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Encouraging Global Citizenship
Pupils show their ICT Showcase Award to Sponsor Len Daniels Toshiba, Pam Winn SSAT.
St. Austin’s Primary School, Liverpool has been a Centre of Excellence for Spanish since September 2003 and all pupils and staff have the opportunity to learn Spanish. We greatly value the importance of early language learning. We believe it broadens the cultural awareness of the pupils and fosters positive attitudes to foreign language learning, to speakers of other languages and a tolerant sympathetic approach to other cultures and civilisations. In today’s international and multicultural society it is essential that young people develop skills and attitudes which enable them to communicate with other cultures with understanding and respect.
All pupils throughout the school from nursery to year 6 are taught Spanish by a specialist Spanish teacher and a foreign language assistant (FLA) from Spain. All staff are actively encouraged to become involved in the teaching of the language and are provided with the time to pursue their learning.
Exciting and effective teaching methods and materials are used to build enthusiasm and motivation in our young learners. The children continue to shine year on year in their linguistic achievements. This year all Year 6 children have completed ‘Asset Language’ assessments in the 4 language skills and we eagerly await their results in July.
Spanish teaching in other curriculum areas has expanded over the years culminating this year with Years 3 to 6 all receiving weekly Numeracy lessons in Spanish. In Years 3 and 4 some P.E lessons have also been delivered in Spanish by two Spanish native speakers. The Spanish scheme of work reinforces pupils work across the curriculum as well as developing specific language learning skills. A great deal of emphasis is placed on listening and speaking skills and pupils are given the opportunity to learn vocabulary and structures through games, rhymes, chant and song.
Throughout each year, our children celebrate internationalism, marking different European and Spanish celebrations, whilst also engaging in a variety of international studies. This effort has led to St Austin’s being awarded the accolade of ‘International School – Intermediate level’ by the British Council. We are currently in the process of bidding for “Full Status” which we hope to achieve next year.
We have built a strong relationship with our link school ‘San Jacinto’ in Seville two of San Jacinto’s teachers visited us in September. The children have found the relationship stimulating, enthusiastically embracing learning about each other, each other’s schools and cities through a wide variety of work exchanged between the two schools. We look forward to continuing to strengthen this important link over the coming years.
Each year we celebrate our achievements in Spanish teaching with a whole week dedicated to the children exploring, experiencing, and participating in Hispanic culture. From Brazilian Samba dancing to fan making, Flamenco, and paella tasting, the children have made a tremendous effort, bringing our school to life with Hispanic song, stories, food, music, and dance.
This year we were also able to celebrate an ICT Register Showcase Award for the impact on learning of our Spanish DVD. Toshiba UK and Brother UK Sponsors of the awards joined us on our Hispanic day to celebrate. This interactive resource uses media that can be repurposed and streamed on TeacherTube has now reached audiences in the thousands internationally, also winning us a European Award for Languages in 2008.
As part of our commitment to the ICT Register, we offer help and support to schools that are beginning to introduce Modern Foreign Languages. If you are starting out, contact us via www.ict-register.net . We are currently working with schools locally to develop language resources personal to their school.
“It is without doubt due to the enthusiasm and commitment of all those involved that Spanish continues to burn a vibrant flame in our school. The children are consistently proving that they are global citizens with a rapidly developing international awareness and enjoyment in other cultures”. Noel O’Neill & John Carney, Headship Team
Useful websites for those interested foreign language teaching in primary schools
www.cilt.org.uk
Contains information about primary languages, including details of competitions & CPD courses
www.primarylanguages.org.uk/
A website devoted to KS2 languages which contains lots of useful tips and videos of languages being taught
www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryspanish/
A great website for KS1 and KS2 which contains lots of animated examples and cultural information
