Spanish
The Modern Foreign Languages Department
- Mrs D Egan – Leading Practitioner and Head of Department
- Mrs M Gallardo Cobo – Spanish Teacher
- Miss C Williams – Spanish Teacher
Curriculum Intent
We aim to open pupils’ minds to new worlds and help them appreciate the richness and value of languages. We want our students to celebrate cultural differences and be eager to engage with people who speak other languages. We aspire to ignite and nurture our pupils’ interest in how the Spanish language works, increase their self-confidence so that they become excellent communicators, not solely in the target language, but in their own native language.
Key Stage 3
Our curriculum is built upon three main language competencies: phonics, vocabulary and grammar. These competencies and intercultural understanding drive every aspect of course and each competence is revisited, consolidated and built upon throughout every lesson, topic, year and key stage. Throughout all key stages, pupils practise and develop the essential skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing in the target language.
Pupils begin their language journey in year 7 learning how to recognise and say the letters of the Spanish alphabet and identifying and making basic Spanish sounds. In the first lessons they learn how to pronounce, spell and locate main cities in Spain. Grammatically they begin by learning the difference between the verbs ‘ser’ and ‘estar’ and how they are conjugated in the third person singular present tense so that they pronounce and spell main Spanish cities and locate them on a map. The key vocabulary that year 7 pupils start the course with is related to greetings, basic Spanish geography and language related to the classroom. In Spanish lessons, year 7 pupils learn how to listen and respond, read and respond, speak and write words and short phrases accurately. As year 7 pupils progress through the course, they learn how to pronounce key words, sentences and short texts confidently and write down sentences that are read aloud to them in Spanish with correct spelling and accentuation. Grammatically, students learn how to identify word categories and use them appropriately in the correct word order (nouns, adjectives and verbs in the infinitive form, the singular and plural imperative forms, the present tense and the immediate future tense). Year 7 pupils learn how to memorise, say, spell and use key vocabulary related to the topic areas of family, home, towns, school life and free time activities.
In Year 8, students build on their knowledge and understanding of Spanish phonics, grammar and vocabulary acquisition through topics related to the cultural capital of Spanish speaking countries in Latin America. Pupils revisit the pronunciation of the Spanish alphabet in a standard Spanish accent and then, they learn how certain letters and sounds differ when pronounced by native speakers from Latin American countries. Year 8 pupils continue to learn how to pronounce words and sentences, building on their oral skills by learning how to use intonation for questions and reading texts aloud. All grammar learnt in year 7 is revised and built upon throughout the different topic areas. One example of how grammar is revised and built upon in year 8 would be that pupils are still developing how to recognise and use adjectives to describe nouns using correct positioning and agreement, but they will also learn how to recognise and use comparative and superlative adjectives as well as learning how certain nouns can be used as adjectives. Furthermore, year 8 pupils revisit the present and immediate future tenses, as well as recognising and using the present continuous, preterite and imperfect past tenses, particularly in the third person singular and plural forms. Throughout year 8, pupils continue to learn how to memorise and use common vocabulary related to the topic areas of the geography of Latin American countries, Latin American people (including food and clothes), traditional stories, famous Hispanic people and an imaginary trip to a South American country.
Year 9 students continue to develop and improve upon their pronunciation and intonation by learning how to give detailed responses to questions, detailed descriptions of images and short presentations of topics. Year 9 pupils learn ways to pause for thought in Spanish, while refining answers and ask for clarification or repetition. They deepen their knowledge and understanding of grammar by learning more tenses such as the simple and conditional future, as well as revisiting other tenses and more forms of the verbs. Vocabulary building in year 9 is focused on less common words related to family life, city life, school life, work life and global issues. Intercultural understanding in year 9 is focused on understanding and exchanging information about different cultures and life in Spanish speaking countries as well as in the UK.
Key Stage 4
GCSE Spanish
In this current year 11 pupils follow the AQA (Spanish 8698) course that includes further developing their spoken, listening, reading and written skills through focusing on a range of topic areas that are pertinent to the three main themes: ‘Identity and Culture’, ‘Local, National, International and Global Areas of Interest’ and ‘Current and Future Study and Employment’. In year 10 pupils follow the AQA (Spanish 8692) course that also includes developing their spoken, listening, reading and written skills through focusing on topics that are pertinent to the three main themes of ‘People and Lifestyle’, ‘Popular Culture’ and ‘Communication and the World Around Us’. Throughout both two-year courses, pupils develop their fluency and confidence in manipulating the language. All basic grammar and vocabulary taught in key stage 3 is revisited and practised constantly throughout the different themes. Students build on their intercultural understanding of Spanish speaking countries in topics such as global issues, the environment, eating and drinking out to name but a few. The Spanish GCSE is completely examination based and involves four separate examinations: a speaking exam (conducted by their teacher), a listening examination, a reading examination and a written examination.
Exam Board
Spanish GCSE - AQA
https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/languages/gcse/spanish-8698 - Yr 11
https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/languages/gcse/spanish-8692 - Yr 10
Spanish: Useful Websites
KS3
- BBC Bitesize – Useful overviews of different topic areas, grammar and key vocabulary and entertaining videos to practise language comprehension. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/z9mtsbk
- Seneca Learning – Useful overviews of grammatical structures and vocabulary with quizzes to test your learning. https://app.senecalearning.com
- Online Dictionary – Easy to use bi-lingual dictionary English to Spanish and Spanish to English https://www.colinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english-spanish
- Online conjugation – https://www.wordreference.com/conj/Esverbs.aspx
KS4
- AQA Spanish – Examination board website where you will find the specification and overview of the entire course. https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/languages/GCSE/Spanish-8698
- Revision World – Revision materials of all key topic areas covered and you will find past higher and foundation level papers in all skill areas (Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing) on this site. https://revisionworld.com/gcse-revision/spanish
- BBC Bitesize – Useful overviews of different topic areas, grammar and key vocabulary and as well as examination practice in all four skill areas. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/examspecs/z4yyjhv
Seneca Learning – Useful overviews of grammatical structures and topic related vocabulary with quizzes to test your learning. https://app.senecalearning.com/classroom/course/eefdd6b0-11e8-9e60-31064e3f9a21