Spanish
Our curriculum intent in Spanish is to take students on a voyage of discovery, fostering open-mindedness to different cultures and ways of life. Curriculum plans for all year groups can be downloaded from the bottom of the page.
We believe that learning a language provides an insight to discovering the world and it is a vehicle for overcoming barriers to learning. Therefore, through high quality language learning we promote students’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of countries, people, cultures, history, literature and art. We challenge students, to consider their identity and place in the world; as well as to appreciate different ways of viewing the world.
The benefits of learning a language are manifold and very well documented. The LLAS6 has given no less than 700 reasons for studying languages and grouped into 70 different key areas in which languages make a difference. We strive to communicate these reasons to our students both explicitly and implicitly through our curriculum and passionate, enthusiastic teachers.
The apprenticeship of learning a language provides an open road to the world and a vehicle for overcoming barriers. Languages education is an entitlement for all and key in promoting social justice. This belief is strengthened in the face of recent national trends that show a positive correlation between socio-economic disadvantage, and reduced access and time allocated to language learning. By developing students’ linguistic, communicative and intercultural skills, we strive to foster rounded individuals ready for lifelong language learning and entry into a global, more cooperative and more peaceful world.
The benefits of learning a language and a new culture
1. To be connected
Learn the language of another culture and open yourself up to another world and connect to others making them feel less like a stranger.
2. Advance your career
Language skills also lead to hiring bonuses and increased salaries. Whatever your career aspiration—with language skills added to the mix, you’re ahead of the crowd!
3. Feed your brain
The many cognitive benefits of learning languages are undeniable. People who speak more than one language have improved memory, problem-solving and critical-thinking skills, enhanced concentration, ability to multitask, and better listening skills.
4. Deepen Your Connection to Other Cultures
5. See the World
Traveling as a speaker of the local language can revolutionise a trip abroad. Learning a second language also opens additional doors to opportunities for studying or working abroad.
6. Go to the source
Having knowledge of another language empowers us to be able to access information that would otherwise be off-limits, for example being able to access and understand foreign media and entertainment.
7. Become a polyglot
research shows that it makes picking up additional languages a much easier feat, especially among children. When you learn a new language, you develop new brain networks that are primed and ready when you embark on learning a third language.
8. Boost your confidence
It’s a necessary part of the learning process! Learning a language means putting yourself out there and moving out of your comfort zone. The upside is the amazing sense of accomplishment you’ll feel when conversing with someone in their native language.
9. Strengthen your decision making
Studies show that decisions made in your second language are more reason-driven than those made in your native language.
10. Gain perspective
Challenge your own norms by gaining insight into a different way of doing things that you could learn from exploring a new language.
Five-year course
The MFL curriculum is a five-year course taking students on a linguistic, cultural and thematic journey, aiming to liberate our students from insularity by regularly prompting them to question their own identity and beliefs, be inquisitive and open their minds to those of others and appreciate diversity as wealth.
The curriculum is designed to promote communication at all stages by providing many opportunities for students to understand and respond to a variety of authentic sources in a variety of different contexts and for a variety of different audiences, gain confidence in communicating messages effectively, confidently and spontaneously, whilst also acquiring linguistic proficiency progressively through spaced repetition, revisiting key themes with greater depth and activating long term memory using retrieval practice as a core element of the lessons.
We want to ensure all our students have the opportunity of learning a different language and another culture. It is our aspiration that the vast majority of students take a GCSE in Spanish. We have made good progress in this, increasing uptake from approximately 40% of students studying a language in 2011 to approximately 68% in 2023.
All our Key Stage 3 students have two lessons weekly spread over frequent lessons of 45- or 90-minute duration and a GCSE level of at least four lessons per week. Students are taught across the skills of listening 25%, reading 25%, writing 25% and speaking 25%. Following this method, our students have made better progress, developed greater confidence and are able to explore more intellectually stimulating and culturally-rich content.
For further information on the Spanish curriculum please contact Gema de Cos Sierra: g.decossierra@harrisdulwichboys.org.uk
Year 7
The Year 7 curriculum in Spanish starts with closing the knowledge gaps coming from the variability of the Key Stage 1 and 2 provision, to ensure that all students have the basic skills to access the study of Spanish.
