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Moss Park's Spanish language, links and culture project
Start date: Jul 1, 2014, End date: Jun 30, 2016 PROJECT  FINISHED 

CONTEXT/BACKGROUND: Moss Park Junior School is a popular, successful school of 251 pupils organised into two classes per year group. 12% of children receive free school meals & 34% have English as an additional language. The majority of the children achieve above average in the KS2 tests and in the last Ofsted visit Moss Park was classed as "Outstanding". Several years ago, the school made a commitment to teach Spanish. A long term plan was therefore put into place, consisting of 3 stages. Initially, Spanish was only taught as short weekly class lessons by a foreign language assistant, for 2 terms per year. Following intensive training in the language and a short course on methodology, a lead teacher then was established and all pupils received a follow-up lesson per week. The remaining staff had no/very little knowledge of Spain, the Spanish language or the culture, and no experience of language teaching. Consequently, no language teaching or Spanish related activities occurred outside of the Spanish lessons and the international and cultural aspects of the pupils’ learning remained underdeveloped. Furthermore, the scheme of work used was well regarded but needed updating and extending. Similarly, some resources had been purchased but more were needed and displays were limited. An application was therefore made to the Erasmus+ fund to move the school forward to the next stage. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of the project were to • continue to develop the teaching by the lead teacher (language skills, methodology, key documents, resources) to improve the attainment of the children. (This would also lead to the revision of the scheme, although not explicitly stated in the application.) • to equip class teachers with the confidence and competence to carry out some follow-up activities and pursue cross-curricular links and thereby embed Spanish into the curriculum • motivate the children and provide them with a better range of learning activity resources (including ICT based) and cultural experience(s) • maintain a strong link with our partner school so that pupils have regular contact with native speakers and cultural exposure TYPE/PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS: There were 6 participants; 4 class teachers (1 from each year group), a teaching assistant and the lead teacher. All the teachers and the teaching assistant had an "O" level / GCSE in a language either French or German, but not Spanish. The class teachers were young(ish) and at an early stage in their teaching career. The teaching assistant had a career in the Civil Service and then retrained as a mature entrant. The lead teacher had over 20 years teaching experience in the primary sector but prior to taking on this role, had no experience teaching languages. All class teachers and teaching assistants were given the same opportunity to participate. MAIN ACTIVITIES: A baseline assessment/audit took place of: the language skills of staff & pupils; attitudes to teaching/learning Spanish; staff/pupil knowledge & experience of Spanish culture; staff knowledge of methodology; resources & displays, use of IT and use of teacher tools The preparation stage involved: discussions with staff & children; contact with colleagues in link school; collation of resources, gifts from the school & preparation of lessons and presentations to use in Spain; language preparation by staff and updated research into the area/system/culture associated with the link school. The main activities during the time of the mobility were: intensive language training focused particularly on the needs of teachers; teaching methodology; cultural immersion and experiences; collating ideas & resources that can be brought back to the classroom and sharing ideas, resources & knowldge of English/UK with colleagues in the link school. The follow-up to the mobility included: presentations/training sessions: assemblies, displays & cultural events; feeding back to professionals outside school; use of additional resources and modifications to planning and teaching. RESULTS: Each of the participants went on a mobility visit across the 2 year period and were placed in a link school. The class teachers then shared their new knowledge and skills to support their year group partner teacher, leading to more embedding of Spanish in the curriculum. The lead teacher supported all staff, and initiated changes in the scheme of work and co-ordinated the purchase/use of new resources. The teaching assistant supported all the staff, and provided cover for the lead teacher when necessary. IMPACT: All staff returned with an enthusiasm for the language, place and culture which has had a direct impact. All children now have regular good quality direct language teaching and cultural follow-up lessons & assemblies, in addition to indirect exposure to the language and the culture via displays and by exploiting other opportunities throughout the school day.
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