Why is learning a language important?

Language learning opens up the world; opening doors to opportunities for travel, studying or working abroad. By learning Spanish, you will be able to communicate with over 450 million people in over 25 different countries. It is much easier to learn a new language as a child and the benefits are immense. Communication skills vastly improve as well as being able to multitask, as the cognitive muscles used in the brain for languages can make people more adept at doing two tasks at once. Learning a new language contributes to greater tolerance of other peoples because of the exposure to a variety of cultures. Knowing and understanding another language and its grammar equally improves these skills in a native language. Being able to speak another language can increase brain size, particularly growth in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus. Like the other muscles in your body, the brain can get bigger with accumulation of another language.

Careers that the study of languages supports include:

• Interpreter
• Translator
• Teacher
• Diplomat
• Broadcaster
• International aid/medicine/charities
• Manager
• Embassies
• Travel and tourism

At The Wings’ CE Trust, we aim to:

• enable children to become enthusiastic and confident language learners
• enable children to learn new vocabulary
• encourage children to acquire and develop a range of skills to communicate effectively
• engage in activities where they are encouraged to listen to the Spanish language
• give children lots of opportunity to practise speaking in Spanish applying what has been covered
• support children to write in Spanish
• foster a love of language and culture where the whole school celebrates our annual Spanish Day
• encourage children to understand where Spanish is spoken in the world.
• develop children’s capacity to try out ideas without the fear of failing; lessons are supportive and risk taking is encouraged.

The national curriculum for languages aims to ensure that all pupils:

• understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources
• speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and asking questions, and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation
• can write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt
• discover and develop an appreciation of a range of writing in the language studied.