Languages
We prioritise pupils’ feelings of success and enjoyment of learning a language.
Hello, I’m Miss Ballam and I’m the Languages Subject Lead at St Leonard’s. My background is in languages having studied BA Spanish and Portuguese with Japanese at university followed by a Masters in Translation. I have lived abroad as a child and an adult and therefore I am a passionate advocate for learning another language and the opportunities it can bring. In today's interconnected world, proficiency in other languages provides the opportunity to engage meaningfully with the world - both within our own community and across the world.
Our Approach to Teaching Languages
At St Leonard's we've chosen Spanish to be the language we learn. We chose Spanish for a variety of reasons, including that it is widely spoken, with approximately 485 million native speakers (making it the 2nd most spoken language in the world when measured this way!). Spanish also has a regular and comparatively simple phonetic code making it easy to learn and apply to new words. This means that Spanish feels inclusive to all children when compared with other language choices.
Spanish lessons are taught by a native speaker meaning children are exposed from authentic language models from the beginning of their journey. This allows them to develop accurate pronunciation among the other many benefits.
Languages are in a pressured position in England, with fewer and fewer pupils choosing to study them beyond the statutory age. We are therefore keen to build pupils’ motivation for language learning to set a positive foundation for their future study in order that they become outward-looking, global citizens. Pupils are also explicitly taught the importance of learning languages to engage and motivate them, ensuring they can identify its real-world use in their future, as well as its role in understanding other cultures and people.