Spanish

A high-quality languages education fosters children’ curiosity and deepens their understanding of the world.

The introduction of Spanish in KS2 focusses on practical communication, enabling children to express their ideas and thoughts and to understand and respond, both in speech and in writing.

At Petts Hill, Spanish is taught in an interactive and motivating style using a range of resources including  Espresso as well as drama workshops. A series of animated stories introduce new vocabulary and interactive literacy and oracy activities encourage children to apply their knowledge. Language is then developed through songs, making language learning fun and engaging.

Children are taught to:

• Listen attentively to spoken language and show understanding by joining in and responding
• Explore the patterns and sounds of language through songs and rhymes and link the spelling, sound and meaning of words
• Engage in conversations; ask and answer questions; express opinions and respond to those of others; seek clarification and help
• Speak in sentences, using familiar vocabulary, phrases and basic language structures
• Develop accurate pronunciation and intonation so that others understand when they are reading aloud or using familiar words and phrases
• Present ideas and information orally to a range of audiences
• Read carefully and show understanding of words, phrases and simple writing
• Appreciate stories, songs, poems and rhymes in the language
• Broaden their vocabulary and develop their ability to understand new words that are introduced into familiar written material, including through using a dictionary
• Write phrases from memory, and adapt these to create new sentences, to express ideas clearly
• Describe people, places, things and actions orally and in writing understand basic grammar appropriate to the language being studied, including (where relevant): feminine, masculine and neuter forms and the conjugation of high-frequency verbs; key features and patterns of the language; how to apply these, for instance, to build sentences; and how these differ from or are similar to English.