Languages

At Woodside we have been teaching Spanish and Mandarin because they are major world languages both spoken by even more people than English worldwide and because Spanish is a language with a close match between how it is spoken and written. Research shows that learning any second language makes learning further languages easier and Spanish has much in common with other European languages, including the use of different genders for ordinary objects, using their word for "of" to show possession instead of our "apostrophe s" but most of all the use of verbs which  change according to who or what you are referring to. As our teachers are not language specialists we use digital resources, particularly Language Angels  to teach Spanish and, for a number of years, have also had the support of a Spanish Language Assistant. Our latest Spanish Language Assistant was so we successful that we have asked her to work full-time here teaching Spanish. We are currently waiting for her new visa to be approved before she can start.

With the support of Chinese Language Assistants through the British Council we have also had several years of teaching Mandarin. This is difficult language but important economically and is the most spoken language in the world. Since we have started teaching Mandarin it has become the one of the top three languages wanted by employers. Besides the language itself we teach children about Chinese culture including calligraphy and cooking. Unfortunately we will not have a Chinese Language Assistant in 2023-24 but we intend to keep up the knowledge children have already gained using digital resources including Language Nut  We also learn songs and words of other languages, especially the many languages now spoken within our school community. Collectively, among the staff alone, we have and use expert knowledge of German, Lithuanian, Indonesian, Mandarin, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Urdu, and Yoruba. Much of our language teaching is integrated within other subjects as children learn things such as songs, art techniques, cooking and counting from a different culture.  Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages at Woodside is coordinated by Mrs Marks. We have given children LanguageNut log in details to use at home and this can be used for learning both Spanish and Mandarin as well as other languages, include English, for people for whom this is an additional language.  We recommend you join your child in learning a new language and also maintain any languages you already speak as a family.