Year 7 students learn to articulate details about themselves and those who are part of their lives. They learn to make descriptions on a variety of topics, such as identity, physical appearance and personality, family and friends, relationships, life at school and routines, pastimes and express their opinions.
Our curriculum includes a variety of projects, where the students need to use their creativity, manage their skills and times, test their aptitude and gives them a practical experience.
Year 8
The Year 8 curriculum in Spanish is designed to enable students to zoom out from describing their personal reality and consider what is around them. Students learn to articulate details about the world around them and their immediate or further surroundings. They learn to narrate events on a variety of topics, such as their areas, holiday and exchange experiences and the world of media.
Our curriculum includes a variety of projects, where the students need to use their creativity, manage their skills and times, test their aptitude and gives them a practical experience.
Year 9
The Year 9 curriculum in Spanish is designed to revisit and recycles foundational knowledge from Year 7 and Year 8 to allow students to engage with familiar topic areas in greater conceptual depth and with increased linguistic complexity. In Year 9, students learn to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of a variety of situations, such as family models, relationships with family members and friends, role-models, how they spend their free-time, their passions, Spanish and British education systems. Our curriculum includes projects, where the students need to use their creativity, manage their skills and times, test their aptitude and gives them a practical experience.
Year 10
The Year 10 curriculum in Spanish is designed to extend the knowledge of students on the main themes from Key Stage 3 to allow students to engage with both familiar and new topic areas in greater conceptual depth and with increased linguistic complexity. In Year 10, students learn to describe, narrate and evaluate situations in more complex and varied ways, so they can communicate effectively with increasing ease in real-life contexts and present their views in a logical structure.
Year 11
The Year 11 curriculum in Spanish is designed to consolidating their linguistic knowledge whilst also providing extensive practice of the different units that are assessed in the examination. In Autumn and the first part of the Spring term, students will learn about topics such as future studies, employment, environment, social issues and solidarity, which require them to reflect on societal views and to shape their own views as future citizens of the world.
Homework
We believe that homework teaches students to work independently and develop self-discipline. Homework encourages students to take initiative and responsibility for completing a task.
In the Modern Foreign Languages department, homework is set weekly for all groups and should take at least 30 minutes for pupils in Key Stage 3 and one hour in Key Stage 4.
All Spanish students in Years 7-10 are expected to complete homework exercises on www.languagenut.com. This helps our students to develop their exam skills, through sound pedagogical activities spanning listening, reading, writing and speaking/talking using an interactive method.
Extra-curricular Spanish
Extra-curricular Spanish aims to enrich and support the learning that has taken place in the classroom. The Modern Foreign Languages department run two clubs after school.
- Spanish Spelling B: Our students practice their spelling skills in Spanish and competitive among themselves. Also, the winners of our internal competition win tickets to participate to the GRAN FINAL and compete against other Harris school.
- Spanish culture club: Our students join a Spanish weekly cultural club where they learn and share different ideas on food, clothes, cultures from the Spanish speaking countries.
During the year, we host different events in the school and outside the school, such as Spanish day, Trip BFI, Day of Languages and much more. Our aim is to get all the staff and students engaged and immersed in learning, appreciating and celebrating different cultures.
Helpful resources
New AQA specifications for Spanish GCSE 2018: http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/languages/gcse/spanish-8698
‘Mi Vida Loca’ interactive series - http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/mividaloca/
News in Spanish - http://www.bbc.com/mundo
Something different - http://zachary-jones.com/zambombazo/
Gallery of students' work
Theo in Year 9 shows why he is the ‘King of HW’ as well as some excellent presentation and a good response to his teacher’s marking (below)
Peter in Year 10 shows in his Speaking Booklet that he will be fully prepared when the controlled assessment begins (below).
Phoenix in Year 10 demonstrates some excellent presentation and self-assessment (below).
Jerry in Year 7 shows amazing progress in his writing after just three months of studying Spanish (below).
Careers
The demand for language skills is increasing in the ever-widening global market and the mobility of the workforce means that we are constantly in competition for jobs where even a basic knowledge of another language is growing in importance and is considered a distinct advantage.
Not only does research suggest that language graduates are generally more employable than their counterparts but there are plenty of career opportunities for those who want to use languages in their profession. These include:
- Translation
- Interpretation
- Tourism
- International companies
- Banking
- Education
