The nature of the learners
Children enter the early years of schooling with established communication skills in one or more languages and varying degrees of early literacy capability. For young students, learning typically focuses on their immediate world of family, home, school, friends and neighbourhood. They are learning how to socialise with new people, share with others, and participate in structured routines and activities at school. Typically they have little to no experience of Spanish language and culture.
Spanish language learning and use
The initial focus is on listening to the sounds and patterns of Spanish through language-rich activities such as rhymes, songs, clapping and action games. Repetition and recycling help children to identify frequently used words and simple phrases and to recognise the purpose of simple texts. Children identify and use non-verbal communication strategies employed by Spanish speakers in greetings and other social interactions and experiment with simple responses to prompts and cues. As they progress to using Spanish for functions such as asking and answering questions, responding to instructions, singing songs, and taking turns in games and simple shared tasks, they begin to notice that language can behave differently in different situations and that Spanish speakers communicate in some ways that are different from their own. They practise and repeat sounds (such as j, ll and r) which differ in Spanish from those in English. Creative play provides opportunities for exploring these differences and for using Spanish for purposeful interaction, for example, asking for help or expressing surprise.
The transition from spoken to written language is scaffolded through shared exploration of simple texts. Children progress from supported comprehension and use of a small number of personally significant sight words to more elaborated simple texts. Writing skills progress from labelling pictures and copying words to constructing simple texts using familiar vocabulary and structures. As children learn to adjust language to suit different purposes and situations, they begin to learn the important role of culture in shaping language use.
Contexts of interaction
Learners use Spanish to interact with one another and with the teacher, with some access to wider school and community members. Information and communication technologies (ICT) resources provide additional access to Spanish language and cultural experience, connecting learners’ social worlds with those of Spanish-speaking children in different contexts.
Texts and resources
Learners engage with a variety of spoken, visual and written texts. They listen and respond to teacher talk, share ideas and join in stories, songs, play and simple conversations. Written and digital texts include stories, wall charts, Big Books and teacher-produced materials such as games, captions and flashcards. Writing skills progress from tracing and copying high-frequency words to independently writing modelled words and sentences (for example, greeting cards or labels) and co-creating shared resources such as word walls or storybooks.
Features of Spanish language use
Learners become familiar with the sound systems of the Spanish language, including pronunciation, rhythm, pitch and stress. They learn to pronounce individual letters and letter combinations, and recognise and use the intonation patterns that distinguish between statements, questions and exclamations. They use simple basic sentence structures and learn to write single words and simple phrases. They become familiar with the idea of grammatical gender and plural forms. They discuss differences and similarities they notice between Spanish and their first language(s) and culture(s), as well as how they feel when they hear or use Spanish and how they view different languages and the people who speak them. They begin to develop curiosity around the idea of difference, culture and communication.
Level of support
Learning is supported through the provision of experiences that are challenging but achievable with appropriate scaffolding and support. This involves modelling and monitoring by the teacher, provision of rich and varied sources of input, opportunities for recycling and reviewing, and regular cues, feedback, response and encouragement. At this stage, play and imaginative activities, music, movement and familiar routines provide the essential scaffolding for language development.
The role of English
While learners are encouraged to use Spanish whenever possible, with the teacher providing rich and varied language input, English is used as a medium of instruction, and for explanation and discussion. This allows learners to talk about differences and similarities they notice between Spanish and their own language(s) and culture(s), to ask questions, and to express their reactions to the experience of learning and using an additional language.
By the end of Year 2, students interact with teachers and peers through action-related talk and play. They introduce themselves and exchange greetings such as Buenos días/tardes/noches, and farewells (for example, hasta pronto). They use simple repetitive language and respond to simple instructions when participating in classroom routines, games and shared activities, for example, Sal de aquí, Párate en la puerta. They use visual, non-verbal and contextual cues such as intonation, gestures and facial expressions to help make meaning, and reproduce distinctive sounds of the Spanish language, including the sounds for the letters ll, ñ, rr/r g/j, c and y. Students identify specific words and expressions in simple texts, such as names of people, places or objects. They convey factual information about self, family, friends and favourite things at word and simple sentence level, for example, Mi casa es grande, Nuestro ordenador es pequeño, Tu celular es nuevo. They respond to and create simple spoken and written texts using modelled examples and formulaic language. Students use gender (for example, el pastel/la torta), simple verb forms (for example, estudiar, comer, dormir), definite articles and vocabulary related to familiar environments to describe people, places and things. Students translate frequently used words and simple phrases, using visual cues and word lists (for example, clase, zapatos, camisa, teléfono/celular) and create simple print and digital texts in both Spanish and English. They identify similarities and differences between English and Spanish language and culture in songs, stories, rhymes and pictures.
Students know that Spanish uses the same alphabet as English when written, except for ñ as in mañana and España. They identify features of familiar texts and give examples of how different titles are used to address people in different situations (for example, Doña Josefa, Don José, Tía). They identify Spanish as one of many languages spoken in Australia and give examples of words that English and Spanish have borrowed from each other such as chat, ‘tortilla’, ‘fiesta’. Students identify differences and similarities between their own and others’ languages and cultures.