Being a Linguist (MFL)
Being a linguist at Wick Primary
At Wick, we believe that learning a foreign language should be enjoyable, engaging and purposeful and should enable the pupils to make substantial progress in one language. We have chosen Spanish as Wick's main language because of the number of Spanish speakers around the world but also because it is a language that many children will encounter through holidays, pop songs and online games and apps. Learning Spanish also provides the opportunity to develop intercultural understanding of the culture and customs of Spain and Spanish speaking Central and South American countries.
How languages are taught at Wick
Spanish is taught discretely in a weekly hourly lesson by a language specialist in years 3,4,5 and 6. A combination of listening, speaking, reading and writing skills are practised throughout the lesson using a range of resources such as songs, videos, games, poems and vocabulary banks. Emphasis is placed on listening and speaking to introduce new vocabulary and grammar, followed by opportunities to identify written vocabulary and eventually to write. The language skills taught develop progressively over the year and over the four years the children learn Spanish.
How we evaluate our learners as linguists?
The language specialist continually assesses the children’s understanding through games, speaking activities and written work. Occasionally quizzes may form part of a more formal assessment. An assessment framework based on the termly learning objectives helps to assess the children's progress across the year.