Modern Foreign Languages at Selwyn
Mandarin
At Selwyn, the Modern Foreign Language of choice is Mandarin. This is taught by specialist teachers who are natives of China and therefore have exceptional subject knowledge. Children in KS2 are in receipt of a weekly Mandarin lesson where they are taught through songs, listening exercises, stories, and conversations with teachers and each other. Special events are organised regularly to share Chinese culture with the children and promote the use of Mandarin outside of the classroom.
Popular after school clubs for both KS1 and KS2 are offered to consolidate the children’s classroom learning and to enable them to experience Chinese arts and culture such as Calligraphy.
Our progressive curriculum starts by learning basic greetings and then expands into concrete concepts such as colours and animals before becoming more abstract for the older children. Ultimately we would like our pupils to become enthused by learning another language and choose to continue this learning into Secondary School.
British Sign Language
As we are the Resourced Provision for primary aged deaf children in Newham, it is important to us that we provide opportunities for all of our children to develop their communication skills alongside one another. The approach that we take with our children is Total Communication which is a mixture of speech, sign and visual aids.
Children from Reception to Year 6 have a weekly BSL assembly from which they are introduced to new signs such as greetings or topical words linked to whole school learning. We also use images of key signs around the classrooms and the school’s communal areas such as labels for learning walls and different feelings signs to support children to communicate their emotions.