Spanish
Our aim
The Modern Foreign Languages department aims to ensure that all students of Spanish gain a firm linguistic foundation in the language, allowing them to communicate with native speakers in different contexts. Pupils will also deepen their cultural understanding of life in Spanish-speaking countries, and thus their cultural capital.
Our curriculum is ambitious and seeks to challenge all pupils, ensuring they know more and remember more as their learning progresses. It has been developed with the three pillars of language learning in mind, namely phonics, vocabulary and grammar. Students will develop their communication skills and confidence whilst equally broadening their horizons.
Why Spanish?
Learning Spanish is a valuable skill that enhances future career prospects and opens up global opportunities. Spoken by over 500 million people across 21 countries, it is the second most spoken language in the world in terms of native speakers. A knowledge of Spanish improves your communication skills and self-confidence, as well as developing essential skills such as problem-solving and critical thinking. Spanish offers you the chance to live, study, or travel abroad, as well as improving your memory and cognitive abilities. Pupils with a firm foundation in Spanish will stand out to future employers, learn about different cultures and potentially go on to learn additional languages in the future.
Key Stage 3
As per the National Curriculum for Languages, at KS3 we ensure that all pupils:
- understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources
- speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and asking questions, and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation
- can write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt
- discover and develop an appreciation of a range of writing in the language studied
We build upon what pupils have learnt at KS2, regardless of whether they studied Spanish, French or another language at primary school. Our KS3 curriculum develops pupils’ knowledge of phonics, vocabulary, grammar and linguistic competence. In addition to our core textbook, learning is supplemented with a variety of other resources: teacher-made and published worksheets, ICT software, websites to which we subscribe and other published materials. Additionally, we frequently look at authentic texts to expose pupils to Spanish as it is used in daily life and develop pupils’ cultural capital. These may be in the form of songs, poems or short text extracts. At the end of each term, we look at a cultural aspect of the Spanish-speaking world. This fosters pupils’ curiosity about and understanding of cultures beyond their own.
Key Stage 4
We encourage all students at HGS to continue studying a language for GCSE. This allows our students to be fully equipped for the future in an increasingly globalised world. At KS4, pupils’ communication skills and cultural understanding are developed further, with the focus again being on the three pillars of language learning (phonics, grammar and vocabulary). Students are entered for GCSE Spanish with the Edexcel examinations board and there are three key assessment objectives. These are:
- understand and respond to spoken language in speaking and in writing (AO1- 35%)
- understand and respond to written language in speaking and in writing (AO2- 45%)
- demonstrate knowledge and accurate application of the grammar and vocabulary prescribed in the specification (AO3- 20%).
Assessments at KS3 and KS4
At Key Stages 3 and 4, stepping stones are formative assessments that typically test students on their listening and reading skills on the topic they are currently studying, though they may occasionally have a grammatical focus instead. Milestones are summative, synoptic assessments that test pupils on their listening, reading, writing and speaking skills. For milestone assessments, pupils are provided with a revision list directing them to the topics that they should revise in advance. Pupils have a weekly vocabulary or grammar test to develop two of the three pillars of language learning.
Key Stage 5
Students are typically taught in small groups, which allows them to be very well supported in their language studies and to become confident and fluent speakers. The course gives them an excellent insight into current social issues affecting Spanish-speaking countries and students have the opportunity to study a Spanish film and play. Finally, the AQA A-Level course requires all students to conduct an independent research project, which will provide them with skills that will prove invaluable at university. We subscribe to a Spanish newspaper to grant pupils exposure to authentic and academic texts, developing their vocabulary and cultural awareness in the process.