Wonder Secondary Spanish

Most lessons will incorporate activities which enable pupils to practise and develop multiple skills across speaking, listening, reading, writing and translation as we believe that a multi-modal delivery helps to scaffold and develop these skills and prepares children to use language genuinely as authentic speakers. However, we recognise these aspects place different demands on learners. When speaking, for example, pupils need to be aware of the ongoing shared discourse and respond quickly to new information received – consequently, listening skills become more important. There is also often more time pressure in spoken scenarios. Writing, on the other hand, gives learners time to think about content and how to express it. However, spelling becomes a key factor for pupils to consider to ensure comprehension and fluency.

These key differences in demands between speaking and writing inform the way we deliver the curriculum and in the way we deliver class activities and tests to assess progression. However, as a department we recognise that each aspect of language contributes to the three key ‘pillars’ of language learning:
• the system of the sounds of a language and how these are represented in written words
• vocabulary
• grammar and syntax

These three aspects develop each mode of language use. For example, to improve their listening skills pupils need to develop sound–symbol correspondences (how different combinations of letters map to different sounds), they need to recognise words they have learned, and finally understand how the words are ‘glued together’ through grammar.

• As well as ensuring the modes of language reinforce each other, correct pronunciation and exploration of the sounds of the language assist with spelling and the movement
  from phonemes to graphemes.
• Our schemes of learning explicitly identify the target vocabulary that is needed so that cumulatively as they work through their time at Woldgate, children master the essential building blocks to language and this involves systematic revisiting of prior vocabulary as part of our teaching in lessons.
• Our department builds a working knowledge of grammar – consequently when pupils encounter new phrases they will, wherever possible and appropriate, learn to manipulate the words and grammar they contain, as soon as possible. This is important so that children are not simply imitating phrases but increasingly ‘thinking in’ and expressing themselves through the language. As well as developing awareness of grammar, this builds their creativity and confidence across all modes of speaking, listening, reading, and writing.

To achieve these aims, we include the following components to our lessons and schemes of learning.

• ‘Sentence builder’ tasks are used in lessons, enabling pupils to build accurate sentences and decode the grammar of the target language.
• Extensive retrieval of language through games and speaking activities
• Use of texts that are 95% comprehensible to build fluency and confidence
• Explicit teaching of language learning and decoding skills
• Regular grammar instruction.

The department’s teaching consequently has adapted aspects of the work of Giafranco Conti. It is our ultimate aim that, with time and practice, knowledge of phonics, grammar and vocabulary becomes ‘automatic’ for pupils.

As they build their confidence, learners can understand longer written texts and spoken discourse. In turn, this means that they can access a wider range of meanings across a range of contexts. They will then be more likely to efficiently and appropriately draw on contextual information and bring in their knowledge of the world or background knowledge of a topic. This in turn allows them to better understand both familiar and less familiar topics and further develop their understanding of the culture of the language in scope.

Consequently, over time, children are able to express themselves more articulately in speech and in writing. It helps them to write and speak for different purposes, across a wide range of contexts and for different audiences and so they become ‘alive’ to the language. Our teachers aim to scaffold this through the way they model the target language and prompt pupils to use it in lessons.

Use of the target language in lessons
All children learn a new language and they do so explicitly with direct language instruction that appropriately balances the use of English and the ‘target’ language they intend to learn. Naturally we want learners to be exposed to the language they are learning. However, we do not want them to be overwhelmed by it in their early stages of language learning to the point that it could demotivate them and so we work systematically to achieve a balance that sees using the target language as an essential part of practice and reinforcement, including building familiarity with rhythms, sounds and intonation. For younger pupils, for example, this will involve the planned use of target language for classroom routines. As children progress, activities will be led in the target language to help embed knowledge in the long-term memory, support practice and recall, and help pupils to respond to language in meaningful ways.

By using increasing degrees of target language not only provides more examples of the language but also enables children to ‘try out’ the language as often as possible. To further develop confidence, the texts and speech we use as stimulus in lessons increase in complexity and authenticity to help children develop their understanding of the language in a ‘real’ setting. Even where they are created for the classroom or for younger learners, they will be authentic to the contexts, resembling real-life situations.

• Watch their favourite films in Spanish.
• Ask your child to read their work aloud to you to practise their pronunciation.
• Use their books to ask questions so they can reply in Spanish.

Why do we sequence the curriculum this way?
As is clear from the diagram above, there is a very careful interplay between the topic, the grammar, and the vocabulary as children move through the languages curriculum. Our schemes of learning explicitly identify the target vocabulary that is needed so that cumulatively as they work through their time at school children master the essential building blocks to language, which involves systematic revisiting of prior vocabulary as part of our teaching in lessons.

Vocabulary is also linked to grammar – for example, a good verb knowledge is linked to grammatical understanding of verbs. However, the department also teaches and reinforces key grammatical concepts at the appropriate time. For example, revisiting comparatives and superlatives when comparing the city and countryside or conditional phrases when talking about their ideal home in the future.

These core aspects of content are reinforced through speaking, writing, reading and listening to help them establish mastery through a structured approach and careful use of assessment.

Our assessment

The curriculum is sequenced carefully so that relevant existing knowledge is revisited through frequent assessment in lessons as part of our ‘prepare’ activates at the start of each lesson. For each unit, new content is delivered sequentially in increasing difficulty but is segmented into components that are assessed through interim tests so that misunderstandings and errors can be picked up progressively as children progress through that topic.

As a department we take care to consider how errors are corrected to maximise learning. Evidence suggests that focused error correction is usually more effective than unfocused error correction and so teachers will not correct every error that a pupil makes, rather they will focus on agreed aspects, linked to the schemes of learning.

How we correct errors
As a department, error correction will take place in the following ways:

• recasting: re-stating what the pupil said, but correcting errors in it.
• prompting: where the correction is made by the learner themselves with support.
• explanation: where explicit information is given about a rule relating to the cause of the error

As a result, assessment and correction is a dynamic process in languages, happening in the lesson verbally as much as in books. Developing corrections with children prompts them to think about the language they used and to correct the error themselves. Indeed, error correction in both spoken and written language is most effective when done immediately.