St Austin's RC PrimaryModern Foreign Languages
Rationale behind teaching Modern Foreign Languages at St. Austin’s
We have taught Modern Foreign Languages at KS2 since 1999. From this date until Summer 2020 this was French; a traditionally taught language in England and spoken in over 40 countries worldwide.
From September 2020, the Headteacher and Governors took the decision to change the Modern Foreign Language taught to Spanish. Spanish, spoken by over 450 million people worldwide, is the language taught at our local high school where the majority of our pupils transition.
The skills and grammar (such as sentence structure) learnt at KS2 will give a strong foundation for learning at KS3 and the experience of fun language learning inspires children to be enthusiastic language learners.
Our Spanish teaching builds steadily from Year 3 where children learn basic greetings and initial numbers, to Year 6 where children are taught how to talk and write about household chores and how they spend their free time.
Culture is taught throughout the topics, linking where appropriate and relevant. We also take every opportunity to celebrate other cultures and languages throughout the world through events such as European Languages Day, World Cup celebrations and the Olympics.