’s creativity and communication. Our aim is to support children to be expressive, adventurous and insightful linguists.

Learning a foreign language shows a willingness to be responsive to the culture whose language is being studied. Besides promoting the acquisition of linguistic skills, language also fosters tolerance and respect for others, and an appreciation of their skills and achievements. Elmridge Primary School acknowledges the importance of cross-cultural understanding and this is reflected in the inclusion of foreign language as an integral part of the school curriculum. The aims of foreign language teaching:

• to develop the ability to communicate with native speakers of other languages
• to develop awareness of our geographical location and culture within a wider European and world context
• to give pupils an insight into the workings of their own language through comparative language study
• to promote respect and integration within the class through role play, pair work and team games
• to support the transition to Key Stage 3 where language learning is compulsory
• to improve skills in other subjects through cross-curricular links
• to foster tolerance and respect for other cultures
• to heighten pupils’ awareness of careers that require foreign language skills

Foreign language – Spanish at present – is taught at Elmridge. We use Language Angels to support the delivery of National Curriculum 2014.  Spanish is taught to pupils in KS2 on a weekly basis. Lessons are taught by the class teachers in a main teaching session.

The aim of the teaching is that the pupils do not simply learn skills and vocabulary relating solely to individual topics, but learn transferable skills that can be built upon throughout the age ranges. In Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 more topic-based work is incorporated into lessons but the main focus of lessons is nevertheless skill development as opposed to simply vocabulary acquisition. Teaching methods aim to develop the pupils’ ability in all four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing.