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SPANISH LANGUAGE AND METHODOLOGY AT ST MARYS
Start date: Sep 1, 2016, End date: Aug 31, 2018 PROJECT  FINISHED 

Our school has been involved in language teaching for some years now as we always strive to give our pupils the best possible standard of education. We have hosted foreign language assistants in our school for the last eight years. We now feel that in light of curriculum changes and languages becoming compulsory in Key Stage 2, it is time for us to revise our approach to language teaching, involving more members of staff and embedding language learning in the life of our school and across our curriculum. We want to give our staff the chance to rapidly improve their knowledge and understanding of languages, culture and teaching methodology in order to feel confident enough to begin to teach languages in their own class. We want to also focus on developing the skills of our MFL coordinator so that she is in a position to continue to support colleagues.The courses we would like to attend in Spain will allow staff to focus on improving their language, cultural knowledge and teaching skills and will also give them the chance to spend time in a Spanish primary school, observing good practice, developing links and establishing joint projects.We want to use this opportunity to develop really strong links with our Spanish link school that will lead to the establishment of regular communication and effective joint working on curriculum projects. This will greatly motivate pupils in both schools and give them an insight into each other’s lives, leading to lasting friendships. We also want to develop pupil exchanges which we believe will lead to even greater motivation and enjoyment of language learning.We believe that our new approach to language teaching will be more effective in terms of motivating pupils and helping them to see why languages are important and the relevance of language learning to their own lives.We will develop a two year whole school project. Six members of staff will take part in immersion training in Spain. We want Spanish to be embedded throughout the school day rather than simply during the children’s weekly Spanish session. The resulting increase in skills and knowledge will mean that members of staff are able to gradually take over teaching of languages from the FLA. This will not only result in a more sustainable model of language provision in our school but will mean that our pupils get a better learning experience. The course will allow us to find fun and engaging ways to teach languages to all our pupils and to ensure that everybody is achieving their full potential.Working on joint cross curricular projects with the Spanish school will help us to embed Spanish across our school. Participants will be able to work together as a team to evaluate resources and to gather authentic resources that reflect current language and culture in Spain.The course also has a focus on improving transition from primary to secondary school with opportunities to share experiences and discuss issues. We will also have the chance to see how this is approached in the Spanish school system. We feel that this first-hand experience and insight into Spain’s culture/language/geography will enthuse and build the confidence of the participants, who have very little experience of travelling to Spain or its language, for imparting knowledge and sharing their experiences with the pupils and adults in school.
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