MFL
'All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.'
Acts 2:4
Celebrating European Languages Day...
Mission Statement
Our mission is to work to develop the full potential of each individual in an environment where the Gospel values of love, peace, truth and justice are lived out.
Introduction
At St. Mary’s Catholic Primary School, we want every child to be enthusiastic learners of Italian and to be eager to achieve their very best in order to fulfil their God-given talents. We firmly believe that the recipe for success is high quality first teaching in Italian from a native speaker, which is important as it provides the children with the best start to their language learning journey. Our school offers Italian from year 3 to year 6 and the children study once a week.
Intent
Our principal aim is that children leave St. Mary’s Catholic Primary school with a wide range of happy and rich memories in Italian formed through interesting and exciting experiences driven through vehicles that enhance a child’s awareness of their own abilities and strengths as a learner, thus ensuring that children see learning a foreign language as an ongoing process and not a one-off event.
Implementation
Success criteria in every Italian lesson are set in order to guide children to achieve their potential and they also have time to assess and reflect on their learning. Subject specialists and native speakers from the Italian Consulate in Manchester, are and will continue to be, integral to the planning process and implementation process.
Impact
Through Italian, children deepen their appreciation of their faith and fulfil their God-given talents. Children of all abilities and backgrounds achieve well in Italian. Children talk enthusiastically about their learning in Italian and are eager to further their learning in the next stages of their education. Children will become confident with new vocabulary, sound and a new culture.
Cultural Capital
Children learn about the key figures in the Italian history and from religion, for example St Francis de Assisi.
Our teacher is Anna Lucci, a native Italian speaker and fully qualified teacher.
Anna works for Centro Diffusione Lingua e Cultura Italiana. A company which promotes the Italian language and culture all over the North of England
Children can practise their key Italian skills at home by clicking on the website link below:
http://www.education.vic.gov.au/languagesonline/
British Values
The fundamental values present in our lessons are democracy; individual liberty; mutual respect for and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs and for those without faith.
EAL
A celebration of the wide diversity of language
At St Mary’s Catholic Primary School we are revisiting the wide array of languages spoken within our school and would like to celebrate the multicultural diversity within our community. You can help us by simply letting us know what other language is spoken at home so that we can move forward in our aims to reach as many cultures as possible. English as an Additional Language is something very much to rejoice about. Here is the Government’s interpretation of English as an Additional Language, which is:
“ … an EAL learner includes anyone who has been exposed to a language other than English during early childhood and continues to be exposed to this language in the home or in the community ...”
This also means that the child does not necessarily have to speak the first language, only that they are hearing it in their family home/community. As a school, we would highly recommend that you continue using your first language at home and in your community with your child/children as research has shown that the more fluent they are in their first language, learning English will not be as difficult, because code switching between the two languages becomes a little easier.
We have been putting our Italian skills to good use, by sending a message to Mrs McManus's nephews in Milan! They understood every word and even sent us messages back!