"You live a new life for every language you speak. If you only know one language, you only live once."
- Czech proverb
"A different language is a different vision of life."
– Federico Fellini
Why Language Learning Is Important
At Ranworth Primary School we believe that the learning of a foreign language provides a valuable educational, social and cultural experience for our pupils. It helps them to develop communication skills including key skills of speaking and listening and extends their knowledge of how language works.
Learning another language gives children a new perspective on the world, encouraging them to understand their own cultures and those of others.
National Curriculum Purpose of Study
Learning a foreign language is a liberation from insularity and provides an opening to other cultures. A high-quality language education should foster pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world. The teaching should enable pupils to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing.
It should also provide opportunities for them to communicate for practical purposes, learn new ways of thinking and read great literature in the original language. Language teaching should provide the foundation for learning further languages, equipping pupils to study and work in other countries.
What Languages Looks Like at Ranworth Primary School
The focus language taught in our school is Spanish. Children commence their language learning in KS2. Children are taught specific skills, concepts and vocabulary in a weekly dedicated lesson with a specialised teacher. Vocabulary will be explicitly taught at the beginning of every lesson. To facilitate children to know more and remember more, key concepts run through the whole of our curriculum and opportunities to revisit previous learning are planned into every lesson.
Inclusion
Language learning activities are planned in such a way as to encourage the full and active participation of all pupils. Work is differentiated as appropriate to the needs of individual children. Pairs and groups for collaborative work may be made up in different ways, depending on the task.
Concepts Running Through Languages
- Change - Sounds, lexical, semantic, syntax
- Power - Effective communication
- Diversity - Different languages, diversity of structure between Spanish and English, linguistic diversity
- Comparison - Spanish and English
- Significance - Global languages
Curriculum Plan
for
Modern Foreign Languages